Who's going to be the new head coach of the Toronto Raptors?

[planetmars]

You do realize we have to take players back in trade to match salaries right?

You're talking like we're moving Pascal and Fred and replacing them with G League players.

If we do Blazers deal and bring back Simons, Little, and Scoot for Pascal we will still be way too talented to tank.

If we S&T Fred for Cole Anthony we did not downgrade enough to suck.

Let me know what trades you're thinking where we bring back zero talent.

So you are trading our two vets (one who was all-nba) for guys on teams that tanked last year and we will get better?

[planetmars]

The only way to guarantee a top 5 pick is to finish dead last. If you think there's an easy path to that, I've got a bridge to sell you.

Not dead last, but one of the worst 3 teams. If we trade Pascal for guys like Simon, and replace Fred with Cole Anthony then yeah that's a team that can be one of the worst 3 in the league.

[Kagemusha]

I think it's Masai that reached out to him not the other way around. And I think he's priority #1 for Masai too. Typically veteran coach's that have a championship pedigree don't want rebuild jobs. They want to coach win now players. Trading Pascal for a pick is the opposite of what a coach like that would want.

Plus I've read the tea leaves. Masai talked about parity in his press conference. Now the #8 ranked Heat are in the finals. They lost one game in the play-in too. I think Masai sees a path where he can get back there with the guys he has.

Miami has 3 things that we don't
1. Culture
2. Butler
3 Spo

[Primer]

So you are trading our two vets (one who was all-nba) for guys on teams that tanked last year and we will get better?

Don't have to get better for it to not be a tank job. I'm positive if we did those trades we would still be contending for the play in. Better depending on Scottie.

[Primer]

Not dead last, but one of the worst 3 teams. If we trade Pascal for guys like Simon, and replace Fred with Cole Anthony then yeah that's a team that can be one of the worst 3 in the league.

Replace Pascal with proven shooters and you think we'll be the worst team in the league. Wild.

[G____Deane]

Miami has 3 things that we don't
1. Culture
2. Butler
3 Spo

Weather and

[Yuri Gagarin]

Masai is an optimist starts every ssn thinking we can win it all. Tank will be only ever start during season if the team sucks bad

[Yuri Gagarin]

This fernandez guy sounds interesting

[DanH]

Not dead last, but one of the worst 3 teams. If we trade Pascal for guys like Simon, and replace Fred with Cole Anthony then yeah that's a team that can be one of the worst 3 in the league.

This is either exceedingly optimistic or pessimistic depending on your perspective. I think you are way off on this assessment. The bottom dwellers are very hard to catch.

And you have to be bottom 1 to ensure you keep that protected pick. So bottom 3 could fairly easily result in a wasted season. Not a great plan.

[blackjitsu]

Not dead last, but one of the worst 3 teams. If we trade Pascal for guys like Simon, and replace Fred with Cole Anthony then yeah that's a team that can be one of the worst 3 in the league.

Have you guys watched any of the prospects for next year's draft? It's not a good year. The year after is WAY better. WAAYYY better. There's a reason why Bronny was a 4 Star recruit and then became a 5 star recruit as a senior. He didn't get dramatically better. I thought that he was on the cusp of a 4 star/5 star recruit early, but not a top 10 guy. The players around him got exceedingly worse as certain guys graduated high school early.

There's no clear cut top player in next year's draft. Even G League Ignite has a pretty mid team next year. People knew about Scoot and Wemby 3, or 4 years ago. There's no one like that in next year's draft.

Go watch highlights from Nike Summit, McDonald's All American, FIBA under 18s and tell me who the Raps should be tanking to get?

I'll wait here for an answer. Unless 5-10 kids graduate from high school early (which isn't going to happen). Next year's draft is going to be mid.

The Raps should not in anyway, shape or form tank next season and miss out on the draft the next year, which is comparable to this year's draft.

Patience. Next season is NOT the season to tank. The year after? Yeah, if the team is still mid, they should tank. WAY deeper talent pool

[planetmars]

Replace Pascal with proven shooters and you think we'll be the worst team in the league. Wild.

Houston has a lot of proven shooters and were terrible. It's not just about shooting. You also need real talent.

You're wanting to replace Pascal with guys from Portland who had the 5th worst record in the league. Let's not pretend and say someone like Simons is going to create wins for you. Portland also had win now guys like Dame, Nurkic, Grant and Hart (for 50 games) with Simons, and they still sucked. They also sucked the year prior too.

So our best player is being downgraded and replaced by an inferior player and rookies. It's a sure fire way of being a bad team. Let's be real here. You make a trade like that to get worse in the short term, and better in the long term.

What's the starting line up?

Scoot, Simons, OG, Scottie and Poeltl? And some rookies off the bench including Cole Anthony and Dalano Banton?

That's not a great team. It might be in 2-3 years, but it won't be next year.

And it's not a type of team in my opinion that a guy like Sergio would want to coach. That's a lineup you give to a new up and coming coach.

[planetmars]

This is either exceedingly optimistic or pessimistic depending on your perspective. I think you are way off on this assessment. The bottom dwellers are very hard to catch.

And you have to be bottom 1 to ensure you keep that protected pick. So bottom 3 could fairly easily result in a wasted season. Not a great plan.

You and blackjitsu are misunderstanding my argument. It all started with MixxAOR suggesting that Sergio wouldn't come here to tank. Primer saying that we wouldn't tank since we traded the pick.

And my rebuttal saying that the pick is protected.. and we could definitely tank if we traded Pascal for draft picks and Anfernee Simons. And Fred for Cole Anthony in some made up S&T (where Orlando can just get him outright anyway).

I don't think they tank. I think they run it back.

But you don't need to be the worst team. The bottom 3 teams all have equal odds for the best pick, and at worst get the 5th pick. You don't have to be the worst team. You can be the 3rd worst team. And just like Portland you can have a mix of great talented players and still suck. It's about figuring out where you are in the standings and then doubling down if you are no where near the play-in by resting guys, or trading guys, etc.

Raptors can be bad, and don't have to rely on luck to get bad to keep their draft pick.. if that's the direction they wanted.

I'm not saying they will.. but these fantasy trades of moving Pascal for Scoot or Miller or a Thompson kid isn't going to make the team any good next year in my opinion. And again in my opinion, Sergio is not going to want to come and coach a team where the best players are on rookie scale contracts.

[G____Deane]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article...sident-and-gm/
Warriors' Bob Myers stepping down as team's president and GM after four NBA titles

"“This is tough, this is hard. I have so many different things, emotions that I’m still processing,” Myers said, fighting tears in making his announcement Tuesday. “But the bottom line is this job, the one I'm in, I would say this for any professional general manager or coach, requires complete engagement, complete effort, 1000%. If you can't do it, then you shouldn't do it. That's the answer to the question of why."

Just a hot take so relax but this doesn't sound like Masai to me any more, too many causes and distractions.

[DanH]

You and blackjitsu are misunderstanding my argument. It all started with MixxAOR suggesting that Sergio wouldn't come here to tank. Primer saying that we wouldn't tank since we traded the pick.

And my rebuttal saying that the pick is protected.. and we could definitely tank if we traded Pascal for draft picks and Anfernee Simons. And Fred for Cole Anthony in some made up S&T (where Orlando can just get him outright anyway).

I don't think they tank. I think they run it back.

But you don't need to be the worst team. The bottom 3 teams all have equal odds for the best pick, and at worst get the 5th pick. You don't have to be the worst team. You can be the 3rd worst team. And just like Portland you can have a mix of great talented players and still suck. It's about figuring out where you are in the standings and then doubling down if you are no where near the play-in by resting guys, or trading guys, etc.

Raptors can be bad, and don't have to rely on luck to get bad to keep their draft pick.. if that's the direction they wanted.

I'm not saying they will.. but these fantasy trades of moving Pascal for Scoot or Miller or a Thompson kid isn't going to make the team any good next year in my opinion. And again in my opinion, Sergio is not going to want to come and coach a team where the best players are on rookie scale contracts.

What? 4 teams win the lottery. They can be any team from 1-14. If you are slotted at 2, and the 4 teams that win the lottery are 3, 4, 5 and 6, which spot do you pick in?

[DanH]

The top 5 protection on the pick is not for a scenario where they tank. It's for a scenario where they reset like you are suggesting, end up with a 10th-ish slot in the lotto, and then get REALLY lucky and move up. Don't want to lose that pick in that case. But the plan is to lose that pick, because that case is a) very likely the worst they would place even with a major reset so long as they don't go full scorched earth, and b) very unlikely.