The Raptors have found something special...

The Toronto Raptors have found something special, as over the course of this preseason, we've seen flashes, we've seen hints of this quote-unquote death lineup for the Raptors, which is putting a fright into the rest of the NBA. So we'll discuss that. Now, Darko Rajaković, coach, used it against the NBA champions today and got some crazy results as well as some concerns that are definitely here to take away from the start of preseason because there are a lot of positives and honestly most of this video is going to be positives me being excited different developments in this one but there are a couple things that do have me a little nervous especially against certain matchups in the East and the entire NBA so lots of stuff we're going to dive into but folks i appreciate all the support lots of really nice comments out there on my vid today i had a lot of a bit different style more edited more deep dive gonna try to cook up some more after the feedback you guys gave so if you're enjoying all the different types of content we have going on the channel make sure you hit that subscribe button still 57% haven't hit that button just yet and I don't want you to miss a single thing but we have to talk about this Raptors game against the New York Knicks as this death line I'm demon at the death line with the death trio death to the other teams that's what's happening because Scottie Barnes, Kawhi Leonard and Colin Murray Boyles they look nasty together and Kawhi Leonard played today in another preseason game a second preseason game for the Toronto Raptors and some people might run with the narratives like oh it's a Chuck E. Cheese game the other day against the Knicks it was against their bench we can't take anything away from it and this one we ended up losing because you do look at the box score the final numbers the Raptors did end up losing this game 120 to 122 for the New York Knicks is what it is right that outcome it's it's fine but what we have to take away is the actual moments in this one the actual moments where our top guys our top dogs were out there on the basketball court and this trio man looks dominant it looks exciting it is something I'm getting very amped up about Matt Devlin said this on the broadcast but Scotty Barnes, Kawhi Leonard and Colin Murray-Boyles played six minutes together in this game and they outscored the New York Knicks the NBA champion New York Knicks and they were going up against Brunson, McHale, OG, Karl-Anthony Towns they outscored them 21-7 the Knicks shoot just two of nine from the field in those moments and it was all from Matt Devlin out there on the broadcast it makes sense it just makes so much sense right Scottie Barnes we talked about how he's going to be unlocked playing alongside Kawhi Leonard who's taken the brunt of the defensive energy the defensive focus from these other teams today in just 28 minutes of action 23 points for Scottie Barnes three rebounds four assists shot four or five from the three-point line which is interesting you know i made a whole deep dive out there on the three-point shooting and stuff so uh we'll see how uh that shooting ends up translating i i made the recommendation the raptors don't go the route of getting Scottie Barnes to shoot more threes but if he's been putting in work he's been out there in the gym this entire summer and he's able to knock down 80 of his threes of course that's unrealistic that is someone that i don't mind having the elevated three-point stroke definitely something to moderate over the course of the season also having four blocks in this game and these weren't your relax regular soft tips this man was looking like Victor Wembanyama out there in the paint swatting shots away being a rim protector a deterrent around the basket because there were moments we'll talk about the big man situation but Scottie Barnes was forced to guard Karl-Anthony Towns forced to guard the other bigs and forced to come in some drop side help whether was Brunson, whether it was other guards on the Knicks, came in, was able to block some shots and deter even more around the basket. Scottie Barnes, phenomenal game. You look at Kawhi, you're like, okay, you know, six points for Kawhi, or is he washed? Is he this? Kawhi wasn't forcing up shots. He took five shot attempts in this game. We saw it in the first one. Kawhi is going to be taking a bunch of looks, going to be taking a bunch of shots for the Toronto Raptors. There's no need for him to overdo it, to over push it out there in preseason. And six points, one rebound, one assists that's fine he was letting the other guys do their work he was getting double teamed and blitzed early on as well and then that allowed other players to also step up Immanuel Quickley 12 points five rebounds two assists one of three from the three-point line you know knocking knocking down threes he's talking about being more confident from behind the arc and uh scoring baskets around the rim but it's really this defense it's really this squad that that has has just the NBA on on rails and last season we saw it with Immanuel Quickley and Scottie Barnes together when they were on the court there's a plus six net rating for this team and the defensive rating was just immaculate so the lower the number the defensive rating the better it is and you can see it was a 107 when they were together but it was just uh you know just one of them out there on the court it was you know 114 that's a significant drop that is a very very substantial thing and then if you add Kawhi Leonard to this mix if you add Kawhi Leonard to this trio that's gonna put the the fear of this defensive team into any opponent they face this season but that trio is phenomenal we know it we're excited about it the eye test shows that even in the small sample size i do want to talk a little bit more about Scottie Barnes and what he was showing out there for this team and a lot of people's reactions to what was going on because especially early on in this game Scottie Barnes was just knocking down some mid-range jump shots at an elite rate and Josh Lumberg said Barnes statistics his first four shots three mid-rangers and above the break three getting to his spots and looking comfortable with a confident in his jumper against real NBA defenders that is very encouraging we also had this one come out from Blake Murphy saying Scottie Barnes looks super comfortable in the mid-range early on and the Raptors have generated those looks a few different ways on and off the ball he was just getting to his spots and people are talking about how you know the impact of Kawhi Leonard how it's going to impact these different guys Boyles Jacoby Walter it's going to impact Scottie Barnes in such a way as well just given their build just given their style of play if he can learn some of those tips and tricks from Kawhi and you know playing against OG I know you can see some of the tips and tricks that he learned from his one year with Kawhi Leonard as well but that's just going to take his game to the next level and we saw it in this one right where Scottie Barnes is scoring from again he's most effective around the basket so I'm not someone that's sold on him just taking all these shots from outside you see so many of these looks you know all these attempts from you know in these different areas right six attempts in the mid-range he took uh four corner threes he took one above the break three knock down you know his free throws and stuff i'd like his shot chart to be a little bit closer to the basket especially with the Knicks they don't have i know Andre Drummond's big and i know Karl-Anthony Towns is big but you can get to the rim out there on this team i'd like this shot chart to be a bit more you know around the net but if he is shooting four or five from the three-point line don't listen to me you know knock down those shots and it's good to see because Scottie Barnes has struggled against uh you know the New York Knicks at times over the course of his career so uh nice to see it it's only pre-season but not something that i'm too worried about but who I love and his gravity and how it's uh you know impacting the rest of the things for this team it's it's going to be a serious thing to look at we have this quote come out as well from Unrivalled Gator Unrivalled Gator saying Kawhi will improve and change our shooting percentage and analytics that will open up the court for the rest of our players across the board Scottie's improving his trey bomb RJ Barrett is loading up his clip and now even Colm Murray Boils is perfecting the three-pointer it's just up to the bench and the young guns like Jacoby and Jamal and the rest of this team to improve their game great points though great points there and this all makes a ton of sense as uh you know Scottie Barnes looked elevated in this one and Colmurray Boils continues uh to be the x factor out there for this team because he's made it known he has made it known he wants to expand his shooting he wants to improve in these different areas and essentially he's just trying to build that confidence to shoot threes more that was the biggest focus not really trying to fix my jumper but just getting the confidence and getting shots up if they're sagging on me i have to shoot it we want to shoot more threes we want to get in that 35 ish per game number if it's open shoot it and that's basically what it is and again this is very important I brought it up in the shooting video this morning if they're going to leave you open the Raptors had the most open look threes last season and didn't make a high volume of them so you need confidence a part of that is this team would be hesitant to let it fly the teams would be sagging if you got an open look you're an NBA player you have to be able to knock those shots down so it's nice to see him trying to build up that confidence because we're going to need him out there on the court a ton and one major reason is because the bigs are starting to expose the the Toronto Raptors paint weaknesses as you know there's a reason Darko Rajakovic is talking about playing CMB and Jakub Pertl together it's because a lot of these guys out there on the Knicks and any team that we're going to face up against it's been a problem for years I'm not going to go on a tirade about it out there in uh you know preseason by any stretch of the imagination but you know the bigs out there for this team Karl-Anthony Towns 15 rebounds out there in this one you know you had Andre Drummond coming off the bench dunking on people scoring in their face at 14 and 8 and 4 out there in 15 minutes of action the bench or sorry the big man defense for the Raptors was not good at all and again I hate to to be the guy that bashes on the player or pile on a guy that has taken a lot of criticism over the last little while but Jakub Pertl it's his job it's his responsibility to make sure that that paint is protected and make sure he is getting rebounds and I get Karl-Anthony Towns one of the more underrated players in the league but 15 rebounds for Karl-Anthony Towns is ridiculous and the fact that he got 15 rebounds and then Andre Drummond also got eight in just 15 minutes of action that is not a good sign out there for your team and Pirtle I'm rooting for the guy I'm rooting for him desperately but he played 24 minutes in this game there were a lot of missed shots and not not not from him but there are a lot of missed shots in this game in general and he only got four rebounds for the Raptors while just getting bullied and abused by this other side. That can't be happening. That Pirtle, you're not spacing the floor. You're not guarding out there on the perimeter. You're not hitting your free throws. You have a touch around the basket, but the reason you were out there on the court is because you play good positional defense and because you can rebound. Obviously, you can pass the high post. He has a bit of a touch around the rim, but those are his two priorities out there for this team if he is not able to do that Pirtle does become unplayable I like that he's more mobile I like that he looks a little bit leaner this season to prevent injury but if that comes with an inability to guard the center position that is why you were paid your contract extensions why you were so valuable for this team and it needs to be fixed it needs to be fixed because the team did look very very good when Colin Murray Boyles was out there on defense and you know doing different stuff out there for this team however looking at the depth chart right CMB is more of a four he is going to close games at the five but you can't have him guard Andre Drummond Carl Anthony Towns the big dudes out there 30 40 possessions it's a high risk of injury guarding players that are that big that aggressive you need your big men to go around and be able to eat those innings for you at that center position. And if Pirtle's not able to rebound, I don't know why he's not getting much run. I don't know why he's not getting that many minutes. But Trace Jackson Davis should end up being a mainstay in the rotation. I know some people are high on Nate Biddle, high on Jamirand Sharp. We haven't seen Biddle where he's been in that. He's been injured. I think Trace Jackson Davis has quietly become one of the most underutilized Toronto Raptors. And he played really well out there pretty well every opportunity he's gotten. i uh i'm disappointed that uh he hasn't uh he hasn't gotten any any real burn out there in preseason but again you can take a look at the stats as well the knicks won the offensive rebounds 15 to 9 downs at 15 boards Drummond at 14 and 8 toronto has to find stops and they need to finish possessions with boards that's my notes that's what i had out there in this section but the final thing i do want to touch on is Emmanuel Quickley RJ Barrett you know they're completing that group we talked about the big three and the raptors found something special out there on that front RJ Barrett just continues to prove my take correct do not move this do not move RJ Barrett please i've seen more rumors i've seen more stuff come out but in this one 30 minutes of action 21 points eight rebounds four assists two six and three point line seven to ten from the field from the free throw stripe six to twelve from the field the Raptors needed an engine on the offensive end at times in this game and RJ Barrett provided as he has been doing his entire Toronto Raptors tenure give this man his respect especially he's going to take a pay cut just extend him and figure it out but that's my take that's my take there and then Emmanuel Quickley also had a very good game in this one 18 points five rebounds seven assists one of five from the three-point line which is uh interesting but we know many of this all but i thought he made some really good decisions out there at the point guard spot and over the course of preseason it looks like he's tamed down some of those weird possessions those weird plays that he'd make that would pull your hair out but it's uh you know that's the product of playing alongside Kawhi Leonard and Scotty Barnes out there for most of your possessions very good stuff very good stuff out there on that front and we see it when Scotty Barnes is playing with Emmanuel Quickley it's a plus five of course you know the minutes without both that's a that's an interesting tidbit but the Raptors are better when Emmanuel Quickley and Scotty Barnes are playing together and I'll stand on business with that But I don't know. The Toronto Raptors don't have a lot of preseason games left. They play once again tomorrow against the Detroit Pistons and then come Wednesday, the real battles begin So make sure you guys hit that subscribe button if you don't want to miss a single thing with the Toronto Raptors team. We got a lot of fun content, a lot of stuff I'm working on out there in the back and I'm excited to show you guys and announce and all that over the coming days but if you're enjoying the content, I just played a game of basketball myself as well so I'm exhausted right now but I appreciate every single one of you I'm signing out