With the regular season fast approaching, Sportsnet’s panel of Raptors & NBA experts will be answering the burning questions heading into the 2015-16 campaign. In this edition of the Raptors Roundtable:
Donnovan Bennett, staff writer: Like relief pitchers, situation will deem who he plays and for how long. Luis Scola and Patrick Patterson are far away the leaders of the pack. Neither are defensive stoppers, but Patterson has Casey’s trust to be assignment correct and is more athletic on switches than the alternative. Either way, those two will get the lion share of the minutes. Johnson and, at times, Carroll, could play the four in small ball line ups and exploit the opposition on both ends of the floor. The wild card of the group is Anthony Bennett, who is the most physically gifted, by far. If this cast plays to their potential the culmination of options could be a surprise strength. If it doesn’t, Masai Ujiri could be active in the trade market for available 4’s at the trade deadline.
Paul Jones, analyst & radio voice: Casey has flexibility. The entire situation will be fluid and he will look for combinations to not only match up with opponents but take advantage, forcing them to match what he is attempting to do.
Eric Smith, analyst & radio voice: Against bigger, bruising forwards I think Luis Scola could get the call to play alongside Jonas Valanciunas. But when opposing teams roll out more athletic line ups and/or feature a stretch four, I fully expect Patrick Patterson to get the start. Bismack Biyombo is your back up centre, but he could certainly give you some time at power forward as well if need be. James Johnson’s minutes may be inconsistent and it’s still too early to tell what kind of a role, if any, Anthony Bennett will have — especially in the early stages of the season. He’s coming off a strong summer though and has generally looked good in the pre-season. Front court depth, like pitching in baseball, is a positive problem in my opinion. It’s a strength to have size and options — not a weakness.
Steven Loung, associate editor: There’s no way Valanciunas and Biyombo get on the floor at the same time, and even though Johnson is supposedly moving full-time to the four I find that hard to believe (especially since you’d think Ross is moving full-time as DeRozan’s backup at the two). As far as Patterson and Scola go, both should be used a lot and, despite the competition, Patterson should be the starter.
Dave Zarum, NBA editor: In fairness, the situation at centre seems pretty straight-forward: JV is your starter (and I expect to see a noticeable bump in minutes now that the team is committed to him long-term) and Biyombo a very serviceable back-up (who provides a nice offence-for-defence trade-off) But power forward? Well, that’s a different story altogether.
The starting gig is Patterson’s to lose, which, if pre-season is any indication, he just might. That opens the door for Scola, who is more dependable yet carries far less potential. Johnson and Bennett are both complete wild cards at this point. And with due respect to Donnovan, James Johnson is clearly the most physically-gifted of the group— the dude can kick the rim fer crissakes! Think about that for a second. Of course, that doesn’t make a difference to Casey, who’ll likely employ the most enigmatic member of his team with the same inconsistency as last season. Regardless, the power forward situation will likely be the biggest ongoing subplot surrounding the team, especially if Patterson struggles as a starter continue.