Jan 7, 2019
Thoughts on Raptors' weekend, Thibodeau and more
Jack Armstrong returns to give his takes on the Raptors' successful weekend, the fire of Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau, Chandler Parsons and more.
Jack Armstrong returns to give his takes on the Raptors' successful weekend, the firing of Timberwolves head coach Tom Thibodeau, Chandler Parsons and more.
1. RAPTORS BENCH: What a difference 24 hours makes. The Raptors only managed five points off the bench Saturday night, but the starters overcame their difficulties to find a way to still win in Milwaukee for their first win against the Bucks this season. On Sunday, the bench came up huge on the back-to-back against the Indiana Pacers with 52 points led by Norman Powell with 23 points. They must get greater consistency and production nightly from this unit. Hopefully this unit begins to settle into a nice groove.
2. TOM THIBODEAU: Thibodeau is out as the coach in Minnesota. I’m sure he’s probably asked himself, "was it really worth it long term trading for Jimmy Butler?" The drama from this summer and fall destroyed whatever he was trying to build there. I’m sure coach Brett Brown in Philadelphia has thought about that a bit in the last 72 hours as well. Tough business.
3. CHANDLER PARSONS (Grizzlies): The team is on the hook for $38 million and now he’s gone home. It's not a pretty situation. Unfortunately his health issues have robbed him of his talents of late. This will be truly a difficult scenario for general manager Chris Wallace to work himself out of without an ultimate buyout. On the Parsons front, no one will touch that money obligation in a trade so the sharks will be circling waiting on a buyout and clean bill of health to jack armstrong take on the risk of a player who can shoot but has been a medical risk. Someone is going to have to blink.
4. ED DAVIS (Nets): The guy plays an average of 18 minutes per game and he’s averaging 8.5 rebounds. Very impressive. I like it when a guy chooses a skill, takes pride in it and does it at a high level of consistently. You’ll always have a job somewhere.
5. TOMAS SATORANSKY (Wizards): I’ve always liked his game, toughness and approach. Comes to play and he’s doing it well in his last four games averaging 14 points, five rebounds and 4.5 assists per game. He has good size, gives effort defensively and is a team player. He doesn’t have the talent of the injured John Wall but he allows others to be featured lots more.