2017-18 Toronto Raptors and General NBA Thread

[Beninho]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Cleveland may not get by Indiana, and if they do for once they will be tired. Love look severally injured . But the point remains , you can’t take the 3rd best team and nuke them to the ground and tank for 3-4 years hoping to win the lottery and get a star or two.

Plus the way they set up their contracts their basically can start fresh in 2 years with no one signed past then

Cleveland will most likely get by Indiana and I have zero faith in this team to even just limit Lebron. He’s all up in the raptors heads and they play him scared, no one on the raptors will play Lebron like Stephenson has, Lowry will probably fist bump him before every quarter.

So what happens if they lose in the first round this year? Continue with the status quo? I just don’t see what others are seeing with this team. Yes they got the first seed in an extremely weak conference and now are again struggling to get out of the first round. The team is a good regular season team but just a putrid playoff team and have been unable land other stars to propel them to the next level. Powell and Ibakas signing will hamper this team for the duration of their window.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by Beninho

Cleveland will most likely get by Indiana and I have zero faith in this team to even just limit Lebron. He’s all up in the raptors heads and they play him scared, no one on the raptors will play Lebron like Stephenson has, Lowry will probably fist bump him before every quarter.

So what happened if they lose in the first round this year? Continue with the status quo? I just don’t see what others are seeing with this team. Yes they got the first seed in an extremely weak conference and now are again struggling to get out of the first round. The team is a good regular season team but just a putrid playoff team and have been unable land other stars to propel them to the next level. Powell and Ibakas signing will hamper this team for the duration of their window.

You knew from the signings that the weak arsed plan was to fill the seats for 3 years. Hope their wannabe allstars would finally show something in the playoffs beside stupid ISO ball and choking. That's it / the East is even more putrid that usual so who knows maybe they can make the final. Or they lose in the first round. But they make money and that's their ONLY goal.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by St. Pats

You knew from the signings that the weak arsed plan was to fill the seats for 3 years. Hope their wannabe allstars would finally show something in the playoffs beside stupid ISO ball and choking. That's it / the East is even more putrid that usual so who knows maybe they can make the final. Or they lose in the first round. But they make money and that's their ONLY goal.

This is the most non-sensical posts I have read in a while.

The Raptors re-signed all their best players, to very smart 3 year deals, made smart trades to address their shooting weaknesses, completely changed their offense , and finished 1st in the conference.

And you are mad because they just wanted to 'fill the seats' with their moves.

What would make you happy? Magically convince a top FA to come to Toronto (Not happening) or rebuild and tank for 3-5 years, praying to win the lottery in a year with a franchise star, and then pray you can convince another top FA to come.

Don't forget, even Lebron left Cleveland because no one would come there never winning a championship. It only took Cleveland getting 2 first overall picks for Lebron to come back....

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

This is the most non-sensical posts I have read in a while.

The Raptors re-signed all their best players, to very smart 3 year deals, made smart trades to address their shooting weaknesses, completely changed their offense , and finished 1st in the conference.

And you are mad because they just wanted to 'fill the seats' with their moves.

What would make you happy? Magically convince a top FA to come to Toronto (Not happening) or rebuild and tank for 3-5 years, praying to win the lottery in a year with a franchise star, and then pray you can convince another top FA to come.

Don't forget, even Lebron left Cleveland because no one would come there never winning a championship. It only took Cleveland getting 2 first overall picks for Lebron to come back....

If Ibaka is one of your best players you are in big trouble. He is like a shadow of his former self. Now in his late 30's or whatever age he is there is precious little left. Lowry ain't getting any younger either. ISO Derozan would be fine if he would play the way he did during the regular season (less minutes, less shots,more three pointers etc.)

But that is all beside the point. Yes very much if I was GM I would have done exactly what the current GM tried to do. Which was evaluate his roster and tank. He dumped Gay and got back some fodder. He had the deal in place to jettison Lowry and then Dolan changed the whole plan. So funny but so Raptors like that an owner steps out of the blue and kiboshes a done deal. The tank was in place and they could have battled it out with the 76er's for best young team.

The fodder worked during regular season play till it was obvious they were indeed rubbish. So they went for a younger bench who once again propped up the weak starting five. Yet more regular season success. Unfortunately in the playoffs your starters can play a lot and have ample rest between games and limited travel. The stars become so very important and Raptors have two of the worst playoff performers of all time(look up their playoff shooting percentages / amazingly bad) Ibaka not worth mentioning as he isn't even a factor.

So yeah the only hope was to keep just firing shots from whoever was open which worked all season. Can they actually play that way in the playoffs? IF not they are done cause they don't have the stars to compete.

Ujiri tried to do it right. Got done in by Dolan. That the sum of the parts did better than was reasonable to be believed forced the all in moves last year. They got owned as expected. So close to a proper rebuild. So close.

Never-the-less the East is so weak that any of the teams could win it. Including the Raptors if they just go back to team ball cause they have only wannabe stars.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by St. Pats

If Ibaka is one of your best players you are in big trouble. He is like a shadow of his former self. Now in his late 30's or whatever age he is there is precious little left. Lowry ain't getting any younger either. ISO Derozan would be fine if he would play the way he did during the regular season (less minutes, less shots,more three pointers etc.)

But that is all beside the point. Yes very much if I was GM I would have done exactly what the current GM tried to do. Which was evaluate his roster and tank. He dumped Gay and got back some fodder. He had the deal in place to jettison Lowry and then Dolan changed the whole plan. So funny but so Raptors like that an owner steps out of the blue and kiboshes a done deal. The tank was in place and they could have battled it out with the 76er's for best young team.

The fodder worked during regular season play till it was obvious they were indeed rubbish. So they went for a younger bench who once again propped up the weak starting five. Yet more regular season success. Unfortunately in the playoffs your starters can play a lot and have ample rest between games and limited travel. The stars become so very important and Raptors have two of the worst playoff performers of all time(look up their playoff shooting percentages / amazingly bad) Ibaka not worth mentioning as he isn't even a factor.

So yeah the only hope was to keep just firing shots from whoever was open which worked all season. Can they actually play that way in the playoffs? IF not they are done cause they don't have the stars to compete.

Ujiri tried to do it right. Got done in by Dolan. That the sum of the parts did better than was reasonable to be believed forced the all in moves last year. They got owned as expected. So close to a proper rebuild. So close.

Never-the-less the East is so weak that any of the teams could win it. Including the Raptors if they just go back to team ball cause they have only wannabe stars.

No one should ever strive to be like 76ers. They turned the team into a joke and the league was forced to step in.

If that is the only way to build a winner going forward the league is doomed . (Not saying it might not be )

Plus what if you don’t win he lottery? They weren’t close to a proper rebuild. They had not even started. They would need to tank for 3-4 years and hope to win the lottery, in a year with a star”s”

Honestly , even if you include the West, how many teams do you think are better then the Raptors

And next year will be ther final shot, and if they fail they will deal Lowry and Ibakas expiring deals and do the rebuild. They set up the team this way to have 2 more shots at it

[howard_the_duck]

Originally Posted by St. Pats

If Ibaka is one of your best players you are in big trouble. He is like a shadow of his former self. Now in his late 30's or whatever age he is there is precious little left. Lowry ain't getting any younger either. ISO Derozan would be fine if he would play the way he did during the regular season (less minutes, less shots,more three pointers etc.)

But that is all beside the point. Yes very much if I was GM I would have done exactly what the current GM tried to do. Which was evaluate his roster and tank. He dumped Gay and got back some fodder. He had the deal in place to jettison Lowry and then Dolan changed the whole plan. So funny but so Raptors like that an owner steps out of the blue and kiboshes a done deal. The tank was in place and they could have battled it out with the 76er's for best young team.

The fodder worked during regular season play till it was obvious they were indeed rubbish. So they went for a younger bench who once again propped up the weak starting five. Yet more regular season success. Unfortunately in the playoffs your starters can play a lot and have ample rest between games and limited travel. The stars become so very important and Raptors have two of the worst playoff performers of all time(look up their playoff shooting percentages / amazingly bad) Ibaka not worth mentioning as he isn't even a factor.

So yeah the only hope was to keep just firing shots from whoever was open which worked all season. Can they actually play that way in the playoffs? IF not they are done cause they don't have the stars to compete.

Ujiri tried to do it right. Got done in by Dolan. That the sum of the parts did better than was reasonable to be believed forced the all in moves last year. They got owned as expected. So close to a proper rebuild. So close.

Never-the-less the East is so weak that any of the teams could win it. Including the Raptors if they just go back to team ball cause they have only wannabe stars.

Ibaka is 28. And a very solid NBA PF if you ask me. While not the defender he once was, he's still a very competent shot blocker and can cover modern shooting bigs.

IMO he's been very good in this series, save for the last few minutes in game 4. Great on D and on the glass. Hoping that the ball movement picks back up tonight and he gets involved offensively as well.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Pretty poor half, lucky that Washington is shooting like crap or this could be a double digit deficit. Getting dominated on the offensive glass is very worrying, if they don't fix that up they'll definitely lose.

[The Big Chill]

So Washington gets continuation on everything, and we get buckets taken away like that? It'd be nice if the refs at least attempted to hide the bias.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Well it definitely wasn't pretty, but it's a win and that's all that counts. Now please finish it in Washington, nobody wants to go through a game 7.

[The Big Chill]

Raptors win!

[octothorp]

Did I mention how much I'm a fan of Wright?

[Senator Clay Davis]

It's absolutely insane to think that even as amazing as LeBron has been in this series, the Cavs still should have lost it by now. Pacers are gonna be living with a lot of what ifs when they lose this series.

[SuperMatt18]

Honestly though...Lebron is at the point where you have to at least entertain the discussion that he’s as good as Jordan.

Impossible to really undoubtedly say who was better of the two at this point.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Well it definitely wasn't pretty, but it's a win and that's all that counts. Now please finish it in Washington, nobody wants to go through a game 7.

Well look at the year they got to the conference finals. Maybe this just need one more seven game series to get to the NBA championship. Wouldn't that be Raptor like to the hilt. Three seven game series would be pretty nerve wracking!

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by howard_the_duck

Ibaka is 28. And a very solid NBA PF if you ask me. While not the defender he once was, he's still a very competent shot blocker and can cover modern shooting bigs.

IMO he's been very good in this series, save for the last few minutes in game 4. Great on D and on the glass. Hoping that the ball movement picks back up tonight and he gets involved offensively as well.

We aren't seeing the same guy. I'm seeing a guy who I don't believe is 28 but that's a side issue. He has been declining for years. His point totals dropping, his blocks dissapearing and his old legs can't provide the base for his shooting anymore. Biggest game of the season and he puts up 3 pts and 2 rebounds. Mighty big waste of a lot of money IMO. But hey IF he makes a big basket along the way to get them to the Finals then I change my opinion to worth every penny.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Gotta ride the mob until they give you reason not to. No need to force DeMar or Lowry back in.

[Skaloper]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Gotta ride the mob until they give you reason not to. No need to force DeMar or Lowry back in.

Might want to think about putting them in now though. They are getting paid to have the game and shots in their hands.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Stating the obvious, but the mob just plays better together as we've seen all year. Although it's also obvious that VanVleet is the Don of the mob, what a difference with him out there. I would have them in until at least under six minutes.

[Skaloper]

Terrible shot by JV and they just left Beal wide open for a three...

[Senator Clay Davis]

Gotta finish this, run good offense and no cheap fouls.