We have been waiting YEARS for this…

We have been waiting YEARS for this…

We have been waiting for this for years. As coming into the season, we knew the Raptors reloaded with talent, but had some question marks about fit, about depth, about heck, even coaching regarding Darko Rayovich. Well, Darko has completely proved himself. The bench guys out here for this Toronto Raptors team have stepped up and surprised a lot of people. And most importantly, you know, your top guys, your top lineup that, you know, starting unit of IQ, RJ Barrett, Scotty Barnes, Brandon Ingram, and Yaka Purle, they have not only exceeded expectations and fulfilled what people were hoping for. When you see that many talented players out there in this group, there were question marks about cohesion, about how this team would fit, how they would play off each other. Would there be enough, you know, basketball to go around with this team? Well, this honestly couldn’t have worked out better with how all these guys are playing off of each other. And that deserves a lot of credit to the players. It also deserves a lot of credit to the coaching staff. So, we are going to break down what’s going on because the Raptors just beat around the Indiana Pacers, right? They end up being 129 to 111. There’s not a lot of takeaways, not a lot of novel stuff beating a team in the Indiana Pacers that are dealing with a ton of injuries this season and are one of the bottom feeders out there in the Eastern Conference. But these are the types of games. These are the types of games that we’ve seen the Toronto Raptors in seasons past just throw away. They’re trap games. They’re this, they’re that. The Raptors just would gain a little bit of momentum and then they’d lose back-to-back games to, you know, some bottom feeders. That is what, you know, inconsistent. That is what nonactual playoff teams do. The Raptors handled their business in this one. And frankly, you know, prove to the fan base that they are legit this entire game. Yes, there was a stretch in the second quarter. Pacers went on a little bit of run, but after midway through the second, the Raptors handedly had a gigantic lead out there over the Pacers this entire way. And all around showing that people can step up, they can be consistent and can deal with the ups and downs of the season because the Raptors have dealt with a bunch of ups and downs. They’ve dealt with injuries. You know, we still have a lack of depth out there in the front court, which is something that still needs to be addressed, but we dealt with injuries at the start of the year. Still dealing with a couple here now and there, but dealt with some struggles, some slumps. RJ Barrett’s been slumping as of late, but they were able to come out and get this victory here now at this point. So, we can run through the box score. We can talk through this and I will I’ll bring up all the box score all these players, but I’ve been giving him a lot of praise here at the beginning of this video. Dark Ray Okovich. This man needs to be given his flowers because I have been singing the praises of this man as a development coach, as getting the most out of young talent, making them feel good, making them, you know, play up to their potential. And all the young guys, whether they’re, you know, first rounders, second rounders, undrafted guys, Dark Rayovich has been able to get the most out of his roster, right? Like we see so many of the guys being internally developed, right? Scotty Barnes has a lot of uh seasons now under Dark Rayovich. You have Grady Dick, Jacobe Walter have shown flashes of greatness. Cedto, even Mobo, Battle Shed, all these guys have had some great moments over the past couple seasons under Darko. And RJ Barrett’s having, you know, his best seasons of his career with Toronto. Dark Rayovich has gotten the most out of these guys. And this is something he’s proven in seasons past. We knew it was one of his skills. But once you’re trying to win, once you’re not trying to, you know, win games, and you know, you start going on win streaks and stuff, which we are on right now, you know, a little a little win streak for the Toronto Raptors, which we will dive into, and it was meme to death last year, the pizza parties and stuff. But would this work for a winning team? What Dark Rayovich is doing, his strategy, his, you know, implementation of everything. Well, the truth is Dark Rayovich right now, the the basics of the game, he’s managing the rotations very well. We have a lot of talent, a lot of guys that deserve NBA minutes and we are seeing a minutes distribution that isn’t, you know, taking people out of their rhythm, right? Uh, in terms of bits per game, ESPN messed up this box score. I’m going to build a custom box score so we don’t have to deal with this nonsense anymore. You see on the right side, right, the Raptors didn’t have any guys play over 32 minutes in last night’s game. And the minutes are, you know, we’re playing 10 deep and getting legitimate rotation run for guys like Grady Dick, Jacobe Walter, Jamal Shed, Murray Boils, Sandre Mcklli, all of these dudes are getting opportunities to develop, to get out there. And I haven’t seen one person complain out there in the comment section about, you know, Darkos rotations this season, which it’s one of those things no one complains about or no one talks about if it’s done right, but everyone complains about if it’s done wrong. And so many coaches end up doing it wrong. Even Nick Nurse who you led us to a championship had some weird rotations at times. Darkovic is perfectly you know running the rotations right now in terms of win now and also developing some young players. So he needs credit on that front. You watch the eye test, you watch the ball flowing, the ball moving and the way darker uses guys like you know Mamu Kell, Yaka Purle out there in screen actions out there in the high post. Everyone is moving, the ball is flowing and it’s just fluid. The biggest question, the biggest concern everyone had about this team is, hey, the offense is not going to work with so many, you know, lead ball handlers. Four guys in your starting lineup need the ball in their hands in order to execute. Well, this team has been fluid. This team has been flowing. Last night was another example of this. You know, shots are going around for Emanuel Quickley, for Scotty Barnes, RJ Barrett, Brandon Ingram. No one’s complaining. Everyone feels, you know, I’ve had some criticisms of Emanuel Quickley. So at times this season being a little bit overzealous with the basketball in his hands, but other than that you the offense that has executed from everyone. It’s been just natural fluid and no one brings this stuff up when it’s going good because it just falls in the background, right? Like you watch a Dwayne Casey offense and you know he was an awesome development coach but he really struggled in regards to making a free flowing system that the Raptors could have have an offense where everyone eats, everyone’s feeling good and it leads to, you know, perfect offensive execution. Dark Royovic has really stood out out there on that front. He’s made some adjustments throughout the season. The defense looks a lot better than it did at the start of the year. So I I’m six minutes into this one. I’m just singing the praises of Dark Ray Rock right now. think he deserves that praise that, you know, a lot of people were bagging on the first four games of the season. He’s made some tweaks, he’s made some adjustments. So, credit where credit is due. But let’s dive in the players because Yaka Purle tonight was uh was awesome. 89 from the field uh in this game. You know, 22 points, nine rebounds. Once again, proving how valuable he is to this Raptors team. I’ve been seeing a lot of Yaka Purle disrespect over the course of this season and in seasons past. People don’t understand how important he is to this group. Again, a big reason of his importance is because we don’t have any true centers behind him. You know, Mamu, you know, my my stats on B from him is 6’11. He’s 6’9. Really call Murray Boils. Again, not a true center. They don’t have that height, that size. The Raptors don’t have anyone else at the center position. So, we need to appreciate Yaka Purle and pray. This man does not get hurt. So, that is Yaka Purle’s performance. Scotty Barnes only had 14 points, but really orchestrated the offense out there on this game. Could have easily, you know, went been more aggressive. We had a little dunk on Pascal Seako which is great but having a legit star out there in Scotty Barnes is just huge. So you know he’s been awesome. Again I can read the box where we played the Indiana Pacers. RJ Barrett bounced back at 22 points in this one. Fairly efficient shooting 9 to 17. Brandon Ingram 19 points on 12 shots which is pretty crazy. Also had three steals in this game which is impressive. And off the bench Mamu Kelli deserves all the praise. The fact that we got this man at a $3 million contract is huge. And you know, I I’m going to continue to sing the praise to this man. Jamal Shed is elite at basketball. Deserves praise, deserves love, deserves whatever the heck it is. Shout out to Jamal Shed. He has been awesome. But the Raptors all around just had an awesome performance in this game. And we’ve been waiting years to see a Toronto Raptor team that’s competitive, that is out there in the Eastern Conference. And you can see it there right now. I’ll make it big once again. The Raptors are fourth seed out there in the East. They are the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference, a half game back of the two seed in the New York Knicks, who just lost Jaylen Brunson due to injury for at least the next few weeks. The Cleveland Cavaliers, they’ve been struggling a little bit as of late. You tied with the Atlanta Hawks. You don’t have much separation between you and the rest of the East. But that’s where the next uh stretch of games you really have an opportunity to create that separation. These every game in November is very very winnable. I mean, you play the Hornets who are struggling, the Wizards, the Nets, the Pacers again, the Hornets, all teams that are in the lower echelon of the Eastern Conference. You play the Sixers again, this time finally with Yaka Purle, and they’ve been good this season. Don’t get me wrong, that’s not going to be a cakewalk, but a team where you could really set your mark. And we’ve already beaten the Cavaliers twice. So, it’s a legitimate opportunity for the Raptors to go on a run, to get some wins, to get some W’s. And I couldn’t be more excited about this group, about this team. And I wouldn’t be shocked. Again, there’s a lot of trap games in here and uh you the East is super jam-packed, but by the end of November, I would not be shocked to see the Toronto Raptors as the number two seed in the Eastern Conference. And heck, maybe the Detroit Pistons lose a few games and we get back to number one. We’ll see. That’s a little overoptimistic probably, but very encouraged about this Toronto Raptor group, very encouraged about the direction things are going, and very happy to be rooting for a winning team. But I appreciate every single one of you. We’re always winning here on Raptors D. The community we have, and we are very, very close to that. at uh 40,000 subscriber goal. So, make sure you guys hit that subscribe button. Lots of stuff coming out here on the channel I think you guys will be really excited about. Anyways, I’m signing out.

The Toronto Raptors sent a message to the fan base and the entire NBA that they are officially back in last night’s game against the Indiana Pacers with multiple guys impressing out there in the lineup. Ben Rogers breaks down the incredible performances from Scottie Barnes, Jakob Poeltl and Sandro Mamukelashvili.

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