The Rapcast

Kyle Lowry was rested (official reason being a groin issue) and Cory Joseph started in his place, as the Raptors dropped one in San Jose against the Golden State Warriors, 97-85.

DeMare Carroll played a game-high 24 minutes, and notched 15 points on 3-6 3FG, but had another turnover-filled game with 5. The second-leading man was DeMar DeRozan who struggled again with his shooting, going 4-11 FG but did show some nice interplay with Jonas Valanciunas by dishing out 4 assists. The latter almost had a double-double in 21 minutes, going for 8 points and 10 rebounds, in minutes played mostly against Andrew Bogut.

The night did belong to Norman Powell, who was 6-11 FG for 13 points and looked fluid as ever, and he's also a subject of our conversation in the below podcast.

The Raptors started brightly but the Warriors took control in the late second quarter, with the second half being closer to summer league than pre-season. The Raptors, "led" by Norman Powell, Shannon Scott, Bruno Caboclo, Delon Wright, and Andrew Bennett did make a late run, but Mo Speights had key baskets to put the game away, just when the Raptors were within 7.

This game was not televised and was broadcast on the Warriors radio channel. To make up for a proper recap, I'm joined on RW Extra pod by Nate Duncan (@NateDuncanNBA), who was at the Shark Tank in San Jose to witness this one:

It may just be preseason, but it's more than enough to get Will and Zarar excited as they scrutinize the Raptors win against the Clippers in Vancouver. There's individual performance analysis followed by team-level analysis. We also cover Dwane Casey's comments regarding Jonas Valanciunas playing in the fourth, and the starting PF spot being undecided. That, and a ton more in a Rapcast which is actually talking Raptors basketball.

Sam fires up his Nokia flip phone to dial into the podcast, and we tackle the Anthony Bennett case, the Canadian conspiracy, and a lot more in this week's Rapcast.

Part 1:

Helping Sam out

Jays talk

Anthony Bennett signing, position of player, development

Do Raptors sign Bennett if he's not Canadian?

Media day

DeMarre Carroll and the JYD 2.0 thing - mixed feelings

Playing Delon Wright and Cory Joseph at the same time

Places to watch Raptors other than Real Sports

Raptor most likely to get shipped

If Bennett proves rotation-worthy, do Raptors move Scola or Patterson?

Are we prioritizing win now over player development?

Bruno Caboclo predictions

Is the Canadian contingent going to be a distraction?

Part 2:

Sam Mitchell's back in the league

Ex-Raptors head coaches not getting chances

Sam's reaction to DeMarre Carroll contract

Can one guy like DeMarre Carroll make the defensive difference?

Does Cory Joseph excite you?

How ex-Spurs fared after leaving Spurs

Can you smell that? That's what actual basketball talk sounds like. Will joins the pod as we review and rank the Eastern conference from the bottom-up.

Part 1:

Jonas talk

Positions 15-9.

Part 2:

Positions 8-1

The podcast can't stop, won't stop. Andrew and Zarar blast through Twitter questions like a hot knife through butter, and hand out more predictions than a panicking psychic. Topics include:

Part 1:

Darrick Martin

Jonas talk in FIBAs

Motion offense for next season

Lack of zone defense

Future of Terrence Ross vs Alan Anderson

'Melo to the Raptors

Markieff Morris and Kenneth Faried still hangin' around

Rebrand

Cory Joseph expectations

Part 2:

This team vs last year's when it comes to playoff expectations

Playoff predictions: Raptors vs East contenders

Andrew and Zarar take you deep into Raptors history, folklore, legend, and myth, as they run down moments that are forever etched in a Raptors fans mind, whether good or bad. We try to recall memories that our subconscious remembers only for our tongues to fail us.

There's Vince Carter, the Damon years, Babcock's blunders, an omission in the middle, classic post-gamers, days that broke our hearts and nights that kept us going. Also, there's Will Solomon. It's a pod like no other.

Will and Zarar take you through the last week of August and into September with talk of Tristan Thompson's future, DeMarre Carroll's present, helluva lot more, and even a peek across Europe in a way that's unusual to the pod.

Part 1

Tristan Thompson rumours

Jonas Valanciunas contract in absolute terms

Precedence for overpaying Canadian players

Tim's article

Masai Ujiri inheriting Bryan Colangelo

Part 2

Twitter questions

DeMarre Carroll's All-Star candidacy

Last hurrah for Vince

Bebe's role next season

Why we love scrubs

Soccer talk

Not only is this week's episode late, it's also a solo pod ... with the fill-in host.

Listen along as William Lou trudges on about the following topics:

-Jonas Valanciunas's 4-year, $64-million extension

-Extension talks with Terrence Ross

-What would be considered a success for the Raptors' upcoming season?

-Markieff Morris trade rumors

-Listener questions

-So, so much more

The voice of the Raptors, Matt Devlin, was kind enough to take some time to talk Raptors basketball on a wide-ranging set of topics.

- 4 games in 5 nights minimized

- Wale incident

- Does acquisition of defensive talent warrant change in defensive tactics?

- Surprised at Lou Williams allowed to walk?

- Manner of sweep dictating the off-season moves

- The game that changed the course of last season

- Kyle Lowry's off-season fitness

- Light at PF - how would matchups vs Pau Gasol or Kevin Love work out?

- Jonas Valanciunas - what's the one thing he needs to do to get to the next level?

- Raptors tendency to matchup versus dictating matchups

- Who was the most vocal player in the locker room, the one providing veteran leadership last season?

- Paul Pierce comments

- Who will replace Amir Johnson?

- Thoughts on Amir Johnson as a person

- Flying on the Raptors charter

- Do you get to see the cities when travelling on the road?

- 2016 free agency - is the Kevin Durant talk crazy?

- Possibility of Toronto signing a top-tier player

- Drake effect - players relationship with Drake

- Raptors fans and their effect on players

- When does Matt's Raptors work start?

- Who's the Raptors best three-point shooter?

- Terrence Ross's upcoming season and expectations

- Mixing and matching bench/starters

- DeMar DeRozan improvements

They said summertime is dead time. They were wrong. Will and I go through the dearth of topics available and produce #content:

Part 1

JV max contract talk

DeMar DeRozan's Drew League

KD and DD at OVO

Lowry losing weight

Patterson comments about starting

Part 2

New jerseys

Players playing international ball

Shannon Scott