2019-20 Raptors and General NBA Thread

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by The Big Chill

I’d definitely like to see more of Davis too, I really like what we’ve seen so far. They’ll have to move one of the short guys though, tough to find minutes for all of Lowry, FVV, Powell and Davis when they are all 6’4 and under.

Yes, definitely. Fred has played himself into a big contract though and that’s the part that scares me. I know he likes it here but this is his one time to cash in which makes me believe given the circumstances, that they let him walk. Some crazy team will offer him $25MM. I’m not comfortable with Norm being the everyday starter, and nobody on the Raptors would trust his consistency so that leaves him as a viable backup to Lowry. There are a lot of very tough decisions to make this off season. Probably the most big decisions in franchise history when you really dive into the ramifications of any of these moves.

[The Big Chill]

Originally Posted by fleury

Yes, definitely. Fred has played himself into a big contract though and that’s the part that scares me. I know he likes it here but this is his one time to cash in which makes me believe given the circumstances, that they let him walk. Some crazy team will offer him $25MM. I’m not comfortable with Norm being the everyday starter, and nobody on the Raptors would trust his consistency so that leaves him as a viable backup to Lowry. There are a lot of very tough decisions to make this off season. Probably the most big decisions in franchise history when you really dive into the ramifications of any of these moves.

Yup these moves are massive, make the wrongs ones and it could be mediocrity for years, get them right and we might be able to convince Giannis to join.

In other news, I’m ready for LeBron to retire. His dominance is amazing, but it’s getting boring.

[SebC]

Game 1 of the Finals looks like it's over before the 4th quarter... lame.

[greyshep]

Started with some hope this game was going to be competitive with Miami jumping out to a double digit lead.

Since then it’s been awful with LA running roughshod over them. Not much fun to watch.

[greyshep]

Game 1 blowout, and some potential key injuries to some of Miami's best players. This is looking like a short and potentially very boring finals.

[bluejays]

Did anyone have any hope for Miami to begin with? Honestly. I thought it would be a five game series at best if Butler played hard and Lebron had an off game. It was bound to be the Lakers dominating once the Raps lost. Meh.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I did, and I thought I would be right when they went up 13 in the first quarter. LA wasn't supposed to shoot 50+% from 3 in the half.

[Kasi]

Lakers have won every game where they shot over 30% from 3. The issue is their transition game and rebounding are just so much better than most they can get away with poor outside shooting. Lakers also have a very good defense because of their size up and down the lineup added with good schemes that it’s hard to score a ton on them. So they have a lot more wiggle room than teams like the Heat or Nuggets that need hot shooting to win.

[GirlySports]

Heat hanging in there. They scored 39 points in the 3rd to get it back to a deficit of 10. They have hit 27 free throws in a row.

[SuperMatt18]

I’m not sure Lebron gets enough credit for just how good he is.

AD is great but when leading his own team they couldn’t get into the playoffs. The Rest of this Lakers roster is pretty mediocre, but they are two wins away from a championship.

He takes a lot of flak but honestly it took KD joining what was already a championship level super team to prevent him from winning those two seasons.

I don’t think you can say he’s better than Jordan was, but honestly he’s just as as good as he was.

[Kasi]

Quite true. Some of those teams James took to the finals were bad teams. Mostly the Cavs teams but it’s a surprise how few times James has been favored. Mostly just this year and the Dallas series. Maybe one of the Spurs series or OKC. If you stack ranked Jordan and James opponents I’m not even sure which of Jordan’s opponents would be tops. Maybe the Jazz but that would be at best 8th on the combined list behind the 4 Golden State teams and the 3 Spurs teams.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

The reason that Jordan's opponents weren't favoured was because of Jordan. He was so much better than everyone else on the court it just wasn't particularly fair. On any given night, if Lebron plays the Bucks, or the Mavs, or even the Clippers, there's a reasonable chance he won't be the best player on the floor. That very rarely seemed to happen with Jordan.

I know Lebron's 35, but Jordan was 35 in the "last dance" year and it was pretty obvious he was the best basketball player in the world and I don't think it was particularly close... Malone was a clear #2. You can't realistically say that about Giannis, unless you're a dinosaur who only cares about team success in the postseason.

[GirlySports]

They said this is the first time Lebron has a 2-0 lead in the finals.

[dino7c]

Remember when people thought the Raptors were contenders? they aren't even in the same league as the Lakers

[Jiggy]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Remember when people thought the Raptors were contenders? they aren't even in the same league as the Lakers

The Raps matched up well against the Lakers cause the Raps had length. I believe the Raps would've put up a bigger fight against the Lakers in the finals than the Heat have.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Haven't watch a second of the Finals because it looked like a horrible mismatch and so far it would appear to be correct. Apparently I'm not the only one either, Finals ratings are the worst they've ever been and that's with having the league's marquee player and marquee team. It's crazy the cycle the last five years for the league, from the 2016 super cap bump that lead to numerous idiotic contracts to now where the league has a bit of a crisis on their hands. Could be a big revenue collapse incoming.

[The Big Chill]

I watched more games this playoffs then I usually do, but I haven’t watched the Finals because it just isn’t interesting. If Miami pushed them to 6 or 7 I’d probably watch, but this series looked like it was going to be over in 5 at the most, and now with Miami’s injuries it’s pretty much guaranteed to be 4.

There are a lot of exciting players and teams in the league, so I think the league is in a good spot moving forward, but I have no interest in watching LeBron destroy teams with ease.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Same exact boat. Had Miami won game 1 I'd be watching. As it is, meh, whatever.

[octothorp]

Yeah, similar to what others have said here, seems like a pretty foregone conclusion, and neither of these teams is really fun to root for or play a really entertaining style of basketball. I'm just waiting for the offseason at this point.

[activeStick]

Butler's been fantastic today but I get the feeling it might not be enough despite the Heat leading here in the 4th.