NBA (and Raptors) 2024 Season

[Hockey_Ninja]

Thanks for everything Spicy P. Now only Boucher is left from the 2019 team.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Interesting reading the reactions on here, cause the general social media consensus is the Raps won this trade. Feels like the notion of "low firsts" is misguided by the perception that the NBA is still what it was in 2006. We now routinely see mid to late first round picks turn into meaningful NBA players. Superstars? Not very often, but the Raps were never getting a superstar for Siakam on an expiring. They have a superstar, or at least superstar adjacent player in Barnes, so filling in around him with young quality is a good thing.

The only issue, I guess, is they didn't take this route last year. Siakam & OG with a year left are worth more, and obviously Fred gets something decent even on an expiring. But ignoring that, and just looking at the situation from December 30, I think they've done quite well.

Yeah. What you said hits the nail on the head. Masai kept his assets too long or lost them for nothing. Not good asset management in my view but I don’t think this trade can be called a win. Just okay under the circumstances. I do wonder if there’s a pending FA they may be targeting.

[SuperMatt18]

It's probably not as good a return as what Beal / Lillard returned...maybe not that different than what the Celtics returned for Smart depending on how you see Porzingis value.

I don't know - the value seems okay with the only real downside being you aren't really getting a blue chip or top 10 pick...but NBA teams aren't moving those for guys that might be a rental.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic died of a heart attack today.

[Jason14h]

The Raptors also have the get into the bottom 6 to keep their pick . Start shutting guys down for the season.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

The Raptors also have the get into the bottom 6 to keep their pick . Start shutting guys down for the season.

That’s a challenge too. The OG trade was good from getting them a respectable starting lineup. And now you have the league cracking down on the resting of players. Hope they can make bad coaching decisions. It’s in everyone’s best interest. That Poeltl deal was a surprisingly dumb one by Masai.

[Jason14h]

League only cares if good teams rest stars !

[octothorp]

I'm highly skeptical that the Raptors maximized this asset. Even if you take out the aspect that there were better times in the past to sell, they likely could have waited it out until closer to the deadline and tried to get the Pacers to flinch.

I don't hate the idea of trading for a pick-heavy package here. I think the OG trade will turn out to be fantastic, and then being able to have a number of rookie contracts in the rotation makes it easier to build a deep roster and put together a trade for an additional impact player a couple years down the line when this core is getting into their prime.

Like if you view the Siakam and OG for:

Quickley, Barrett, Nwora, Lewis, 3 FRPs, one early SRP, and whatever they get as a return for Brown in a likely additional trade, (maybe an additional future FRP and expiring filler), a $10m TPE and $1.3m TPE (how I think it will be organized as this deal is completed)...

That's okay as a combination of moves. It's a huge vote of confidence in Darko's ability to develop players, and makes sense for this coaching staff that is loaded with development expertise.

It probably makes sense to firesale the rest of the vets now: Schroder, Boucher, Thad, OPJ all have value to playoff teams and are on easy-to-move, short-term contracts. GTJ... see what the market is, but he could probably be retained cheap in the offseason and if not, it's not a big loss. Poeltl... probably keep him because it sucks trying to develop guys without a competent center. They probably get a high draft pick this year or next, so treat the next year as just a big development project and then set sights on starting to move up the standings in the 2025-26 season.

[DropIt]

I was expecting to lose Benny or Hield but just picks for Siakam? Im thrilled. PS, Halliburton and Turner is going to be a very nice starting trio

Was expecting to pay more given Halliburtons current injury and just how hard we crashed last year when he got hurt

[dammage79]

1st half of the 1st game W/O Siakam and they're blowing the doors off Miami.

[Mathgod]

Now let's see if the Flames can make a similar type deal involving Lindholm...

[Flamesfan05]

Low first rounders in the NBA are much less valuable than the NHL

Even lottery picks don’t mean much unless it’s near the top

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

Low first rounders in the NBA are much less valuable than the NHL

Even lottery picks don’t mean much unless it’s near the top

In saying that, Siakam was the 27th OA pick.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Jokic at #41, Jimmy Butler at #30, Giannis and Kawhi at #15, Jrue Holiday #17. You could theoretically have an unstoppable team right now without a lottery pick. Like every draft it's pure gambling, you might think you know, but you just don't. Of course you'd rather get high picks, but teams who want impact players at the deadline aren't going to be picking in the lottery.

[Flamesfan05]

Of course you can get a star in the 2nd round . Fred Van Fleet wasn’t even drafted but the odd is not good.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

Low first rounders in the NBA are much less valuable than the NHL

Even lottery picks don’t mean much unless it’s near the top

I don't really agree with that. Granted, there's a huge talent drop off overall, and it's hard to find a star in the late first or second. But... the cheap salary control you get on a late first or second is really valuable. If you're shooting for rotation level, low ceiling high floor guys, maybe college juniors or seniors, then you can get guys who can contribute to a rotation on like $2m per year over their first 4 years, while similar levels of contribution will cost you $8m+ if you're signing a free agent. Plus you've got some salary control on their next contract. Maybe you find guys who have a mix of both a solid roleplayer skillset and some upside, like Siakam was when he was drafted.

For the Raptors, the value in having late FRPs and early SRPs (if they decide to keep them) isn't necessarily that they get a star out of one of those picks, it's that they can build a rotation around Barnes, Barrett and Quickley, while preserving salary and flexibility for additional moves.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Originally Posted by Flamesfan05

Of course you can get a star in the 2nd round . Fred Van Fleet wasn’t even drafted but the odd is not good.

Sure, but look at lottery picks. Your odds of finding a superstar are certainly better, but still not great. We just saw this with the Raps and Barnes. If they had taken Suggs like so many wanted that pick would have been a debacle and set them back badly (or maybe they tank last year and get Wemby?). OKC is a good example of the value of hoarding picks, more lottery tickets is never a bad thing.

[bluejays]

Masai half telling the truth today. The team last year didn’t deserve a run at it. Either he’s overconfident in the team he built at the time, or ownership wanted the playoff revenue. There’s no way anyone thought that roster or this years roster to start was worthy of keeping together. Scotty would have developed regardless. Anyway, last year would’ve been ideal.

[The Big Chill]

The Poeltl trade was a big mistake. He’s a good player, and we badly needed a centre, but we all knew he wasn’t going to elevate us to the level of the top teams. We’d be looking in decent shape moving forward right now if we had our FRP, plus whatever we gain from the remaining roster moves we make before the deadline.

At least now Masai has decided to move on from this group and can make moves with the future in mind. We have some decent pieces now.

[Hockey_Ninja]

https://twitter.com/user/status/1748345362014978470