Do we still have trust in Masai?

[A.I]

Masai been very good but also very fortunate thus far. Lets not forget he wanted to get rid of Lowry in his first season here and he almost did but the Knicks have bulked and the rest is history.

James Dolan is the Raptors franchise's MVP.

[Barolt]

Masai been very good but also very fortunate thus far. Lets not forget he wanted to get rid of Lowry in his first season here and he almost did but the Knicks have bulked and the rest is history.

He had reason to want to get rid of Lowry. In fact, that aborted trade is a huge part of why Lowry turned it around.

If Masai never tries to trade Lowry, maybe Lowry never figures it out.

[lewro]

He had reason to want to get rid of Lowry. In fact, that aborted trade is a huge part of why Lowry turned it around.

If Masai never tries to trade Lowry, maybe Lowry never figures it out.

That might be true. I think Lowry was always battling Conley, dragic and Calderon for his position. After gay was traded he played his way into leader of the team. That's huge for a type a and works bc demar is a b. To me, Lowry stepped up in part and returned bc he likes to run his own show.

[Barolt]

That might be true. I think Lowry was always battling Conley, dragic and Calderon for his position. After gay was traded he played his way into leader of the team. That's huge for a type a and works bc demar is a b. To me, Lowry stepped up in part and returned bc he likes to run his own show.

I think a big part of Lowry turning it around was the fact that Toronto had given up on him to make the trade to the Knicks.

[lewro]

I think a big part of Lowry turning it around was the fact that Toronto had given up on him to make the trade to the Knicks.

Yes, I understood the first time but I think there is a larger context in addition to your point.

[Miekenstien]

Yes, I understood the first time but I think there is a larger context in addition to your point.

Haha

Sent from my HUAWEI TAG-TL00 using Tapatalk

[SkywalkerAC]

More than ever.

[Carlg]

Yup, still trust Masai. In terms of this offseason/draft:

1) Poetl at #9.

In terms of assest management this seems like the right pick. Look at the guys everyone else was high one, guys like Skal and Deyonta. Obviously the rest of the league was not high on these guys at all judging by how far they fell so in terms of an assest both are way lower than Poetl. The pro-Sabonis guys have an argument but it seems like the majority was for Skal or Davis and apparently Masai knows better than us where the real value is in the eyes of league GMs(which are the eyes that matter).

2) Siakam at #27.

Looking at the draft results, things were all over the place! How many picks would be considered "reaches" or players "falling"? what like 50% of the 1st round picks? Obviously evaluation of these guys were all over the map. Thus making a judgement to not trust Masai over this pick seems silly. Siakam joins Bruno and Delon as wait and see moves of Masai.

3) re-signing Demar

again, going back to asset management, losing an all-star level player for nothing is crazy. We crucified BC for this very thing with Bosh and Bosh was an equally flawed player imho. Let's say we can resign Demar for 26 mil per. I think I heard next year the cap is 120 and 30% of that(max contract) is 36 mil(please numbers guys correct me if I am wrong). Now if Max next year is 36 mil, than I would say Demar at 26 is a fair deal. So keep an asset, even if its flawed and if a move is needed it seems like that contract won't be that hard to move.

4) Besides these things we have seen Masai sign Powell, resign JV, trade for Cojo, and sign BB which all seem to have been great moves. Jury is still out on Carroll and Ross signings but neither seem debilitating. On top of this the team has improved every year under his leadership. To lose trust in Masai at this point in time seems crazy. If Bruno, Poetl, Siakam, Delon, Carroll, Ross, Demar all prove to be subpar players and albatross contracts then we can talk.

[Puffer]

Personally, I think Masai's picks in this years draft will turn out to be a great ones.

You can't expect your team's picks to always be the best. But you hope that your team's picks average out better over a 3-4 year span. I can see both of this year's picks being rotation guys in 3 years, whether with the Raptors or some other team.

How many guys fell out of the lottery this year? 4/5? I think that tells us how much to trust the prognosticators. It's not simply a question of trusting Masai, but of trusting the team he has assembled. The team has improved every year since he got to Toronto and the players have pretty much all shown growth (Ross?). Internal improvement has been cumulative and additional pieces have been significant contributors ( waiting on Carroll) so I have every expectation of continued growth. At the very least small or zero regression.

In a super competitive environment like the NBA, to hold your own or improve every year is outstanding. It has been mentioned before that Masai has patience and he is positioning the Raptors so that when a outstanding opportunity comes along, he will be able to make a move. I didn't see any "outstanding" opportunities available to the Raptors in this draft.

I'm still onboard the MU train.

[JawsGT]

I definitely still trust MU. His restraint in terms of making a trade just for the sake of making a trade has been admirable IMO. He is patient, and obviously isn't making a move unless there is value to be had. He isn't gonna give up too much for marginal gains. He is methodical, trusts the development of younger players, and will not sacrifice the future for risky short term improvement. The team has improved significantly with him at the helm and is asset rich. The offseason should be interesting. There will be pressure to make a move to get a PF and to resign Biz. What is he willing to sacrifice in order to make these moves? The Biz situation reminds me a little of the Hedo scenario some years back, where a strong playoff run led to a massive overpay. What is MU willing to pay Biz and what would he give up to get him back? If Biz is in that $15M per territory, I don't expect MU will attempt to resign him as it would be an overpay and require the loss of assets. Gonna be interesting to see how he handles this offseason, when we look close to taking the next step.

[Mapko]

I have had misgivings about Masai's overarching strategy for a while now, but it's too early to say that he has broken my trust. If we end this summer like we did last year (overpaying another role player, no contending-type core piece added), I will be pretty disappointed.

I'm not sure why last summer was disappointing.
Were those fancy signings (big name FAs)? No.
What was the goal? Improve compared to previous season (either short term or long term).
Take the core (Demar, KL...) subtract few pieces, add few pieces & surprise -56 wins & game 6 of ECF.
I truly hope he screws up like that again.

[sanyo]

Biz was a big fill in when JV went down... if they cant replace him and JV gets hurt, it will be a big drop in talent and a few more potential L's for us.

[Scraptor]

Trading Lowry away was a red flag? At the time it was 1000:1 he would come back in the summer, and only that miraculous run to the playoffs changed things. Trading away Lowry and tanking was the right move. We just got lucky that when it didn't happen, something clicked and we won a lot of games.

Trading Lowry was the red flag that this was an accidental build and not a strategic one. Luck can only take you so far.

I advocated for the tank and building around JV that whole year.

[McRealistic]

It will be tough to make it to ECF without upgrade on PF this year !!!

[OldSkoolCool]

Finally have an answer:

Draft day: Yes
FA: Yes
Coaching: 50/50
Balls: None
Over loyal to the point of mediocrity
Analytics: Yes