Was very surprised with the raptors. It is very clear Darko wants this team to be respected for its 3-pt shot and gave them the green light to keep shooting even when it wasnt initially falling. 40% from 3 on opening night for a team that was among the worst in the league last year with no crazy additions (Dick is known fof his 3 pt shot but didnt really play, Dennis has one but he replaced Fred who was supposed to have one/does but is really inconsistent).
Our defence was stiffling, especially against a team with two bigs and a weapon in ant. Last year this would be when wed get rekt. Poetl (and others) cleaned up off the glass both on the O and D. Dennis was an absolute UNIT. OG was killing it. Siakam showed up BIG in the 4th. we had well distributed minutes and didnt even play everyone (Koloko - injury, Otto - ???, Boucher - ???).
Things to clean up: Some players had an off shooting night. NBD but Siakam and Barnes will hopefully clean that up asap. Our backup PG position is lacking and I hope Flynn figures it out. Dude seems like a great guy. If not, we may need to run more Point Scottie with the 2nd unit and increase his minutes (I cant imagine hed be upset at this)?
What were you most happy about and what do you want to see cleaned up going forward?
Clean-up: Second unit off-ball movement. The second unit seemed to pass for the sake of passing, rather than with purpose. Some of that due to players being stagnant and just playing 5-out without any off-ball screens. There was a period with Flynn, Presh, GTJ, Scottie on the floor, where nobody seemed to really make cuts and the ball would just move around, probe, move around, probe, but everyone mostly just ball-watched. Started to remind me of last season. World of difference compared to the off-ball screens from the starters.
Half court offense, it will make or break our season. Last night wasn’t good, but I’ll give them 20 games before we know for sure what to expect.
It was clear that the starters have a better grasp of the system but even then, looking st the first half with a lot of turnovers and near turnovers in scrambling or fast break situations. If they can put it all together and play on a string, the way the starters play defense, omfg. That’s deadly. That’s all I want to see by the end of the season. First year under darko will be a success simply if the guys can figure out the system.