[Lewenberg] Rajakovic was asked why Quickley wasn’t on the floor to close the game? “Because Jamal Shead was on the floor instead.”
Seems logical. This guy knows the rules of basketball.
He’s got to be diplomatic because of the contract. It’s the same reason he keeps giving Quick opportunities while our fans call Darko an idiot. If we are to have any hope of trading Quick it likely won’t be a permanent benching.
But it looks like it’s reached the point where enough is enough. Darko isn’t gonna keep throwing away winnable games when Quick is completely shitting the bed and Shead is so much steadier.
I get that he was bad today but IQ put up 27pts and was +34 in yesterday’s win. It’s not like he’s a horrific player, he just can’t seem to put it together consistently
He has 35m AAV, he’s needed to consistently play well.
You only get so much run to put it together.
One of the best parts of the OG trade for us was not being obligated to give Quickley an enormous contract. I really liked him on the Knicks, he was a really good sixth man but paying him to be a second option never seemed like a winning strategy.
The history of the NBA tells us that undersized guards who can’t be a primary ballhandler and scorer for an efficient offense can only really be sixth men. I can’t really think of any exceptions. A starting pointguard who isn’t either breaking down the defense relentlessly to facilitate for others or creating their own looks with high efficiency and high volume is kinda just playing replacement level basketball as a starter.
As a sixth man his game is perfect but he’s now making \(32M/yr until 2029. We're paying Jordan Clarkson \)3.6M/yr to do that, and McBride $3.9M/yr to do it a bit differently.
He also has the best ts% on the team.
Literally not true. He’s 8th on the team and below 3 other starters.
Must have just dropped below the last few games, he had it higher than the other starters until the recent mini slump.
Still a hundred points higher than Shead. Also higher BPM, VORP, win shares.
Recent mini slump? He was straight ass to start the year and got hot for a few weeks a month ago. What are you talking about? He was never close to the top when you take into account guys like Jak and guys who hardly play but even then he was never above BI or Scottie throughout the year. They were above 60 when the win streak was alive. You’re just flat out wrong and I have no idea where you got that from.
He started bad. Then he brought his 3% to 38%. He didn’t do that by having 1 good game.
And “he was never close to the top when you take into account guys who hardly play”….is that sentence supposed to bolster your agenda??? Lol
He was above Scottie and BI until last week on efg% and ts%. And here’s still like 100 points higher than Shead there. Plus having better BPM and VORP and win shares.
You said he was at the top but he literally never was. When was he ever above Jak or Barrett in efg%? or ts%? Never. You made up some bs. I don’t give a shit about Shead or the argument surrounding who needs to start. IQ was never more efficient in any metric to be at the top during any stretch.
Shead was a +34 against the Warriors. IQ was +7. IQ improved on that game when he started to play SG on the 4th.
You think Shead is a better player than Quickley…?
Yes hope this helps
Easily, and he’s not a starting calibre PG either. Should tell you how bad things are
Help me understand as I do not watch the raptors. I’ve only watched them against my knicks although I’m intrigued with Quickley being a former Knick.
I know Shead is a pretty good defender (if not great) as he had Brunson locked up multiple times throughout the season. But his FG% is 36.8% and 3 PT% is 33.6%. Those are %s that are not sustainable for playing time no matter how good your defense is.
Quicks contract is one thing and I’m assuming his defense has been non-existent, but he is averaging a respectable 16 pts on 43% fg and 35% 3 pt (neither are great tbf). I know numbers do not tell the whole story so let me know what I’m missing! Havent watch Quick as he was injured each time we played ya’ll.
It’s inconsistency. Plus his court vision sometimes appears to lack.
But that said, it’s more of a team problem as they still rely on hero ball from BI and Scottie. They need to develop better plays where Quickley can execute and not just be a ball carrier and hand off guy at the point and his other plays are only a 3 pointer, where he’s inconsistent, or a pointless drive to the basket, because of his size. This is on coaching.
They need IQs shooting. The problem is when IQ isnt hitting his shots hes not a good PG considering he lacks the vision for good playmaking.
Ideally hes the off ball 2G, however that means either Barrett is off the bench or when poeltl comes back, someone is sitting.
They can try Shead/IQ together for now, however with poeltl thats not viable.
hes not a good PG considering he lacks the vision for good playmaking
It’s a two way street. If other players on floor are not following the play, which is sometimes glaringly obvious with this young team, coaching needs to drill this into them. It’s not IQ’s fault if wings are, for example not cutting, when opportunity presents. Agbaji is terrible at this. Walter does OK. You need to help your pg to make the play too. But it’s a bad look on IQ when you just see him dribbling for some time and can’t pass and just pulls up or tries to go at the basket.
This guy thinks
This guy replies. 👍
“The NBA doesn’t allow 6 players to take the court, next question”
“Are you stupid?”
IQ is literally the same player as he was on NY. Did not make enough of an improvement for the bigger role he got
Damn sad to see. He was a really great defender and could score 20+ easily off the bench
His defense disappeared here.
He has good length the issue with us is you can easy body him he needs to get stronger
Bulking up means he will no longer move quickley.
You slick sonofabitch
But can he still sell your car quickly?
I don’t watch raptors games enough, but I imagine it’s hard for everyone to play defense with no center right now. Riskier to gamble for steals when you got little rim protection behind you.
he was never a gambler tho. always just well-positioned POA defender that contained the ball well and even played decent help defense. don’t watch many Raps games but he’s just flat out regressed on that end
In Toronto he gets blown by by everyone and their grandmas
Ayo
Thibs always had IQ on the weakest offensive player so he can play free safety in the passing lanes and help D more.
Turns out if ur 6’4 guard who cant really guard ballhandlers ur not a good defender lol
He wasn’t really a POA-defender i NY though. What made him great was his rotations and help defense.
Lineups with CMB at the 5 are by far our best defensive lineups, so it isn’t that.
He was a very overrated defender on NY tbh. Hes decent off ball but cant guard the ball. Hes been a negative defender most of the time in toronto
He was a good defender in Thibs’ system but he’s not good at the POA and that’s more prominent in Darkos scheme.
He is needed for his shooting, however hes not a fit as the lead PG.
And thats a problem.
it wouldn’t be as much of a problem if he still defended well tbh. NY he defended well above his size, was able to guard true 6-5 to 6-7 SG types as long as they weren’t too strong, as well as lead guards. but his defense is gone so suddenly he’s just an undersized microwave scoring guard with some C&S value a la Lou Will which is nowhere near as valuable
I will argue that he has regressed on defense.
he has.
Thats true, he also isnt coming off the bench next to a POA defender anymore
Just because Raptors made a mistake by overpaying IQ, doesn’t mean they need to keep throwing games away when he doesn’t have it. When he is not shooting well, he provides very little value. In fact, he actively hurts the defense and offense with his boneheaded decisions.
Follow up question: “So why was Jamal Shead on the floor?”
Darko: Because Immanuel Quickley wasn’t.
Raptors need to trade IQ lol
Team might actually be better w Jamal on the floor atp. The 2nd round 2nd year guy outplaying the 35mil a year guy doesn’t bode well, we need to try to dump him (& Jak, but Jak won’t fetch anything) to whoever is willing to buy in on the idea of a third chance being the one. He just has no natural PG skills, no defense, and isn’t even shooting well enough to warrant either of those things. He’s a 6th man combo miscast as a starting PG, and we’re unfortunately the team paying him to be miscast
The Trae idea makes sense.
I don’t see how we have money to pay Trae 60 mill, Ingram 40, RJ 30 and Scottie 40, especially if we can’t get off Jak’s contract.
I guess, packaging RJ and IQ and getting Trae and someone else
Trae’s not getting 60m. Gonna be like the Ingram situation last year where Ingram wanted 50m+ but wasn’t getting that
No chance, he costs too much and doesn’t fit our style. We need a PG who is a good and committed defender and puts pressure on the rim more than a great facilitator.
God, if that happens I’m going to have to scrub my comment history
Trae for IQ seems like a real possibility. Both quick and Trae have reasons for lower value. Could make sense for both teams.
Can the Wizards interest you in an expiring CJ McCollum? I hear he comes preloaded with Brandon Ingram chemistry
If you package a 2026 first sure
I think CJ is probably the worst serious offer your FO would consider and even then there’s no world where we’re attaching pics
There’s genuinely no chance they’d accept CJ straight up or without a prospect/picks. IQ is a disappointment, but he’s also young, a good shooter, and has some value.
Unless he suddenly becomes extremely distressed as an asset, it won’t happen. I dunno what CJ’s contract length is like, but even an expiring isn’t worth it for someone who might be flipped to a team that’s actually good and needs a guard. At least i hope that’s not all we can hope for
You guys gave him a 5-year contract where he makes $32.5 million every year. He has 3.5 years left. Some nights he wakes up and does something but he also has nights like tonight where he puts up 4 points on horrible efficiency.
You’ll have to add a 1st round pick to dump him somewhere.
I think he can recover his value if he goes back to playing off ball. He can still shoot the ball which is still a valuable skill. They just need to stop trying to make him a lead PG.
In the 2nd apron era, not many teams are gonna find that to be worth $32.5 million.
And now that I think about it, it might actually take 2 firsts to dump him. I can’t recall any recent salary dumps where a player was owed this much money. The most recent salary dumps I do recall involved guys making half of what IQ’s making and on much shorter deals too, and those dumps still cost a late 1st round pick.
I am saying that they don’t need to trade him at all. Just stop treating him like a lead PG. Treat him like a SG. Play him off ball. Raptors need a player like that. They are not in any money crunch. He is decent when he plays off ball.
Other Raptors fans see it differently since you guys are paying Scottie/Ingram/Quickley and then you got Poeltl on his overpay of a contract and RJ who is making good cheddar but will either need to be traded or extended. That’s not to mention the rookies who will all need to be paid soon or eventually. I guess the good news is that Gradey Dick sucks so he’s probably not getting a big contract.
Because some Raptors fans are dumb AF. He’s had a couple of rough games but there was literally a 20 game stretch from November to mid December where he averaged 17/5/6 on 62% TS.
Sure, tonight’s game and the 1⁄12 game against Boston a few days ago are going to tank his averages but overall he’s been fine with the exception of a couple of bad games.
Raptors fans have a hate boner for every starting PG we’ve had since Lowry. Hated FVV when he was with us, and now they’re channeling their hate onto IQ. Shead is the darling right now, but he’ll get the same treatment once he gets his next contract lol.
They’ll trade RJ. As much as he has improved his play, he is going to want a contract which wouldn’t be worth paying. He might even get a decent return as an expiring contract next season. They have been trying to trade him for a while. Also, I don’t think any of the rookies which need to paid are going to be paid big contracts.
Celtics dump KP on a $30M deal but he was an expiring so it wasn’t viewed as such a negative asset.
Jrue & Tingus Pingus were salary dumps for the C’s but they weren’t salary dumps for the rest of the league if that makes sense. Both guys had value, which is partly why the Blazers originally sent a 2nd round pick to Boston before Jrue’s medicals nixed that.
A real salary dump is generally for a guy who has 0 value in the league at his price point. Like the Lakers dumping Westbrook to the Jazz for a pick. That was before the 2nd apron era though and it’s hard to imagine what a total negative on a big contract would cost to dump.
I am not sure why anyone would be dying to trade for him and his contract. You can probably find guys playing for a lot cheaper that could basically do what he does. Or you can just try to draft guys instead of giving up draft capital
I think he’d be a good pickup for the Magic or Suns.
The Suns just went through the Bradley Beal experience.
Bradley Beal doesnt have legs.
He’s greatly overpaid and playing horrible, why would he be a good pickup for either team?
He’s not actually playing horribly this season. He’s overpaid yes and was awful last night but he’s been fine on the season. Not 32m fine but fine.
Negative value contract.
Lol wrong tho. We have been closing games with the IQ/Shead backcourt for over a month now with RJ out. And RJ was out tonight. It was actually CMB who finished the game instead of IQ which was the right call man had like 2 huge blocks and a million rebounds in the clutch
We’re about to “Jeremy Grant” Quickley
Jerami*
I swear Quickley is terrible
our fans are coping insanely that he isn’t one of the worst if not the worst contract in the league
Jamal Shead
The IQ and Poeltl contracts - oof!
Its rough being a Raptors fan.
Poetl has been a huge part of the team but he’s just been hurt all year. If he gets healthy I don’t hate it, but not looking good.
my goat 🤧
i appreciate Quickley and his effort. As a fan i will have love for every player even if they aren’t the best
But it just doesn’t work. The issue is that he’s not really a pg and quickley type players are rather replaceable, and most of them are cheaper
We need a true ball handling pg. lamelo, trae or garland are all worth it for this team
fans saying otherwise stink.
Loved quick in NY, I was hoping he’d have a breakout season in Toronto by now.
People lost on IQ’s inconsistent play are also failing to mention Shead bas been absolutely brilliant. IQ js fine, but Shead was in a career night last night.
The Knicks knew what they had in IQ and didn’t know what they had in RJ.
Balkan players and coaches give the sassiest answers.
Trade IQ for Trae man, buy low and you can drop him easily if you don’t want him
ask the Hawks if you can really drop Trae easily
Nah like his contract is only for one more year so if he doesn’t work out, Toronto can pivot easily
The Hawks are going to want FRPs for Trae. You don’t spend firsts on a player you might drop after a year unless it’s a 2019 Kawhi situation.