Will the Raptors make the playoffs, end up in no-man's land, or get a top pick?

[hateslosing]

Lowry is still better than Vazquez. Vasquez isn't a true starter, but he is a great back-up and good spot starter. Hopefully this team has a new PG like Exum or Smart anyway.

I like Patterson but he's not a great option. He can fit a role.

Defence isn't likely to change. Gay didn't defend well.

Rudy was actually the best defender on the team looking at Def/Rtg (unless you count Acy). Check it http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/TOR/2014.html

Vasquez is good, he is a lot like Calderon and we know how that always turned out. I think he'll thrive here and surprise a lot of people.

[iblastoff]

yeesh. always hilarious that anytime someone gets traded to toronto, no matter how bad they are, they quickly become "a great option", "a huge improvement at ___ position", etc etc etc.

vasquez is not starter material. patterson does not spread the floor whatsoever. i understand wanting to be optimistic, but theres some very bizarre wishful thinking going on in this thread.

[Axel]

Rudy was actually the best defender on the team looking at Def/Rtg (unless you count Acy). Check it http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/TOR/2014.html

Vasquez is good, he is a lot like Calderon and we know how that always turned out. I think he'll thrive here and surprise a lot of people.

The Team's DRtg didn't change with Gay on the court or on the bench. His D was passable to average and Landry Fields/Terrence Ross can both manage that at least.

[OldSkoolCool]

What this deal does is give cap space and allows Lowry, TH and DD be traded while giving us a pletha of bodies that can fill in, are strong characters, but will inevitably lose us a lot of games

[15strong]

What this deal does is give cap space and allows Lowry, TH and DD be traded while giving us a pletha of bodies that can fill in, are strong characters, but will inevitably lose us a lot of games

I think this is the problem with most raptor fan.. we want to trade everybody.. this is the cycle we have been for last 10 years.. the main guy we should have (Bosh) walked for free.. sets us back 3 years..and still recovering

Given our draft record, we will finish outside of the Top 5.. will get a good player but he will take 2.5 years to develop... we will still be missing key pieces sitting in no man land.. If everyone thinks MU is going to work some miracle look at Denver ..after 3 years they won 50+ games witha great coach but they are still weren't a contender..good team but not a contender..

I agree there is room for one between TH & AJ becasue I think both are great first big off the bench guys.. but we need a 1st rate big and tough 3 ball/defence SF. Keeping DD & KL is mandatory to attract any worthwhile FA..
If most people would really step back and look around the league.. please find me a PG who is playing at KL level who will come to TO for less than $12 million... cold, more taxes and bad team?? as for DD .. after all the years of the people on the blog bitching about how good players don't want to stay here and not working hard enough to improve, and we get rid of the one guy that is really backing up his words.. then we don't derserve to have a another decent player... so what if we have cap space... No decent FA will come here .. this is a FACT.. unless we overpay just like BC did the last 7 years.. MU has really two ways to build this team draft or sign and trade for long term pieces.. who wants to wait another 5 years to make the playoffs..

[charlesnba23]

Guys, we got a playoff team right now.

Valanciunas/Hansbrough/Hayes
Johnson/Patterson/Novak
DeRozan/Fields/Daye
Ross/Salmons/Stone
Lowry/Vasquez/Buycks

In the East, that's definitely a playoff team. Let's go all in to make the playoffs. I say don't make any other moves, at least until february. Then let's see where's the team at.

I know that Lowry would probably go for nothing in the summer. But I think they should try to build that winning culture, Right NOW. DeMar's getting TIRED to lose, probably like a lot of players on the team. Even if we make the playoffs, their will still be a whole lot of good players late in this draft's first round.

Then if we are winning, I don't see why Lowry would not re-sign.

Next year we could go with pretty much the same team, but 2 rookies taking the place of Salmons and Daye. Then comes 2015.

Yes, that's a debate, I wanna know your opinion. I'm not 100% against tanking anymore. But I just think that with that group, we could make a lot more noise in the East than we think. A lot more than before last Sunday night's trade.

[Rapstor4Life]

Lieweke wants losing and more than 1 pick in the first round, Ujiri still making moves we arent going for playoffs buddy.

[LBF]

How do I put this lightly....

No.

[drunkmunky]

It's the end of the Colangelo Era of how the Raptors will look like. 1 or 2 stars and the rest is crap.

Keep in mind that there isn't just a couple of star big players that stand out in the makeup of the Denver Nuggets and that's how will Masai establish his team.

[Eric Montross 00]

Valanciunas/Hansbrough/Hayes
Johnson/Patterson/Novak
DeRozan/Fields/Daye
Ross/Salmons/Stone
Lowry/Vasquez/Buycks

In the East, that's definitely a playoff team. Let's go all in to make the playoffs. I say don't make any other moves, at least until february. Then let's see where's the team at.

I know that Lowry would probably go for nothing in the summer. But I think they should try to build that winning culture, Right NOW. DeMar's getting TIRED to lose, probably like a lot of players on the team. Even if we make the playoffs, their will still be a whole lot of good players late in this draft's first round.

Then if we are winning, I don't see why Lowry would not re-sign.

Next year we could go with pretty much the same team, but 2 rookies taking the place of Salmons and Daye. Then comes 2015.

Yes, that's a debate, I wanna know your opinion. I'm not 100% against tanking anymore. But I just think that with that group, we could make a lot more noise in the East than we think. A lot more than before last Sunday night's trade.

Here is the problem, even if all of the people on this forum agree we should make the playoff, but the reality is we can't do shit about it, we are not going to play for them!

[ceez]

How do I put this lightly....

No.

end thread

[Nilanka]

I'm not convinced this is a playoff team.

[mcHAPPY]

No.

Just no.

Hoping for the playoffs left when Colangelo left.

Time to expect and build something better.

[mcHAPPY]

I think this is the problem with most raptor fan.. we want to trade everybody.. this is the cycle we have been for last 10 years.. the main guy we should have (Bosh) walked for free.. sets us back 3 years..and still recovering

Given our draft record, we will finish outside of the Top 5.. will get a good player but he will take 2.5 years to develop... we will still be missing key pieces sitting in no man land.. If everyone thinks MU is going to work some miracle look at Denver ..after 3 years they won 50+ games witha great coach but they are still weren't a contender..good team but not a contender..

I agree there is room for one between TH & AJ becasue I think both are great first big off the bench guys.. but we need a 1st rate big and tough 3 ball/defence SF. Keeping DD & KL is mandatory to attract any worthwhile FA..
If most people would really step back and look around the league.. please find me a PG who is playing at KL level who will come to TO for less than $12 million... cold, more taxes and bad team?? as for DD .. after all the years of the people on the blog bitching about how good players don't want to stay here and not working hard enough to improve, and we get rid of the one guy that is really backing up his words.. then we don't derserve to have a another decent player... so what if we have cap space... No decent FA will come here .. this is a FACT.. unless we overpay just like BC did the last 7 years.. MU has really two ways to build this team draft or sign and trade for long term pieces.. who wants to wait another 5 years to make the playoffs..

The Raptors don't have anything near a Bosh right now.

Better question than the bold:
Who wants to wait another five years (less than that I think by the way) to see team capable of sustainable success versus every year being on the bubble of the playoffs?

[The Great One]

If they dont want to end up in no man's land. Then they need to trade Amir, Lowry and DD.