Technology
Toronto Raptors mailbag: Breakout player, are additions coming and is Barnes back
Nathan Sizemore @nathansizemore.bsky.social: What’s the over/under on games where the bench mob erases a deficit and grinds out a win for the starters this year?
RW: I’ll go with 12. I like the reserves a lot, with a caveat: I don’t think we see a true five-man bench mob all that often. Rajakovic will let Barnes, Quickley, Barrett and Ingram play with three or four reserves a lot.
Phil G: I love this current squad, but as per usual in recent years, we lack centre depth. If Jak gets injured and misses 8ish weeks, how do you think the Raptors stay afloat? He is so crucial to their success.
RW: Fans won’t like this answer, but if any of Poeltl, Quickley or Barnes miss two months, they are heading back to the lottery. I might even go as far as to say that losing Poeltl, out of any single player, long-term, would be most damaging. No Quickley would be troublesome, given the lack of point guard depth and because he’s arguably the best shooter on the squad, but they might be able to tread water without him. Barnes obviously is the top all-around player, but maybe Collin Murray-Boyles and Mogbo could plug a lot of the defensive holes that would be left by a Barnes absence, at least enough for them to get by. Lose Poeltl though, and it gets really dicey. Who defends and rebounds against NBA centres. Barnes and Mamukelashvili can do it for some minutes but not full-time. Mogbo is too skinny, Murray-Boyles too inexperienced (at least for now, plus he has a height disadvantage against centres).
Nathan Sizemore @nathansizemore.bsky.social: What’s the over/under on games where the bench mob erases a deficit and grinds out a win for the starters this year?
RW: I’ll go with 12. I like the reserves a lot, with a caveat: I don’t think we see a true five-man bench mob all that often. Rajakovic will let Barnes, Quickley, Barrett and Ingram play with three or four reserves a lot.
Phil G: I love this current squad, but as per usual in recent years, we lack centre depth. If Jak gets injured and misses 8ish weeks, how do you think the Raptors stay afloat? He is so crucial to their success.
RW: Fans won’t like this answer, but if any of Poeltl, Quickley or Barnes miss two months, they are heading back to the lottery. I might even go as far as to say that losing Poeltl, out of any single player, long-term, would be most damaging. No Quickley would be troublesome, given the lack of point guard depth and because he’s arguably the best shooter on the squad, but they might be able to tread water without him. Barnes obviously is the top all-around player, but maybe Collin Murray-Boyles and Mogbo could plug a lot of the defensive holes that would be left by a Barnes absence, at least enough for them to get by. Lose Poeltl though, and it gets really dicey. Who defends and rebounds against NBA centres. Barnes and Mamukelashvili can do it for some minutes but not full-time. Mogbo is too skinny, Murray-Boyles too inexperienced (at least for now, plus he has a height disadvantage against centres).
