Why I'm still hopeful about Norman Powell, despite a rough start - Brad's Basketball Corner 

Appreciate you just saying it was surprising and not also surprisingly bad lol

@@TooMuchHoops makes it so much more engaging to watch now too!

Appreciate you!

Yes, the toxicity has been frustrating at times. I think people needed a reality check about the expectations they should have for this team after losing two starting caliber players and replacing them with two guys who are backup quality (and maybe not even rotation quality). Hopefully as people adjust their expectations, and things even out for the Raptors a little bit, the online discourse will course correct.

Thanks! Appreciate it!

Thanks for the tips!

I think even some self-creation is still possible, but he might just need to have more spacing on the floor to be effective. When defenses can ignore some of the guys on the floor, it shrinks real fast. Like I would say Norm did a lot of shot creation himself last year, it's not like Gasol and Ibaka were creating a ton of his shots, but the space they helped open up allowed Norm to be more effective.

Thanks a lot!

Yeah, Boucher has been good at times, but Baynes and Len have really given relatively little. And on top of that, we've only seen the Lowry-Siakam-FVV-OG-Norm lineup in 11 total minutes so far (8 of which were vs the Suns). A big part of the reason why is because Norm has been playing so badly he's had a hard time staying on the floor. I expect that to probably be the Raptors' most effective lineup, so I hope Nurse goes back to it more frequently (which I'm confident he will if/when Norm is playing even decently well).

Great point, a lot of off-the-court factors coming into play as well (especially with them also moving to a new market).

@@TooMuchHoops Yeah. Playing 72 road games is definitely a challenge that the other teams in the league aren't facing. Also Nurse's defensive schemes (as you've covered a lot on this channel) involve a lot of pressuring the ball handler, double teaming stars and rotating to cover shooters. When it's working it looks great but the downside is that it requires a level a familiarity of the players with each other and the coverages. A full training camp would at least help build that familiarity and understanding of the coverages.

Yes, I wrote a very detailed outline!

Thanks a lot!

Thanks for the tip!

I have never heard Norm and Dillon Brooks compared to each other, but I like it! Similar guys for sure.

just googled him, lmao

@@TooMuchHoops It's super jarring too because your voices sound extremely different.