Everything Jared Sullinger

[slaw]

Goodbye Sullinger, we hardly knew you. He must have one of the worst win percentages in Raptors history for games he appeared in, we were like 1-9 when he played or something ridiculous.

I kinda feel bad for Sullinger. He was hurt basically right out of the gate with one of the worst possible injuries for a guy who needed to stay in shape. Then he comes back to play during the worst stretch of Raptors basketball in 3 years. I still like the signing in the offseason and it's unfortunate it didn't work out.

[lewro]

The most damage we could do to his trade value would be to bench him. He'll look much better in limited minutes beside Pat in a more stable rotation and will make fewer of those errors you allude to because he'll have that safety net and won't be asked to do as much.

So now you think bebe looks out of place and want to bench him? Only took one game. Lol. We're not showcasing bebe, we just need him to hold his value from earlier in the season and focus on the players we are carrying into the playoffs and bringing back next yr.
JV is likely not getting 29 mins as you said. 24 is what I'd like to see but doubt he gets it. I'd like 6 mins out of yak. See what he brings and go from there. Doubt that too.
I wrote you a note on your latest rapshq column. Sorry that Mikey was being a jerk but he does have a point. If you are really a completist, you gotta paint the whole picture and that means considering jvs departure. The reader deserves the whole perspective and resents feeling manipulated.
I mean this constructively. I appreciate the work.

[DanH]

So now you think bebe looks out of place and want to bench him? Only took one game. Lol. We're not showcasing bebe, we just need him to hold his value from earlier in the season and focus on the players we are carrying into the playoffs and bringing back next yr.
JV is likely not getting 29 mins as you said. 24 is what I'd like to see but doubt he gets it. I'd like 6 mins out of yak. See what he brings and go from there. Doubt that too.
I wrote you a note on your latest rapshq column. Sorry that Mikey was being a jerk but he does have a point. If you are really a completist, you gotta paint the whole picture and that means considering jvs departure. The reader deserves the whole perspective and resents feeling manipulated.
I mean this constructively. I appreciate the work.

My point was that the Ibaka at C option looked good, so if you are going to shrink anyone's minutes to fit that, you get rid of BeBe's, not JV's. It would still be silly to bench BeBe for Poeltl.

I'm glad you appreciate the work. I did not present JV because I think it would be silly to pursue that avenue. Much like I did not present the options of letting Pat walk, letting Lowry walk, letting Ibaka walk, or trading DD for cap room either, all also silly options. Unless you are going to get upset that those options weren't presented as well, you are not mad about being manipulated, you are mad that my judgment calls do not align with yours. Which is fair. But I'm not in this for success - I write what I want the way I want, and if people like to read that, great, and if people want to disagree with that, great, but I'll be damned if I'm going to get my knickers twisted over pleasing every corner of this bi-polar fan base when I put the effort into writing a piece.

[lewro]

My point was that the Ibaka at C option looked good, so if you are going to shrink anyone's minutes to fit that, you get rid of BeBe's, not JV's. It would still be silly to bench BeBe for Poeltl.

I'm glad you appreciate the work. I did not present JV because I think it would be silly to pursue that avenue. Much like I did not present the options of letting Pat walk, letting Lowry walk, letting Ibaka walk, or trading DD for cap room either, all also silly options. Unless you are going to get upset that those options weren't presented as well, you are not mad about being manipulated, you are mad that my judgment calls do not align with yours. Which is fair. But I'm not in this for success - I write what I want the way I want, and if people like to read that, great, and if people want to disagree with that, great, but I'll be damned if I'm going to get my knickers twisted over pleasing every corner of this bi-polar fan base when I put the effort into writing a piece.

Sounds like you're knickers are twisted too and the bi-polar comment is not cool - you're typically more composed than that.
Obviously there are a plethora of options (like tanking) that are not realistic but we do have a list of usual suspects (JV, DMC, Pat and then the lesser contracts).
Pat is a bit tricky bc we don't know his salary (which you covered) but case in point, my failure to criticize his outlook shows my bias too.
I've suggested JV get 24 mins, which I think is healthy. I suggested yak cut into Bebe's mins which I don't think is "silly" bc yak played well vs Charlotte and bebe was shit vs Celts/recently. I don't think we should assume anything. I think yak should get a look and go from there. Casey gets fixated on rotations, which I get the consistency angle, but it's a rigid and less dynamic way of coaching/thinking imo. Like pulling JV after 6 mins in 1st qt last night and anointing bebe as next man up based largely on seniority. Best man up imo and yak is better.

It was my false assumption that you contribute articles to raps hq based on aspirations of a career in journalism or some other field in the bball industry. It seems a common purpose among contributors to these blogs. Out of gratitude and encouragement, I try to offer feedback. Seeing as this doesn't apply to you, I will just post observations, if I feel inclined, going forward.
However, I do think there is a difference between an opinion column and an overview article. Imo an overview is factual/accepted theory and impartial.

"I'm glad you appreciate the work. I did not present JV because I think it would be silly to pursue that avenue."
This is an honest response. It tells me that you care about your reader but more so about your own opinion. If, as you said, you're writing for yourself, that's fine. BUT, if that quote is true, then I don't think you'd care about our knickers or respond to us (which I'm glad that you do).

In short, it may be "silly" to present the JV option but that's not my impression of the remarks made by ujiri. More than anything, he preached that the games have to be played and any analysis now is based on paper projections (gm 1 hadn't been played yet - same in your article). I totally agree with this point. Imo things are very fluid, plenty of games to be played. I also wish Casey shared this philosophy bc he also has pre-conceived notions which I think JV and yak (amongst others) suffer from as a result.

P.S.
"My point was that the Ibaka at C option looked good..." - this is past tense, he hadnt played when the article was published. Pre-conceived notion that turned out to be true!😋

[Just Is]

I think, had the Raptors not been able to trade him, we too might have waived him and called up a 905er (Toupane).

[JamesNaismith]

I think, had the Raptors not been able to trade him, we too might have waived him and called up a 905er (Toupane).

Thank God we were able to....PJ is a difference maker.