I look at him like I do Lamelo. Did those guys make the teams better in the regular season? Yes, absolutely. Are they good players to have in the playoffs? tbh I’m no so sure

Playoffs require your whole team, and especially your best players, to work their fucking asses off, be mentally and physically tough and be smart. I could see BI and Lamelo being on a team in the same way JR Smith was with the LeBron Cavs but NOT as the best players on any team because I don’t think they have what it takes to play selfless and smart basketball

BI complaining about his shots is an example of that

We would match the pre-season wins/losses odds people had us at without BI

Ehh, BI had the worse on court +/- and on/off +/- of the entire Raptors rotation this year.

From the outside (and watching these 3 games) he looks like a clear negative and drag on the team. Yeah he can hit some tough shots but that’s not necessarily valuable if that’s all he does.

But that is not fair contra logic too because in that case we should replace BI with his salary and couple other players

To me it just reads more as they would have been even better than they were if he played with at least two brain cells.

The raptors would win around the same without him because they shoot a lot of 3s and have a spreadsheet approved wing with no “fuckup areas” (aka not a liability on defense, passing).

Jimmy is definitely not a pure hooper and is one of the unethical players out there lol. His career free throw rate is literally like 60% lmao.

Jimmy butler is an elite defensive player, rebounder, and passer who doesn’t shoot that much. Great analytics. Spreadsheets loved him and had him as a t5 player when he tried. He’s like the SG version of Tatum but smaller, a bad shooter, and slightly worse at everything.

“Pure hooper” means guys like BI, Jaylen brown, melo, banchero who offer nothing outside of “meh efficiency shot chucking”.

Occasionally they will clap on defense which briefly gives them a reputation for being elite defenders (sexton, jaylen brown), which eventually wears off (sexton).

hoopers vs buckets vs professionals

Barnes took a step forward.

He’s not getting any kind of whistle and I think it has him shook tbh

Believe me, most fans who aren’t complete bricks are well aware. He is not a point guard and it shows every single time the offense devolves into Brunson hero ball

Brandon “DeFrozen” Ingram

It was fine like 20 years ago but in today’s game you can have an elite offense by just kicking out to some corner shooter off the street who shoots like 40% from 3 50 times a game so basketball is mostly about not blowing it for your team in other ways (defense, boxing out) and not mucking up the offense with dumb middys.

That’s why guys like Tatum/butler/haliburton always have miraculously deep runs every year even if they don’t have any “skill”.

On the other hand guys like Jaylen brown, demar derozan, Brandon Ingram, and Luka doncic do not understand that so they blow the game for their teams in various ways.

Shai is efficient and a decent and willing passer.

Will he? I think - and have thought for a while - that this is who he is. Not a winning player.

I don’t think so. We’ve seen 10 years of Brandon Ingram. We know who he is.

this is who’s he’s always been

Exactly. No one should be surprised that BI’s exactly who we thought he was. Raptors have some really nice pieces so I hope they move BI for someone who’s going to be more of a consistent net positive.

I choose to believe those millions have gone into Scottie siphoning BI’s mid range shooting throughout the year 🙏

We get no high value free agents so we’re always stuck having to overpay when we have the ability to sign a player like Ingram.

It’s weird though because I don’t think we would be the 5th seed without Ingram but he definitely isn’t contributing when it matters most 

Yeah but I’d at least expect him to score more, this series he’s not doing much of anything.

Agreed. Its when hes not shooting well where it doesnt look good.

CMB is a PROBLEM

He was low-key a diva and got away with a lot of shit due to David Griffin and the lack of scrutiny on the Pels.

Agreed. I don’t think he’s worth his contract but I don’t agree with the comments treating him as net negative.

Barnes is by far and away our best player and it’s not even close

This is his team, he just needs to keep the same type of mindset he had last night and stay aggressive

Too often he just lets his foot off the gas and defaults to letting others try to run the show. Whether it be because he’s tired or because he’s just too used to not being that guy growing up, it’s the biggest thing holding him back from reaching that next level

They were both all stars. BI was an injury replacement

Is he though? Raptors aren’t making the playoffs without him. He’s raised the floor and deserves respect. One bad quote doesn’t change that, hopefully he bounces back. 

Man have you even watched a regular season raps game, dude consistently is helping on defence and using his length well.

He’s being schemed around very well these playoffs, y’all acting like bro is moving like Jamal Crawford

I think RJ and IQ have much better attitudes.

You won’t catch me apologizing for an opinion I stand firm in.

Even if he made a game winning shot, it wouldn’t change the fact that he’s supposed to be one of the leaders on the team and is continuing to be a complete non factor instead.

I don’t think so. Siakam and Scottie turning it up in the playoffs.

When Siakam was supposed to be the #1 option in the bubble he was ass but paired with Kawhi in our run he was unstoppable. Even with Haliburton last year he was amazing. It’s really when he has to be the first option he struggles IMO