EPTGranted, I'm pretty sure nobody is pegging anything for the Raptors other than a date with the Cavs in round 2 (if the current seeding holds).
NBA 2016-17 Season - Page 70
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Xeris
Iran17695 Posts
Granted, I'm pretty sure nobody is pegging anything for the Raptors other than a date with the Cavs in round 2 (if the current seeding holds). | ||
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada17003 Posts
On April 02 2017 21:58 Xeris wrote: Their improved defense is post-Lowry injury. Wright>VanVleet>Lowry>Joseph in terms of defense. It'll be interesting to see if the defense gets worse when Lowry comes back. I think it'll decline. On April 02 2017 21:58 Xeris wrote: Second, the best net rating for a Raptors lineup includes Lowry, Patterson, and DeRozan. good point, Patterson is under rated because of his boxscore stats. His ORPM is 1.10 and DRPM is 2.12. He is the Jorge Garbajosa of the 2017 Raptors. i like Patterson a lot and you really notice how important he is when you watch live games. the guy is very smart. | ||
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JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada17003 Posts
right now, i'd rank the teams 1) Cleveland 2) Miami 3) Toronto 4) Boston 5) Washington 6) Milwaukee. if any of these 6 teams gets hot any of them could get to the NBA Finals. | ||
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Nemireck
Canada1875 Posts
On April 02 2017 21:06 JimmyJRaynor wrote: you make some interesting points. + Show Spoiler + the problem is those #s are built partially on 1 line-up Casey used a lot that got solved and can't exist any longer. Namely, Lowry+Bench. I've already covered that. Ross is gone and Nogueira is not in the rotation. How Lowry+Bench got solved i've already outlined. Ujiri and Casey had so little faith on Lowry+Bench adjusting to how it got solved by teams that Ujiri traded Ross. Casey removed Nogueira from the lineup completely. Lowry was a shadow of himself through much of the late season last year because he was playing hurt. He was very bad in the playoffs and could not hit jump shots. Almost all his "made FGAs" were layups in the 1st 10 games of the playoffs. JV had a better 12 footer than Lowry. Lowry clearly had bursitis in his right elbow. It was swollen up after every game. So we were not seeing a 100% Kyle Lowry last year. Not even close. And they still won 56 games and 10 in the playoffs. The Raptors rumbled through the playoffs on the strength of their great defense. Is a bad-elbow-2016-Lowry better or worse than a healthy 2017 Joseph/Wright? that's not easy to answer. Last year against Cleveland (4-5), GSW (0-2 with 2 razor thin losses), Spurs (1-1), Oklahoma (1-1) they competed much more successfully WHILE FIGHTING INJURIES to Carroll, JV, and Lowry. This year they are great at beating up below average and average teams and are 1-8 against Cleveland, San Antonio, Houston and GSW. Those gawdy offensive stats come from hanging 120 points on average-at-best teams and the Lowry+Bench lineup. The Raptors defense is not as good as it was last year because Biyombo is no longer on the team. If Delon Wright emerges I can see the Raptors returning to the level of defense they had last year. However, he has only been doing this for 2 weeks. Before, we plan the parade route for the Raptors NBA title lets all keep in mind that in Lowry's (2015) and Derozan's (2016) best ever playoff seasons they shot 40%. For their careers both guys are below 40% playoff shooters. The ticky-tack fouls Lowry and Derozan are great at drawing won't be there in the playoffs. the Western Conference is better this year so the Warriors have a tougher schedule. West is running at a .547 winning percentage over the East. If GSW wins the title they're a better team. If GSW loses in 6 games or less.. they are worse. The line up that you claim Casey used "A Lot" was used for 106 minutes during the first 20 games of the season. That's like 5 minutes a night. | ||
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JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada17003 Posts
 On April 03 2017 05:15 JimmiC wrote: Funny how set you were at the trade deadline mocking me that the raps were going for it and making win now trades. Mocking me for saying they second best in east. The Raptors are still in player development mode ... big time. Look what Cleveland is doing. They are in "win now" mode. I don't think they are 1 of the top 2 teams in the East. That has not changed. I disagreed with u. that's it. I did not foresee the level of parity that now exists in the conference. Its a clusterfuck. To give you an idea of how much Casey believes in Pat Patterson's smart play.. he stuck him out there for significant minutes with a 10 point lead and with Wright, VanVleet, Poetl, and Powell on the floor. Almost no NBA experience on the floor. It was the Raptors-905+Patterson  i think Casey is a really good coach and i think the people who criticize him usually are clueless. Casey/Management are still developing their 905ers even during the 77th game of the year with a ~8 point lead with several minutes left in the game. On April 03 2017 03:14 Nemireck wrote: The line up that you claim Casey used "A Lot" was used for 106 minutes during the first 20 games of the season. That's like 5 minutes a night. On April 03 2017 05:15 JimmiC wrote: But it was mostly used in the crucial moments of the start of the second quarter! link provided was when the lineup peaked at 105 minutes on December 9th. the Lowry+Bench lineup was frankensteined together around November 10. Nogueira was not in the rotation at the start of the year. So it played 0 minutes for the first 2 weeks because Nogueira never played. 199 minutes before Lowry+Bench was broken up. their most used lineup is D.Carroll, D.DeRozan, K.Lowry, P.Siakam, J.Valanciunas for 365 minutes. so 199 minutes for a partial season is a lot of time. the lineup was stupid good. as of December 9th it was used for 105 minutes and about 1/2 as much as Toronto's most used line up at the time. it got up to 199 minutes before it was broken up because it stopped producing. http://stats.nba.com/lineups/advanced/#!?sort=MIN&dir=1&CF=MIN*G*48&Season=2016-17&SeasonType=Regular Season&TeamID=1610612761 | ||
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BlackJack
United States10574 Posts
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MassHysteria
United States3678 Posts
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada17003 Posts
i think they scored 29 points in 6 minutes. | ||
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Xeris
Iran17695 Posts
Who wanna put some money on this?! PS: Not sure why people think the West is better? I think top-level, the West is better... Warriors improved, Spurs are == to last year. The Rockets rise offset the fall of OKC. But 7/8 seed in the West are a lot less competitive than in previous years. The East has improved a lot. There are 4 legit good teams in the East now (compared to basically 1, or MAYBE 2 depending on how you feel about the Raptors the past two seasons). The middle of the pack East teams are also better this year than in previous years. West is still way better than the Eastern conference, but it's going to be cool to basically see all 4 first round matchups in the East be pretty competitive IMO. I don't think the gap between the top 4 and bottom 4 in the East are actually that big. I can see a world in which Miami, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Indiana can pose real problems in the 1st round. I'm also guessing Atlanta falls out of the playoffs. | ||
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Xeris
Iran17695 Posts
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JimmyJRaynor
Canada17003 Posts
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cLutZ
United States19574 Posts
On April 04 2017 04:17 Xeris wrote: Here's my prediction: either the Raptors or Wizards will beat the Cavs in Round 2 (depending on which of them faces them), and either of them will beat the Celtics. Finals will be Warriors vs Wizards or Raptors. Who wanna put some money on this?! PS: Not sure why people think the West is better? I think top-level, the West is better... Warriors improved, Spurs are == to last year. The Rockets rise offset the fall of OKC. But 7/8 seed in the West are a lot less competitive than in previous years. The East has improved a lot. There are 4 legit good teams in the East now (compared to basically 1, or MAYBE 2 depending on how you feel about the Raptors the past two seasons). The middle of the pack East teams are also better this year than in previous years. West is still way better than the Eastern conference, but it's going to be cool to basically see all 4 first round matchups in the East be pretty competitive IMO. I don't think the gap between the top 4 and bottom 4 in the East are actually that big. I can see a world in which Miami, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Indiana can pose real problems in the 1st round. I'm also guessing Atlanta falls out of the playoffs. 1. Most people think last years CLE was better than any of this year's East teams. I agree with this sentiment. 2. If we just lined up Records, the West Playoff teams all have better records than their corresponding East 1-8 team. This is astounding considering how many more wins the West 1-3 teams are gobbling up. 3. If we matched up all the teams 1-8 East-West, the West probably wins 6-7 of the series. 4. No one really cares about those middle of the pack East teams, they really only care if you are a legit title contender or can take a legit title contender to 7, or a hard 6. This is really what criticisms of the East boil down to: When was the last time the loser in the ECF would be favored over the loser in the WCF? When was the last time the loser of the ECF would be favored over any of the top 3 West teams? Top 4? | ||
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andrewlt
United States7702 Posts
In addition to Houston, Utah has improved this year. They are currently the no. 4 seed in the West. I believe Memphis has had a healthier regular season as well. | ||
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cLutZ
United States19574 Posts
On April 04 2017 06:08 andrewlt wrote: Nobody in the East has seriously challenged Lebron's team since the Garnett led Celtics. The East's logjam this year has a lot to do with Cleveland and Toronto underperforming compared to last year. In addition to Houston, Utah has improved this year. They are currently the no. 4 seed in the West. I believe Memphis has had a healthier regular season as well. In addition, I would argue that despite both series being 4-1, 2011 was the last time a Lebron team faced a harder path to the finals than his finals opponent. Boston and Chicago did physically beat you up even if Boston was too old and Chicago too young to be real contenders. It also was the time Lebron looked lost in the finals, I doubt that is a coincidence. | ||
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andrewlt
United States7702 Posts
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JimmiC
Canada22817 Posts
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cLutZ
United States19574 Posts
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andrewlt
United States7702 Posts
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