Everything Off Season

[inthepaint]

Yup, but we shouldn't accept becoming an also-ran again or defaulting to "t could be worse".
-Best management team in the league
-Best Coach in the league
-World class city (border excuse is bullchit, weather excuse is bullchit, doesn't seem to bother Boston or NYN for instance)
-Just off a Championship, good young core still in place

-Yet still can't attract an elite free agent here for love nor money ..... relegated to trying to make difficult trades or wait for a miracle once- in-decades opportunity.

Yeah trying to change the view of "not being able to attract FA's" is worthy, but if we haven't done it in the 2-3 years right after a championship (when your name is at the top), chances are that's not gonna change any time soon. We couldn't keep our own main player in free agency immediately after a title, which is extremely rare.

And yet despite knowing that, somehow we still felt it was realistic to pry out the league MVP from his current team (which happened to have a better record than us, and was able to pay much more $), with 28 other teams trying to do the same. It was never gonna happen. I said it from the beginning, it makes very little sense. It's a very dubious strategy even for destination cities like NY, let alone for other markets. There's no control on that, you're basically just singing & dancing and hoping the player will be wooed.

At some point you gotta come to terms with the fact that Free Agency is not a realistic way to enhance this team. Period. Redirect the energy and focus on the other 2 ways: Draft/Development and Trades. We're already elite at draft/development. Need to be aggressive in trades. That's how we won a championship.

Non-FA destinations should be actively involved in all trade talks for stars out there. No one on the team should be untouchable. I'm not saying be desperate and do shitty moves just for the sake of making moves, but you gotta be ballsier with the packages, more open to riskier trades, more so than FA destinations. Less picky, as opposed to "hmm I'm not sure if Embiid is a winner" or "Harden doesn't fit the culture" or "Oladipo is too risky" or "Leonard is an injured rental that doesn't want to play here, Derozan is too much to give".

Now, I'm not saying the FO is not doing that - trade talks are behind the scenes (for all we know they could be actively chasing Harden and Beal and teams are just not biting). But if they're not, they should. Players are not gonna fall on our lap like they do in LA. Not exactly fair but we gotta recognize that and adjust our strategy all the same.

[JawsGT]

Damn you guys are convincing yourselves of some crazy shit. Pat riley is old so masai is gonna leave. Giannis and gobert signed extensions so the future is lost. Lowry is gonna ring chase. Ha ha ha. Madness at best. First of all, gobert isnt worth 40M+ per year, or even close. Maybe he wouldnt have got that much on the open market had he tested free agency, but obviously the jazz would match and we would have been left holding our sack had we pursued him. Good riddance.

Second, lowry still looks good, but he is going to start declining soon. I love Kyle as much as the next fan, probably more than most and his importance to the team cannot be understated. I would love for him to retire here and i dont care what he gets paid. But if he wants to go ring chase in his mid-30s, then so be it. It shouldnt spell disaster for this team.

Third, kawhi was the big opportunity. He came, we won, he left and thats that. I mean, what did you guys really expect after he moved on? That his work here legitimized this franchise as a top FA destination? There are only a few of those in the league. We are in the same position as 25 other teams and thats just reality. Giannis was such an incredible long shot, buoyed by the perceived importance of his relationship with Masai. If that relationship did not exist, I doubt anyone here would even think we had a shot to sign him.

Fourth, there is no evidence that Masai is going to leave. Maybe he will and that will be unfortunate, but is there anything concrete to suggest it? No, just our collective paranoia extending from the fact that he hasnt extended yet.

Its time for us to focus on what this team and management does best. Finding quality players all over the draft and outside it and developing them to meet their ceilings while playing above the cap. Thats how we got Kawhi amd thats how we will likely get the next big opportunity.

This is one of the best teams and franchises in the league, and we should be holding our heads high, not whining like this is the Magic or Hornets or Wizards or Kings. We up there raps fans, we up there.

[G__Deane]

The latter will likely be less of an issue going forward. There's more and more Canadians entering the league each year, Raps are bound to land a hometown hero at some point in the near future. I think the team will be completely fine as long as MU sticks around for the foreseeable future.

Canadians don't necessarily want to play here either; it's all about the money, maybe weather for them too.
Even then, the odds that's there's a truly elite Canadian NBA player that we need is slim and none. There's less than a handful in the entire NBA right now. RJ Barrett, SJA, Jamal Murray....and as we've seen, if they'r elite they get tied up prior to UFA status.

[slaw]

The 2021 offseason is over and the Raptors didn't do anything with all their cap space?

Wait, what? The 2021 season hasn't even started yet? Oh.....

I mean, you guys are all smart enough NBA fans to understand that teams plan 3-4 years ahead for free agency, right? Why are you pretending like you don't understand how things work? So you can complain about something that hasn't even happened yet? Come on.

Some of this shit is as bad as the tank brigade who used to crap on this same management team - not because they were wrong - but for not doing exactly what the tank brigade wanted. Only difference is this is even more bizarre cause this same front office just did the impossible and won a title in Toronto.

Come on...

[G__Deane]

Only difference is this is even more bizarre cause this same front office just did the impossible and won a title in Toronto.

That's what Leafs fans said in 1969

[GOLDBLUM]

John Granato of espn Houston

[Puffer]

...this is even more bizarre cause this same front office just did the impossible and won a title in Toronto.

Come on...

Amen

[Jclaw]

John Granato of espn Houston

If anything was going to break this site, how is it not this tweet?

[nba_4_life]

John Granato of espn Houston

Well... this got interesting

[Jclaw]

my go to site (oddsshark because they were early on with the Kawhi to Toronto odds) had Toronto listed as the 4th favourite destination after philly, miami and brooklyn as of Dec 17th. If you had asked me to survey the republic on dec 17th, I don't think there were too many people talking about that. weird times. Could be an interesting 24 hours if this ties into the OG extension at all.

[Jclaw]

Thus far Raptors twitter is radio silence so far

[Demographic Shift]

Riley is 75 years old - he has to retire sometime. Masai would be a brilliant succession plan. Plus, the Heat have shown a willingness to give an equity stake in the franchise. Either that, or Tim Lieweke will poach Masai when NBA expansion brings Seattle back into the fold. Again... equity stake.

Signs are clearly pointing to Masai keeping his options open to find a bigger and better opportunity.

How old is Jerry West ?

[GOLDBLUM]

If anything was going to break this site, how is it not this tweet?

I could‘ve shared it in the form of 30 high power gifs... that might’ve done the trick.

[planetmars]

I dunno about Harden in Toronto. First I hate the idea of trading Pascal for him because our front court is already pretty thin. Harden is used to small ball, but that front court goes from pretty good last year to pretty pathetic this year if he gets moved.

Second, if it's Lowry he's our GROAT. I shouldn't feel bad since we moved DeMar who was always loyal. But Lowry is different. He kept Kawhi in check. He would do the same for Harden who has become a complete gong show lately.

We don't have any other way to get him. Fred can't be moved until the deadline. Norm doesn't make enough. Baynes/Boucher can't be moved either yet.

And then you have to assume there will be a package of picks.. Jrue Holiday got 5 picks (3 picks, 2 swaps). I believe PG had 6 picks. Didn't Davis get like 3 himself? Harden has 2 years and a player option, so possibly 3 years on his deal left. Unlike those other guys.

Always nice to have a super star, but I have mixed feelings on this one. If that radio guy has any insight into things and the Raptors are really in this.. I hope Boston wins this trade, and ends up giving up A LOT for him.

[GOLDBLUM]

I dunno about Harden in Toronto. First I hate the idea of trading Pascal for him because our front court is already pretty thin. Harden is used to small ball, but that front court goes from pretty good last year to pretty pathetic this year if he gets moved.

Second, if it's Lowry he's our GROAT. I shouldn't feel bad since we moved DeMar who was always loyal. But Lowry is different. He kept Kawhi in check. He would do the same for Harden who has become a complete gong show lately.

We don't have any other way to get him. Fred can't be moved until the deadline. Norm doesn't make enough. Baynes/Boucher can't be moved either yet.

And then you have to assume there will be a package of picks.. Jrue Holiday got 5 picks (3 picks, 2 swaps). I believe PG had 6 picks. Didn't Davis get like 3 himself? Harden has 2 years and a player option, so possibly 3 years on his deal left. Unlike those other guys.

Always nice to have a super star, but I have mixed feelings on this one. If that radio guy has any insight into things and the Raptors are really in this.. I hope Boston wins this trade, and ends up giving up A LOT for him.

Yeah, our front court would be decimated.

In any trade that sends Pascal out, I think we’d really need to have PJ Tucker coming back our way as well... which a lot of people have speculated.

Harden and Tucker for Siakam, Norm, Davis (and picks) works in the trade machine...

You could exchange Davis with Matt Thomas... you could add one of McCaw or Johnson...