2018 Off-Season Thread

[jeremym480]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

Others to receive at least one vote.


Los Angeles Clippers’ Doc Rivers.

[Majingir]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

It had to be a pretty awkward end of season availability for Ujiri. He was asked questions about Casey and he was effusive but said everything is on the table in terms of evaluation. I daresay Masai would've been more forthcoming and open in his comments if Casey weren't named the NBACA coach of the year.

He never said he won't bring Casey back, but didn't say he would either.

All he said is the typical "We're evaluating, but remember, 29 teams don't win, we're 1 of those 29.". It sucks, any other sport, the type of team the Raptors have would have much more success. In NBA where over 90% of championship teams got MVPs on them, you basically can't win without one.

But if they can keep the young guys while just seeing what they can get for the starters in trade, they'd have really bright future. Ujiri loves Giannis probably more than most. If he happens to hit free agency, he like most GMs would go all out for him, and Raptors would have the space to do so.

[VDusen04]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

It is wishful thinking to believe that a healthy Reggie Jackson and a full season of Blake Griffin would have made the difference between making the playoffs or not.

I mean... the Pistons finished as a No. 9 seed despite running most of the season with Ish Smith as their primary point guard. This was a squad that was 19-14 prior to Jackson's injury then immediately lost nine of their next 12 in his absence.

I'm not fond of making guarantees about things we'll never be able to find out, but I don't find it terribly far-fetched to believe that a healthy Reggie Jackson—upon whose shoulders the team's offense has been largely predicated since his acquisition three years ago—could have pushed the Pistons one notch up the Eastern Conference playoff chart.

[AlexBrady]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

I mean... the Pistons finished as a No. 9 seed despite running most of the season with Ish Smith as their primary point guard. This was a squad that was 19-14 prior to Jackson's injury then immediately lost nine of their next 12 in his absence.

I'm not fond of making guarantees about things we'll never be able to find out, but I don't find it terribly far-fetched to believe that a healthy Reggie Jackson—upon whose shoulders the team's offense has been largely predicated since his acquisition three years ago—could have pushed the Pistons one notch up the Eastern Conference playoff chart.

We have to first understand what Reggie Jackson is as a player. A shooting guard trapped in a point guard's body. Quick to penetrate and score in the paint. Takes a lot of bad shots which is a problem since he is an erratic shooter. Looks to pass only when he can't find a shot for himself. Defense? He doesn't play any. Leadership? Nope.

Building an attack around a flawed player like Jackson has a very low ceiling. SVG's simplistic strategies and windy pronouncements certainly doesn't help.

[ojandpizza]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

Not that I disagree with your breakdown, and agree with most your other ones as well, there seems to almost always be a disconnect with your interpretations and a player’s on court effectiveness. You always post under the assumption that if a player is flawed by the metrics that you deem to be more important than others that they can’t find success on the court, and that isn’t always the case.

Detroit was a 9th seed, decent defensive team, decent rebounding team, they just really struggled to produce points. Not having a perimeter player that puts pressure on opposing defenses causes issues like that. I see no reason to believe having their 3rd best scorer, primary ball handler, play about 40 more games couldn’t have produced them the 3 or 4 wins they needed to squeak into the playoffs. Regardless of what his flaws are.


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[AlexBrady]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

Not that I disagree with your breakdown, and agree with most your other ones as well, there seems to almost always be a disconnect with your interpretations and a player’s on court effectiveness. You always post under the assumption that if a player is flawed by the metrics that you deem to be more important than others that they can’t find success on the court, and that isn’t always the case.

Detroit was a 9th seed, decent defensive team, decent rebounding team, they just really struggled to produce points. Not having a perimeter player that puts pressure on opposing defenses causes issues like that. I see no reason to believe having their 3rd best scorer, primary ball handler, play about 40 more games couldn’t have produced them the 3 or 4 wins they needed to squeak into the playoffs. Regardless of what his flaws are.


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Detroit's defensive numbers look good because SVG likes to slow the game down which limits the possession numbers. Andre Drummond, Blake Griffin, and Reggie Jackson are all poor defenders. Their weak-side and interior rotations were non existent. And their handling of screen/roll situations was poor.

Andre Drummond is a powerful rebounder and as such averages one rebound for every 2.10 minutes of playing time. This is outstanding since centers are expected to grab one rebound for every three minutes of playing time.

Power forwards are supposed to grab one rebound for every four minutes. Blake Griffin averaged one rebound for every 4.59 minutes which is slightly below the standard. And how often does Blake come up with a clutch rebound in a crowd? Rarely.

Anthony Tolliver- one rebound for every 7.16 minutes (standard is one to four). That is awful.
Stanley Johnson- one rebound for every 7.40 minutes. Well below average since small forwards are supposed to nab one board for every six minutes of PT.
Reggie Bullock- one rebound for every 11.16 minutes. That is exceedingly poor considering the standard one to six ratio for small forwards.

So then, they really are a one man show on the boards here.

Their offense consists of Drummond playing in the pivot surrounded by four shooters. Very predictable stuff here.

Could they have squeaked into the playoffs with Griffin's services for the whole season and a healthy Jackson. Possibly but I wouldn't bet on it. I wouldn't call it "likely".

[King_B_Mack]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

And there it is. Woj reporting that Toronto has fired coach Dwayne Casey


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[RedSceptile]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

And there it is. Woj reporting that Toronto has fired coach Dwayne Casey


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LeBron has to be stopped.

[Fresh Tendrils]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

And there it is. Woj reporting that Toronto has fired coach Dwayne Casey


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[jeremym480]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

And there it is. Woj reporting that Toronto has fired coach Dwayne Casey


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[ojandpizza]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

I'm not sure how much I agree with that move. I understand the team needs changes if they want to get out of the early exit level that they are at, but I don't know if that was the move I would have went with.

[BluFu]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

Great guy but it's about time this happened.. This isn't an overreaction based off of 1 series

[JazzMan]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

I hope he wins Coach of the Year now lmao

Imagine if the Jazz fired Jerry for losing to Jordan twice

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[Yeah...THAT Guy]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

I'm not sure how much I agree with that move. I understand the team needs changes if they want to get out of the early exit level that they are at, but I don't know if that was the move I would have went with.

I think Nick Nurse is more important to their success than Casey honestly. I also think firing the coach is the easy way out for Masai. They should probably just start rebuilding for the long-term but Masai won't do that; he'll replace Casey and maybe move a guy like Valanciunas and they'll roll the rest back another year if I had to guess.

I'm gonna be so annoyed if they go and hire Budenholzer before Milwaukee hires a coach though. I don't even think Budenholzer makes a lot of sense for Toronto, but he's the guy I want in Milwaukee.

[SPTO]

Re: 2017-2018 Off-Season Thread

Great guy but it's about time this happened.. This isn't an overreaction based off of 1 series

I agree, I can understand the basketball world being upset about his firing but it was one of those things that had to happen and it's only the first domino to fall IMO. Unfortunately I hear Ujiri has high interest in "drumroll" Mike Budenholzer UGH. If that's the new coach i'd be one upset fan.

I hope he wins Coach of the Year now lmao

Imagine if the Jazz fired Jerry for losing to Jordan twice

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C'mon man, they're not exactly the same thing. Except for one series (and even in that series there were blowouts) the Raptors have been run over by LeBron like they were made out of paper mache. As a fan of those Jazz teams they were at least very competitive and if it wasn't for a couple bad calls and better FT shooting one of those teams could've beaten the Bulls.