The Argument Against A Rebuild

[DanH]

I agree, which is why I think the best course of action is to maintain being competitive, try and gain more flexibility and wait until the LeBron's and George's of the world start looking for teams that give them the best chance of winning. Or there is a trade available to bring in one of those players.

Problem is adding a LeBron or George. The Raptors don't have cap room. So they'd have to trade for them. And they will get outbid every time by teams with deeper and higher value prospect and pick pools. Nevermind that I don't put George even close to LeBron's level, and don't think he'd put us in GS's range.

It's a decent hypothetical question that simply has no bearing on the argument about team direction.

[DanH]

I'd say yes, and no. Lowry and derozan are maybe equal to draymond and klay. Then they have two LeBron's. They're basically impossible to beat, unless you have 2 mvps and 2 all Stars.

They don't have two LeBron's. They have zero LeBron's. I'm not saying LeBron is necessarily worth both Durant and Curry combined, but he's better than either one of them.

I'd also peg Lowry as better than Klay/Green (though short of the MVPs obviously). DeRozan... well. He's at least comparable to Klay.

Also, in the hypothetical, no consideration for realism is made, so I'd also peg the Raptors with far better depth. I think that brings the scales closer to level. Not level, but into the "maybe they have a chance" region.

[LJ2]

Problem is adding a LeBron or George. The Raptors don't have cap room. So they'd have to trade for them. And they will get outbid every time by teams with deeper and higher value prospect and pick pools. Nevermind that I don't put George even close to LeBron's level, and don't think he'd put us in GS's range.

It's a decent hypothetical question that simply has no bearing on the argument about team direction.

You mean Raptors aren't attractive enough for players to force a trade here

[3inthekeon]

You mean Raptors aren't attractive enough for players to force a trade here

Well, DeMarre was pretty attractive in that commercial.

[S.R.]

I still think you just keep moving forward, never know what a trade or two can do + you can't predict those at all. Trading for Tucker + Ibaka made a big impact this season, we can't predict if MU hits a homer in the next year or two.

A) Raps have key unsigned FA's right now, we have no guarantees the roster even will be the same next season, and B) if everybody is re-signed this summer you've basically got next season then after that you have key contracts in their final year each year for the next few. This team isn't stuck anywhere, changes are a'comin one way or another anyhow. We may see another year or two with essentially this roster, 50+ wins, 2-3 playoff rounds, then it'll be something different.

There's nothing wrong with that.