Grading Masai So Far

[Scraptor]

What if we make it to the eastern conference finals and get swept by the CAVS?

So long as we beat any one of Chicago, Atlanta, or Miami in getting there, I would consider that an unqualified success. Those teams and the Cavs are the top 4 Eastern teams in my books.

Being one of the NBA's Final Four would be sufficient ammo for us to pitch the big name free agents and actually have a hope of landing one. That would give Masai a ton of goodwill to do whatever he wants as far as I'm concerned.

That said, I'd place the odds of this happening at less than 10%.

[rightsideup]

frick the east is balanced the knicks beat the hawks I totally agree with scraptor if we beat one of the next three best beside the cavs in the east we are cooking with gas a solid free agent and a draft pick that pans out and we are fine.




the cavs are one lebron injury away from being beatable as well. I enjoy watching Irving but I would not bet my savings on whether he does not get hurt as well given his history of injuries

[rightsideup]

1. Drafting
2. Free Agency
3. Trades
4. His personnel (I.e. Coaches, Scouts, Trainors, Player Development)
5. Overall Team Culture and Identity

Drafting - C minus
Free Agency - B minus
Trades - B plus
Personnel - B
Culture - B

great thread
draft C
FREE AGENTS B carroll, luis , joesph excellent even lou williams was a good one year rental although he made the d bad
trades B PLUS the gay trade keeps giving
personal B
Culture B plus I watch open gym he emphasis family values and supporting your teamates

very good person is Masai started at the bottom and built himself up amazing how he gives back to africa

[Snooch]

What if we make it to the eastern conference finals and get swept by the CAVS?

we wont make it that far.

Be surprised if we get out of the first round.

[LJ2]

I have one fundamental concern. The Raptors have 5 young guys - Bennett, Cobolo, Bebe, Powell and Wright. None of which Casey will play for more than a minute in a blow out. Next year they have 2 firsts and a 2nd. That will bring the number of young guys to 8. Now you are only allowed to have 3 contract players on the 905 roster at a time. That means 5 will have to be on the Raps roster. That only leaves 7 players that Casey would consider playing.

I believe Masai understands the problem and drafted two 4 year college players last year. Still Casey has no time for them. If Casey is back next year then all these guys should be traded for someone Casey will play. It should be an interesting off season.

Just speculating here, maybe it's far reached but....the Spurs work so well because you can essentially bring in anyone onto that roster and make them fit in, seemingly, seamlesly. I think the biggest reason for that is because the main cogs in that rotation have the system down so well that a new player just has to focus on his rather smaller role and doesn't have too much to "chew on". It's one of the reasons I think the role players seem to fit in so quickly, but for example someone like Aldridge who is being groomed to be a "main cog" is struggling a bit. He plays a much more important and bigger role, so more to adjust to or "chew on".

Casey is playing his starters heavy minutes and wants this core of main cogs to gel, but once everyone has the system down so well that it's just reaction and nothing to think about then perhaps he will start to introduce the smaller role players more? At least this is what I hope. One of the keys to the Spurs' success is that they can keep their main cogs fresh while the team plays at a high level by subbing in role players frequently.

I don't claim this to be the reason why Casey plays his starters such heavy minutes, but here's to hoping there is some rest for them and some minutes for the role players coming sooner than later.

[The_Warlord]

Just speculating here, maybe it's far reached but....the Spurs work so well because you can essentially bring in anyone onto that roster and make them fit in, seemingly, seamlesly. I think the biggest reason for that is because the main cogs in that rotation have the system down so well that a new player just has to focus on his rather smaller role and doesn't have too much to "chew on". It's one of the reasons I think the role players seem to fit in so quickly, but for example someone like Aldridge who is being groomed to be a "main cog" is struggling a bit. He plays a much more important and bigger role, so more to adjust to or "chew on".

Casey is playing his starters heavy minutes and wants this core of main cogs to gel, but once everyone has the system down so well that it's just reaction and nothing to think about then perhaps he will start to introduce the smaller role players more? At least this is what I hope. One of the keys to the Spurs' success is that they can keep their main cogs fresh while the team plays at a high level by subbing in role players frequently.

I don't claim this to be the reason why Casey plays his starters such heavy minutes, but here's to hoping there is some rest for them and some minutes for the role players coming sooner than later.

Glass half full POV: Casey on some old school level knows what he's doing and we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Masai certainly has. This team has shown excellent execution at times this season and for whatever reason plays to its opponent even beating the Spurs and 'moral victories' against the Warriors. Is the inconsistency on the coach?

Glass half empty POV: Casey is a terrible coach and only has a job so Masai has a scapegoat in the event of another play-off flame out. This core has been together for several years and the offence often looks like a YMCA run playing together. It's a talented roster but not used correctly.

I wonder how often Masai flips between these two viewpoints?

[LJ2]

Glass half full POV: Casey on some old school level knows what he's doing and we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Masai certainly has. This team has shown excellent execution at times this season and for whatever reason plays to its opponent even beating the Spurs and 'moral victories' against the Warriors. Is the inconsistency on the coach?

Glass half empty POV: Casey is a terrible coach and only has a job so Masai has a scapegoat in the event of another play-off flame out. This core has been together for several years and the offence often looks like a YMCA run playing together. It's a talented roster but not used correctly.

I wonder how often Masai flips between these two viewpoints?

That's tough to say, but I like where the team and organization is heading. Being consistently in the top half of the Eastern Conf. playoff seeding says we have something to work with, and that maybe a move or two gets us into contendership. Of course the East is the weaker conf., but our record against western conf. teams has been pretty good the last couple years I think, and this year looks the same.

I have a hard time believing Casey is a terrible coach and never buy into things I read on this forum unless it's something I see myself on the court. Also have a hard time MU is would sacrafice the good of the team to keep Casey as a scapegoat, if that is what he is doing.

[Mess]

Glass half full POV: Casey on some old school level knows what he's doing and we should give him the benefit of the doubt. Masai certainly has. This team has shown excellent execution at times this season and for whatever reason plays to its opponent even beating the Spurs and 'moral victories' against the Warriors. Is the inconsistency on the coach?

Glass half empty POV: Casey is a terrible coach and only has a job so Masai has a scapegoat in the event of another play-off flame out. This core has been together for several years and the offence often looks like a YMCA run playing together. It's a talented roster but not used correctly.

I wonder how often Masai flips between these two viewpoints?

Never?

I choose to believe that Masai has a better handle on the coach and players than anyone on this forum.

[Axel]

Never?

I choose to believe that Masai has a better handle on the coach and players than anyone on this forum.

Even Masai can make mistakes.

[Barolt]

Even Masai can make mistakes.

This. Some people seem to have trouble with the idea that there's space between 'Masai is really, really good'(which I believe) and 'Masai is infallible'.

[Mess]

I just meant that he's not changing his mind on Casey and/or the players every week or after every game - ie. flipping between those viewpoints.

[3inthekeon]

Even Masai can make mistakes.

This true, with a caveat.

GM's make mistakes with a hell of a lot more information than we have. If GM's are wrong , say 10-20% of the time, with the wealth of information they have at their disposal, how often are we wrong? We're a hell of a lot more self-assured in our beliefs than we should be.

[Scraptor]

BC brought a name and pedigree to Toronto and did a number of good things to make the organization better than it was under Babcock and MU has built off that to make the organization as whole far better off today than it was under BC.

I can't speak for others but there is a qualitative difference between the BC and MU eras that, at least to me, seems quite obvious. Personally, I never agreed with nor liked BC's approach to the team whereas I appreciate what MU has done so far. Not to re-litigate things but BC had a plan when he came here to make Toronto into Phoenix-North but, for whatever reason, he abandoned that plan after year 2 and embarked upon a confused, desperate and frenetic endeavour that always seemed more about wishful thinking than an actual logical, sensible plan. With MU, despite the setbacks, I get the sense he is committed to a long term vision with a clear mission statement and that gives me confidence. It might not work but I still get the sense he knows what he is doing. Opinions vary.....

This is where we disagree. What exactly is Masai's long-term vision?

Why draft an NBA-ready point guard and sign a young backup too? Why commit to a coach who won't play your young assets? Why spend $25 million on two role players if we need to hunt elephants?

None of it really fits together strategically for me. But then maybe Masai has something up his sleeve.

[Axel]

This true, with a caveat.

GM's make mistakes with a hell of a lot more information than we have. If GM's are wrong , say 10-20% of the time, with the wealth of information they have at their disposal, how often are we wrong? We're a hell of a lot more self-assured in our beliefs than we should be.

In this case though, Masai could be wrong in a fundamental belief system way (loyalty), and no amount of information could change that possibly. He seems like a very loyal guy, perhaps to a fault.

We are given limited information, so we can only make best guesses and assumptions on many areas. Things like trade opportunities are pretty much impossible for us really speak with any authority. Draft picks are a little bit better because we are privy to a lot of information, even if not nearly all. The one area that we can speak with a fair bit of authority is what we see on the court; schemes, rotations, adjustments, etc. That makes the coaches job the easiest to criticize (perhaps after the players) since it is one we best understand.

Full knowledge will never happen, but the very premise of this being a fan forum on the Internet, means we don't need to premise everything with "I think..." or "In my opinion..." because unless Masai or Casey or the like is logging in here, everyone is starting with guess work and assumptions, so coming across as self-assured just means fewer words to type.

[distorsun]

BC brought a name and pedigree to Toronto and did a number of good things to make the organization better than it was under Babcock and MU has built off that to make the organization as whole far better off today than it was under BC.

I can't speak for others but there is a qualitative difference between the BC and MU eras that, at least to me, seems quite obvious. Personally, I never agreed with nor liked BC's approach to the team whereas I appreciate what MU has done so far. Not to re-litigate things but BC had a plan when he came here to make Toronto into Phoenix-North but, for whatever reason, he abandoned that plan after year 2 and embarked upon a confused, desperate and frenetic endeavour that always seemed more about wishful thinking than an actual logical, sensible plan. With MU, despite the setbacks, I get the sense he is committed to a long term vision with a clear mission statement and that gives me confidence. It might not work but I still get the sense he knows what he is doing. Opinions vary.....

''I get the sense he is committed to a long term vision with a clear mission statement and that gives me confidence''
Please elaborate. What do you think his vision IS?