Dan is joined by Samson Folk (@samfolkk) from Raptors Republic (@raptorsrepublic) to talk about the 2024-25 Toronto Raptors season—as well as their long-term endgame. SUPPORT SAMSON’S WORK HERE: https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/author/sam/https://www.youtube.com/user/raptorsrepublic. TIMESTAMPS⬇️

0:00 – INTRO
1:56 – Offseason impressions
3:29 – Toronto’s overall direction
5:56 – Samson’s biggest storylines
11:19 – RJ’s continued development
15:40 – What is IQ’s ceiling?
27:53 – Are NBA teams changing how they defend?
30:49 – How will the Raptors defend?
33:06 – Jakob Poeltl’s importance to Toronto
40:04 – Toronto’s big man rotation
43:28 – The next evolution for Scottie Barnes
47:32 – Bigs who operate from the elbows
49:38 – Continued development of Gradey Dick
56:39 – The future of Ochai Agbaji
1:00:43 – Thoughts on Ulrich Chomche, Davion Mitchell, Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walters
1:15:15 – The strength of the starting five
1:17:29 – Top-10 rotation
1:19:48 – Best crunch-time unit, funky lineups we want to see
1:24:01 – How many games will Toronto win?
1:28:52 – Chris Boucher forever

@gt_hughes | @danfavale | @fromal09 | @SportsMathNet

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Thank you for listening to Hardwood Knocks, Episode 1155. Please consider returning for even more content in the future—and throwing us that permanent subscription wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube. We appreciate every single one of you more than you know.