Author Topic: Toronto Raptors  (Read 3961 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Re: Toronto Raptors
« Reply #30 on: January 13, 2018, 12:49:20 AM »

Offline droopdog7

  • Paul Silas
  • ******
  • Posts: 6970
  • Tommy Points: 466
A cavs team with a Horrible defense having to win 2 series on the road is going to need a herculean effort from Lebron.
Well, Lebron pretty much is Hercules so the Cavs winning two series on the road is not at all far-fetched.

Re: Toronto Raptors
« Reply #31 on: January 13, 2018, 12:53:01 AM »

Offline KGs Knee

  • Frank Ramsey
  • ************
  • Posts: 12749
  • Tommy Points: 1544
Toronto just doesn't concern me.  They're not even on my radar.  Too untrustworthy come playoff time.

Re: Toronto Raptors
« Reply #32 on: January 13, 2018, 01:09:05 AM »

Offline GreenWarrior

  • Ray Allen
  • ***
  • Posts: 3275
  • Tommy Points: 228
the raptors are the Memphis grizzlies of the east. they've gone as far as they're ever going to go, they've floundered near the top but never going to break through.

the only way they get over the top is if the better teams ahead of them collapse.

Re: Toronto Raptors
« Reply #33 on: January 13, 2018, 02:50:05 AM »

Offline colincb

  • NCE
  • Rajon Rondo
  • *****
  • Posts: 5095
  • Tommy Points: 501
Not to rain on the parade, but I think they have played one of the easiest schedules in the league thus far.
This isn't accurate.  The Raptors have 1 game in the Central time zone the rest of the season and every other game is in the Eastern time zone.  They have played 23 road games and 17 home games.  They are 15-2 at home and 14-9 on the road (and remember the only western team they haven't played on the road is Minnesota).  They obviously still have some tough western teams at home (GS is their next game) and have some tough eastern road games, but I'd be pretty surprised if the Raptors aren't the 1 seed.

Strength of schedule.
the advanced/weighted SOS have the Raptors playing a more difficult schedule than the Celtics thus far. Which makes sense given what I posted aboit their road heavy western conference heavy schedule. 

They play 1 game outside if the Eastern Time Zone the rest of the way (and it is Minnesota which is a short flight). That is insane. They are 14-2 at home and have played 6 less home games.


The East is 500 against the West so far this year.

There's 2 widely used SOS metrics. One is simple SOS and the other is RPI which is known to college BB fans. Both have BOS > TOR. I'm sure if one looks long enough, they'll find some model that shows TOR with a tougher schedule by incorporating days of rest, backs to back etc. etc.,  but there's likely more going the C's way given that the simple SOS calculations does.

I look both to road records and especially records against 500+ teams as indicative of playoff success. BOS leads both and our total 3 game advantage vs TOR in the standings is solely due to our much better record against 500+ teams (14-7 vs 9-8). Among the 6 teams with the best records whom most people think of as contenders BOS is 5-2, GSW 4-2, HOU 3-3, TOR 2-3, SAS 2-3, and CLE 1-4 with one of the Cs losses being the GH injury game.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 02:56:30 AM by colincb »

Re: Toronto Raptors
« Reply #34 on: January 13, 2018, 03:19:40 PM »

Offline Moranis

  • James Naismith
  • *********************************
  • Posts: 33461
  • Tommy Points: 1533
Not to rain on the parade, but I think they have played one of the easiest schedules in the league thus far.
This isn't accurate.  The Raptors have 1 game in the Central time zone the rest of the season and every other game is in the Eastern time zone.  They have played 23 road games and 17 home games.  They are 15-2 at home and 14-9 on the road (and remember the only western team they haven't played on the road is Minnesota).  They obviously still have some tough western teams at home (GS is their next game) and have some tough eastern road games, but I'd be pretty surprised if the Raptors aren't the 1 seed.

Strength of schedule.
the advanced/weighted SOS have the Raptors playing a more difficult schedule than the Celtics thus far. Which makes sense given what I posted aboit their road heavy western conference heavy schedule. 

They play 1 game outside if the Eastern Time Zone the rest of the way (and it is Minnesota which is a short flight). That is insane. They are 14-2 at home and have played 6 less home games.


The East is 500 against the West so far this year.

There's 2 widely used SOS metrics. One is simple SOS and the other is RPI which is known to college BB fans. Both have BOS > TOR. I'm sure if one looks long enough, they'll find some model that shows TOR with a tougher schedule by incorporating days of rest, backs to back etc. etc.,  but there's likely more going the C's way given that the simple SOS calculations does.

I look both to road records and especially records against 500+ teams as indicative of playoff success. BOS leads both and our total 3 game advantage vs TOR in the standings is solely due to our much better record against 500+ teams (14-7 vs 9-8). Among the 6 teams with the best records whom most people think of as contenders BOS is 5-2, GSW 4-2, HOU 3-3, TOR 2-3, SAS 2-3, and CLE 1-4 with one of the Cs losses being the GH injury game.
My point about the West, was just that they don't have to travel as much the rest of the season.  They have just 1 game outside of the Eastern Time Zone.  That is just insane at this point in the season.  There are plenty of metrics on schedule and how best to calculate it.  Here is one that has the Raptors at 10 and Celtics at 26 https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other

basketball-reference's, SRS which accounts for both schedule strength and margin of victory, has the Raptors at 7.40 which is 3rd while the Celtics are 4.70 though 4th.

The Raptors are 14-2 at home and have played 6 less games at home.  They have just 1 3 game road trip the rest of the season and that includes a day off in between all games and the 3 teams are NY, Brooklyn, and Indiana.  Though they do have 6 back to backs and they have to travel in every single one of them (I still don't understand why the NBA does that so much in the schedule, but that is a different topic for a different day).  So there are some challenges, but those challenges are all basically at home or a relatively short flight
2023 Historical Draft - Brooklyn Nets - 9th pick

Bigs - Pau, Amar'e, Issel, McGinnis, Roundfield
Wings - Dantley, Bowen, J. Jackson
Guards - Cheeks, Petrovic, Buse, Rip

Re: Toronto Raptors
« Reply #35 on: January 13, 2018, 03:36:05 PM »

Offline jpotter33

  • James Naismith
  • *********************************
  • Posts: 47892
  • Tommy Points: 2906
Not to rain on the parade, but I think they have played one of the easiest schedules in the league thus far.
This isn't accurate.  The Raptors have 1 game in the Central time zone the rest of the season and every other game is in the Eastern time zone.  They have played 23 road games and 17 home games.  They are 15-2 at home and 14-9 on the road (and remember the only western team they haven't played on the road is Minnesota).  They obviously still have some tough western teams at home (GS is their next game) and have some tough eastern road games, but I'd be pretty surprised if the Raptors aren't the 1 seed.

Strength of schedule.
the advanced/weighted SOS have the Raptors playing a more difficult schedule than the Celtics thus far. Which makes sense given what I posted aboit their road heavy western conference heavy schedule. 

They play 1 game outside if the Eastern Time Zone the rest of the way (and it is Minnesota which is a short flight). That is insane. They are 14-2 at home and have played 6 less home games.


The East is 500 against the West so far this year.

There's 2 widely used SOS metrics. One is simple SOS and the other is RPI which is known to college BB fans. Both have BOS > TOR. I'm sure if one looks long enough, they'll find some model that shows TOR with a tougher schedule by incorporating days of rest, backs to back etc. etc.,  but there's likely more going the C's way given that the simple SOS calculations does.

I look both to road records and especially records against 500+ teams as indicative of playoff success. BOS leads both and our total 3 game advantage vs TOR in the standings is solely due to our much better record against 500+ teams (14-7 vs 9-8). Among the 6 teams with the best records whom most people think of as contenders BOS is 5-2, GSW 4-2, HOU 3-3, TOR 2-3, SAS 2-3, and CLE 1-4 with one of the Cs losses being the GH injury game.
My point about the West, was just that they don't have to travel as much the rest of the season.  They have just 1 game outside of the Eastern Time Zone.  That is just insane at this point in the season.  There are plenty of metrics on schedule and how best to calculate it.  Here is one that has the Raptors at 10 and Celtics at 26 https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/ranking/schedule-strength-by-other

basketball-reference's, SRS which accounts for both schedule strength and margin of victory, has the Raptors at 7.40 which is 3rd while the Celtics are 4.70 though 4th.

The Raptors are 14-2 at home and have played 6 less games at home.  They have just 1 3 game road trip the rest of the season and that includes a day off in between all games and the 3 teams are NY, Brooklyn, and Indiana.  Though they do have 6 back to backs and they have to travel in every single one of them (I still don't understand why the NBA does that so much in the schedule, but that is a different topic for a different day).  So there are some challenges, but those challenges are all basically at home or a relatively short flight

You want to know why they're 15-2 at home? Look at their home schedule so far:

vs. Bulls (x2), vs. Wizards (x2 early in the season when they were still struggling quite a bit), vs. Philly (x2), vs. Pelicans, vs. Knicks, vs. Hornets, vs. Pacers, vs. Suns, vs. Nets, vs. Kings, vs. Hawks, vs. Bucks, vs. Heat, and vs. Cavaliers.

10 out of those 17 games were against current non-playoff teams. And they still have quite a few tough home games left: 14 out of the 24 remaining home games against current playoff teams, including vs. Celtics (x2), vs. Warriors, vs. Rockets, vs. TWolves, and vs. Spurs.

Re: Toronto Raptors
« Reply #36 on: January 13, 2018, 03:46:39 PM »

Offline Androslav

  • Jim Loscutoff
  • **
  • Posts: 2983
  • Tommy Points: 528
Toronto Raptors are for real folks..everyone are talking bout Celtics or Cavs coming out of the East but I wouldn't be shock if Toronto does..
I think that this is the best Toronto team in their 23 year long history.
It is deeper than previous Lowry/Derozan teams.
It is also much more talented and mature than those Carter or Bosh teams.
I am not sure if that is enough to advance to the finals, if of course, all else works out in their favor, but it is definitely worth something if you have managed to put the best team in franchise history on the floor.
I salute their "face-lifting" this summer and look forward to what I predict their 2nd round battle with Cleveland.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2018, 03:53:07 PM by Androslav »
"The joy of the balling under the rims."