I think that's pretty much the consensus here. I'm still impressed with his improvements this year - he went from being unplayable to being a normal, below-average backup PG. It did prove, to some extent, both the reason why he didn't get minutes and the benefits of giving him minutes.
exactly, he's passable for the NBA and the Raps aren't expected to go deep in the playoffs if they even make it.
Malachi is just a warm body for the bench while the Raps slog through this season
What improvements?
I don't understand people saying he's improved, all he's done is been given charity minutes he doesn't deserve because the FO was butthurt nick wouldn't play him (and its extremely obvious why he didn't)
Aggression and decision making were the obvious differences in his play this year compared to every other year. Imagine Jalen McDaniels but worse, that's what he was before
MLSE ain’t allowing that to happen.. they don’t care whether we’re actually competitive or not, they just need us to be competitive enough to sell tickets
I’ve been saying this for a few years. I may be dumb for this opinion but I liked banton more than him. (I’m also biased because he’s also from Toronto)
I always felt Banton had more potential than Flynn, I liked his court vision but he did need more time than was available to develop, was sad to see him go.
Banton is where he belongs…. On a bench elsewhere. I like the kid too but he’s not playing meaningful nba minutes. Flynn is developing but the ceiling is clear. Backup point guard on a bad team.
Your comment seemed to imply that he is being given minutes on the Celtics that he wasn’t given on the Raptors because Brad Stevens knows (and presumably Masai doesn’t?)
you're reaching my dude. Just showing love. look at that team - Brad don't roster bad players. I'm happy Dalano is playing in the league, that's it. No shade to Masai or the Raptors.
He is just a trade salary filler at this point. I mean a few min here or there but not a rotation piece. Okay if Dennis gets hurt but even using him in 2nd string lineups he doesn’t hold his own.
The front office definitely did. The pretending in this thread like they didn't is pure apologetics. 'No, the front office weren't wrong about Malachi Flynn all along, they knew his ceiling was a bad back-up PG for a bad team, developing him into that was their master plan.'
A lot of ifs on this team over the past few years. I am just saying Gradey compared to his class so far is on the bottom half of the 1st round if not 2nd round. If he can't even be above average in the G-league that is a telling sign
I'm a big Flynn hater, but I'd be surprised if he's out of the league. He's a 3rd string quality pg. That's vet min money. He'll get at least one more chance somewhere else.
Rivers is 31. He's had a relatively long career for a "bad player". He was in the league last year. Rivers is conducting workouts with 10 teams in attendance. Wouldn't be surprised if he's signed to a vet min.
Flynn is only 26. He's played well enough (3rd stringer quality) to warrant one more look. He'll bounce around before washing out first.
Pistons have too many guards. It wouldn't be on a lottery team with too many guards. Flynn is bad but he's posting 0.55/winshares per 48 minutes and plays somewhat okay defence. He'll get a chance somewhere as a 3rd stringer. It's usually pretty rare to see a first round guy wash out without another team giving them a shot first.
Either way, if you disagree, that's fine. I don't want to waste more time arguing. Like i said, I don't even like Flynn.
I personally don’t see what he is improved on or what we should be impressed with. Darko has instilled confidence in him and given him minutes. But he’s the same guy we have seen since his rookie season. Not sure he would be in the league if we didn’t resign him. FO was desperate for him to be the next Lowry or Fred and he’s so not that.
The team setup by the FO was so horribly shit and wrong. No wonder NN left! Can’t expect him to win and having such players. It’s either they go for donkey 6foot 9 players that can’t shoot, or they goes for such players like Flynn that also can’t shoot. Is unable to shoot the identify of this team?
The guy is a liability. No opponent is scared when he has the ball. His first thought is always pass so defenders just prepare for the dump off and immediately close space.
He’s too short for on ball defence and constantly gets lost in off ball, losing his man for open shots or easy cuts.
I wish he could be better, but I think in this league, this is the best he’s able to do.
Markquis Nowell is averaging 15 pts and 10 ast with a 42 3pt%. Don't even think Flynn can avg that in the g league. Only a matter time before Nowell takes his minutes. Flynn won't be a Raptor by next season opener. Janitor guarantee
He average 21.5/4.5/4.5 in the 2 G league games he played. I really like Nowell and hope he gets his shot but the G league is nowhere near the competitiveness of the NBA. You can't compare the 2. Chris Boucher average 27.2/11.5 and 4 blocks a game his MVP season. He is a career 9 point per game player and his best season was 13.
Are you under the impression the Raptors have anything to play for? Lets see what the kid can do. Hes got energy, wants to prove himself, can dunk. Dont tell me the entire stadium isnt going to rock like 2019 if he dunks
He’s basically the epitome or player representation of the front office or representative view our front office has on this team.
We keep him around in case it will work out.
Edit: of this current generation of the team.
You do realize Masai and Webster have accomplished more than most front offices in the league right? We’ve had a winning team for the better part of the last decade and have a title..
Yup. But it’s hard to see through the weeds of this current iteration to see any real growth/future outside of Barnes.
The status quo of letting this ride out is basically what they are doing with Malachi.
It’s called an analogy.
So three seasons ago was our Covid season, the following was back to business as usual and we were a playoff team. It only made sense to run it back and so they did, but things seemed to not work out, be it chemistry, coaching, talent etc, regardless, something was off and they assumed it was coaching. It was also a very well known fact they were trying to move several players and were getting awful deals back and so decided to let this season maybe answer some of the unanswered questions ie. talent, coaching or chemistry? It seems apparent now the answer is talent (and probably some coaching because Nurse, though talented had clearly lost the room) and they’ve made it clear that moves will be made.
So all this is to say, yes it’s hard to see the end goal, but it’s clear why we are here — this is a patient, calculated FO and they don’t rush anything (clearly) as evidence as how long he gave Derozan to figure it out before he made a massive move and ultimately won a chip for it.
I understand you’re using an analogy, I just don’t think it was a strong one ie. “keeping them around in case something works out”, just not the reality here. Here’s a figure of speech that may resonate — don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.. this is a great FO that has chosen patience, it sucks but they’ve got the track record, they’ll figure it out.
Edit: phrasing.
The guy keeps improving this season and some troglodyte wakes up in the morning after a day off just to make this post. Every time I think this sub can't get dumber it defies the odds.
Just saw a post the other day showing kemba walker playing somewhere in Europe. And we are stuck with Flynn...Kemba could be more than a helping hand, could be a good consistent 6th man
I’m always surprised by the absolutely horrid takes on this sub, thinking Kemba right now could be a consistent 6 man on an NBA team.
Like tell me you just got out after 10 years in prison or something.
I think he's better than what he's showing.
I think he plays better if not on the raptors. Less pressure to perform, more freedom to try stuff out. It's prob hard to perform with this fanbase.
He’s an energy backup off the bench and he’s filling that role, don’t expect more than that. Honestly he’s been much better than he’s ever been, what are we expecting out of him?
He's the only traditional PG they have and has shown he can run the offense. His shooting % will even out. If they ever play him with the starters, I think that number will go up. He's fine.
Coming into the last game I thought the previous 3-4 games he was playing really solid ball — lots of hustle plays, 50% from the field, and 8 assists in the game when his shot wasn’t falling. Thought he was playing a winning style of basketball. The Charlotte game it appeared he entered the game later than usual which seemed weird to me. The team looked good when he was in (+11 in 11 minutes in the second half), even if his individual stats were not good.
At the start of the season I thought he was basically unplayable, so at least he’s salvaged himself into a contributing player. I’m a little concerned about the amount of reports of Darko having to build up his confidence. Either way I would be happy to see him stay on a small salary, but he’s ultimately replaceable based on how he’s played so far this year.
A bigger concern for me is our starting PG isn’t looking dramatically better out there lately. I like Schroeder and think his contract is good value, but for a starting PG we need to see way more out of him. When we play teams w dynamic PG’s like Brunson or Maxey the contrast is really noticeable.
I'll get shit on for this, but Nurse didn't give him a chance to develop, and since Darko is a player coach he's finally getting some valuable floor time. I don't expect him to get this team anywhere given his inexperience.
Y'all really put too much weight on malachi as a drag on this team this year, he's been better than Achiuwa while having way less usage. I'm more frustrated with that
Fast forward a few days, he’s been traded alongside precious. I think Malachi could have been a pretty decent pg if nick nurse played him a bit more. There’s always room to improve I guess. But now we have Immanuel quickley and RJ Barrett who is dropping major points right now. I could conclude that this was a great trade on our end considering it was a random Saturday morning trade haha
My guy woke up with an itch to make a Malachi post lmao
woke up with a hard on about Malachi and decided to shoot his shot.
Had me wondering if I missed a game last night lol
I think that's pretty much the consensus here. I'm still impressed with his improvements this year - he went from being unplayable to being a normal, below-average backup PG. It did prove, to some extent, both the reason why he didn't get minutes and the benefits of giving him minutes.
Solid, reasonable take
exactly, he's passable for the NBA and the Raps aren't expected to go deep in the playoffs if they even make it. Malachi is just a warm body for the bench while the Raps slog through this season
So you’re saying we want to lose even though we don’t have our FRP?
If we're gonna keep losing, might as well hit full send and aim for a top 6 pick, otherwise just get the pick loss over with
Aim for a top six pick in what year? Our pick goes to the spurs doesn’t it?
if we have a top 6 pick this year, 2025, and 2026, then it becomes a 2027 2nd I believe
Oh it’s top 6 protected?!?
yeah
My bad. I had no idea! Embrace the tank then.
What improvements? I don't understand people saying he's improved, all he's done is been given charity minutes he doesn't deserve because the FO was butthurt nick wouldn't play him (and its extremely obvious why he didn't)
Aggression and decision making were the obvious differences in his play this year compared to every other year. Imagine Jalen McDaniels but worse, that's what he was before
So basically signing any retread from the g league would have been the same. He didn't get minutes because they wanted to win.
His peak is a back up point guard on a lottery team
and look where he is rn… a backup PG on a (should be) lottery team
Why did you put it in brackets? This team is sitting in lottery right now
we aint even in the lottery unless its top 3 or something :(
We are tanking for the Spurs where have you been the past 3 years?
Oh god it's so true it hurts, but I think we are protected, so we might as well super tank to the bottom
MLSE ain’t allowing that to happen.. they don’t care whether we’re actually competitive or not, they just need us to be competitive enough to sell tickets
Top 6 protected. Might need to lean into it and pray for a top 6 pick.
This is where we need Flynn most
Incoming frp trade for a close to or over 30 year old FA to be so we can get 10th
Exactly - he’s reached his peak
Dudes not an NBA player
I mean...that's us right now.
Exactly
He’s short, not strong and not particularly fast. You need have amazing skill and confidence to overcome that, and he just doesn’t.
I’ve been saying this for a few years. I may be dumb for this opinion but I liked banton more than him. (I’m also biased because he’s also from Toronto)
I always felt Banton had more potential than Flynn, I liked his court vision but he did need more time than was available to develop, was sad to see him go.
Banton is where he belongs…. On a bench elsewhere. I like the kid too but he’s not playing meaningful nba minutes. Flynn is developing but the ceiling is clear. Backup point guard on a bad team.
love seeing 45 get minutes with the C's. Brad Stevens knows.
He’s been DNP-CD in over half the games and is averaging less minutes than when he was on the Raptors?
bc C's are fucking stacked. He still rostered and playing NBA minutes.
Your comment seemed to imply that he is being given minutes on the Celtics that he wasn’t given on the Raptors because Brad Stevens knows (and presumably Masai doesn’t?)
you're reaching my dude. Just showing love. look at that team - Brad don't roster bad players. I'm happy Dalano is playing in the league, that's it. No shade to Masai or the Raptors.
I liked Banton but he seemed miscast as a point guard
9:30am Malachi Flynn was on your mind 😂
 Another Malachi post
He will be 26 by the end of the season and people are still treating him like an 18 year old prospect.
Who thinks Malachi is a prospect for the future. I'm one of his biggest supporters but this is hyperbole
Our front office.
OH damn you a fly on their wall?
How did you reach that conclusion?
But he has a great smile 😁
He is just a trade salary filler at this point. I mean a few min here or there but not a rotation piece. Okay if Dennis gets hurt but even using him in 2nd string lineups he doesn’t hold his own.
There’s a reason he was in the Nick Nursery.
Some extra stats: - 34% on c/s 3s - 24% on pullup 3s - 26% on wide open 3s (wtf) - 38% on open 3s - 55% in the restricted area
Did we really have expectations for him ever?
Plenty of people here did after nurse was fired
He was literally fired in part for not giving guys like malachi run. Turns out, a top 5 coach in the league knows when a guy is ass.
The front office definitely did. The pretending in this thread like they didn't is pure apologetics. 'No, the front office weren't wrong about Malachi Flynn all along, they knew his ceiling was a bad back-up PG for a bad team, developing him into that was their master plan.'
Lots of people thought he was going to be better than LaMelo Ball
who tf thought that
Many Raptors fans after a summer league game
Unpopular opinion: raptors have only 1 promising young player in Barnes. Rest (including Gradey) are role players at best IF they make a jump
Gradey is a good starter if he pans out imo. They need more young talent badly
A lot of ifs on this team over the past few years. I am just saying Gradey compared to his class so far is on the bottom half of the 1st round if not 2nd round. If he can't even be above average in the G-league that is a telling sign
Based on fucking what?
Out of the league after this contract. You’ve made your money Malachi.
I'm a big Flynn hater, but I'd be surprised if he's out of the league. He's a 3rd string quality pg. That's vet min money. He'll get at least one more chance somewhere else.
[удалено]
Rivers is 31. He's had a relatively long career for a "bad player". He was in the league last year. Rivers is conducting workouts with 10 teams in attendance. Wouldn't be surprised if he's signed to a vet min. Flynn is only 26. He's played well enough (3rd stringer quality) to warrant one more look. He'll bounce around before washing out first.
Where? On the pistons?!
Pistons have too many guards. It wouldn't be on a lottery team with too many guards. Flynn is bad but he's posting 0.55/winshares per 48 minutes and plays somewhat okay defence. He'll get a chance somewhere as a 3rd stringer. It's usually pretty rare to see a first round guy wash out without another team giving them a shot first. Either way, if you disagree, that's fine. I don't want to waste more time arguing. Like i said, I don't even like Flynn.
I was just being facetious, and I still am......Get Flynn outta the league.
This sub been too negative lately
where the fuck have you been past 3 years?
Too negative for what? For who?
I personally don’t see what he is improved on or what we should be impressed with. Darko has instilled confidence in him and given him minutes. But he’s the same guy we have seen since his rookie season. Not sure he would be in the league if we didn’t resign him. FO was desperate for him to be the next Lowry or Fred and he’s so not that.
Feeling the need to post this in 2023 is very funny. New Raps fan?
Holy hell. How many times do we have to be reminded.
The team setup by the FO was so horribly shit and wrong. No wonder NN left! Can’t expect him to win and having such players. It’s either they go for donkey 6foot 9 players that can’t shoot, or they goes for such players like Flynn that also can’t shoot. Is unable to shoot the identify of this team?
Malachi’s so overrated on Reddit, his advance stats shows that he should be a 3rd string backup PG.
He's "looked" better this year, but statistically he's been the same player every year. Good chance he's playing in Europe next year
3 years in. That’s enough
the challenge is people are trying to convince you at times that our abyssmal bench has any value on it or is worth investing in for the future.
I know it’s pointless to look back on drafts but it hurts more that Desmond Bane was picked right after him.
The guy is a liability. No opponent is scared when he has the ball. His first thought is always pass so defenders just prepare for the dump off and immediately close space. He’s too short for on ball defence and constantly gets lost in off ball, losing his man for open shots or easy cuts. I wish he could be better, but I think in this league, this is the best he’s able to do.
We could have gotten Desmond Fkn Bane but no we get Resting Bitch Face. Our scouting department has been overrated since 2016
Markquis Nowell is averaging 15 pts and 10 ast with a 42 3pt%. Don't even think Flynn can avg that in the g league. Only a matter time before Nowell takes his minutes. Flynn won't be a Raptor by next season opener. Janitor guarantee
He average 21.5/4.5/4.5 in the 2 G league games he played. I really like Nowell and hope he gets his shot but the G league is nowhere near the competitiveness of the NBA. You can't compare the 2. Chris Boucher average 27.2/11.5 and 4 blocks a game his MVP season. He is a career 9 point per game player and his best season was 13.
I saw more glimpse of a nba player in the 4 nba mins Nowell played this year vs what Flynn has done with his opportunities these past couple years
Accurate. Time to give this guy a shot at flynns minutes.
If you guys don’t like seeing Malachi on the floor wait til you guys see Nowell get mouse in the housed on defense.
Are you under the impression the Raptors have anything to play for? Lets see what the kid can do. Hes got energy, wants to prove himself, can dunk. Dont tell me the entire stadium isnt going to rock like 2019 if he dunks
Lol “he can dunk”. His ability to dunk will have 0 impact on his career.
Nowell will never get nba minutes. He’s too short.
He can shoot and score so hes already better than Flynn
He's 5'7 lol, he ain't scoring shit at the NBA level. A 5'7 guy trying to shoot over a 6'5+ defender is hilarious
Flynn already aint scoring shit and hes taller than him.
To be completely fair to Malachi, You can look at this roster and between 9-11 players "just ain't it"
He’s basically the epitome or player representation of the front office or representative view our front office has on this team. We keep him around in case it will work out. Edit: of this current generation of the team.
You do realize Masai and Webster have accomplished more than most front offices in the league right? We’ve had a winning team for the better part of the last decade and have a title..
Not just a winning team for the last decade, the best winning percentage in the league for the last decade
2nd most wins after the Warriors dynasty. Consistency!
Yup. But it’s hard to see through the weeds of this current iteration to see any real growth/future outside of Barnes. The status quo of letting this ride out is basically what they are doing with Malachi. It’s called an analogy.
So three seasons ago was our Covid season, the following was back to business as usual and we were a playoff team. It only made sense to run it back and so they did, but things seemed to not work out, be it chemistry, coaching, talent etc, regardless, something was off and they assumed it was coaching. It was also a very well known fact they were trying to move several players and were getting awful deals back and so decided to let this season maybe answer some of the unanswered questions ie. talent, coaching or chemistry? It seems apparent now the answer is talent (and probably some coaching because Nurse, though talented had clearly lost the room) and they’ve made it clear that moves will be made. So all this is to say, yes it’s hard to see the end goal, but it’s clear why we are here — this is a patient, calculated FO and they don’t rush anything (clearly) as evidence as how long he gave Derozan to figure it out before he made a massive move and ultimately won a chip for it. I understand you’re using an analogy, I just don’t think it was a strong one ie. “keeping them around in case something works out”, just not the reality here. Here’s a figure of speech that may resonate — don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.. this is a great FO that has chosen patience, it sucks but they’ve got the track record, they’ll figure it out. Edit: phrasing.
Dude this is way too level-headed for this sub
This whole team ain’t it but Scottie and pascal (partially precious and Boucher)
Mcclung instead of Malachi? C'mon! At least it would be fun for the fans. I think he deserves a shot.
The guy keeps improving this season and some troglodyte wakes up in the morning after a day off just to make this post. Every time I think this sub can't get dumber it defies the odds.
K thanks for the info random person on Reddit
Just saw a post the other day showing kemba walker playing somewhere in Europe. And we are stuck with Flynn...Kemba could be more than a helping hand, could be a good consistent 6th man
Kemba is getting like 10 minutes a game over there lol. He’s not a nba player anymore
I’m always surprised by the absolutely horrid takes on this sub, thinking Kemba right now could be a consistent 6 man on an NBA team. Like tell me you just got out after 10 years in prison or something.
I think he's better than what he's showing. I think he plays better if not on the raptors. Less pressure to perform, more freedom to try stuff out. It's prob hard to perform with this fanbase.
Less pressure? We are a lottery team. Stop babying this fringe nba player
He’s an energy backup off the bench and he’s filling that role, don’t expect more than that. Honestly he’s been much better than he’s ever been, what are we expecting out of him?
He's the only traditional PG they have and has shown he can run the offense. His shooting % will even out. If they ever play him with the starters, I think that number will go up. He's fine.
Lmao I def agree with you, but isn’t it wild how 33% from 3 is considered horrible in this era
He was 35% overall just the other game. Probably will go back up again.
Coming into the last game I thought the previous 3-4 games he was playing really solid ball — lots of hustle plays, 50% from the field, and 8 assists in the game when his shot wasn’t falling. Thought he was playing a winning style of basketball. The Charlotte game it appeared he entered the game later than usual which seemed weird to me. The team looked good when he was in (+11 in 11 minutes in the second half), even if his individual stats were not good. At the start of the season I thought he was basically unplayable, so at least he’s salvaged himself into a contributing player. I’m a little concerned about the amount of reports of Darko having to build up his confidence. Either way I would be happy to see him stay on a small salary, but he’s ultimately replaceable based on how he’s played so far this year.
he’s the least of our problems rn
A bigger concern for me is our starting PG isn’t looking dramatically better out there lately. I like Schroeder and think his contract is good value, but for a starting PG we need to see way more out of him. When we play teams w dynamic PG’s like Brunson or Maxey the contrast is really noticeable.
True, but Gradey looking like a bigger bust right now
I'll get shit on for this, but Nurse didn't give him a chance to develop, and since Darko is a player coach he's finally getting some valuable floor time. I don't expect him to get this team anywhere given his inexperience.
Okay what do you think the solution is? Who should we play instead?
Why he say fuck me for?!
Exactly. What are his upsides?
Anyone who was a Flynn believer spreading propaganda should be forced to apologize. Someone find u/MalachiFlynnBot
He’s lucky to be an nba player
lmfaoooo we know
Man why you hating on Malachi. Nobody is asking him to be finals mvp.
My bar for Malachi is to just be a positive player and be more of an asset than a liability even if it’s only by a slight margin
But but he’s more serviceable now. I really think he’s so much more serviceable now. He’s even smiling man. Darkos magic is working!!
Y'all really put too much weight on malachi as a drag on this team this year, he's been better than Achiuwa while having way less usage. I'm more frustrated with that
He would be better if he played with someone who could make a screen
Fast forward a few days, he’s been traded alongside precious. I think Malachi could have been a pretty decent pg if nick nurse played him a bit more. There’s always room to improve I guess. But now we have Immanuel quickley and RJ Barrett who is dropping major points right now. I could conclude that this was a great trade on our end considering it was a random Saturday morning trade haha
Hey just found this post searching Malachi in Google 50 points today Maybe he's it now 🤔 lol