Patience desperately needed: Look how far Raptors have come in a year

[JordanMariam14]

If Tim Leiweke can convince Love to come to Toronto, oh my goodness. And the chances of bringing KD gets even higher, ahhhhhh!

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[JawsGT]

haha, this is the type of thread that should have been started last offseason...oh my, how far Raptors fans have come!!

[mcHAPPY]

haha, this is the type of thread that should have been started last offseason...oh my, how far Raptors fans have come!!

I recall saying give it time.

New ownership was 2 years ago.
New management was a year ago.

Obviously I was very much about tanking but you deal the hand you're dealt and move on.

It really doesn't matter how you decide to build, it is all about execution and a bit of luck.



One thing I forgot to mention in the OP with regards to "how far we've come" is the type of players filling out the roster. Lots of length and athleticism being added versus the Pietrus' and Kleiza's and Gray's of the league.

[Jamshid]

Patient is what is needed right now as MU is taking the right steps. Lowry and DD are our future guards and it is up to Big Val and Ross to make improvements as to be in the future of this team.

That being said, patient is not blind supporting and being a mouth piece for the organization.

[imanshumpert]

I recall saying give it time.

New ownership was 2 years ago.
New management was a year ago.

Obviously I was very much about tanking but you deal the hand you're dealt and move on.

It really doesn't matter how you decide to build, it is all about execution and a bit of luck.



One thing I forgot to mention in the OP with regards to "how far we've come" is the type of players filling out the roster. Lots of length and athleticism being added versus the Pietrus' and Kleiza's and Gray's of the league.

Yeah I'm a huge fan of this. The majority of our guys have above-average length or above-average athleticism or both, for their respective positions. It's great to see. I'm hoping Casey can get them running a bit more. It's hard to maintain an elite defense when you pick up the pace, but teams like San Antonio, Los Angeles Clippers and Golden State were able to do it last year (top half of the league in pace, and top 10 defenses).

[Demographic Shift]

We seem to have settled on this years roster with only two or three things left to do. Sign Grevis or not and for purposes of next years cap calculation assume we do for about 4.5M for 3 years. Keep or let Nando walk to Balmy CSK Moscow. Add a SF, back up C or Nando replacement. Pretty good year. I think we show patience with this roster and reap the benefit of all the back room calculating that opens up a huge amount of Cap room in 2015 season. How big. As high as 20M. How you ask ?
Heres what it looks like.

DeMar Derozan Under Contract $9,500,000
John Salmons Traded $0
Amir Johnson Pending UFA $0
Landry Fields Contract Expired $0
Kyle Lowry Cap Avg over 4 years $12,000,000
Chuck Hayes Contract Expired $0
Steve Novak Traded $0
Jonas Valanciunas Under Contract $4,660,000
Tyler Hansbrough Pending UFA $0
Patrick Patterson Under Contract $6,000,000
Marcus Camby * Buyout Residual $0
Terrence Ross Under Contract $3,560,000
Greivis Vasquez Under Contract $4,500,000
Nando De Colo UFA $0
Bruno Coboclo Under Contract $1,800,000
$42,020,000
NEW ADDITIONS
Lou Willams UFA $0
Deandre Daniels In Europe SIgn or not $0
Bebe Nogueira Under Contract $2,000,000
2015 1st Round Pick Cap Hold $1,500,000
DELETES

Total committed Salaries: $45,520,000


Heres a short list of the UFA only beauty contestants on the runway for 2015-16

Kevin Love (PO), LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul Milsap, Omer Asik, Marc Gasol, David West (PO), Goran Dragic (PO), Thad Young (ETO), and our own Amir Johnson.

[Bonus Jonas]

I wonder if we have any chance at convincing Lamarcus Aldridge to sign with us next year. I would prefer him to Love. Throw him 20M a year and see if he bites.

[Jamshid]

I wonder if we have any chance at convincing Lamarcus Aldridge to sign with us next year. I would prefer him to Love. Throw him 20M a year and see if he bites.

Didn't he just signed an extension ? Plus, they have a great thing going there and portland is a wonderful place to live.

[Bonus Jonas]

Didn't he just signed an extension ? Plus, they have a great thing going there and portland is a wonderful place to live.

He expires next summer. I know it'd be tough cuz they have a great core in Portland but I'd like to see if he would budge. Wouldn't mind us trying.

[planetmars]

It's quite odd to have a GM that exercises patience for the Raptors.. but this needs to extend past next season as well. If the Raptors cannot get a prized free agent like Love, Aldridge or Gasol than they need to save that space and punt it to 2016 when players like Durant, Horford, Noah and Batum are free agents.

Also I suspect James to sign a 2 year contract making him a free agent in 2016 as well (not that he'd come here but it would be nice to have that option for him).

The last thing I'd want is for MU to sign a Turk like contract just because they have the money for it.

[octothorp]

We'll have the cap space, there's nothing that prevents us from going hard after guys like Aldridge and Love. I agree that Aldridge is an extreme long-shot and Love unlikely as well, but you don't get nothing if you don't go after it. Given our mix of expirings and young players, if we could get a guarantee that he'd resign with us, a sign-and-trade around the deadline might work for both teams.

The tougher question is what happens if we can't grab one of those top tier guys: do we move on to the second tier of UFA PFs -- Millsap, West, Boozer, etc? Or stick with Johnson and turn our attention to 2016 free agency?

[e_wheazhy_]

We'll have the cap space, there's nothing that prevents us from going hard after guys like Aldridge and Love. I agree that Aldridge is an extreme long-shot and Love unlikely as well, but you don't get nothing if you don't go after it. Given our mix of expirings and young players, if we could get a guarantee that he'd resign with us, a sign-and-trade around the deadline might work for both teams.

The tougher question is what happens if we can't grab one of those top tier guys: do we move on to the second tier of UFA PFs -- Millsap, West, Boozer, etc? Or stick with Johnson and turn our attention to 2016 free agency?

I'd actually prefer a guy like millsap to Aldridge.

He'd probably be worth less money ($14-16 as opposed to the max for LA), which would preserve some cap room for us in 2016 to go after KD. Also, LA needs the ball in his hands to be effective, something which I don't know if would fit well with our team. I'd rather the scrappy millsap play with his back to the basket and work us some inside hustle points. I see him as a bigger, stronger version of Amir (with arguably less D) whom we already know fits in with our current core.

Also, having LA on the team means we'd cringe twice as much for midrange jumpers per game. We'd have 2 midrange heavy guys on the team and if you think Demar's midrange shots were scary, wait until you see LA's (granted they do go in at a high rate, but they're cringeworthy when he puts them up). All that being said, I think I'd prefer a bruiser PF (PM) to a finesse one (LA). That way, depending on our cap situation, we could end up with a core of

Lowry
Derozan/Ross
Durant
Millsap
Valanciunas

In 2016. Tell me that's not a contender.

[planetmars]

If you use free agency to get a player like Millsap you've blown your cap space to get a guy like Durant in 2016. If KD wants to come to Toronto it would have to be in a S&T and than OKC has leverage.

I don't think KD comes to Toronto anyway but I would really love to have cap space when he's a free agent just to get that chance.

[hotfuzz]

Why do I get the feeling that everyone is convinced that KD is coming to Toronto in 2016. You guys talk as if it's a done deal.

[Jamshid]

Why do I get the feeling that everyone is convinced that KD is coming to Toronto in 2016. You guys talk as if it's a done deal.

It is a pipe dream unless somehow this team goes to ECF or NBA finals within the next two years and Big Val, DD and Ross become all stars ...

Even those conditions met, it still may not happen. For us to get any SUPER STAR in 2016 ( Something this team really needs) , it requires being able to compete seriously within the next 2 years and I am not talking about making it to play offs and getting knocked out after the first round.