2015 Raptors Offseason - Everything rumors, musings and rumblings

[Uncle_Si]

Where and how do we get a legit starting PF?

My hope is Utah shits the bed early, is out of the playoff run and accepts Ross and 2 1st round picks for Favors.

[DanH]

Favors would be amazing.

Also, if we strike out on Durant, maybe we can be the team that finally lets Horford play PF full time like he wants.

[Uncle_Si]

Favors would be amazing.

Also, if we strike out on Durant, maybe we can be the team that finally lets Horford play PF full time like he wants.

Hot diggitty damn. I like where your heads at.

[The Great One]

Would Horford or Favors really make this team that much better? maybe good enough to get past the 1st round. But still not a championship team.

We need a Kevin Durant type of talent. A legit franchise player. The NBA is a superstars league, we're not winning anything without one.

[Hotshot]

Would Horford or Favors really make this team that much better? maybe good enough to get past the 1st round. But still not a championship team.

No but increasing the overall talent is a step in the right direction. As we have seen with our current free agent's signings, the more you win the more attractive you are going to be as a destination for top free agent talent. Therefore if we can get Horford or Favors, you do it!

We need a Kevin Durant type of talent. A legit franchise player. The NBA is a superstars league, we're not winning anything without one.

Well Superstars are hard to come by, there are only a handful out there so that means the majority of NBA teams are just suppose to give up?! New Orleans and Sacramento are two teams with legit star players, yet they aren't expected to win much. Alot could happen in an NBA season and sure enough once in a while a team like Detroit with the right players, can sneak by and win it all.

[DogeLover1234]

Would Horford or Favors really make this team that much better? maybe good enough to get past the 1st round. But still not a championship team.

We need a Kevin Durant type of talent. A legit franchise player. The NBA is a superstars league, we're not winning anything without one.

While I agree we need a superstar to have the best chance to win, I think our best option right now is to try to make incremental improvements, and continue developing a winning culture. We have shown that we can draft talented players, who might have been overlooked by other teams and with a high pick set to come in from NY we should only get better talent. I believe that by setting up a priority on development by getting the d league team, along with vets like Horford, Carroll, Scola to teach the young guys how to succeed we are more likely to develop a star player than we are waiting for mid level lottery guys to become stars on their own. I think there is a certain combination of raw talent and development that is needed for most star players, unless you get a guy like AD/KD/Lebron. I don't believe that Butler or Leonard for example would have had their success on say the Hornets, instead you get MKG.

Don't forget, we are still in great shape to trade for a young star if one comes available, and we have cap space in 2017 for those stars. Besides, a team with Horford, a better JV and peak Lowry could surprise imo.

[S.R.]

From Zach Lowe's "35 Crazy Predictions for the 2015/16 NBA Season":

"5. Toronto Finishes Closer to No. 8 Than No. 2

All the projections say this is crazy, and if Skinny Kyle Lowry lights it up all season, this prediction will go down in flames. But something doesn’t smell right. This team feels rickety. Maybe it’s the continued rumblings about Casey’s job status and his relationship with Lowry — still a prickly sort. It could be the absence of Amir Johnson, who filled every gap and propped up an otherwise awful defense last season. The Drakes have remodeled that defense, but they allowed 106.6 points per 100 possessions last season, equivalent to a bottom-five mark, when Patrick Patterson and Jonas Valanciunas shared the floor.

Maybe it’s DeMar DeRozan’s looming free agency, or that Masai Ujiri hasn’t put his imprint on the team beyond the DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph signings. If they hover around .500 too long, something might crack. In that scenario, almost no Toronto trade would surprise me."

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/35...16-nba-season/

[LJ2]

The Raps are a vet team now. The talent level may still not be good enough to compete against the top teams, but they should be able to consistently beat the young and talentless teams in the east. I see them finishing in the 3 to 6 range in the East.

[Snooch]

The Raps are a vet team now. The talent level may still not be good enough to compete against the top teams, but they should be able to consistently beat the young and talentless teams in the east. I see them finishing in the 3 to 6 range in the East.

Sixth woyld put them closer to 8th and second.

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[Just Is]

Sixth woyld put them closer to 8th and second.

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You could be Third and still have a win total closer to Eighth than Second.

[psrs1]

From Zach Lowe's "35 Crazy Predictions for the 2015/16 NBA Season":

"5. Toronto Finishes Closer to No. 8 Than No. 2

All the projections say this is crazy, and if Skinny Kyle Lowry lights it up all season, this prediction will go down in flames. But something doesn’t smell right. This team feels rickety. Maybe it’s the continued rumblings about Casey’s job status and his relationship with Lowry — still a prickly sort. It could be the absence of Amir Johnson, who filled every gap and propped up an otherwise awful defense last season. The Drakes have remodeled that defense, but they allowed 106.6 points per 100 possessions last season, equivalent to a bottom-five mark, when Patrick Patterson and Jonas Valanciunas shared the floor.

Maybe it’s DeMar DeRozan’s looming free agency, or that Masai Ujiri hasn’t put his imprint on the team beyond the DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph signings. If they hover around .500 too long, something might crack. In that scenario, almost no Toronto trade would surprise me."

http://grantland.com/the-triangle/35...16-nba-season/

Hey a slow start that leads us being mired in 6-8 range may not be a bad thing if it leads to the firing of DC.

[LJ2]

Sixth woyld put them closer to 8th and second.

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Wasn't saying the article was incorrect, just providing my own projections for where I think the Raps would finish.

[Primer]

Would Horford or Favors really make this team that much better? maybe good enough to get past the 1st round. But still not a championship team.

We need a Kevin Durant type of talent. A legit franchise player. The NBA is a superstars league, we're not winning anything without one.

Yes, they would make the team a lot better. Going from a backup quality player (PP or Scola) to an All Star quality player is pretty huge. Horford would instantly be the best player on the team. Favors could get there this season.

There are two, maybe 3 KD talents in the NBA (Lebron, KD, Davis). This season showed you can win with a bunch of really good talent like GS. As long as the team is getting more talented and not blowing future opportunities I'm happy with the direction.

[The Great One]

Yes, they would make the team a lot better. Going from a backup quality player (PP or Scola) to an All Star quality player is pretty huge. Horford would instantly be the best player on the team. Favors could get there this season.

There are two, maybe 3 KD talents in the NBA (Lebron, KD, Davis). This season showed you can win with a bunch of really good talent like GS. As long as the team is getting more talented and not blowing future opportunities I'm happy with the direction.

Disagree.

Horford or Favors would definitely make the team better. But would adding one of those guys make this team a championship contender? the answer is no.

As for the Warriors, i wouldn't call them a team with a 'bunch of real good talent'.

Steph Curry is a TRUE franchise player. To me he's in the LeBron, KD, Davis level.

Klay Thompson is a much better player than any player on this Raps team. He's the best 2 way SG in the NBA,

So like i said, the NBA is a superstars league. You're not going to win anything w/out one. The Warriors have one of the best player in the NBA in Curry.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

Yes, they would make the team a lot better. Going from a backup quality player (PP or Scola) to an All Star quality player is pretty huge. Horford would instantly be the best player on the team. Favors could get there this season.

There are two, maybe 3 KD talents in the NBA (Lebron, KD, Davis). This season showed you can win with a bunch of really good talent like GS. As long as the team is getting more talented and not blowing future opportunities I'm happy with the direction.

That good talent also has to play together as a team, where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Under Casey, the Raptors have too often looked like 5 unique parts haphazardly thrown onto the court together, where the lack of chemistry and team-oriented game-planning has made them look worse than the individual talent would seem to suggest. There's far too much ISO and too much reliance on players with "scorer" role cards, rather than playing together to get the best, most efficient shots for the good of the team.