Everything 2019 Offseason!

[golden]

Not an argument for anyone but a Raptors fan. Get back to me when guys like DD and Monta carry a team to the Finals. They haven't even sniffed the 4th round as a 1A and never will.
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I guess we're calling Latrell Sprewell a few tiers above DD as well, right? He carried his Knicks team to an NBA finals and lost.... just like AI. And by that same definition, T-Mac (aka... the second round virgin) is few tiers below DD.... since DD actually led his team to the ECF. T-Mac shouldn't be in the HoF, I would assume. But hey, this is only an argument for Raptor fans, right?

[Chr1s1anL]

2Pat was just overrated on this board. 2pat was a fringe role player that needed the right role. He was never starter material like many here thought. I don't believe the injury excuse. He's always been a limited player. I agree with Apollo that Raps find the right players to fit their system.

[TrueTorontoFan]

I guess we're calling Latrell Sprewell a few tiers above DD as well, right? He carried his Knicks team to an NBA finals and lost.... just like AI. And by that same definition, T-Mac (aka... the second round virgin) is few tiers below DD.... since DD actually led his team to the ECF. T-Mac shouldn't be in the HoF, I would assume. But hey, this is only an argument for Raptor fans, right?

t mac should be overall ... but at the same time AI was INSANE

[TrueTorontoFan]

But did they really develop him in that one season or was it that they better utilized what he brought to the table? He doesn't look like a changed player to me. He looks like a contract year mirage.

i think he fit into the system.... they did develop him a bit but not a ton

[DanH]

Honestly, I think even this is too high, because on his next deal Beal is going to get $35 million a year from some team - it'll happen, because several teams will have cap space to make a run at Giannis and there's only one Giannis. Do you want to spend $35 million a season on Bradley Beal? Because if not, he's a rental, and that's way too high a price for a rental who isn't a top-five player in the league.

Well, a two year rental is not really what you'd usually call a rental.

And the upside of such a deal (assuming you don't want to bring him back at that price point) is you keep the team near the top of the East and have a better pitch to free agents like Giannis and others that summer to come to a winning team. And there is always the option of re-signing Beal to that amount and then also pitching a third star on joining a winning team with two established stars, even if neither is a megawatt star on their own. Key there would be getting a bit of a discount on Pascal's deal but beyond that it's pretty feasible.

[DanH]

I guess we're calling Latrell Sprewell a few tiers above DD as well, right? He carried his Knicks team to an NBA finals and lost.... just like AI. And by that same definition, T-Mac (aka... the second round virgin) is few tiers below DD.... since DD actually led his team to the ECF. T-Mac shouldn't be in the HoF, I would assume. But hey, this is only an argument for Raptor fans, right?

I think we're being extremely generous to suggest that DeRozan "led" the Raptors to the ECF.

[Chr1s1anL]

In regards to Bender. I would love to take a flier on him. I’m all in for taking in young 6’9”+ players that are agile and can move laterally well.

After JV raptors should really never have another slow footed big on this team.

[golden]

t mac should be overall ... but at the same time AI was INSANE

Sure, by sheer volume & usage, AI was insane. And it was exciting to see a little guy competing with so much heart against giants. But unfortunately, by today's standards he'd be looked at in the same light as Melo and DeMarcus Cousins.

Sure, his teammates weren't great, but some of that was also on AI's attitude and not playing a team game: "how the hell can I make my teammates better through practice?"

[DanH]

In regards to Bender. I would love to take a flier on him. I’m all in for taking in young 6’9”+ players that are agile and can move laterally well.

After JV raptors should really never have another slow footed big on this team.

Hate to break this to you, you must have missed the last several months, but the Raptors' current starting C who played a huge role in winning a championship is a slow-footed big who makes up for it with positioning and smarts, not footspeed.

[golden]

Hate to break this to you, you must have missed the last several months, but the Raptors' current starting C who played a huge role in winning a championship is a slow-footed big who makes up for it with positioning and smarts, not footspeed.

lol. C'mon Dan. After Casey and DeRozan got shipped out last year, you have to give the man his last shred of dignity.

Speaking of JV vs. Gasol, did you see this new defensive metric by 538? It ranks JV and Ibaka waaaay ahead of Gasol in defense last year and tries to determine guys who have been overrated/underrated defenders based on reputation vs. performance.

A Better Way To Evaluate NBA Defense
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...e-nba-defense/

[Chr1s1anL]

Hate to break this to you, you must have missed the last several months, but the Raptors' current starting C who played a huge role in winning a championship is a slow-footed big who makes up for it with positioning and smarts, not footspeed.

Gasol has quicker feet than JV and move better lateral. I didn’t miss anything. I was one of bigger supporters of trading JV for him. You should get off the advanced stats and just watch how player move.

The way that Gasol was hedging out on the PnR on Steph. One game he cause like 3 turnovers on steph just by hedging.That’s foot speed. Gasol taking charges that’s good positioning.

[Chr1s1anL]

lol. C'mon Dan. After Casey and DeRozan got shipped out last year, you have to give the man his last shred of dignity.

Speaking of JV vs. Gasol, did you see this new defensive metric by 538? It ranks JV and Ibaka waaaay ahead of Gasol in defense last year and tries to determine guys who have been overrated/underrated defenders based on reputation vs. performance.

A Better Way To Evaluate NBA Defense
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...e-nba-defense/

Really don’t know what to say if you guys really believe that JV moves better defensively than Gasol.

[DanH]

lol. C'mon Dan. After Casey and DeRozan got shipped out last year, you have to give the man his last shred of dignity.

Speaking of JV vs. Gasol, did you see this new defensive metric by 538? It ranks JV and Ibaka waaaay ahead of Gasol in defense last year and tries to determine guys who have been overrated/underrated defenders based on reputation vs. performance.

A Better Way To Evaluate NBA Defense
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...e-nba-defense/

Well, yeah, it was part of why I was concerned with the trade at the time - Gasol had been dogging it in Memphis for a while. He really turned up the effort after the trade and particularly in the playoffs, and it worked out great. Now, I'm not sure how much I like their approach to defence there - there's a lot of noise in the data they are using as the basis for that stats work. Imagine you could get a similar ranking by sorting by DFG% and DFGA. Personally I prefer impact measures for defence. But by any measure JV was making significant strides defensively over the past few seasons which was part of my hesitance with the trade. Obviously can't argue the results, and couldn't be more pleased on that end, of course.

[DanH]

Gasol has quicker feet than JV and move better lateral. I didn’t miss anything. I was one of bigger supporters of trading JV for him. You should get off the advanced stats and just watch how player move

Come on, Gasol may be a bit quicker than JV (in some situations) but on the scale of NBA defenders he's one of the more slow-footed bigs in the league. And thanks for that "watch the games" crack, yeah, I never watch the actual basketball, I should try that sometime.

[Chr1s1anL]

Come on, Gasol may be a bit quicker than JV (in some situations) but on the scale of NBA defenders he's one of the more slow-footed bigs in the league. And thanks for that "watch the games" crack, yeah, I never watch the actual basketball, I should try that sometime.

In all situations! I think Gasol moves a lot better than JV laterally, not a bit. If it was just a bit JV would still be on this team. There’s reason they always wanted JV to fall back on the screen whereas every other big on the team would either hedge/switch.