"The Raptors Are Good, but They Might Have to Blow It Up to Be Great" - The Ringer.

[Fully]

Full Article: "The Raptors Are Good, but They Might Have to Blow It Up to Be Great" - The Ringer.

Timing a team’s rise is the hardest thing an NBA front office can do. But if there were ever a time to trade a superstar for a high lottery pick, it’s now. The top 10 in 2017 is loaded, and the 2018 draft is stacked up top, too, with the likes of Michael Porter Jr., Luka Doncic, and DeAndre Ayton likely to be part of the pool. As LeBron ages, there will be a new era of stars who dominate the league. The teams led by those players could be the alphas everyone else is chasing.

What’s transpired in Toronto over the past four years has been exhilarating for the city and the franchise. If the Raptors go to the Finals, expect no major roster changes. But the odds are not in their favor. LeBron is a roadblock, and a final boss awaits in the West. If the Raptors suffer another early playoff exit, Ujiri’s past suggests he will reshape the team’s future.

The writer plays around with the possibility of the Raptors re-signing Lowry this off-season, in the hopes of trading him in the future and retooling with a younger core for the Post-LBJ NBA. He also brings up the option of moving DeRozan for similar reasons, and moving them both as well gets brought up.

There's plenty of small details about the team in the article that I feel the writer is misguided on, but that's usually the case when a general NBA writer tries to tackle the Raptors.

I'm sure there will be some passionate thoughts on the article though, and wanted to post it for discussion.

[Maury]

It's a fair point but as constructed we can win a title if everything goes right. I know that seems crazy but we matchup with any team in the league, and all we need is Kyle and demar to play like superstars in the playoffs with consistent output from guys like serge, norm and JV. This isnt guaranteed and things can go wrong, but I think we have a real shot with this core for maybe 2-3 years and it's worth it to ride it out IMO. Build respectability with this franchise. As well, I think keeping demar for his whole career would be a smart move as it will improve our reputation in the league.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[KeonClark]

It's a fair point but as constructed we can win a title if everything goes right. I know that seems crazy but we matchup with any team in the league, and all we need is Kyle and demar to play like superstars in the playoffs with consistent output from guys like serge, norm and JV. This isnt guaranteed and things can go wrong, but I think we have a real shot with this core for maybe 2-3 years and it's worth it to ride it out IMO. Build respectability with this franchise. As well, I think keeping demar for his whole career would be a smart move as it will improve our reputation in the league.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The one thing that scares me about this whole "2 to 3 yest window" thing..it's gonna be nearly impossible to maintain a group as good as this group should be when lowry returns. We all know we're going to be in salary cap hell after this season, and at least 2, likely 3, possibly 4 of joseph, carroll, valanciunas, Patterson and tucker won't be back at the expense of lowry and ibakas new (massive) deals.

This year is should be exciting though so I'm not a big fan of fretting about later worries. But combine those with future deals for powell, wright, etc..it will be very hard to maintain. Better hope Ujiri can find more draft steals and keep killing teams in trade.

[lewro]

It's a fair point but as constructed we can win a title if everything goes right. I know that seems crazy but we matchup with any team in the league, and all we need is Kyle and demar to play like superstars in the playoffs with consistent output from guys like serge, norm and JV. This isnt guaranteed and things can go wrong, but I think we have a real shot with this core for maybe 2-3 years and it's worth it to ride it out IMO. Build respectability with this franchise. As well, I think keeping demar for his whole career would be a smart move as it will improve our reputation in the league.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think we have to factor in our history and culture building as well. We haven't been able to retain or attract FAs in the past and we never made it past the 1st Rd in 20 yrs, until last yr. A few respectable playoff runs, retaining our top 10 rookie pick and trade assets in FA and the growth of our fan base is huge. If we lose in the 1st then I think masai will largely keep the core but fire Casey as a first measure. The same result next yr, then I think he blows it up.
As the OP points out, the writer has a general perspective on franchise building but we're not an established team. We're the youngest alongside the Grizz and they've had more success. Even the magic have been more successful in their 6 yrs of seniority to us. We're better than the wolves tho!

[Machine]

The one thing that scares me about this whole "2 to 3 yest window" thing..it's gonna be nearly impossible to maintain a group as good as this group should be when lowry returns. We all know we're going to be in salary cap hell after this season, and at least 2, likely 3, possibly 4 of joseph, carroll, valanciunas, Patterson and tucker won't be back at the expense of lowry and ibakas new (massive) deals.

This year is should be exciting though so I'm not a big fan of fretting about later worries. But combine those with future deals for powell, wright, etc..it will be very hard to maintain. Better hope Ujiri can find more draft steals and keep killing teams in trade.

Id be fine with letting go of Joseph in the offseason and having Wright and Fred as 2nd and 3rd string PGs. Also would be ok with letting JV go for a cheaper centre that fits better with this team in order to keep the most important pieces of this team together long term.

[ebrian]

It's a fair point but as constructed we can win a title if everything goes right. I know that seems crazy but we matchup with any team in the league, and all we need is Kyle and demar to play like superstars in the playoffs with consistent output from guys like serge, norm and JV. This isnt guaranteed and things can go wrong, but I think we have a real shot with this core for maybe 2-3 years and it's worth it to ride it out IMO.

To is me there is a far higher chance that a team will get superstar performances from their superstar players, than a team getting superstar performances with no superstars on their roster. Thus, as much as you would hope that Kyle and DeMar play like superstars in the playoffs, it's unlikely. I've seen players play out of their minds before, but here we are talking about it happening in 2-3 7-game series in a row.

[ogi]

The one thing that scares me about this whole "2 to 3 yest window" thing..it's gonna be nearly impossible to maintain a group as good as this group should be when lowry returns. We all know we're going to be in salary cap hell after this season, and at least 2, likely 3, possibly 4 of joseph, carroll, valanciunas, Patterson and tucker won't be back at the expense of lowry and ibakas new (massive) deals.

This year is should be exciting though so I'm not a big fan of fretting about later worries. But combine those with future deals for powell, wright, etc..it will be very hard to maintain. Better hope Ujiri can find more draft steals and keep killing teams in trade.

What's nice about the way this team is built is that there's still a good chance we get better from just internal growth.

[TrueTorontoFan]

I think if this group performs you reward them by rolling with it for another year or two. I don't think we need to even consider trading lowry for another year or two. I don't really like the idea of doing that anyways because I don't think we need to take a step back. A step back would mean a step back for 4-5 years potentially... It isn't like we will be getting into the lottery. The market for point guards isn't the best so trading Lowry won't net the return we want.

[KeonClark]

Id be fine with letting go of Joseph in the offseason and having Wright and Fred as 2nd and 3rd string PGs. Also would be ok with letting JV go for a cheaper centre that fits better with this team in order to keep the most important pieces of this team together long term.

Sure, I'm confident in the next man up coming in though the pipelines. But say theoretically it's bye bye cojo carroll and jv with little in the way of nba rotation guys coming back. We're kidding ourselves if we think theres no drop off suffered

[DanH]

Sure, I'm confident in the next man up coming in though the pipelines. But say theoretically it's bye bye cojo carroll and jv with little in the way of nba rotation guys coming back. We're kidding ourselves if we think theres no drop off suffered

JV in particular offers a look for this team no one else on the roster can.

I'd have no issue shedding CoJo and Carroll for nothing if we keep Wright, Van Vleet, Powell and Tucker.

[Machine]

Sure, I'm confident in the next man up coming in though the pipelines. But say theoretically it's bye bye cojo carroll and jv with little in the way of nba rotation guys coming back. We're kidding ourselves if we think theres no drop off suffered

I really believe the PG situation would be fine. We would definitely need a decent 3 and D wing with size replacement for Carroll for sure which would probably be difficult to find. But i do think we could find a cheap center to replace JV who may fit better. Even Poeltl has been looking decent enough.

[Machine]

JV in particular offers a look for this team no one else on the roster can.

I'd have no issue shedding CoJo and Carroll for nothing if we keep Wright, Van Vleet, Powell and Tucker.

Yeah I hear ya about JV there. Especially useful in playoffs. My only concern is he seems a bit expensive for the way Casey uses him.

[KeonClark]

JV in particular offers a look for this team no one else on the roster can.

I'd have no issue shedding CoJo and Carroll for nothing if we keep Wright, Van Vleet, Powell and Tucker.

I do agree wholeheartedly, but I also wonder now if the poeltl draft pick was made with this offseason in mind. Did masai anticipate adding a 3rd banana (ibaka) and cutting our 17 million 7 footer?

[The Great One]

Is this about tanking again??

[KeonClark]

Is this about tanking again??

Nope, it's simply devils advocate on an approach if we're serious about winning titles. The writer of the article had an interesting response in the comments to someone who said "this is stupid, so everyone who isn't cavs or warriors should blow it up"

Nope. This was addressed. The Raptors could lock themselves into an aging roster core. That’s the issue for them. Spurs have a transcendent level player in Kawhi. Rockets have one in Harden. The Wizards two stars are young. The Bucks are young. This isn’t unique to the Raptors but they are the best case study in today’s league.

I'm not saying I agree with it, but we truly are in a unique nba position. Tough to say if we're "between a rock and a hard place", or if we're in a great, enviable position. Or are we somehow both at the same time?