No, the sooner he grabs the keys and demonstrates that they belong to him the better. A big part of the problems so far this year has been SB playing entitled basketball. We need to trade for Pat Bev, honestly. When Scottie plays with focus and commitment, we have a good team.

*next year

We’re stealth-tanking.

All these people talking about trading Pascal; I’m over here talking about trading Barnes before the rest of the league recognizes that he’s just here for the vibes.

All the enabling that the FO, coaches, broadcast, media and fanbase have done for Scottie have caused a problem for him. His development is plateauing and I honestly have started to feel that he is turning into more of an NBA star than a good basketball player. Last year, I thought, “He’s young and got money for the first time. It’s some learning/growth he has to go through.” This year? He looks exactly the same. Things aren’t easy, and he isn’t pushing through. He’s getting by on fake hustle for large portions of games. He’s more interested in the spectacle of the NBA than in the competition of the game.

Over and over, folks on this sub complain about how the FO, coaches or other players are holding Scottie back. That is bullshit. Scottie’s mentality is holding Scottie back, and that means that we might have to start considering that he is never going to become more than exactly what he is right now.

Why not ask this question instead: Why doesn’t Scottie consistently impact the game? He needs to commit to improving his conditioning and focus or his development will flatline.

After watching this game, this is your take? Pascal was our best player, by far. His only competition was Poeltl. Maybe you should be asking about whether planning around some other guys on the team is a wise strategy.

Trade him? Sure, depending on the return, but which other current Raptor would you try in his place as a starter? Gary hasn’t gotten it done yet, but his minutes may well go up if he breaks out of his slump. Precious certainly hasn’t been a viable alternative. Boucher? I love him in spots, but he can’t be expected to be a first-team guy. So far, Yak has been the answer because we haven’t had a better one.

This is something that I wonder about. Where are the PnR plays with the two of them in the primary action (roles reversible)? Maybe theory says that you have to try to bring a weaker defender into the action, but there is also something to be said for having your two best guys directly involved, isn’t there? I at least want to see a large enough sample size to be able to conclude, “Well, that doesn’t work.” We are nowhere near close to that, however.

I was so confused by all the Scottie vs Pascal shitposting on this sub until I accidentally saw this ESPN post talking about Pascal in the context of fantasy basketball. Then, it hit me: a lot of you dudes are fantasy “owners” of Barnes, so you naturally have a selfish interest in his counting stats. (OP, this isn’t about you personally.)

I actually feel a lot better about it now, but I do wish folks would contain their fantasy-based discussions to “Fantasy” flaired posts. Oh, but there isn’t a “fantasy” flair because this sub is supposed to be about the Toronto Raptors, not about that crap. I’m really not sorry that Pascal is stealing those precious shot attempts and points from folks’ fantasy totals.

OG played great: 26 points on 14 shots. Gary was solid: 16 points on 13 shots. That’s cool stuff, but it’s not OG territory.

Because he thought the Raptors trying to put up points in a game that was clearly over was a classless move. Apparently, though, a 0.0000001% chance of making the next level of the in-season marketing scam is really important.

The winner of the game might not reach 100. It should be a totally different game that the Detroit laugher.

But… we have Flynn?

Sadly, some of them will still want to trade Pascal. Scottie is not ready to lead a team. He played such an immature game today.

Kuzma built the lead and then he gave it away. His +3 +/- is exactly correct, yet amazingly incomplete, information.

Airing this in the first place was such a stupid decision by the production team. It’s already a well-known problem that players don’t want to play for the Mavs, that the organization is not player-friendly. Having your broadcast team basically take a shit on a player may make some reactionary fans happy, but it is just once more piece of evidence telling players and agents that signing with the Mavs is a bad decision.

Welcome to another five years of having to overpay for under-performing talent, Mavs fans.

Those of us in the Anti-Flynn League only have one honorable course left available to us: Claiming that our harsh criticism was necessary to spur his development.

A lot of people’s understanding of basketball is infected with bullshit fantasy analysis.

Boucher is secretly clutch, I think.