More than raptors that's forsure
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ESPN's Raptors Offseason Report Card - D+
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I'll take Lowe's assessment over Ford's any day.. and Lowe thought Toronto's moves were good (he put them in the "Winners, With Caveats section" of his off season breakdown). I agree that D+ is too harsh and overly critical.
Unless Ford's position is to see if a team's off season will help them contend or overtly tank, and neither happened and that's why he gave them such a bad grade.
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Matt52 wrote: View PostEnd of 2012-13 season:
PG: Lowry, JL3, Telfair
SG: DD, AA, Ross
SF: Gay, Fields, Kleiza, Pietrus
PF: Amir, Bargnani, Acy
C: JV, Gray
Start 2013-14:
PG: Lowry, Augustine, Buycks
SG: DD, Ross, Fields
SF: Gay, Novak, Daye
PF: Amir, Hansbrough, Acy
C: JV, Gray
*Q-Rich left out
I see upgrade:
Augustine/Buycks > JL3/Telfair
DD/Ross/Fields > DD/AA/Ross
Gay/Novak/Daye = Gay, Fields, Kleiza, Pietrus
Amir/T/Q > Amir, Bargnani, Q
JV/Gray in '14 > JV/Gray in '13
Factor in they have actually decreased their committed salaries by $3M since the start of the summer and, well, I change that B- to a B.
- SG could be an upgrade if Fields returns to form and Ross actually shows up, but both are big If's.
- SF and PF were definitely upgrades but mainly due to addition by subtraction. I don't think either Daye or Psycho-T will create wins. But losing Bargnani, Pietrus, and Kleiza should net wins just by itself.
- C should be better and that has nothing to do with Toronto's summer though.
All in all the biggest reason why the Raptors should have a positive grade is because both BC and AB are gone.. Regardless of what ESPN thinks those two moves make this one of the best summer's in a very long time.
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This is really complete garbage. I don't even know what that means that it's only an off-season evaluation as opposed to an outlook. The judgement of the off-season is how it will pan out for the season anyways.I don't want to sound like an overly optimistic raptors fan, but you always keep your options open and act with patience. A+ for raptors and Ujiri in my opinion. Really.
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Matt52 wrote: View PostEnd of 2012-13 season:
PG: Lowry, JL3, Telfair
SG: DD, AA, Ross
SF: Gay, Fields, Kleiza, Pietrus
PF: Amir, Bargnani, Acy
C: JV, Gray
Start 2013-14:
PG: Lowry, Augustine, Buycks
SG: DD, Ross, Fields
SF: Gay, Novak, Daye
PF: Amir, Hansbrough, Acy
C: JV, Gray
*Q-Rich left out
I see upgrade:
Augustine/Buycks > JL3/Telfair
Agree - although its marginal, and you are comparing backups here .. so not going to have much impact anyways
DD/Ross/Fields > DD/AA/Ross
Even though Im a big Ross fan ... I dont get this one how we can say our offseason improved at this position, when we had all of these 3 last year
Gay/Novak/Daye = Gay, Fields, Kleiza, Pietrus
ok
Amir/T/Q > Amir, Bargnani, Q
Disagree. AB might be bad, but hes better than Hansborough
JV/Gray in '14 > JV/Gray in '13
Ok .. but again, cant really credit our offseason for this
Factor in they have actually decreased their committed salaries by $3M since the start of the summer and, well, I change that B- to a B.
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couple of really quick, but really important things to keep in mind:
a) who gives a fuck
b) based on their results after the gay deal (whether you were for or against it, or like him or don't), they were ~.500 after he joined the team, so to flat-out state that they aren't a playoff team is disingenuous, but something one would totally expect from chad fucking ford, who's still holding out hope for jimmer fredette.
c) raps should be no lower than 'C-' simply because they were able to get rid of bargs without using the amnesty; that grade gets bumped to 'C' because they actually got WAY WAY WAY WAY more than anyone would have expected.
d) that 'C' gets bumped to 'B' due to the front office moves: BC-for-MU swap, the hiring of leiweke, and the hiring of that other analytic dude who's name i've forgotten, not to mention retaining casey (which i think is a smart move). the assistant coaching changes, which i like, don't really affect much in the grand scheme.
e) the daye/psycho/DJ acquisitions don't move the grade needle, because they don't move the needle; to think that any of them will have any more of a significant role on the raps than they did on their former teams is somewhat far-fetched (i.e. the raps aren't 'relying' on any of them for anything more than back-up minutes & depth).
f) amnestying kleiza doesn't really move the needle, since he didn't contribute anything last year either. it should be noted that it gives them slightly more financial leeway.
but again, the most important point is a). seriously, why would anyone give a fuck? it's a totally out-to-lunch grade, likely given more to troll than to provide any insight.TRUE LOVE - Sometimes you know it the instant you see it across the bar.
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I agree with most posters, this is obviously a limited analysis. Considering what MU inherited and what he has done with moving Bargs and signing short term low risk contracts to maintain flexibility, I think our offseason grade should be higher.
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From a very broad organizational standpoint I give this offseason an A+. Then again, the team could have replaced Colangelo with no one and gotten a B. Or replaced Colangelo with Babcock and gotten a C. Or replaced Colangelo with a monkey and still gotten an above failing grade
From a talent/directional stand point its a straight N/A. Not sure they have done much of anything - not sure if doing much of anything at this point matters yet - not sure Masai had much he could do anyways. Bonus points for replacing Bargnani with a cheaper less random Bargnani (Novak) + future picks, and not doing anything boneheaded. But otherwise I see a similar team to last year thats one year older in a conference that got tougher.
I hope there is more to come, or my thoughts on the talent level of this team + where its headed if little changes is wrong.
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It is pretty simple they are looking to see if;
(A) We got better and we will "for sure" make the playoffs with a chance to advance
Or
(B) We got rid of our core players to give us a legit shot at the 1st overall selection in next years draft
Period, end of story, we will ( in their opinion) be stuck in the no man's land with no real shot at either goal.Change the name...Give this city and this country something we can be PROUD of... something we can EMBRACE... something that REPRESENTS us... Please MLSE any name except Raptors...anything, please?
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We have to realize that any move that is "potentially" going to help or create possibilities and flexibility literally means zero.
And it should mean zero, untill it turns into new star players or an as of yet unseen chemistry that transforms this team. Getting Buycks and things like that are for us to hope for and feel good about but the reality is we brought in several garbage players that have failed as BACK UPS on others teams and one random 3rd string point guard, this grade could be a straight F except for the fact that MU has a long term plan in place and is going to tear this down unless Gay and Lowry and JV catch lightning in a bottle, achieve the absolutely least likely outcome and and become a legit playoff/title contender by the trade deadline.Change the name...Give this city and this country something we can be PROUD of... something we can EMBRACE... something that REPRESENTS us... Please MLSE any name except Raptors...anything, please?
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