2017-18 Toronto Raptors and General NBA Thread

[Drake]

Russell Westbrook defense is very bad. He stood under the basket guarding nobody and Gary Harris was wide open for the game winning shot.

EDIT: TNT shows Russell Westbrook shoving a fan who was yelling in his face (on the court) after the game-winning shot. Hes lucky he didn't get knocked out.

[d_phaneuf]

I hope Westbrook doesn't get suspended

When a fan comes on the court a player has to assume he's threatened and he just gave him a little push

[Senator Clay Davis]

Would be a dangerous move to suspend Russ for that, not ideal mind you, but you can't let fans do that without consequence. A shove is pretty tame all things considered. I imagine the fan will get a ban from the arena now. Also, Jokic might be the least athletic player in the NBA. He also might be the most talented. Nuggets have a nice young core, well positioned for the post-Warriors era.

[Drake]

Cleveland plays with 0 effort across the board. GM #23 is going to be making changes or find a way to get himself traded at the deadline.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Cavs would be idiots to trade any significant assets to improve this year's team. Even if they could swing a deal for DeAndre and Lou Williams, is that really enough to put them over the top? Maybe, maybe in the East, but I would still give them virtually no shot of beating the Warriors. And we all know LeBron is leaving after the year, so why placate him for a possible 1% chance of winning it all, with a 0% chance of resigning him? They destroyed their future back in 2010 and it didn't matter, shouldn't do it again.

What they really should do is explore trading LeBron and seeing if he's willing to waive his no-trade for the right scenario. I think LeBron would waive it for the right team, especially if the Cavs make it clear they aren't going to get him any significant help. But the Cavs shouldn't be further destroying their roster for a wing and a prayer.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I don’t think there’s any chance LeBron comes back to Cleveland next year. There’s no way they should be mortgaging their future for one more run that will result in an East Championship at most. The play is to move LeBron. Whether they or LeBron himself is willing to do that is the question. Given Kyree is in Boston, I don’t think they would make a play for LeBron, luckily for the Raps. I think he would be a fantastic rental player for the T-Wolves, but I’m not sure they would be willing to give up the assets required for two months of LBJ. Probably will stay the course.

[bluejays]

Lebron is all about himself. Personally, I think he's NY bound the second he gets the chance. He wants as much marketing money as he can make, and is all about the ego, and NY suits him well. Though it'd be a smart move for Cleveland to sell him, when it comes to making money, there's no way their owner would sacrifice playoff revenue and disrupting his team by dealing the hometown guy.

[killer_carlson]

If Lebron really wants to be unpredictable he signs with the Raptors.

[TheAlpineOracle]

Originally Posted by fleury

Lebron is all about himself. Personally, I think he's NY bound the second he gets the chance. He wants as much marketing money as he can make, and is all about the ego, and NY suits him well. Though it'd be a smart move for Cleveland to sell him, when it comes to making money, there's no way their owner would sacrifice playoff revenue and disrupting his team by dealing the hometown guy.

If he doesn’t sell LBJ for something he’s going to miss playoff revenue for the next decade. That team stinks without LeBron and Kylie.

[bluejays]

Fully agree, but I don't think ownership would have any interest in dealing the guy for the aforementioned reasons. Long term it definitely makes sense, but to trade the league's best player when they're third in the conference is terrible optics from a traditional thinker standpoint.

[octothorp]

I think it's nearly impossible to sign James. He has a no-trade clause. He wants the team he's traded to to have a shot at a championship, which means he doesn't want them giving up good pieces to acquire him. His contract is huge, and matching it means a team is going to have to throw in a lot of mediocre players to match. These two things mean that Cleveland's likely return is going to be a lot of overpaid players and maybe a prospect and a pick. Cleveland's roster is trash beyond James; only other player worth investing in long term is Love, and he couldn't lead an arguably more talented Minnesota team to the playoffs.

It's hard to see a way that Cleveland comes out ahead of letting James walk, trading Love, doing a hard tank and rebuilding around their pick next year plus their Brooklyn pick.

[TheAlpineOracle]

I’m betting Cleveland still wins a championship if they had kept Wiggins. This is when that move is really going to start to hurt them, but LBJ forced their hand on that.

[octothorp]

Awesome to see the Raptors just stomp the comeback kid Celtics, getting up early and then just never giving them even a sniff of a comeback.

[Senator Clay Davis]

I'm honestly gonna be crushed if Casey shortens the rotation come the playoffs. The bench mob is one of the best five man units in the league.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Also, holy #### Giannis

https://twitter.com/user/status/961059550613987328

[Drake]

Kristaps Porzingis tore the ACL in his left knee. Brutal. Love watching him play.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Awesome to see the Raptors just stomp the comeback kid Celtics, getting up early and then just never giving them even a sniff of a comeback.

Yep it's nice to see them finally win a game against a good team. A good team with most of it's best players. A good team that has been playing well.

Plus win playing good defense.

There are signs this year of being better though I'm not getting even a tiny bit excited till they show they can actually show something in the playoffs. IF Lowry could only play like that in the playoffs they could move from pretenders to contenders.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

I'm honestly gonna be crushed if Casey shortens the rotation come the playoffs. The bench mob is one of the best five man units in the league.

Yeah, and the faster pace the Raptors are playing at this year really lends itself to the longer bench. Turn the game into a track meet even when the starters are on, and force both teams to lengthen their bench.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by octothorp

Yeah, and the faster pace the Raptors are playing at this year really lends itself to the longer bench. Turn the game into a track meet even when the starters are on, and force both teams to lengthen their bench.

There has been a trend for years of less minutes from the starters. Trying to get them to be more efficient and healthy. Benches have become more important even in the playoffs to an extent.

Can only hope that that's where the Raptors advantage is as otherwise it's hoping Lowry and DD finally figure out how to play anything like they do in the regular season.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Cavs blew a 20 point lead to lose to the worst team in the league by 18 points last night. So we'll see what they do between now and tomorrow at 3pm EST, but if they don't pull off some miraculous trades, they're probably a non-factor in the East. They are closer to being out of the playoffs (3.5 games) then the #1 seed (7.5 games). Unlike last year, I just don't see them turning it on this year. LeBron has to carry a load similar to what he did the first time the Cavs had him, and their defense is horrific and won't get better in the playoffs since the guys they need to step up are either old, or simply not good.