Everything 2017 Off-Season

[blackjitsu]

Colour me shocked!

The Magic have fired GM Rob Hennigan according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.

Stunned, totally stunned! To think, a week ago someone was defending him when I called him a clown.

Stunned!

[Cody73]

This means the Magic could very well focus in & decide to commit to the rebuild.

If so, I think they have a core in place (Payton, Ross, Gordon & Vucevic) & only need a SF alongside bench players if Vogel can get them on the right path like he seems to have done after the Ibaka deal. For those who claim it was stupid to trade Oladipo away.... would you rather have Oladipo or Ross?

[Majesiu]

This means the Magic could very well focus in & decide to commit to the rebuild.

If so, I think they have a core in place (Payton, Ross, Gordon & Vucevic) & only need a SF alongside bench players if Vogel can get them on the right path like he seems to have done after the Ibaka deal. For those who claim it was stupid to trade Oladipo away.... would you rather have Oladipo or Ross?

Only thing going for Ross is better contract running for two more years, while Oladipo one is twice as much for next 4 years ($21M vs $10.5M). If we compare both of them while on Orlando they shoot similar percentage from 3 (about .340). Ross benefited a lot from looks provided by our guards, Dipo also had an uptick in efficiency while playing with Westbrook (and 3 more guys that doesn't provide a lot of spacing). Ross is bigger but that didn't make him better defender than Victor. Oladipo also can create off the dribble, so while his contract is less than ideal (it's not abysmal though) i'd rather have more talented and better guy on the team.

Also trade was 11th pick + Ilyasova + Oladipo for Serge, return was Ross + 24-26th pick so these trades were even worse than straight up swa, even if we account that Sabonis was underwhelming and Ilyasova was used as salary filler in 2 more trades after, but right now he plays some minutes for ATL against WAS, so he represents at least some value .

[lewro]

11th pick ++ and Ross + 24-26th (pending)

[Deems]

Where Do We Go From Here?

Well...Another season in the books and another disappointing start, perhaps even the finish, to the postseason. Through the doom and gloom to the high points we definitely can't say it has been a boring ride to this point. From the rise of the backcourt duo, to the sweep of the Wizards; From two bloody, seven game series wins, to the inevitable downfall to the champions. These past 4 years have been the most successful stretch this franchise has ever seen, and to say as a Toronto Raptors fan you are not proud of it, is utterly blasphemous. We got to witness what it takes to be a successful team in the NBA; The blood, sweat and tears that shape up a winning culture. The NBA also got to witness the crazed, perhaps even delusional, Raptors fan's.

Now we find ourselves in a 2-1 series deficit against a team that is putting up the blood, sweat and tears to build their own franchise. The more optimistic fans will say, 'hey, we've been here before, we can win this!'; but even the most optimistic of all probably has asked themselves, 'where do we go from here?'. Game 3 was a sobering realization of sorts. It got me questioning, even if we win this series, do we have what it takes to win a championship? It also got me thinking how much luck was a factor in our successful post season run last year. We were one Frank Vogel quarter away from possibly having 3 straight 1st round exits; we were one 3 pointer away in Game 2 from possibly being down 3-0 to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Like myself, I assume most of us here are lifetime fans of this team. We've emulated Vince Carter in our driveways. We've also plummeted the stock of Primo Pasta. More so than not, we've seen tumultuous years that we choose not to remember(for a good reason). So perhaps when we started winning, our love for this team blinded us from the possibility that this team is ill suited for a deep playoff run. It blinded us from the fact that Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan are not superstars. Perhaps Paul Pierce was right all along.

Through this sobering realization, perhaps not all is lost. Looking at our team objectively, we have bright young pieces in the form of players such as Delon Wright, Norman Powell and Jakob Poetl. We have a Finals bound D-League team led by a promising Jerry Stackhouse; But the cold truth still remains, we do not have the superstar that can take us all the way. The big question also remains, where do we go from here? We could choose to ride this ship til it burns to the ground by keeping this core together and be the Clippers of the east, or we can burn it down ourselves and start fresh. It all depends how you see it.

Winning is fun, addictive, but the crash utterly hurts. Personally I want this team to be a champion, and unfortunately we have to take the dark road back to the basement in order for that to happen. The question I pose to you is, which road would you take? The yellow brick road of a fun team to watch, or the dark winding road into the unknown, with the hopes of finding a championship contender?

[S.R.]

Where do we go from here? Some of us need to:

1. Go to the doctor and ask for a prescription for mood stabilizers.
2. Go home and wait for game 4.

[MixxAOR]

I'll say blow it up. In almost rvery playoff series (except Brooklyn and arguably Heat) best player was in opposing team. Wall/Beal, PG, Giannis, LBJ. Its pretty clear that we dont have enough talent to become a champion. Some of it on Casey but players are not good enough

[KeonClark]

We go to the Bradley center with every intention of tieing the series and going back to toronto.

[Deems]

My whole point is even if we win the series, y'all truly think we are championship contenders?

[slaw]

Can we not save the existential questions for the off season? The Raps are in trouble but the series isn't over yet.

[KeonClark]

My whole point is even if we win the series, y'all truly think we are championship contenders?

Didn't think we were championship contenders before the playoffs. But yeah what slaw said, offseason talk is for the loooong offseason. We've got a game 4 to worry about, I wouldn't have it any other way. There's still about 18 teams that would trade their current spot with our current spot

[Deems]

Didn't think we were championship contenders before the playoffs. But yeah what slaw said, offseason talk is for the loooong offseason. We've got a game 4 to worry about, I wouldn't have it any other way. There's still about 18 teams that would trade their current spot with our current spot

Well as I stated it's all how you view it. I strive for a championship maybe to a fault, but at least if I saw a FIGHT in these guy's I wouldn't have wrote this. There has been nothing to see all these 3 games, no lack of urgency, fight and confidence.

[KeonClark]

Well as I stated it's all how you view it. I strive for a championship maybe to a fault, but at least if I saw a FIGHT in these guy's I wouldn't have wrote this. There has been nothing to see all these 3 games, no lack of urgency, fight and confidence.

Don't disagree. But the alternative of packing it in early and having conversations saved for June and July is unappealing. Might as well hang on to the thread we're clutching

[JamesNaismith]

[Zing79]

I'm now in the corner that it's as simple as a new coaching staff and let them deal with it.

When this core group plays with a high assist rate they are absolutely deadly. See stretches of game 2. If they play like that for the full 48, that game was never close. And yesterday's game has the Raps punishing the Bucks for being so aggressive.

Instead they constantly revert to playing ISO ball. And that's become easily defended by this point.

Either coaches can't implement a better offensive scheme, or the coaches can't get player buy-in on it, and just give up. Both are on the staff to do. And should result in termination for failing to do so.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk