Raptors Hit the Youth Button, Throw Ja'Kobe Walter Into Sunday's Starting Lineup
Lineup alert: Raptors will start Quickley, Walter, Barrett, Barnes, Poeltl on Sunday.
The are officially hitting the "let's see what the kid can do" button. According to Underdog NBA, Toronto is rolling out a starting five of , Ja'Kobe Walter, RJ Barrett, , and Jakob Poeltl on Sunday.
Throwing a rookie like Walter into the starting mix is the kind of move that makes League Pass sickos sit up in their chairs. It is a clear signal that is tired of playing it safe with veteran placeholders and wants to find out if they are actually building a contender or just collecting guys who look good in layup lines.
You cannot really blame the coaching staff for shuffling the deck after the last week of basketball. The Raptors have had a wildly uneven start to the season, opening by nuking the Chicago Bulls 135-92 before reality immediately set in.
Getting completely dismantled by the 117-94 was bad enough. Following that up by getting blown off their own floor by the 129-99, and then losing to Orlando again 121-114, is a harsh reality check that usually forces a rotation change.
For anyone staring at the betting board, this lineup shift completely scrambles the math. With Walter eating up starter minutes, the offensive usage rates for established engines like Quickley and Barnes are going to shift just enough to make player props a total guessing game.
is taking this new-look starting five on the road for a brutal back-to-back in Los Angeles. They face the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday night before turning around to play the LA Clippers on Monday.
If this group clicks, expect it to stick around for the rest of the road trip. If they get run out of the gym again, the coaching staff will probably be pulling names out of a hat by Tuesday morning.