What's up with Pascal? Breaking down every play where he touched the ball vs the Celtics 1/4/2021 

Pascal has the talent to be very dangerous in the NBA . In between games , he need to work on 3 point shots , 20 footers, maybe add hook shot , to his game . But the shooting coach has to help him improve nailing 3 pointers. Once he is a threat out there, he improves everyone else on his team. 2. He has to go to the hoop with authority, slamming dunks on ppl, and not leave little finger rolls that loop out. This also gets his team motivated. Pascal can do many things like Khawi , so he should focus from the beginning of the game to play hard D , get rebounds and steals , no fouls. Get warmed up . Try to get easy layups then expand from there. I think OG and Boucher have the same talent too. So they should be doing the same.

Respect to you man. Fans jumped off the wagon after things didn't look too good for the Raps. Haven't heard from Drake in a while. Pascal is still a top 20 player in the league. Even top 15 if you really push it. He's improving and getting used to being the first option on a team. I don't like seeing people disrespect my guy P

@@vj.phillips I understand what your saying about Pascal here, but the fan base is very delicate in Toronto & Canada . They are helping pay the salaries of these players and supporting their merchandise etc . They are sophisticated and aware of players receiving their big contract and stop working. Plus these fans want to win more championship so they will be very demanding on these Raptors. There was no celebration parade in USA like the one of 2019 for the Raptors. It was the happiest time for many fans and they believed in these Raptors. Now keeping superstars is a problem but they felt Pascal could be lead the team. Pascal needs the right personal coaching , shooting coaching , and he has to do more assimilation training dealing with double and triple teaming , to find the right man and don’t force difficult shots and passing . He has to do more homework than Lebron right now. No joke. The NBA players are after him to break his confidence, you could see that with Marcus fr Boston . Raptors has the talent they need to put in the work and best D.

@@Flash-yr9ct you are correct

@@vj.phillips you are too my friend

the one good side of banes is has much better defensively than JV.

Bring back JV

@Dee87 definitely part of the problem

Right on, glad you enjoyed it!

It was a risk for sure, but probably worth it IMO for the shot at Giannis. Of course, now that it didn't pan out, it's frustrating, but I'd do the same thing again. I don't think Ibaka is the difference between being a contender and not being a contender this year.

Appreciate the support!

It's your GM fault for getting him Harry Giles lll was available and he chose to get baynes

Yeah I am trying to reserve judgement until we get a little deeper into the season, but not looking good so far. Will be tough to keep him on the floor if he can't give much on either end.

@@TooMuchHoops he has a long history of film I have seen him play in Boston was never interested and I knew what exactly what was going to happen when he went to Phoenix I play just like Rubio I'm a pass first Point Guard so Ik his numbers would be inflated. Your GM should know better shame I have very high regards for him. Baynes is someone you stay away from.

People dont realize how bad he is on a team that wants to be a contender.

If Norm goes back to the way he was playing last season (might be a big ask), and Lowry sharpens up a little, I think they're one big piece away from contender status. If that doesn't happen, then I think it's best to think of this as a development year.

Appreciate it!

Part of it vs the Suns was some bad shooting luck. Like yes they gave up some open 3s, but also Phoenix shot an unreal percentage. It happens. Not that there are no issues with the D. There are some rotations being missed, and botched decisions. I will include some examples next time I do a defensive breakdown.

Yep, I'll be watching for your expert take on defending vs the three as I personally see it as the Raptors single biggest challenge right now. Just imagine if 1 in 5 (or even 10) of the recent threes was interrupted. Better still, AND the Raptors started landing 1 in 5 or 10 more on top of that.

definitely agree. Boucher has been the best of the bunch imo.

Glad you liked it!

Right on, appreciate it!

Their scheme is really rotation heavy, which can lead to some bad rebounding, especially with them being undersized. Definitely an area where they could use some improvement, but also needs to be balanced with trying to run out and get in transition.

@@TooMuchHoops did you see their small ball line up tonight in the last 4 minutes of the game against phoenix? that was fun to watch.

Yeah, hopefully Norm keeps his level of play up so that unit can get more time!

Fred has been fabulous. Truly, I have no complaints about him. To appreciate the genius of Fred, I think of him as a shooting guard. This was something I think I first saw from the user carmelohdrama (Yasmin) on Twitter (she is part of a good Raptors/NBA podcast called Dishes & Dimes). Anyway, once you start thinking of him as an undersized shooting guard who has legitimate point guard skills, you see the way he contributes differently. In terms of role, think about CJ McCollum with the Blazers. He's not their primary point guard, but the offense does ruin through him quite frequently is a primary initiator, and he does a good job. And when he gets the ball, he's a dynamic scorer, and he's always looking to put pressure on the defense. Fred is a scorer. The man was born to rain 3's and attack off the dribble. He's expanded and improved his offensive skillset dramatically over the last few years. Does he get blocked sometimes? Yeah. But that's part of life as a scoring guard who's 6-foot-nothing. He plays with fire and toughness, and is a definite tone-setter on the floor. He's working on the midrange game. His finishing has been strong. He's keeping his 3p% up on bigtime volume. Does he take some tough shots he should probably pass up sometimes? Sure. But you can't ask a guy to take 15-20 shots a game and get mad when he bites off more than he can chew every once in a while. That's part of growing as a player and as a scorer. And there are a lot of guys out there who have the scoring like FVV does, but can't even touch Fred's PnR ability and playmaking. Is he as good as Lowry and Chris Paul? No, who is? But there are a lot of teams out there who would love for their starting point guard's playmaking ability to be as good as Fred's - and remember, he's not a point guard, he's a shooting guard. And then on top of the scoring and the playmaking, you add the defense. Fred is a great defender. He is basically as good of a defender as it is possible to be when you are 6 feet tall. He has great hands, excellent strength, good footwork, monster basketball IQ, and as I mentioned, the toughness. He is such a pain in the ass on D. He's superb against small-ish perimeter scorers, but he can also switch onto much larger players really effectively. Especially if they have any kind of a shaky handle, he will make them pay. His off-ball defense is some of the best in the league, dashing at post players the second their back is turned to him. His ball denial is strong. There's just not a lot bad you can say about him. Sometimes guys can shoot over him. Again, that's life. That happens. The positives he brings defensively outside of that far outweigh any concerns about size. And then, in addition to the very tangible skills on the court, he's also a great leader. If you've ever heard him talk about leadership in an interview, you know how seriously he takes that role. His teammates respect him, and he is a guy who is not afraid to say something that needs to be said for the good of the team. That's a valuable asset to have on the squad. I think he has a great disposition, and seems like a great teammate and guy all around. So overall, I'm a big Fred fan. He's not a perfect player, but there are not a lot of guys who have his combination of scoring/shooting, playmaking, defense, and leadership. And if you think of him as a shooting guard who shares some duties for initiating the offense and takes over when Lowry sits, you can really see everything he brings to the team.

Wow.. your detailed answer underlies just how important Fred is to this team. No doubt, he is a shooting guard. So the problem remains .. who is the facilitator? Who engages with the shooting forwards (Siakam, OG) / assists them in pick and rolls, passes the ball to them? Maybe Baines not the guy for the Raptors right now?

I think it's perfectly Fine to keep using Fred and Lowry the way they are now, and eventually get Malachi into the mix (although he didn't show much against the Celtics). I'm not really feeling the Baynes experience at the moment, but I'll give it a little more time to let some chemistry develop. If not, Boucher has shown some really nice stuff this season. Norm could stand to play a lot better too. He's been a fair bit worse this season, so I'm hoping he bounces back, in addition to Siakam continuing to get back to form.

If there's an obvious weak spot it's the 5. Let's hope it gets worked out soon. BTW somebody forgot to bring the 3 pt umbrella against the Suns last night. I guess they got fooled by the name (Suns). It was rainin three's... unbelievable.

Raptors replaced Gasol with the only guy who has a vertical the same as him lol

@@TooMuchHoops baynes isn't a good rebounder but he boxes out super well so that makes the team better at rebounding right?? NO LOL 😂 what's the point in boxing out when none of your teammates are good at rebounding consistently but Chris expect he's not on the floor when baynes even plays 😂

I agree. I'm curious to see how Nurse adjusts the offense (or the rotation) to try and address this issue. Not the sort of thing I expect to be worked out overnight though - will probably take a while of trying some different things to sort it out.

He did a good job passing out of the post in this one, which I think is an improvement from last year. Still need to see more though, obviously.

I don't really feel like that's fair to say after Kawhi and Green left and Siakam still took a huge step up to 2nd team All-NBA. He's definitely best as the second star, but to say he didn't earn that MIP himself is a bit much.

I agree and would just go a little more specific - I think if he is posted up or stationary he can read the defense and make decisions really well, but once he is on the move it seems to become much more difficult for him.

@@TooMuchHoops that's an interesting observation. I'll keep an eye on that pattern. I definitely see his situation as half full-sounds like you do too.

@@TooMuchHoops yeah that's absolute facts. pascal read the defense well when he was kinda patiently waiting for the defense to collapse on him and he'd kick it out for the right play. but when he's playing more aggressive he kinda sticks with that aggressiveness and only looks at the basket when most time he should be looking for the right play.

It's fine to say the paint should be his bread and butter, but you can see throughout the video how much the Celtics packed the paint with help defenders. IMO that is more of an issue with the offense than an issue with Pascal's play.

That's how you know these idiots just want to find a fall guy. Not every problem with this team is his fault learn basketball my guy stop just looking at stay lines

If it's the latter, expect this team to blow up.

its not a process, its a grind.

Wasn't really enjoying using it so I just don't go on it anymore. I am on Twitter though.

@@TooMuchHoops ahhh truu. I'm barely on twitter but love the RU-vid content

Pascal has one of the best work ethics in the league and went from a non-rotation hustle player to 2nd Team All-NBA in like 4 years, while expanding his skillset dramatically and being the second leading scorer on a championship team.

@@TooMuchHoops I wish him the best. So if he is working hard, he should work harder. Look at what KBs, MJs, LBJs etc had to do in their career. They kept working hard even at their prime. Let's go Pascal.

He didn't play for several months beforehand, and I think we should remember these guys are human. Lots of people haven't been operating at peak performance over the last 8 or 9 months. He played pretty well in this game, and killed the Suns (even though the Suns won because of some great shooting and Raptors poor bench play).

only way Nets are getting him is giving up Caris, Dim and other players/picks.

@@barryallen6775 I hear that's what you guys are getting they want to improve their defense and a guy that can be happy being the 3rd option they are very interested in him

The Raptors couldn't get anything back from the Nets that would be better than just keeping Pascal, who is happy in Toronto and just started the first year of his (max) deal. He will not be traded unless it's for a superstar that puts the Raptors into contention this year.

@@TooMuchHoops with that package and the package you get from Lowry It would be a great rebuild while staying very competitive. It would make your team stronger, younger and with draft picks and you would finally be giving Fred Van Fleet the keys with a bunch of new weapons around him.