[Senator Clay Davis]

I mean it was one guy who said they wouldn't be a playoff team. Almost everyone had them in the playoffs, just most people had them in the 4-6 seed range which was pretty reasonable. It wasn't just losing Kawhi, it was that Kawhi cost DeRozan too and whatever you think of DeMar, they were still a top 3 team in the East with him. That was a lot to replace, but they did. This year though you have to replace Ibaka and Gasol and that's a lot to replace on defense and with Ibaka the ability to elite small ball with him at the 5.

I still think the Raps make the playoffs, but even ignoring who is better in the East there are at least 4 teams in the West who are better than the Raps too. I mostly want to see what the young guys can do, outside of tanking for a top guy having a lot of assets to trade is the next best approach, so having another FVV-level asset to trade would be nice.