Off-Season Realistic Expectations / Predictions / probably devolve dream acquisitions

[Other Scott]

It's not that I don't like Vazquez. I think he did a great job for what he was asked. It's just that Lowry and Derozan are each going to play 35 minutes a game, so the backup guard position is not as important as the backup forward position, where there aren't going to be the same minutes from the starters.

Vazquez a little overqualified for what the Raptors were asking him to do. If he takes money that suits his role more than his skill level, fine. But I think he's going to want 5M, and I don't think we want to pay that to a backup guard on this team when we can pay that to a backup small forward.

[stooley]

I think the ceiling for Vasquez is quite obvious. He'll never be fast enough to guard his position well. And as long as he is taking those weird floaters and transition 3s, he'll be a back-up PG. He's a 'Let's shake things up' bench player.

If we sign him at a reasonable price, great. But if the opportunity comes up to draft and groom a long-term PG prospect, we should take it. Lowry probably has only 3 more years of high-level play.

Well I think he filled that 'lets shake things up' role this year because that's what we needed him to do. He showed he was also plenty capable of playing pass first in NO.

[bryan colangelo]

I think the ceiling for Vasquez is quite obvious. He'll never be fast enough to guard his position well. And as long as he is taking those weird floaters and transition 3s, he'll be a back-up PG. He's a 'Let's shake things up' bench player.

If we sign him at a reasonable price, great. But if the opportunity comes up to draft and groom a long-term PG prospect, we should take it. Lowry probably has only 3 more years of high-level play.

[Other Scott]

I'd sort of rather have a solid Livingston/Vince SF at this point than resigning Vazquez. Ross is solid when he plays solid, but he has stretches of games where he simply disappears. That was probably the major thing that killed the Raptors this year, is that they were forced to rely on Salmons at small forward when Ross was not playing well enough to get starters type minutes.

I hope Ross is better next year, but I'd be much more comfortable if we had another proven small forward that could pick up those minutes if required.

On the other hand, I think Nando could do what Vazquez did for us, though less effectively. But the dropoff wouldn't be nearly as much as Livingston to Salmons if it has to be one or the other.

[stooley]

we are only asking him to make small and smart moves toward the bigger goal and to NOT MAKE the mistakes of Babcock and BC. That is all ...

Yes, this is what we need this year. Small moves, nothing that can backfire and handcuff us later.

And btw, even good GMs make mistakes because there is inherently an element of luck in predicting the future. You can stack the odds in your favour, but you can't guarantee that the most likely outcome actually happens.

All you can ask of a good GM is that he make moves that will likely favour the team.

[Jamshid]

Yeah, I don't see how it is easy either.

I see the same group of people who supported BC for 7 years and never questioned his moves are now doing the same thing to MU. It is like a pattern and it seems like Matt, or mcHappy, you did not learn anything from the past 7 years.

At some point of time we have to decide if we are an elite organization in NBA or not. Elite organizations are able to do what you said in your original post on yearly basis and this is how they stay elite. On the other hand, mediocroe teams, fail over and over and although they change coaches and GMs and ... due to the culture of their fans and organization fail to realize the mistakes and take the necessary steps to fix it.

So if we are claiming that MU is a GREAT GM and one of the BEST and ... like most people here are doing these days, after giving him over a year to "evaluate this team" and with 100% support that he getting from management and fans, then he should be EASILY accomplish these task and not fail ....

Resisting the urge to overspend - though the rules allow you to do just that.

18 Million figure is what these guys are worth ... more than that is over paying ... Is it hard to not over pay ?? No it is not. You just have to have the discipline to do so ... if it is such a HARD task then MU can not do it, then why not stay with BC He was good at over paying.

MU is here because he is SUPPOSE to be GREAT and he is SUPPOSE to not make the mistakes that BC made which was always OVER PAY the players.

Risking short term sacrifice (losing a player) in order to maintain a long term vision.

I am no basketball expert and I can see this to be very important to the success of this franchise. Almost 90% of the fans can see this and we have the BEST example of making this mistake in BC ... 7 years of not having long term goals and ...

Now, it should be EASY for MU not to make the same mistake and there should be no prize for not doing that but a severe penalty if he does ... This is obvious mistake and a guy who is suppose to THIS GOOD, should not make such an amateur mistake especially when the guy before him LOST his job for making that mistake.

Finding a player who will be able to contribute to the team in the draft at #20.

Again, Elite organizations with elite GMs are doing that almost every year otherwise why be in the draft !!! We are going to be drafting around 15+ for next 3-4 years ... If we can not get a quality player then why not just bring Rob BabCock back and let him draft another Joey Graham for us ...

MU is suppose to be the saviour and not another BabCock so he should again, EASILY be able to have the vision to draft the right player in that range and not mess it up ... Otherwise he is just another Babcock and another failure.

Signing value contracts in free agency.

If he can not do that, lets just go back to BC and paying Hedo 50+ million ...

This is summer for MU to make a statement and say that he has the ability to do these things ... Is it hard ? No, it is not. Almost 90% of NBA knew we overpaid for Hedo or our signing Oneal was a mistake and ...

Obtaining another of what is one of the most highly coveted assets right now (1st round draft picks).

Now, that I agree and it could be challenging since he failed to move Novak, Hayes, Fileds, Salmon before the trade deadline to acquire small assets and then package them together to get a one bigger one. Now, this is going to be hard.

Pfffffft, how easy is all that?

Matt, you changed your user name but you have the same attitude like before. As guy who supported BC for 7 years, attacked and ridiculed anyone who slightly criticized BC for that period of time and put his total faith in his hand and was proven to be 100% WRONG ... you should take a step back and raise your expectations.

We all need to raise our expectation and not be happy with the bare minimum. We are not asking MU to sign a SUPER STAR this off season and make Raptors a championship team next season and ... we are only asking him to make small and smart moves toward the bigger goal and to NOT MAKE the mistakes of Babcock and BC. That is all ...

[BallaBalla]

as a follow up on what Butch Carter said, here's what he wrote (although this is more about what Casey has to do). Good read

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/n...in-at-the-end/

just a great article.

this is what it takes to get to the next level

[OldSkoolCool]

I don't buy the argument that SF is major sore spot for us. Playing Ross out of position there may expose some of his limitations(both physically and talent wise)

I agree. For the most part over the course of the regular season Ross at SF doesn't hurt our team.

Also because Ross is usually the one guarding the better of the wing players and/or the PG. The fact that we label him as a SF is a misnomer because he is often times playing the SG position defensively, and DD is playing the SF position defensively.

So I would argue that it is DD that needs to be upgraded to a larger SF in terms of his position on the defensive end of the floor.

Agree on PF. Completely disagree on SF. Out of your list James, Anthony and George + Pierce/Johnson is our direct completion to get to the next level and we are not getting there without someone who can guard these guys. Ross isn't a SF and is playing out of position. If Ujiri does not see another K.Leonard in the 20-23 range on the draft board this year... trade DD to get one. Everything else will follow once Fields and Hayes are gone in one year from now.

1) Ross guarded George and absolutely shut him down, I'm not worried about that matchup.
2) Nobody can guard James
3) Anthony isn't all that relevant if he keeps playing like he does. He settles for jumpers so Ross should be able to handle him.
4) JJ is a problem, though GV did a good job on him...
5) Pierce is playing PF...but is also ancient, building your team to counter him at this point is not a good move.

We do need a larger SF...but unless it is the right fit/type of player who has at least D and a 3 point shot already I would say just roll with Ross

[white men can't jump]

Agree on PF. Completely disagree on SF. Out of your list James, Anthony and George + Pierce/Johnson is our direct completion to get to the next level and we are not getting there without someone who can guard these guys. Ross isn't a SF and is playing out of position. If Ujiri does not see another K.Leonard in the 20-23 range on the draft board this year... trade DD to get one. Everything else will follow once Fields and Hayes are gone in one year from now.

I don't know. Think Masai is the patient type. And didn't he say something about not making drastic moves? Trading DD to fill a hole would seem pretty drastic.

Some thoughts:
-Anyone we draft at 20 may be a project with massive holes in their game. So I wouldn't expect such a guy to step in immediately and fix our SF problems.
-There could be a stopgap measure in free agency.
-There could be less drastic trades that wouldn't require trading a core piece to get a starting calibre SF with size.

[vino]

I doubt PF is a real concern in Ujiri's mind.

IF; PP resigns and Amir is still around we have 2 different looks at PF that have proven themselves to be significant contributors to our team on both sides of the ball. We can steal a page from Gibby's book and platoon them over the 48 minutes. Giving us 2 different skill sets at the 4. 24 minutes of expert screens and rolls to the basket & 24 minutes of pick and pop + Spacing.

I don't buy the argument that SF is major sore spot for us. Playing Ross out of position there may expose some of his limitations(both physically and talent wise) but how many outside the Top 5 on this list are real threats to take over the game? If say Chandler Parsons is absolutely torching Ross for 40, it would be at the expense of shots for Howard and Harden. That's a game I want defensively. If Chandler Parsons beats you, just demolishes you, you shake your head - pack up and get on the bus.

C is the bigger positional need. I have no idea how we solve that in the confines of our reality.

Agree on PF. Completely disagree on SF. Out of your list James, Anthony and George + Pierce/Johnson is our direct completion to get to the next level and we are not getting there without someone who can guard these guys. Ross isn't a SF and is playing out of position. If Ujiri does not see another K.Leonard in the 20-23 range on the draft board this year... trade DD to get one. Everything else will follow once Fields and Hayes are gone in one year from now.

[Raptor Jesus]

I doubt PF is a real concern in Ujiri's mind.

IF; PP resigns and Amir is still around we have 2 different looks at PF that have proven themselves to be significant contributors to our team on both sides of the ball. We can steal a page from Gibby's book and platoon them over the 48 minutes. Giving us 2 different skill sets at the 4. 24 minutes of expert screens and rolls to the basket & 24 minutes of pick and pop + Spacing.

I don't buy the argument that SF is major sore spot for us. Playing Ross out of position there may expose some of his limitations(both physically and talent wise) but how many outside the Top 5 on this list are real threats to take over the game? If say Chandler Parsons is absolutely torching Ross for 40, it would be at the expense of shots for Howard and Harden. That's a game I want defensively. If Chandler Parsons beats you, just demolishes you, you shake your head - pack up and get on the bus.

C is the bigger positional need. I have no idea how we solve that in the confines of our reality.

[RepTdot]

the draft will be crucial, we need a to find a diamond in the rough at #20.

good thing Masai's first draft pick ever was one Kenneth Faried aka the Manimal at #22...man has an eye for gems

[mcHAPPY]

I'm not sure why you believe this is easy.

- Signing Lowry, GV and Patterson under $18M collectively is difficult especially since KL played like an all-star and will be one of the most desirable free agents
- Potentially going into luxury to swing trades for Salmons/Novak/Hansborogh to get richer contracts but additional prospects/picks (especially when picks/prospects are valued highly and many teams have cap space already) and ensuring those contracts run out in 2015
- Signing Aminu who is liked in NO and could use his skill-set just as easily as Toronto could
- Getting an extra first round pick.


I'd be very happy if that happened.. and that's not easy in my opinion.

Signing mediocre players to big contracts - now that's easy.

Yeah, I don't see how it is easy either.

Resisting the urge to overspend - though the rules allow you to do just that.
Risking short term sacrifice (losing a player) in order to maintain a long term vision.
Finding a player who will be able to contribute to the team in the draft at #20.
Signing value contracts in free agency.
Obtaining another of what is one of the most highly coveted assets right now (1st round draft picks).


Pfffffft, how easy is all that?

[TSF]

Give James Johnson the full MLE.

Oh wait, is Colangelo not the GM still?

I actually would love to get James back lol just not at MLE price

[bryan colangelo]

I'm going to side with Jalen Rose and say that shot blocking and steals are the most overrated stats in basketball because both involve gambling on defense. Big men that attempt to block shots too often aren't boxing out and are often out of position for the defensive rebound.

For example, Anthony Davis is considered an elite defender, and New Orleans led the league in blocks, but they were only 23rd in rebounds.

Jalen claims that a good defensive big man should average 3 blocks a game max. Their primary goal is to change the shot, not block it. And it makes sense to groom JV in that direction. JV definitely isn't mobile enough to recover from a missed block.

Personally, I think the team needs a younger, more mobile version of Chuck Hayes that is taller than our backup PG.