Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Roster Fodder + What’s Vegas Saying About the Raptors?

Viva Las Vegas.

If you were left heartbroken by the failed pursuit of Steve Nash, you can rest easy knowing that we got the next best thing: Jamaal Magloire. He might lack Nash’s ability, marketability, or personality, but all that is made up by his sheer determination to make an impact has a second-quarter situational sub playing every fourth game. It’s hard to pinpoint Magloire’s role on the team, as we’ve already got the poor man’s Rasho role covered by Aaron Gray, which leaves Magloire resembling something like an older Pape Sow. Ah, Pape Sow, I remember when he was bandied about as a future big in the rotation.

Training camp is two weeks away and some bodies were added to the roster: Chris Wright and Jerel McNeal. I don’t know who they are, I recall seeing Chris Wright at some point but to be honest, I didn’t pay any attention to him.

By my count, we have 18 players in training camp right now:

C: Valanciunas, Gray, Magloire
PF: Bargnani, Johnson, Davis, Acy, Wright
SF: Fields, Kleiza, McGuire
SG: DeRozan, Ross, Anderson, McNeal
PG: Lowry, Calderon, Lucas

Feel free to figure out how the active/inactive list will shape up, Assuming McNeal and Wright get cut, that leaves the Raptors with a decision to make regarding the final cut, and that’s perhaps to be between Lucas, McGuire, Acy, Anderson and Magloire? The likely destination for Acy is the D-League, so yeah, something to think about if you care to think about it.

The above depth chart indicates what I think will be the likely 10-man rotation. However, Casey’s unlikely to adhere to any norms here just because there’s massive amounts of gray areas between starter/rotation, and rotation/reserve players on the roster, at least for the small forward, shooting guard, and you might argue, the center position. The only people on the roster that you would, at this point, call developing players are Valanciunas and Ross, so those are the two players that I think will be allowed to play through their mistakes more than others.

The empirical evidence on which to predict performance is limited even though Bargnani, DeRozan, Johnson, and Calderon are key players that are returning. That’s because the impact of Lowry, Valanciunas, and to a lesser extent, Fields, is completely unknown, so it’s difficult to go out on any limbs at this points. That doesn’t stop Vegas though, here’s what they’re thinking:

So we’re lumped with the other dross of the NBA, which I think is a bit presumptuous. At least give us the benefit of the doubt and put is in the 151 range? Oh BTW, if you really want to know who’s going to win the next election, look no further:

If you’re looking for a pretty succinct Eastern Conference analysis, tenforthewin has you covered.