Hindsight is 20/20

[TrueTorontoFan]

Looking back on free agency are you happy that we didn't end up getting Wes Matthews?

[Miekenstien]

meh, carrolls knee still would have died. might have been better because maybe jj gets some more 4 time with wes at the 3. doesn't move the needle for me either way.

[planetmars]

I don't mind the Carroll acquisition despite him not playing any games. The knee thing was not expected. Everyone gets Planter F. My biggest concern was his age, but he was really good in Atlanta and he immediately filled a position of need.

I'd rather have DC over Wes simply because Wes was coming off an ACL tear, which is a tough injury to recover from. And I know Masai wanted both, but in order to really get both he'd have to trade someone like DD for cap space to be able to get him.. or at least do a S&T which again would require assets going back to Portland.

Since we can use hindsight then the worst move of the summer was drafting Wright. He became redundant as soon as CoJo became available. But if not Wright then who? Portis? I think Portis is overrated personally. And even if he was drafted he'd hardly get any minutes since Scola/2Pat would still get the bulk of the minutes.

[Scraptor]

^^planetmars I think you meant Achilles, but the point stands. Coming back from an Achilles injury is much harder than other types of injuries like ACL tears, at least in basketball.

The bigger question is what was the strategic goal of going after Wes Matthews? It is moments like this, or the Wright/Joseph thing, or various other small things that make me wonder what our larger plan is. Fortunately we should get some clarity this summer.

[planetmars]

^^planetmars I think you meant Achilles, but the point stands. Coming back from an Achilles injury is much harder than other types of injuries like ACL tears, at least in basketball.

The bigger question is what was the strategic goal of going after Wes Matthews? It is moments like this, or the Wright/Joseph thing, or various other small things that make me wonder what our larger plan is. Fortunately we should get some clarity this summer.

Yes, sorry meant achilles tendon tear.

[Miekenstien]

^^planetmars I think you meant Achilles, but the point stands. Coming back from an Achilles injury is much harder than other types of injuries like ACL tears, at least in basketball.

The bigger question is what was the strategic goal of going after Wes Matthews? It is moments like this, or the Wright/Joseph thing, or various other small things that make me wonder what our larger plan is. Fortunately we should get some clarity this summer.

i think that the plan was pretty straight forward and then joseph came on the market. the team masai and casey jumped at an asset that just wasn't available before. if they knew they were grabbing joseph in the summer than we pick portis. they had a chance to grab a big, defense first, mature pg and picked wright. a good pick at 20. if they know in a month they sign joseph then portis is number 3 on the pf chart and maybe getting some time, big maybe.

i disagree with portis being over rated as i don't understand where the rating comes from. a 6'11 pf who can shoot the 3 would be money beside jv. literally everything this team is wanting right now.

[TheWaterboy]

I'm actually not particularly disappointed with the pick-up of Wright, who projects to a rotational player, at least to me, at this point. He gives us an emergency back-up plan on a rookie-scale contract if Kyle opts out and signs elsewhere (not that that is likely at the moment), and should have some trade value if we decide to go that route.

I'm not sure if I can pinpoint any one thing we could have done last summer player-wise which would put us ahead of where we are now. Any upgrade at power forward over Scola would have likely meant we missed out on Joseph/Biyombo (assuming we still signed Carroll), and the fact that Powell is getting minutes after being drafted as a second round (regardless of how awesome Powell has been) certainly points to us needing Carroll or an equivalent at the 3 as much or more than at the 4, meaning that we would have needed to sign another 3 if we signed a PF but didn't sign Carroll. And none of this takes into account the necessary and very helpful culture change that came about from three major signings of defense-oriented players.

And right now, given that we have several people capable of playing multiple positions well (e.g. Joseph at the 1/2) we're three-deep at every position once Carroll comes back, which will allow us to go big or go small in the playoffs and be somewhat resilient when dealing with injuries.

The only real question mark I have going into the playoffs (aside from will we get healthy and stay healthy) is whether our coaching staff will be able to recognize the necessary adjustments and make them quickly enough in the playoffs. I am cautiously optimistic that our improved slate of assistants will help insure that we are good enough at recognizing them, but it's an open question as to whether Casey will actually make them.

[planetmars]

i think that the plan was pretty straight forward and then joseph came on the market. the team masai and casey jumped at an asset that just wasn't available before. if they knew they were grabbing joseph in the summer than we pick portis. they had a chance to grab a big, defense first, mature pg and picked wright. a good pick at 20. if they know in a month they sign joseph then portis is number 3 on the pf chart and maybe getting some time, big maybe.

i disagree with portis being over rated as i don't understand where the rating comes from. a 6'11 pf who can shoot the 3 would be money beside jv. literally everything this team is wanting right now.

Regarding the bold.. meh.. Portis can hit the three and can rebound which are nice attributes, but I'd be surprised if he ever got an opportunity to get any minutes as a Raptor. And I did remember reading something where Masai said that he was never interested in Portis. So it's probably all a moot point anyway.

[tonious35]

The only thing that is 20/20 this season was not grabbing Portis over Braces, but with 2Pat in contract for 2 more years, Casey was not going to give him more time and Scola was a guaranteed contributor despite the oldness. Getting JT off waivers and now needing him with no JV kinda balanced missing out on Portis.

Masai showed us either he can tell the future or he really puts calculated faith in patience, something that I lack myself

[OldSkoolCool]

Dont buy the Portis love

Doesnt strike me as a particularilly smart player...

[MACK11]

Regarding the bold.. meh.. Portis can hit the three and can rebound which are nice attributes, but I'd be surprised if he ever got an opportunity to get any minutes as a Raptor. And I did remember reading something where Masai said that he was never interested in Portis. So it's probably all a moot point anyway.

He wouldnt get minutes this year but could be a good piece in the future

[OldSkoolCool]

Really happy with the 20/20 hindsight except for Casey (but I knew he was shitty before we signed him so..)

Scola, who was a perfect 15 mpg bench PF signing coulda been great. Casey screwed that though.

Ross contract going to be a bargain

Carroll signing derailed by an injury but he is a solid two way player

Wright pick looking great just needs an opportunity. Wright will be better than Portis.

Storman Norman...

JV contract going to be beautiful.

Lowry contract...MVP calibre player at his cost

Bruno is an awesome prospect...and wouldnt take anyone over him at this point yet.

MU has been great so far

This summer is gonna be a make a break offseason for the team tho. We either treadmill by retaining Casey and DD or we gamble on Lowry/JV under a new coach

[92TillInfinity]

Really happy with the 20/20 hindsight except for Casey (but I knew he was shitty before we signed him so..)

Scola, who was a perfect 15 mpg bench PF signing coulda been great. Casey screwed that though.

Ross contract going to be a bargain

Carroll signing derailed by an injury but he is a solid two way player

Wright pick looking great just needs an opportunity. Wright will be better than Portis.

Storman Norman...

JV contract going to be beautiful.

Lowry contract...MVP calibre player at his cost

Bruno is an awesome prospect...and wouldnt take anyone over him at this point yet.

MU has been great so far

This summer is gonna be a make a break offseason for the team tho. We either treadmill by retaining Casey and DD or we gamble on Lowry/JV under a new coach

If treadmill means setting franchise win records, DD an allstar, and being 2nd in the East for the next 5 years, I'm cool with that.

[ogi]

Really happy with the 20/20 hindsight except for Casey (but I knew he was shitty before we signed him so..)

Scola, who was a perfect 15 mpg bench PF signing coulda been great. Casey screwed that though.

Ross contract going to be a bargain

Carroll signing derailed by an injury but he is a solid two way player

Wright pick looking great just needs an opportunity. Wright will be better than Portis.

Storman Norman...

JV contract going to be beautiful.

Lowry contract...MVP calibre player at his cost

Bruno is an awesome prospect...and wouldnt take anyone over him at this point yet.

MU has been great so far

This summer is gonna be a make a break offseason for the team tho. We either treadmill by retaining Casey and DD or we gamble on Lowry/JV under a new coach

Guess we're "treadmilling" then. Lmao

[Hotshot]

In hindsight in between their 5 championships in the last 17 years the San Antonio Spurs we're in fact treadmilling ( losing in the playoffs and even in the first round!) I guess The Spurs should have broke the Duncan- Ginobli - Parker tendem a long time ago.