NBA (and Raptors) 2024 Season

[octothorp]

Looking at the Raptors draft-day moves, I think there's a very interesting team-building philosophy here, prioritizing passing bigs and movement shooters. The lineup now has four passing bigs/forwards (Barnes, Poeltl, Olynyk, and Mogbo), and four good movement shooters (Dick, Quickley, Walter, Vezenkov). Expect a lot of plays that involve getting the ball into one of these guys in the high post and then run various cutting and screening actions. Darko's philosophy is so much based on players developing schemes that make sense for them based on working through things in practice, and so with so much of the roster going into their first training camp together, it'll basically be starting from zero.

If the Raptors don't make any further moves (beyond maybe a Brown trade), I really like the way the roster sets up. Either guys all take a step forward, the rookies look good, and this team maybe makes the playoffs via the play-in, or it takes a while for the team to gel, they lose a lot of games, and they end up with a high lottery pick while still getting a lot of experience for their young players. Either of those is a good situation.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Thompson to the Mavericks

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Thompson to the Mavericks

Not the same guy he was years back. Chronic issues. Won't move the dial unless healthy.

[Paulie Walnuts]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Not the same guy he was years back. Chronic issues. Won't move the dial unless healthy.

He’s a one dribble shooter. He can’t defend like he used too, but with Luka and Kyrie he should be open for those easy shots he had with the Warriors.

[bluejays]

^ agreed (quoting not working). I just don't think the guy can catch a break with his health checking out. He didn't have a particularly stressful game in GS. So more or less he'll be in the same position as he did there but I don't think he can stay healthy as little as he needs to move.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Nothing like the first six (???) team trade. Following the C.R.E.A.M. guidelines Denver feels like the winner here.

[browna]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Nothing like the first six (???) team trade. Following the C.R.E.A.M. guidelines Denver feels like the winner here.

Even if Charlotte got a journeyman NHL'er and famed MLB playoff HR hitter, that may be more noteworthy than a second round pick 7 years from now like the 6ers got.

[octothorp]

I think we'll see more and more trades like this under the new CBA, because salary is just so valuable in itself, with the CBA making it harder for apron teams to add salary via trades. This summary doesn't even get into the trade-exceptions created here, which are some of the most important assets involved. For the 76ers, Wolves, and Nuggets, they generated significant trade exceptions here, which will give them flexibility for in-season trades that they otherwise wouldn't have had.

[octothorp]

It's too bad for Canada that Edey opted to play in summer league this year instead of with the national team, but seeing him dominate Kessler in summer league last night was impressive. Kessler's one of the few guys in the league who is physically equipped to deal with Edey in the post, and Edey generally scored very efficiently and was always sealing off Kessler from defending driving lanes.

The defense will be a work in progress, summer league has a lot of guys just driving into the paint for easy blocks so I won't get excited about the blocking stats. Still, between him and JJJ they're really going to provide a huge amount of lane intimidation together.

It's probably ideal for him that he ended up in Memphis; provided Ja plays the full season, those two are going to be one of the toughest pick-and-roll duos in the league, and Memphis already has one of the best big-man coaches in the league it Potapenko, who was a big part in developing Tristan Thompson and JJJ. I think he's got a solid shot at RotY, since most of the other top rookies are really raw, and he'll be able to be a contributor for a really good team from day 1.

[transplant99]

The NBA has agreed to terms on its new media deal, an 11-year agreement worth $76 billion that assures player salaries will continue rising for the foreseeable future and one that will surely change how some viewers access the game for years to come.

The deal, which sets NBA records for both its length and total value, goes into effect for the 2025-26 season. Games will continue being aired on ESPN and ABC, and now some will be going to NBC and Amazon Prime. TNT Sports, which has been part of the league's broadcasting family since the 1980s, could be on its way out but has five days to match one of the deals.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/...ia-rights-deal

[Senator Clay Davis]

I mean he'll make great endorsement money in New York, and maybe there'll be some Tom Brady level under the table money involved in the future, but this is still pretty crazy.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1811867780884627697

[trackercowe]

Very strange move by Brunson. I'm sure the players association is pretty upset as well. He earned a max deal and plays nearly every minute of the seaon. I kinda feel bad for the guy. He'll be earning less than Anunoby! This contract makes zero sense.

[Beninho]

Looking forward to the Olympics and Canadas chances to medal. Just finished watching the highlights of France Vs Serbia and those are two teams that would be very difficult for Canada to beat given Canadas weakness in the front court. Jokic, like usual, looked amazing, but maybe the best shape i’ve seen him in. Completely dominated wemby.

[devo22]

apparently Mikal Bridges is also open to taking a discount on his upcoming long-term deal with the Knicks.

I don't like the Knicks in general, for a lot of different reasons. But with the players they have right now, it's also kind of hard to dislike them.

[Paulie Walnuts]

This is the first time I’ve seen nba players take a discount like this.

I know LeBron didn’t sign a max deal with the Heat so they could fill out the roster and he took like a million less so the Lakers wouldn’t hit that 2nd apron. This is nuts.

It’s a lot of a money. lol

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I mean he'll make great endorsement money in New York, and maybe there'll be some Tom Brady level under the table money involved in the future, but this is still pretty crazy.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1811867780884627697

It's smart. If they can win multiple championships there, he can make it all back and more (and probably continue to earn endorsements well after he retires).

[bluejays]

Not sure what Masai is doing. The shine has definitely come of in recent years. Guys either walking for nothing or being traded too late. I personally don’t see the direction here, at all. I wonder what’s been sold to the board as the vision.

[mile]

Originally Posted by bluejays

Not sure what Masai is doing. The shine has definitely come of in recent years. Guys either walking for nothing or being traded too late. I personally don’t see the direction here, at all. I wonder what’s been sold to the board as the vision.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1811498471108804792

https://twitter.com/user/status/1804191460352286874



It is definitely a rebuild. I expect them to miss the playoffs, but if Scottie, IQ, Dick, Barrett, and other young pieces develop enough to take the team to a play-in spot, I think they value that just as much as a good draft pick - especially since it seems like management is confident in their ability to find players at any spot in the draft.



Still trust Masai a lot, and would easily take him leading this team over anyone else. There are a lot of bad executives and GMs in this league, but he's far from being one of them. Getting IQ and Barrett for Anunoby and being able to get multiple picks and a backup PG at the draft for one of the worst players in the league in McDaniels were good reminders of what he could do. Now that the direction is clearly defined, I think there will be less confusion.



It's just Summer League, I've really liked the showing by some of the Raptors new picks. Chomche is extremely raw but I'm intrigued by what he could be with development time. Hoping we get back to the times where we found guys like FVV, Siakam, Anunoby, and Powell out of nowhere.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by mile

https://twitter.com/user/status/1811498471108804792

https://twitter.com/user/status/1804191460352286874



It is definitely a rebuild. I expect them to miss the playoffs, but if Scottie, IQ, Dick, Barrett, and other young pieces develop enough to take the team to a play-in spot, I think they value that just as much as a good draft pick - especially since it seems like management is confident in their ability to find players at any spot in the draft.



Still trust Masai a lot, and would easily take him leading this team over anyone else. There are a lot of bad executives and GMs in this league, but he's far from being one of them. Getting IQ and Barrett for Anunoby and being able to get multiple picks and a backup PG at the draft for one of the worst players in the league in McDaniels were good reminders of what he could do. Now that the direction is clearly defined, I think there will be less confusion.



It's just Summer League, I've really liked the showing by some of the Raptors new picks. Chomche is extremely raw but I'm intrigued by what he could be with development time. Hoping we get back to the times where we found guys like FVV, Siakam, Anunoby, and Powell out of nowhere.

That’s pretty shocking they said rebuild. I do trust Masai, but I don’t see him as an emperor anymore. He’s made good moves here and there but his judgement after the championship was the equivalent of the Jays management moves - buying into a philosophy that hasn’t been tried out, and as a result they’ve made mediocre moves, largely. I haven’t been following the summer league games but did see the bipolar aspect of these games. Some were blowouts for us, some were blowouts for them. It’s not about the numbers necessarily, but the consistent skills shown.

[octothorp]

A couple Raptors developments today that may be related (or maybe not). Vezenkov buyout is done, with Sasha giving up 100% of his remaining salary to return to Europe. And Koloko's case is now officially up before the fitness to play committee; getting re-approved after blood clots is a long shot if there's a chance of them re-occurring, but in Koloko's case there was a specific (undisclosed) condition to have surgery to repair to prevent blood clots, which makes it far likelier that the committee will see this as being something that is solved.

Anyway, he's still a bit of a project who just lost a year of development time, but it would be big if the Raptors can get him back (the Raptors paid out his full contract when they released him, including next year's salary, which was non-guaranteed so they were under no obligation to pay it out), so hopefully he thinks that they at least treated him well. Also there were reports of him hanging out with the Raptors brass at summer league (as well as having a private workout there).