The 2013-2014 Toronto Raptors thread: A 'Drake' New World

[A Weekend at Bernier's]

Time to usher in the 13-14 season with a new thread. 

I like this guy...

[Potvin29]

Is that Drake?

[Coco-puffs]

Is that Drake?

No, thats the Raptors GM Masai Ujiri.

[Nik]

Here's the schedule: http://www.nba.com/raptors/schedule

And as of now, here's the roster: http://www.nba.com/raptors/schedule

Here's to Riggin' for Wiggins!

[KoHo]

The Raptors unfortunately aren't nearly bad enough to be riggin' for Wiggins. This team should be slightly improved from last year's and with off-season regression from the three teams ahead of us last season (Philly, Milwaukee, and Boston) the Raptors have a decent chance of sneaking into the playoffs. Too bad we'd get smoked in the first round and are nowhere close to actually being a good team.

[Nik]

The Raptors unfortunately aren't nearly bad enough to be riggin' for Wiggins.

I think that's probably true of the roster as currently assembled(although I think they're pretty bad) but I think because of their tough early schedule they could have a fairly crummy record going into Christmas which might lead to a lot of the team being sold off and a second half tank job.

[Big Daddy]

Heard quite the rumour today from a friend who works in the marketing department for MLSE in the NBA division.  He said they have Drake on board to help go after LeBron next year when he is a free agent.  Could this even be remotely true.

[Potvin29]

I don't want to be the one to tell you.

[Corn Flake]

Is that Drake?

Sugar Ray Leonard.

[A Weekend at Bernier's]

I don't want to be the one to tell you.

No, you have to.

[Nik]

A really interesting article from over on Grantland about a new measurement of offensive efficiency they're calling shotscore. The article explains it better than I could but it basically attempts to do away with FG% as a measurement of efficiency and replace it by comparing the points a player scored on his various shots to the NBA average percentages taking those exact same shots.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9795591/kirk-goldsberry-introduces-new-way-understand-nba-best-scorers

[seahawk]

ESPN has their projections out. They have the Raps at 35-47 good for 10th in the East.

http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId=9897925

[#1PilarFan]

Umm... Well, if no one else will...

Raps won last night, 93-87 against a rebuilding Boston Celtics squad. The Celts are really going to struggle to win games this year.

Still, the Raptors played hard and managed to grind out a win.

Rudy Gay had 19 points and 8 boards to lead the Raptors in scoring while the man, the myth, the legend, Jonas Christ Superstar had 8 points, 11 boards and 2 blocks in 31 minutes of work. 

DeMar "No One Can Guard Me" DeRozan had a forgettable night with 13 points on 6-18 shooting.

Toronto plays Atlanta on Friday.

[hockeyfan1]

102-95 loss to the Hawks last night (road opener).

DeRozan with 31 points, Lowry with 16 and Gay & Johnson with 14 & 13 each respectively.

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=435631

[#1PilarFan]

Raps won against the Bucks by a score of 97-90 to bring their record to a robust 2-1. Rudy Gay led the Raptors with 18 points and 15 boards on 4-14 shooting. The Raptors as a team shot under 40% last night. Jonas Valanciunas only played 16 minutes. I suspect Casey will be long gone before the deadline. He's one foot in the grave already, and Ujiri (reportedly) really, really likes Jonas.

Still, 2-1 ain't half bad.