The Raptors and KD. Let's discuss.

[Kawhisexual]

We won our only Ring with him, and he was the ONLY other player to get a Finals MVP vote besides Kawhi, so this seems like a hugely ignorant take.

Fred looked great during that finals because all eyes were on Kawhi And I do agree that he did play a decent defense with the box one, but I honestly credit nurse on that more, as well as the fact that both KD and Klay went down (it got a lot easier to gaurd curry as a result)

Now the problem with Fred is that Fred is literally the only Guard in the NBA that doesn't have a floater game. Which is why fred gets blocked all the time when he tries to drive

This leads Fred to take incredibly difficult 3 pointers like all the time, because he's playmaking skills aren't that great either. (opponents are also well aware that hes more likely to shoot than drive because he has no floater game and gets blocked all the time)

Fred makes those incredibly difficult 3 pointers at a decent rate during REGULAR SEASON, but NOT A CHANCE during playoffs, especially when he isn't wide open thanks to superstars like kawhi

Ever wondered why his performance was so poor during last 2 playoffs runs?

In fact, in most recent playoffs, Raptors could not win a single game as long as Fred played
And don't give me the bs about knee injury, we all know he may have been fatigued due to insane minutes he played during regular season, but he was not playing through an injury

[Hotshot]

I don't think confidence is the right word. There was/is hope in both scenarios. I'd suggest there's more hope in the current one. Giannis was just the team keeping the cap clean until they knew it wasn't happening, never a particularly likely outcome. Just a long shot that you had to take given the low cost of it.

On the Sam Vecenie podcast he actually proposed a 3 team sign a trade to facilitate all this:

Spurs: Sign + trade Jakob Poeltl to Toronto.
Phoenix: Sign+ trade Ayton to the Spurs.
Spurs: Sign+ trade 2 of their first rounder Branham + Wesley to Brooklyn along with Bridges(Suns) + cam Johnson + (more things Brookyln may want?)
Brooklyn: Sends Kevin Durant to Phoenix.

The problem is the Spurs probably wouldnt want Ayton for sending out Poeltl + 2 players they just drafted. Maybe Toronto sends a first rounder with Precious to Spurs (I don't think Sam realizes how valued is Prescious to the Raptors ???? & Toronto probably wants both Precious + Poeltl here)

[koncept]

Late to the thread but I've heard a ton of resistance to give up scottie in a package for KD. Scottie Will be great but how often do we get a Crack at possibly the best wing scorer of all time. Yes hes 34 but 2 years of his production I'd say is worth the risk

[grindhouse]

Late to the thread but I've heard a ton of resistance to give up scottie in a package for KD. Scottie Will be great but how often do we get a Crack at possibly the best wing scorer of all time. Yes hes 34 but 2 years of his production I'd say is worth the risk

2 years maybe, that’s one full off-season and a year of scrambling to get the right pieces together. or ….or a decade of dominance. we are a SG away. like fred said i will bet on ourselves. let KD die in brooklyn. the basketball gods have spoken.

[NeedTristanThompson]

S**t getting real.
According to the man himself, Woj says we are relevant lurkers

Pick your betting site. We are in the mix.

I consider the Republic to be the smartest, but also diverse with their opinions, fanbase on the internet. Now, I may be biased but if we look at the number of people that have gone from here to getting paid by Sportsnet, this is where you come for Everything Raptors. I'm pretty sure I know the answer but let's see what the collective says. But there's a second question in the poll I'm not so sure about. Feel free to answer both. What would you do?

Honestly I hope I'm wrong but Woj saying this makes me think we're not so much in the running anymore.

Masai/The Raptors don't leak.

And. idk maybe I'm not up enough on the nba news cycle but it seems to me like Woj's reports that are speculation are never really accurate???? (vs ones reporting actual events like THIS TRADE JUST HAPPENED)

(1) "Masai is going to Washington" in 2019

We'll see

Knock on wood

#KD + SCOTTIE BARNES 2022

[golden]

Giving up huge assets for a 34 year old KD is not that exciting, tbh. Feels like the Raptors are being used as leverage. We’re almost never talked about in the US mainstream media except when it’s related to US markets acquiring our highest valued assets.

[TrueTorontoFan]

I dont' see who we are bidding against..


with the suns its bridges and ayton and they don't like ayton and they are hard capped.



miami can't do it without sending bam else where ...



ok so whats left....


toronto memphis and NOP


to me it comes down to t.dot and nop..... does nop put ingram in a trade and herb jones and others?


other than that I still think og and one of fred/trent plus match what ever pick package they are receiving from others beats other offers. no need to trade siakam no need to trade barnes and then you can contend and you maintain your future foundational piece.

[The Great One]

I dont' see who we are bidding against..

Phoenix.

Bridges, Ayton, Johnson + picks. That's a good deal. That's better than any non Barnes offer from the Raptors.

Someone here mentioned OG is better than Bridges. No he's not. Bridges is way better than OG. Bridges has all star potential.

[saints91]

I’d rather see the Suns make that deal. I think Ayton’s the issue for most teams, there’s reports that he needs to be pushed to put in effort, when he’s not surrounded by vets, what’s he going to do?

Bridges is awesome. Him, Ayton and 3 picks is good value for an aging superstar. Ayton could always be moved for more assets.

[A.I]

Phoenix.

Bridges, Ayton, Johnson + picks. That's a good deal. That's better than any non Barnes offer from the Raptors.

Someone here mentioned OG is better than Bridges. No he's not. Bridges is way better than OG. Bridges has all star potential.

Where do you see that? He is gonna be 26 by the start of next season, averaged 14 points last season. He was in DPOY conversations being the best defender on by the far the best regular season team. Thats about it. Nothing All-star about him. Maybe he squeaks into an all star game being in DPOY conversations consistently but he is gonna need to be on a good team for that.

[Dr Hannibal Lecter]

Phoenix.

Bridges, Ayton, Johnson + picks. That's a good deal. That's better than any non Barnes offer from the Raptors.

Someone here mentioned OG is better than Bridges. No he's not. Bridges is way better than OG. Bridges has all star potential.

Bridges is not better than OG, Ayton is Trash, Ayton wasn't even playing in the playoffs that much, bc his liability, can't switch, bad D. If Raptors are offering Siakim part of the package there isn't better deal than that, but I hope they aren't, that would b mistake..
OG, Trent, Filler contracts and 4 1st rd picks is a fair and enough offer, if not Fk off. We don't want him.
Anyway, dont matter..honestly I'm not 2 excited about KD..if gutting our whole roster. It's not like he didn't have talent 2 succeed in Brooklyn. They got swept.
They can keep him, unless it's the deal I suggested.

[grindhouse]

Bridges is not better than OG, Ayton is Trash, Ayton wasn't even playing in the playoffs that much, bc his liability, can't switch, bad D. If Raptors are offering Siakim part of the package there isn't better deal than that, but I hope they aren't, that would b mistake..
OG, Trent, Filler contracts and 4 1st rd picks is a fair and enough offer, if not Fk off. We don't want him.
Anyway, dont matter..honestly I'm not 2 excited about KD..if gutting our whole roster. It's not like he didn't have talent 2 succeed in Brooklyn. They got swept.
They can keep him, unless it's the deal I suggested.

bridges is better than OG and yes ayton is not great but he is a finals center. O can’t dribble to save his live don’t forget. the US likes tradional looking basketball players. every player on our roster but trent is unconventional style of playing basketball.

i agree we walk away along time ago

[The Great One]

Where do you see that? He is gonna be 26 by the start of next season, averaged 14 points last season. He was in DPOY conversations being the best defender on by the far the best regular season team. Thats about it. Nothing All-star about him. Maybe he squeaks into an all star game being in DPOY conversations consistently but he is gonna need to be on a good team for that.

Bridges lives under Booker's shadow. But here's what I know, he shot 53% from the field the last 2 years. 42% from 3 last year, 38% this year. He's an elite defender and he's very durable. He played 82 games in his rookie year, 73 the next year. 72 last year. 82 this year. What's not to like? he'd easily average 20 if they start running more plays for him. The Suns offense though revolves around Book, CP and Ayton.

And who cares about his age? how many all star appearances has Lowry appeared in when he was 26?

[The Great One]

I’d rather see the Suns make that deal. I think Ayton’s the issue for most teams, there’s reports that he needs to be pushed to put in effort, when he’s not surrounded by vets, what’s he going to do?

Bridges is awesome. Him, Ayton and 3 picks is good value for an aging superstar. Ayton could always be moved for more assets.

The issue with Ayton is he looks at himself as a max money guy. He's very good but he's not a max guy. You don't max a center who's "very good" you max guys like Shaq, Hakeem, Duncan, Kareem etc...not an Ayton or a Gobert(good luck Minnesota).

[A.I]

Bridges lives under Booker's shadow. But here's what I know, he shot 53% from the field the last 2 years. 42% from 3 last year, 38% this year. He's an elite defender and he's very durable. He played 82 games in his rookie year, 73 the next year. 72 last year. 82 this year. What's not to like? he'd easily average 20 if they start running more plays for him. The Suns offense though revolves around Book, CP and Ayton.

And who cares about his age? how many all star appearances has Lowry appeared in when he was 26?

He has been extremely efficient. Part of that is because he has been playing behind Booker, CP and Ayton. Just how when OG isn't creating his own offense, he has been 39%+ 3P shooter.

He could be a later bloomer and be an All-star in his 30s. I probably would have told you Lowry would never be an All-star when he was 26, but he turned his career around after constantly butting heads with his coaches.