2020-21 Raptors and General NBA Thread

[Hockey_Ninja]

The Clippers being down 0-2 activates their trap card

[Senator Clay Davis]

Zach Lowe is suggesting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might be available in a deal. The Raps just got a top four pick in a four man draft. I'm not saying, I'm just saying make the ####ing deal Masai.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Suns one win away from the finals. I’m happy for CP3. I hope they can finish the job in game 5

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Zach Lowe is suggesting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might be available in a deal. The Raps just got a top four pick in a four man draft. I'm not saying, I'm just saying make the ####ing deal Masai.

SGA is a stud. What's with OKC's fascination with trading good players for picks. Those picks rarely work out.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Jiggy

SGA is a stud. What's with OKC's fascination with trading good players for picks. Those picks rarely work out.

OKC has 18 first round picks in the next seven years.

Imagine how quickly you can remake your team with that.

[GreenLantern2814]

Wrong thread ��

[Drake]

The backlash from the Trail Blazers’ coaching search and his concerns over whether a championship contender can be built have become major factors that could force Damian Lillard to request a trade.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Drake

The backlash from the Trail Blazers’ coaching search and his concerns over whether a championship contender can be built have become major factors that could force Damian Lillard to request a trade.

Don't know how they bungled that up so bad. Could have had a great proven coach (D'Antoni). Could have had a groundbreaking coach for great PR for the organization (Hammon). Could have had a respected, experienced, former-player coach (Cassell). Instead they went for an inexperienced PR disaster. I haven't educated myself about the accusations against Billups, but it seems totally avoidable by the organization.

It's going to get even worse if it comes out that they had decided on Billups from the beginning, which makes involving Hammon look like using her for the positive PR. Don't see how anything beyond a full reset of the coaching search (and maybe changes at the management level) walks them back from this.

[Mathgod]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

OKC has 18 first round picks in the next seven years.

Imagine how quickly you can remake your team with that.

Unless you're the Oilers.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Rough loss for the Hawks. Trae steps on the ref's foot and twists his ankle and suddenly their whole team ceases to be able to hit a shot, meanwhile Middleton turns on God mode. I think it was something like 25-5 Bucks over the last 6 minutes. Gnarly.

EDIT: looking at the stats, it would appear that Khris Middleton in fact outscored the entire Hawks team in the fourth quarter 20-17 all by himself.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Don't know how they bungled that up so bad. Could have had a great proven coach (D'Antoni). Could have had a groundbreaking coach for great PR for the organization (Hammon). Could have had a respected, experienced, former-player coach (Cassell). Instead they went for an inexperienced PR disaster. I haven't educated myself about the accusations against Billups, but it seems totally avoidable by the organization.

It's going to get even worse if it comes out that they had decided on Billups from the beginning, which makes involving Hammon look like using her for the positive PR. Don't see how anything beyond a full reset of the coaching search (and maybe changes at the management level) walks them back from this.

The Blazers investigated the allegation against Billups before hiring him. So did previous organizations he's worked for in the NBA.

He was never charged, or convicted of anything criminal.

Absolutely no one is aware of what the settlement was from the lawsuit and the basis behind it.

Does that mean he's guilty in the court of public opinion? Does it mean he should never work again in the NBA?

Not sure there is an easy answer here, although I confess to being uneasy that he is somehow guilty of something and now untouchable until the day he dies.

[octothorp]

Sports teams have frequently turned a blind eye to actions by athletes and coaches if it helps them get ahead, so I don't think that any previous hires are reason to justify that it's been sufficiently looked into. Any 2021 investigation into something that happened in the 1990s needs to be looked at through the lens that athletes and organizations were really good at making unseemly off-court incidents go away. So the Trailblazers may need to answer on the thoroughness of their investigation. Was it the usual, ask the guy involved for his side? Or did they go above-and-beyond, trying to reach out to the victim, consulting with sexual abuse experts and advocates, etc.?

If they did that, and still found Billups to be the best candidate, then they should have managed the rollout entirely differently, making sure that they were out in front of the issues and assuring fans that they were going above-and-beyond here, instead of clamming up on social media for a few days while Lillard took all of the brunt of the PR fallout.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Part of me thinks Siakam should be worth more, but he's also kinda slipped from where he was post-2019, so maybe fair?

https://twitter.com/user/status/1409554055186333703

[octothorp]

Kinda depends how you value Wiseman. I read some people who think that he's going to develop into another Ayton-level big, in which case that's a pretty good deal if the Raptors wanted to blow it up. Wiggins would also need to be part of such a trade for salary-matching. In such a blow-it up scenario, the Raptors could get a huge haul by also flipping FVV.

But I also saw pundits suggesting that the Raptors could be a darkhorse for Lillard if he's on the move, with the #4 pick being a key asset. I think it's pretty clear that pundits don't know whether the Raptors are going to develop or try to contend, and are making moves that put them in one camp or the other, but Masai's pattern has always been to try and do both at once.

[octothorp]

Qualifying tournament for the men begins tomorrow in Victoria. On the one hand it's disappointing that we didn't get a full compliment of NBA players for this, but on the other hand it's one of the deeper squads Canada has ever fielded. Real chance for Wiggins to redeem himself in the eyes of Canadian basketball fans if he leads them to an Olympic berth here.

https://ca.nba.com/news/canada-baske...81glp8dos1bkcz

Greece (tomorrow) and Turkey (potential finals matchup) are both going to be the two toughest teams to beat.

[GreenLantern2814]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Part of me thinks Siakam should be worth more, but he's also kinda slipped from where he was post-2019, so maybe fair?

https://twitter.com/user/status/1409554055186333703

I think Siakam is a really good #3 option on a team with two superstars.

He seems like a player the Lakers would love get their hands on.

[Jason14h]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern2814

I think Siakam is a really good #3 option on a team with two superstars.

He seems like a player the Lakers would love get their hands on.

Well he could play 4th fiddle on GS!

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Kinda depends how you value Wiseman. I read some people who think that he's going to develop into another Ayton-level big, in which case that's a pretty good deal if the Raptors wanted to blow it up. Wiggins would also need to be part of such a trade for salary-matching. In such a blow-it up scenario, the Raptors could get a huge haul by also flipping FVV.

But I also saw pundits suggesting that the Raptors could be a darkhorse for Lillard if he's on the move, with the #4 pick being a key asset. I think it's pretty clear that pundits don't know whether the Raptors are going to develop or try to contend, and are making moves that put them in one camp or the other, but Masai's pattern has always been to try and do both at once.

What's the feeling on dealing Fred? While he's not untradeable, what he brings to the table seems pretty big for the Raps. He's an above average PG to me. What would a trade look like if the Raps were to deal him? Wiggins? Then using the 4th to get Lillard? Would Lillard and Wiggins be the future of the team? To me, no and no. Wiggins has been better in two years, but I'd take a 4th and Fred over Wiggins and Lillard to build with into the future. Wiggins hasn't been a hard worker in his career, and Lillard isn't exactly young. With his burgeoning rap career I'm also not sure he'd been keen of coming to Canada.

[The Big Chill]

One of Green/Mobley/Suggs could potentially fill a huge hole for us. I wouldn’t be moving that asset unless there is a move that makes us instant title contenders.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

One of Green/Mobley/Suggs could potentially fill a huge hole for us. I wouldn’t be moving that asset unless there is a move that makes us instant title contenders.

Same. I do think the Raps should move on from Siakam. 5th overall for him?