Everything 2017 Off-Season

[KeonClark]

That was an awesome press conference.

What I love is that Masai is as hungry as ever. He's not jaded, or looking for a new opportunity. He's 110% invested in trying to get the toronto raptors into a championship contender.

[Jclaw]

Just sitting here waiting for the Masai presser. Have seen him give several of these before. Always excited to hear some news and then not even disappointed, because it's so normal, to not hear anything. Yet here I am again. Anyone else with a similar affliction?

Welp. I'm cured.

[Nilanka]

Who is the most recent superstar that was drafted?

What level of success has this superstar reached?

Here are the superstars that are worthy of building around (just my opinion, of course).

LeBron
Durant
Curry
Harden
Westbook
Davis
George
Paul
Leonard

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but the point remains. These respective teams all have the requisite foundation to build a championship roster. The fact that some have not won a ring yet, is not evidence against tanking. There are obviously other factors that need to be addressed (proper coaching, scouting, FA recruiting, willing ownership, etc.).

[KeonClark]

Also sounds like masai is going to 100% give kyle a reasonable competitive offer. I don't think it will be the true max or even close to that, and it also sounds like he's not a slam dunk to accept it like derozan was last year. But I'd say 30 million for 5 take it or leave it

[KeonClark]

Here are the superstars that are worthy of building around (just my opinion, of course).

LeBron
Durant
Curry
Harden
Westbook
Davis
George
Paul
Leonard

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but the point remains. These respective teams all have the requisite foundation to build a championship roster. The fact that some have not won a ring yet, is not evidence against tanking. There are obviously other factors that need to be addressed (proper coaching, scouting, FA recruiting, willing ownership, etc.).

Id add giannis, towns and embiid as pieces I'm comfortable Marching forward with and building around.

[DogeLover1234]

Who is the most recent superstar that was drafted?

What level of success has this superstar reached?

These are two questions the tank crowd doesn't seem to be asking themselves.

Good point, once you get a superstar (Recent examples would be Giannis and AD; KAT is on the cusp) you need a GM that can put the best roster around them and a coach to optimize the players talent. I would argue that the Bucks are getting there and the Pelicans are hopeless because they made awful moves in team building. This really is a question of how much I trust Masai, which is a lot.

[white men can't jump]

Id add giannis, towns and embiid as pieces I'm comfortable Marching forward with and building around.

Don't know about Embiid. You'd basically be praying that he'll be healthy at some point. So far the evidence suggests that's unlikely.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

[KeonClark]

Don't know about Embiid. You'd basically be praying that he'll be healthy at some point. So far the evidence suggests that's unlikely.

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

True, but if I'm philly I'm still betting on him for at least another year. Plus they haven't seen simmons yet. Nothing is close to a guarantee there but they are definitely content pushing all in at this time.

[Maury]

Can someone give me a summary of Masai's press conference? I'm in class right now so I couldn't watch it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KeonClark]

Can someone give me a summary of Masai's press conference? I'm in class right now so I couldn't watch it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

-style of play has to change
-culture has to change,
-not going to just curl up in a ball and wait out lebron and the warriors, have to improve and goal is championship still
-wants to resign Lowry, doesn't seem overly thrilled with him however so don't expect them to bend over backwards
-all free agents won't be back, but we will be in the tax
-wants to promote and develop young guys, need to find winners in the draft and the current team

Missed the 2nd half of it

[KeonClark]

Demar better be ready to catch and shoot or swing the ball next year. The days of slow archaic iso are finally ending around here, casey or no casey.

[ball4life]

Demar better be ready to catch and shoot or swing the ball next year. The days of slow archaic iso are finally ending around here, casey or no casey.

Finally. Remember how many ppl here claimed this is not a coaching/ style of play issue!

Even if we don't win as many games we gotta make this team look watchable. This ugly ass basketball needs to stop.

[S.R.]

Here are the superstars that are worthy of building around (just my opinion, of course).

LeBron
Durant
Curry
Harden
Westbook
Davis
George
Paul
Leonard

I'm sure I'm forgetting a few, but the point remains. These respective teams all have the requisite foundation to build a championship roster. The fact that some have not won a ring yet, is not evidence against tanking. There are obviously other factors that need to be addressed (proper coaching, scouting, FA recruiting, willing ownership, etc.).

Naw, the list is not that long if the whole idea behind tanking is you need to really get serious with acquiring true superstar talent to win a championship. The problem is how narrow the definition of superstar really needs to be.

Lebron, Duncan, Kobe, Shaq, and Michael Jordan have won 20 of the last 26 championships. If you're talking about best odds possible, you are really talking about finding a LBJ/TD/Kobe/MJ level of talent. For everybody else, it's a looooong shot. A guy like Paul George is a great player and nowhere near that level. Shaq never did it unless he was beside Kobe or Wade. Dirk, one of the greatest NBA scorers of all time, basically admitted they found a window between Kobe's Lakers and Lebron's Heat and any earlier or later and the Mavs wouldn't have been good enough for a championship. That's the kind of crack everybody else gets at it, something like that or like the Celtics getting three HoF players together one offseason and it's enough for one ring, or the 04 Pistons gettin 4 All-Stars together and perfect synergy with a HoF coach and it's enough for one ring. Hakeem is one of the greatest centres of all time, HoFer, could only win when MJ went to play baseball. It takes a lot more than a Paul George or Anthony Davis to win.

I think the dishonesty with tanking talk is you talk about getting "a" superstar as producing results that you only really get from having a Lebron/Kobe/Duncan/MJ.

Again, I'm not against it at some point but I wouldn't jump on the option so quickly. The Raptors do need to get better, I'd give the in-house talent + the management a couple more years to try to find other ways to improve this roster + the postseason results.

[Apollo]

I'm skeptical DeRozan can thrive in an offense not about riding or dying.

[Nilanka]

Naw, the list is not that long if the whole idea behind tanking is you need to really get serious with acquiring true superstar talent to win a championship. The problem is how narrow the definition of superstar really needs to be.

Lebron, Duncan, Kobe, Shaq, and Michael Jordan have won 20 of the last 26 championships. If you're talking about best odds possible, you are really talking about finding a LBJ/TD/Kobe/MJ level of talent. For everybody else, it's a looooong shot. A guy like Paul George is a great player and nowhere near that level. Shaq never did it unless he was beside Kobe or Wade. Dirk, one of the greatest NBA scorers of all time, basically admitted they found a window between Kobe's Lakers and Lebron's Heat and any earlier or later and the Mavs wouldn't have been good enough for a championship. That's the kind of crack everybody else gets at it, something like that or like the Celtics getting three HoF players together one offseason and it's enough for one ring, or the 04 Pistons gettin 4 All-Stars together and perfect synergy with a HoF coach and it's enough for one ring. Hakeem is one of the greatest centres of all time, HoFer, could only win when MJ went to play baseball. It takes a lot more than a Paul George or Anthony Davis to win.

I think the dishonesty with tanking talk is you talk about getting "a" superstar as producing results that you only really get from having a Lebron/Kobe/Duncan/MJ.

Again, I'm not against it at some point but I wouldn't jump on the option so quickly. The Raptors do need to get better, I'd give the in-house talent + the management a couple more years to try to find other ways to improve this roster + the postseason results.

I'm speaking in favour of tanking in hypothetical terms. I'm honestly undecided about what I want to see the Raps do this summer.

I don't think it's dishonesty. The MJ, Kobe, LeBrons had teams that were built well, and coached well. That's the difference between Durant and George.

You surround George (or Giannis or Davis) with a Shaq, or Pau Gasol, or Scottie Pippen or Dennis Rodman, you have a legit title contender.

Tanking doesn't mean 1 player, and 1 player alone. But you need that 1 player before anything.