2020-21 Raptors and General NBA Thread - Page 14 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

GirlySports · 03-03-2021, 07:37 PM

A triple double, with steals!

https://twitter.com/user/status/1367301974132101120

calgarygeologist · 03-07-2021, 04:51 PM

I'm actually pretty excited about the NBA All Star event tonight. It is actually great that they were able to get this thing set up this year.

CroFlames · 03-07-2021, 06:41 PM

Best part of the ASG are the missed dunks.

octothorp · 03-11-2021, 01:15 PM

Raptors will still be without five guys when they resume tonight, but Nurse and the coaching staff will be back.

Ellenson is up on a 10-day contract. He tore up the g-league this year, but has never made the jump to playing well against NBA-level talent.

Still no clarity on Lowry's trade status (my hunch is they don't move him but it's just a hunch), but tonight he'll likely move into 2nd all-time in franchise scoring tonight.

Senator Clay Davis · 03-11-2021, 08:08 PM

Pretty horrible gag job there. It's too late to go full tank now, but I really wish they would have. This draft is so loaded they could have done a rebuild on the fly with Suggs or Cunningham.

bluejays · 03-11-2021, 08:46 PM

I hope they deal Lowry - not out of anything but to get back some good assets. From the looks of it the Raptors have floated out to news outlets that the pricetag is high, which is good in the NBA. If they're getting back late firsts, there's no point as you need a potential star back. I'm guessing they even had that dialogue with him to say we'll only deal you if we get a solid return, which is why it doesn't look like anything is brewing. I want to see it though. This isn't a championship team, and the future doesn't involve Lowry in the redundant position. Leadership is smart and I have no doubt they'll try and maximize his value.

Harry Lime · 03-12-2021, 10:22 AM

Dealing Lowry now for assets, re-signing him next season for a good cap two-year swan song deal, and then using the available space to bring in Leonard on a five-year max money deal. Sounds like a plan.

bluejays · 03-12-2021, 10:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Dealing Lowry now for assets, re-signing him next season for a good cap two-year swan song deal, and then using the available space to bring in Leonard on a five-year max money deal. Sounds like a plan.

I think once you move on from Lowry, you move on. Surely after he retires in 4 seasons or so, you do the one day or last year contract thing, but he really doesn't have a purpose here anymore if FVV is your main guy and you want to show confidence in him. While early in the preseason we also seen some really good potential from Flynn, you probably don't rely on him as being the future, but rather you give him the exact same treatment Lowry gave to Fred, and you develop him over time in hopes it works out.

As for Leonard, as weird as this may sound, he's kinda dead to me personally. I don't blame him for going home, but he leveraged Toronto when they bent over backwards, then orchestrated a player under contract to demand a trade to get what he wanted in LA. I know he was widely lauded for that but it came across as too underhandedly political as a player, and it bothered me. Now, the return OKC got for George was a damn good one, but it was still not kosher with me, so I'd rather they try and get a high draft pick, and get creative with some other things. They have some nice movable pieces and it starts now with Lowry and the perennial up and down performer, Powell. Sell high.

flames_fan_down_under · 03-13-2021, 03:37 PM

I had unfairly written off RJ Barrett earlier this season. I forgot to account for the fact he is still only 20 years old. But he had an excellent game today, he is improving his shot selection and percentages especially his three point shot. He is a smart player and I’m looking forward to watching him play for team Canada.

SebC · 03-16-2021, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fleury

I think once you move on from Lowry, you move on. Surely after he retires in 4 seasons or so, you do the one day or last year contract thing, but he really doesn't have a purpose here anymore if FVV is your main guy and you want to show confidence in him. While early in the preseason we also seen some really good potential from Flynn, you probably don't rely on him as being the future, but rather you give him the exact same treatment Lowry gave to Fred, and you develop him over time in hopes it works out.

Lowry makes the team better today, and that's not going to change by next season. The reason to move on is that he'll have more trade value if it's a sign-and-trade. But if it's not, there's no reason to exclude him from the evaluation against the other potential uses of the cap space.

octothorp · 03-22-2021, 01:00 PM

Seems like there's a lot of chatter out there about Powell and Lowry. Rumours for Lowry mostly involve Philly and Miami (with Clippers mentioned but it's hard to see how they have the assets to get it done), while suitors for Norm include those teams plus a few others like Atlanta, Boston, Dallas.

One thing that's been getting some traction amongst internet fans is the idea of a big trade between Toronto and Miami, with both Powell and Lowry going there and the Raptors getting several young assets (and matching expiring contracts) back. Large trades rarely happen but to me that idea actually makes a lot of sense: Miami's in a win-now window, and they have some young assets who make sense for Toronto's rebuild timeline.

Raptors have also been linked to rumours for Holmes from Sacramento, who makes some sense as an upgrade at C, but he's an expiring this summer.

I've got no idea which way the Raptors go. A week ago I was thinking they make a depth move for a C upgrade and try to make a run. From the rumours it definitely seems like they're considering pulling the plug on this year if the return is there for Powell, and the right destination for Lowry.

The Big Chill · 03-22-2021, 01:08 PM

It makes sense to offload Lowry and/or Powell, but selfishly I’d like to see us upgrade C and take a shot at playoffs. Nobody is all that scary in this division and we only need a few wins to get in the play-in series.

Realistically though, we should really be flipping these guys for some assets while we can.

Senator Clay Davis · 03-22-2021, 01:14 PM

You obviously go full tank if you lose to the Rockets tonight. 20 losses in a row is elite commitment to tanking from Houston, makes the Raps eight game skid look like a championship caliber team. But the Raps have a chance to get into the bottom five and squeak out a lottery win, and even if they don't as long as they stay top five they'll have a look at a top prospect with a loaded draft.

cheevers · 03-22-2021, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

You obviously go full tank if you lose to the Rockets tonight. 20 losses in a row is elite commitment to tanking from Houston, makes the Raps eight game skid look like a championship caliber team. But the Raps have a chance to get into the bottom five and squeak out a lottery win, and even if they don't as long as they stay top five they'll have a look at a top prospect with a loaded draft.

Damn, I had to look that up. Unbelievably, they were a game above .500 before that started. 20 straight and somehow the T-Wolves are still worse.

octothorp · 03-22-2021, 03:11 PM

Awful thing about Houston's situation? That draft pick is owed to OKC in a complicated swap if it's not in the top 4. With the re-configuration of the draft odds, no team has a better than 52% chance of a top 4 pick. So even if the Rockets don't win another game the rest of the season, they've got a 48% chance of missing out on the lottery completely (would probably get Miami's pick).

bluejays · 03-22-2021, 09:02 PM

I'd honestly be thrilled if they could get a nice return for Powell. The guy early on in his career showed he had potential, and seems to have put it all together this year. His upside has always been a 6th man, to me, and is the perfect candidate to cash in at his high. Deal him to the highest bidder, kick the feet up and smile.

As for Lowry to the Heat, I really don't know. Robinson and Herro don't scream grade A prospects to me. I'm aware that Herro looked like something else last playoffs, but skillset to carry a team, not really sure it's there. Can't say I've seen a ton of him or Robinson but they've never really stood out to me personally.

Wastedyouth · 03-23-2021, 07:06 AM

Stick a fork in em, they are done.

What a disaster season.

Cali Panthers Fan · 03-23-2021, 09:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fleury

I'd honestly be thrilled if they could get a nice return for Powell. The guy early on in his career showed he had potential, and seems to have put it all together this year. His upside has always been a 6th man, to me, and is the perfect candidate to cash in at his high. Deal him to the highest bidder, kick the feet up and smile.

As for Lowry to the Heat, I really don't know. Robinson and Herro don't scream grade A prospects to me. I'm aware that Herro looked like something else last playoffs, but skillset to carry a team, not really sure it's there. Can't say I've seen a ton of him or Robinson but they've never really stood out to me personally.

Herro is about to break out. He's got enough talent to be a strong 2 guard along side FVV, but can also play the 1 and 3 positions and contribute. He's the only guy I'd really want off their roster at this point in their careers other than Bam Adebayo. I'm not a big fan of Robinson, although he is a useful player. I just see the value that Lowry adds to the Heat being significant enough to warrant a return like Herro or Adebayo, but not Robinson. Duncan is a secondary piece to me.

octothorp · 03-23-2021, 10:22 AM

In addition to Herro the other guy I like on Miami's roster is Precious Achiuwa, who could emerge as the sort of uber-athletic C that Adebeyo is now. He gets a bit lost in Miami's rotation as they're pretty stacked with useful bigs, but in Toronto he'd probably be given a shot at starting C. If the Raptors could get both those guys, that would be an amazing trade IMO.

flames_fan_down_under · 03-23-2021, 12:10 PM

What is going on with Siakam. I love his makeup, but he is having a really bad year. He was benched in the fourth quarter of the game, directed some choice words at Nurse, and has been fined by the team. Of course earlier in the sesaon he was also forced to sit out a game by the team for walking off the floor after fouling out. Of course we all know how it went in the bubble for him. I get the pandemic has been hard on everyone, its been especially hard on the Raptors, but Pascal needs to work on his maturity.