2022 Toronto Raptors Thread - Page 8 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Harry Lime · 08-11-2021, 10:32 PM

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The Raptors will sign Isaac Bonga to a partially guaranteed camp deal, as I reported earlier Wednesday. That puts the roster at 17, plus a presumed 18th spot for Dalano Banton.

I wanted the Raptors to look at trading for Bonga at the last TDL from the Wizards (who were using him in a really unusual way, stunting his development), as a bench player with potential upside. Excellent signing, and I hope he shows well during the summer.

octothorp · 08-12-2021, 11:19 AM

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Originally Posted by Harry Lime

I wanted the Raptors to look at trading for Bonga at the last TDL from the Wizards (who were using him in a really unusual way, stunting his development), as a bench player with potential upside. Excellent signing, and I hope he shows well during the summer.

I'd love to hear more about that. I don't know much about Bonga but my impression was that he was developing nicely his first couple years, and then I see his shooting efficiency fell off a cliff last year.

Harry Lime · 08-12-2021, 08:26 PM

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Originally Posted by octothorp

I'd love to hear more about that. I don't know much about Bonga but my impression was that he was developing nicely his first couple years, and then I see his shooting efficiency fell off a cliff last year.

On the defensive side, he is very much like Barnes. Can play multiple positions and be a plus defender, and at 21 years old, he is already pretty polished in that regard. In his rookie and sophomore years, he was average offensively, but spent last year in the coaches doghouse, and was essentially a defensive specialist.

I guess why I wanted the Raptors to pick him up was that his underlying numbers showed that he was still progressing, and the Wizards treated him like a 30 year old journeyman. He also hustles all over the court, and that's a good aspect to have on a young team like the Raptors.

Caught my eye after I stumbled upon a local Washington article, tearing into the Wizards over this player.

mile · 08-14-2021, 07:29 PM

https://twitter.com/user/status/1426713080885612546

Liked what I saw from Barnes again, especially in the second half. Precious and Flynn were also solid.

It's only Summer League but Gillespie was probably the biggest disappointment overall. Looked nothing like the guy from last season.

bluejays · 08-14-2021, 09:58 PM

Looked like he had a mind lapse and was checking the ball. I don't think he'll be very well liked by the coaching staff for that mistake.

The numbers during the summer league of the top 5 picks has been interesting. Barnes looks like a real work in progress, whom I wouldn't be opposed to getting big minutes in the G-league for half the season at least. Suggs looks like he'll step in right away and will be a solid impact player. Superstar, I'm not sure about, but so far nobody looks like that high ceiling but that's not apparent to me right away anyway.

oldschoolcalgary · 08-15-2021, 11:44 AM

Achuiwa is turning into a pretty good pickup for Lowry...

hoping they can convince Dragic there's a role for him in Toronto, or if they can flip him to Dallas for more assets.

I don't put too much stock in summer league, good or bad...but its fun to see basketball again and be able to watch the young guys getting some big minutes.

bluejays · 08-15-2021, 08:19 PM

Dragic has no role in Toronto without taking valuable minutes from guys who need the chance. I personally don't like the guy on this team, but it just seems they can't find a viable trading partner for him or it'd be done. In fairness to him he's not a far down the bench guy, so the only way I see this going is the Raptors giving him spare minutes, him rightly sulking more and more as the year goes on, and finally someone bites at the deadline for a mediocre price. I don't mind losing him for nothing, but I don't want garbage cap returned back.

Johnny199r · 08-15-2021, 08:31 PM

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Originally Posted by fleury

Dragic has no role in Toronto without taking valuable minutes from guys who need the chance. I personally don't like the guy on this team, but it just seems they can't find a viable trading partner for him or it'd be done. In fairness to him he's not a far down the bench guy, so the only way I see this going is the Raptors giving him spare minutes, him rightly sulking more and more as the year goes on, and finally someone bites at the deadline for a mediocre price. I don't mind losing him for nothing, but I don't want garbage cap returned back.

Surely the Raps must still be looking to unload him in exchange for some help at Center?

bluejays · 08-15-2021, 08:44 PM

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Originally Posted by Johnny199r

Surely the Raps must still be looking to unload him in exchange for some help at Center?

That would be ideal. But who's looking for a backup aging PG for a centre? Who has extra centres that would be of value? It's a hard position to get because there's a ton of mediocre (as we've experienced with our two or three this year).

oldschoolcalgary · 08-15-2021, 09:03 PM

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Originally Posted by fleury

That would be ideal. But who's looking for a backup aging PG for a centre? Who has extra centres that would be of value? It's a hard position to get because there's a ton of mediocre (as we've experienced with our two or three this year).

well, there's quite a bit of discussion of Dallas and Dragic. Partly due to the fact that he and Luka are good friends and have expressed the desire to play together.

As for role, a guy that does a podcast on the Mavericks explained it this way, paraphrased from an article, https://thesmokingcuban.com/2021/08/...-goran-dragic/

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Dragic is best suited for a bench role at this point in his career, but he could be a key piece for Dallas in the playoffs. The Mavericks struggled with Doncic on the bench against the Clippers in the first round in 2021. Dragic’s ball-handling and playmaking would help Dallas’ offense keep rolling in the postseason. He could become an important piece for the Mavs to take the next step.

SI mentioned that Moses Brown might be a key part of what TO is looking for, but they noted that with Birch, Chris Boucher, and Precious Achiuwa, the 5 spot might not be open

https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks/new...trade-news-nba

A big issue is cap room, where Dallas would need to trade assets to get cap room... but there's some thinking that Toronto might buy him out, so why spend assets on Dragic if they can get him for free later...

bluejays · 08-16-2021, 09:53 AM

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Originally Posted by oldschoolcalgary

well, there's quite a bit of discussion of Dallas and Dragic. Partly due to the fact that he and Luka are good friends and have expressed the desire to play together.

As for role, a guy that does a podcast on the Mavericks explained it this way, paraphrased from an article, https://thesmokingcuban.com/2021/08/...-goran-dragic/

SI mentioned that Moses Brown might be a key part of what TO is looking for, but they noted that with Birch, Chris Boucher, and Precious Achiuwa, the 5 spot might not be open

https://www.si.com/nba/mavericks/new...trade-news-nba

A big issue is cap room, where Dallas would need to trade assets to get cap room... but there's some thinking that Toronto might buy him out, so why spend assets on Dragic if they can get him for free later...

Yeah - the buyout is pretty likely given the cap rules of needing to bring back salary. I don't know every players salary situation, but I can't imagine a scenario where a worthwhile C comes in for Dragic. I guess the Raps did Lowry a favour by doing the S&T, but I personally didn't like it as they did it for the favour, and not necessarily to help the team.

octothorp · 08-16-2021, 11:57 AM

I think it makes sense to just be patient with Dragic. Regardless of what the trade market for him is right now, if a contender loses a guard to season-ending injury at some point, Dragic is going to be at the top of the list of available players. As long as he's not eating into GTJ's or Flynn's minutes, it should be fine.

I also think there's a decent chance that the Raptors take a look at someone like Hartenstein with their $3.1m of MLE money left... could fill a need as that big body C although I think he's not a high-upside guy.

I really like what I've seen of Barnes. One of my favorite qualities is that he gets as excited about making a defensive play as scoring, so that will make things easier on him mentally if it takes him a while to make an offensive impact. He definitely struggled in the half-court in summer league with a lot of transition or second-chance points, but I think he'll thrive on more offensive structure.

devo22 · 08-19-2021, 07:10 AM

anybody seen that "Malice at the Palace" documentary on Netflix? Thought it was really well done. Lots of interesting insights ... still remember the brawl, but never knew about some of the details and the fallout.

Senator Clay Davis · 08-19-2021, 07:19 AM

My favorite tidbit about the Malice at the Palace? The referee that night was....Tim Donaghy.

bluejays · 08-19-2021, 10:38 AM

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Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

My favorite tidbit about the Malice at the Palace? The referee that night was....Tim Donaghy.

Interesting tidbit I hadn't heard.

If you're a north american sports fan, it was a 9-11 moment where you remember where you were when you seen the craziness on the screen. I remember where I was like it was yesterday. The bar went silent when they were showing what happened. When the doc touched on the subtle racial undertones with the news media outlet, it was correct, but to take it further, the NBA at the time really was going through a crisis with it's players being unprofessional as ever on the court and off with several guys having a rough legal situations outside the court. This situation just made it worse. David Stern has always been a chump though, and I really wish the documentary was more harsh to the guy. It was all about growing the game, and anyone that said anything was going to get crushed. Can't say I have that much respect for the guy.

devo22 · 08-19-2021, 11:47 AM

yeah I chuckled when I saw Donaghy in the documentary.

also pretty funny how that one prosecutor just randomly identified the guy who threw the beer (who came across as a total knobhead btw). Also didn't know that Jamaal Tinsley played a role in that whole thing too.

bluejays · 08-19-2021, 02:02 PM

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Originally Posted by devo22

yeah I chuckled when I saw Donaghy in the documentary.

also pretty funny how that one prosecutor just randomly identified the guy who threw the beer (who came across as a total knobhead btw). Also didn't know that Jamaal Tinsley played a role in that whole thing too.

Yeah. The whole thing was a series of idiotic things going on. They truly missed the opportunity to dig more on the fan who began it all. The guy came across as a real dbag, but I’m convinced the tempers that night were wild enough that it wasn’t fully over when the drink toss happened. Tinsley was gaslighting Artest. That’s pretty funny knowing he’s a powder keg but nowadays knowing he had a mental illness it probably wouldn’t have happened.

oldschoolcalgary · 08-19-2021, 10:01 PM

Just watched Malice at the Palace...

Pretty interesting deep dive into the whole situation...I mean Artest was a loose canon (though he obviously had issues he was dealing with)...but the lack of security was pretty surprising.

I felt bad for O'Neal though... he was a good player that was got caught up in a situation that he didn't start...the fact that the other guys like Artest and Jackson got rings and he didn't is a bit of a shame.

Fans coming out on the court with aggression towards players is idiotic, as well as the idiot that threw the bottle...poor guy that got clocked didn't even do anything!

bluejays · 08-31-2021, 05:47 PM

Apparently Ben Simmons wants to leave Philly. It's probably best for both parties, and I'm sure Philly wants to get rid of him at an inflated cost. I hope the Raps stay far away from him and is mediocre passion.

octothorp · 09-01-2021, 06:56 PM

I just can't see the Raptors wanting Simmons. Even if they have a good track record of helping guys with bad shooting, they seem to place a pretty high premium on work-ethic guys. But then it's hard to imagine any team as a trading party here. Minnesota keeps getting mentioned and I guess that kinda makes sense, provided he wants to be there and depending on the cost.

I think Philly wanted to be patient and just wait and see if there was a star available like Lillard or Beal, but Simmons and his agent are going to make sure they aren't being used here.

Coincidentally (or not), Simmons' agent (Rich Paul) is being sued by Noel for not representing him well including answering calls from teams about him, with Philly being the team seemingly confirming Noel's side of the story. Simmons playing hardball with Philly here may have something to do with his agent being pissed at the 76ers.