2019-20 Raptors and General NBA Thread

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by fleury

Yeah, pretty odd, but not surprising. Harden and him have high egos and really are modern day ball hoggers (moreso Harden). Can't have two on one team. I'd love for the Raps to go for him, but with the team first identity I can't see him fitting in or wanting to come to a different country.


On another notes, VanVleet said he's looking to cash in, which means he's done in Toronto. I'd personally like the Raps to develop him over keeping Lowry on the tail end of his career, but I strongly think Lowry has become untouchable with his ring and his shift to being a team player under Masai after making amends post DeRozan. I still have no clue what the team does aside from that, because there are a ton of directions they can go this off-season. I think the culture has been set that regardless of who they bring in, they'll be looking for chemistry and openness to creative coaching to get it done, over the traditional star-player takes it always in crunch time. I think that narrows the list down considerably when looking at big names.

Raptors can afford VanVleet easily

The question is how to structure his contract AND afford another max if you truely believe The Greek Freak is coming here

If he’s not its actually quiet easy

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by Jason14h

Raptors can afford VanVleet easily

The question is how to structure his contract AND afford another max if you truely believe The Greek Freak is coming here

If he’s not its actually quiet easy

You’re right. With the expiring contracts coming off the books, they could afford him, but there are replacement players to sign as well. Is having two undersized forwards costing $55MM worth it? Personally I think the answer is hell no when neither can carry the team. They’re both solid so I don’t think that type of structure would work in sorting the rest of the roster. Which is why I think he’s gone. Some other team would pony up $23MM for Fred, I have little doubt. So you have to replace Surge, Gasol, and VV. Should make for an interesting offseason soon enough.

[edslunch]

Any news on Davis? I was hoping he could pick up some slack if FVV leaves.

[Johnny Makarov]

They need to keep FVV and boot mr whinyass lowry out of town. Every single play!
2nd biggest whiner in Cdn history after Gretzky.

[activeStick]

Originally Posted by fleury

Yeah, pretty odd, but not surprising. Harden and him have high egos and really are modern day ball hoggers (moreso Harden). Can't have two on one team. I'd love for the Raps to go for him, but with the team first identity I can't see him fitting in or wanting to come to a different country.


On another notes, VanVleet said he's looking to cash in, which means he's done in Toronto. I'd personally like the Raps to develop him over keeping Lowry on the tail end of his career, but I strongly think Lowry has become untouchable with his ring and his shift to being a team player under Masai after making amends post DeRozan. I still have no clue what the team does aside from that, because there are a ton of directions they can go this off-season. I think the culture has been set that regardless of who they bring in, they'll be looking for chemistry and openness to creative coaching to get it done, over the traditional star-player takes it always in crunch time. I think that narrows the list down considerably when looking at big names.

No doubt he's a great player (Harden as well), but the Raptors have proved that you don't need a superstar to win in the league and I'd prefer that my team continues to build a team with that strategy.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by activeStick

No doubt he's a great player (Harden as well), but the Raptors have proved that you don't need a superstar to win in the league and I'd prefer that my team continues to build a team with that strategy.

But they haven’t disproved that you need a superstar to win it all

[jayswin]

Originally Posted by activeStick

No doubt he's a great player (Harden as well), but the Raptors have proved that you don't need a superstar to win in the league and I'd prefer that my team continues to build a team with that strategy.

What?! They proved that you do need a superstar to win in this league? Like quite literally.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by jayswin

What?! They proved that you do need a superstar to win in this league? Like quite literally.

Yeah, pretty much the Raps instilled there are two ways to win:
1) Get two me-first superstars, fill the next top 3 with 6th men, and the rest of the roster with fillers
2) Get one superstar who can play within the team environment, fill the next 7 roster spots with 6th men who play hard, the rest of the team with fillers.


The "easiest" way to win is with a few superstars, but with limited teams who can attract those guys the Raps have shown numbe 2 can be accomplished. It just requires smart drafting and trades, but it still requires some type of superstar on the team. While I admittedly don't have the best memory, I can't think of a championship team that didn't have a legit superstar player on their roster.

[Trojan97]

Originally Posted by fleury

Yeah, pretty much the Raps instilled there are two ways to win:
1) Get two me-first superstars, fill the next top 3 with 6th men, and the rest of the roster with fillers
2) Get one superstar who can play within the team environment, fill the next 7 roster spots with 6th men who play hard, the rest of the team with fillers.


The "easiest" way to win is with a few superstars, but with limited teams who can attract those guys the Raps have shown numbe 2 can be accomplished. It just requires smart drafting and trades, but it still requires some type of superstar on the team. While I admittedly don't have the best memory, I can't think of a championship team that didn't have a legit superstar player on their roster.

The 04 Pistons would be the only team I can think of. You'd be hard pressed to call any of Chauncey/Rip Hamilton/Tayshaun Prince/Rasheed/Ben Wallace superstars at the time but they were a bunch of dogs and built perfectly for that era. Attempting to reconstruct a perfect storm of player acquisitions/roster modelling such as that in the modern era is a losing proposition for sure. It's a superstar game like you say for better or worse.

[devo22]

Woj Bomb!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1328399592426262530

will be interesting to see who goes to OKC, I'd imagine Rubio and Oubre are a part of the package. Paul-Booker-Ayton could be fun.

EDIT: yup. Feels like a lot to give up for Paul ...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1328400422445461505

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by devo22

Woj Bomb!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1328399592426262530

will be interesting to see who goes to OKC, I'd imagine Rubio and Oubre are a part of the package. Paul-Booker-Ayton could be fun.

EDIT: yup. Feels like a lot to give up for Paul ...

https://twitter.com/user/status/1328400422445461505

Is it? I can’t think of a comparable for the Raps?

[flames_fan_down_under]

Anyone have an updated count of how many first round picks OKC has over the next few years?

FYI the Clippers have, let me see here, none.

[devo22]

Originally Posted by flames_fan_down_under

Anyone have an updated count of how many first round picks OKC has over the next few years?

FYI the Clippers have, let me see here, none.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1328011164803084290

plus the 2022 1st from Phoenix now (top 12 protected).

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by devo22

https://twitter.com/user/status/1328011164803084290

plus the 2022 1st from Phoenix now (top 12 protected).

Wow. You’d have to think those traditional low picks (after say, pick 10) are valuable in the covid world where some teams would want them to take on extra salary. I’d think with that accumulation they’re going to be really active dealing for talent.

[Kasi]

So Harden wants to get out of Houston to play on the nets with KD and Kylie. If that happened (which would take Brooklyn jettisoning all their young/cheap talent) it would be hilarious to see KD try to drag those 2 headcases around.

[Senator Clay Davis]

This is a pretty crazy overpay, but you gotta go all out to keep Giannis.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1328558559332761606

[SuperMatt18]

Originally Posted by Kasi

So Harden wants to get out of Houston to play on the nets with KD and Kylie. If that happened (which would take Brooklyn jettisoning all their young/cheap talent) it would be hilarious to see KD try to drag those 2 headcases around.

You mean Steve Nash having to drag all three headcases around, don’t forget KD is a headcase too

[Kasi]

Ok sure but he’s a minor headcase compared to those 2 jokers. He has shown he can commit to playing a team system and defense, something both of those guys lack.

[devo22]

Bucks are also landing Bogdan Bogdanovich via sign-and-trade. DiVicenzo, Ilyasova and Wilson to the Kings.

That's a pretty good supporting cast now for Giannis. Holiday, Middleton, Bogdanovich and Lopez, that's decent. They are giving up a ton for Jrue, but if that keeps you Giannis then it's more than worth it.

Looks like Rockets are blowing it up. Covington to Portland, plus Harden tries hard to get them to trade him to Brooklyn it seems.

[The Big Chill]

Come on Giannis, Toronto can still build a better supporting cast then that.