Everything 2018 Off Season

[white men can't jump]

So many questions.. hard to get a read on things especially after the way the draft went for all teams. What's the market like post-Kawhi/Lebron moves? Who's looking for talent? Is DeMar the right type of talent? Is Masai even moving him? What is Masai looking for in return, etc, etc.

Given all the unknowns and the way the draft went.. my gut would say that the 2.5 headed dragon is back (Ibaka is just a half a dragon head, not a whole one) and I'll be leaning towards a 75/25 split on that...

But with that said, I still think there are a lot of pseudo stars that might be changing teams this year. Washington might have a plan to break up Beal/Wall after another first round exit. Portland is capped up and lost pretty convincingly to a pretty mediocre team. Looks like there are problems in Minny with both Wiggins and KAT. Charlotte is looking at becoming a dumpster fire. San Antonio may have to pivot if Kawhi leaves so LMA might become available. Lakers may become desperate if Kawhi stays in SA and Lebron goes to Houston or something. Orlando has to do something about their center problem and need a PG. Does Memphis want to still deal Parsons? What does OKC do if George is gone? How does Cleveland rebuild without Lebron? What do they do to try and keep Lebron?

So I'm changing my probability to 60/40 that we do nothing with the big three.

Are we still counting Ibaka as part of the "big 3" of our team? Because I wouldn't. It was a stretch even at the start of last year, and by the end I don't know if I'd put him in our top 5, nevermind big 3.

[KeonClark]

Are we still counting Ibaka as part of the "big 3" of our team? Because I wouldn't. It was a stretch even at the start of last year, and by the end I don't know if I'd put him in our top 5, nevermind big 3.

JV is forsure the better player at the respective stages of the 2 men's careers. If ibaka doesn't bounce back, then siakam will likely pass him too

[Barolt]

JV is forsure the better player at the respective stages of the 2 men's careers. If ibaka doesn't bounce back, then siakam will likely pass him too

By impact stats last year, the big 3 was Lowry, Valanciunas and VanVleet.

[MixxAOR]

I don't even think GM can make a "safe" move. Every move has a risk factor.

[white men can't jump]

By impact stats last year, the big 3 was Lowry, Valanciunas and VanVleet.

The only way you consider Ibaka part of the big 3 is if you go by salary.

Lowry, DeMar, JV, and Freddy were all way more valuable. Wright, OG, Siakam and Poeltl were a lot more reliable. Ibaka would have good games, but was way too inconsistent, and on his bad nights he would be a massive burden. On a lot of his good nights he played like one of your top 3-4 players. On a lot of his bad nights he looked like he may not belong in an NBA rotation anymore.

[Rudy Bargnani]

At the end of the day. Handing out large contracts to role players repeatedly gets you nowhere and can bite you in the ass. FVV isn't getting us anywhere closer to a championship.

1) a contract hasn’t been handed out to FVV yet
2) by most account he will sign for max the full mle. That is not a large contract.
3). Please be specific: would you let FVV walk for nothing and not match a MLE or less contract?

[planetmars]

Are we still counting Ibaka as part of the "big 3" of our team? Because I wouldn't. It was a stretch even at the start of last year, and by the end I don't know if I'd put him in our top 5, nevermind big 3.

Yeah I agree.. was just responding to another poster who mentioned Ibaka. I'm assuming he was implying three highest paid guys not the three most important guys.

[Hotshot]

Sources: The Golden State Warriors are waiving forward Chris Boucher, who signed a two-way NBA deal after the 2017 NBA draft. Boucher will be an unrestricted free agent.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 22, 2018

He is playing well right now for team Canada, get er' done Masai before Triano gets in his ear.

[Quirk]

JV, Lowry, Wright, OG, Siakam are players they don't want to move unless it's for Kawhi. DeRozan is unlikely to bring back any player that is better or cheaper. Ibaka is untradeable without a major sweatner. FVV is a free agent.

[Puffer]

...DeRozan is unlikely to bring back any player that is better or cheaper....

Precisely. Odds are that DeRozan brings you back less than he provides. And that is your big piece. Here's a question. Can Nurse coach the team into a better performance than they provided last season? In all the talk of trades I see not much attention paid to internal development (player and coachwise). Casey definitely lost the team games last year, in the regular season and more importantly in the playoffs. I don't believe the team as constructed was going to win the finals. Not a chance in my estimation. But they had a great chance to beat Cleveland. They should have beat Cleveland. Nurse has Summer League, the pre-season and 82 games to make something more out of this team. Leaving aside the improvement of the players during the off-season, I believe Nurse improves their defense and offense.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

He is making the most out of what he has available. He has made a few mistakes: Signing Carroll ( I don't fully blame him for this as Carroll got injured and was never the same), trading for Ibaka and signing Bruno (a mistake that really has no effect on the team).

As I said before, I think the next few seasons will determine Masai's worth as a GM. He rode along with the current core of the last several years making small changes, drafting the players he wants, as the team continued to improve and make the Playoffs. This was the year the Raptors peaked with the current core. Who knows, maybe they will be better with Nurse as the coach, but I don't expect to see any more significant improvements. They were the favourites in the Cavs series, were the #1 seed, expected to potentially make the Finals, and they got stomped. Derozan, Lowry and Ibaka will all be free agents soon and based on all of the reports that no one is untouchable, Derozan was reportedly shopped last off-season, I think the core will change significantly over the next few seasons. It won't happen overnight like some people here want.

So his two biggest moves were both mistakes?

Is that not somewhat of a cause for concern?

[Shaolin Fantastic]

1) a contract hasn’t been handed out to FVV yet
2) by most account he will sign for max the full mle. That is not a large contract.
3). Please be specific: would you let FVV walk for nothing and not match a MLE or less contract?

Yes. Although what I would do with this team is totally different from what Masai is going to do. If it were up to me none of Lowry, DeMar, JV, Ibaka or FVV (unless he takes a really cheap deal) would be on the team next year. I think we need to rebuild. I'd hand the keys to Wright since it's a contract year and see what he can do. If he doesn't prove he's any good as a starter then that lets me know exactly what he's worth in the summer of 2019 as an RFA. I'd sign reclamation projects or D-League guys to fill out the roster and then gun for last place in the league to try and get a high pick and a superstar for the next 2-3 years.

I might be forced to keep Ibaka for a bit because his value is far exceeded by his contract, but he's not nearly good enough to prevent a tank anyway. Lowry and DeMar have value and I think you can get assets for them without taking back bad salaries. Ditto for JV who's a starting level center on barely starter level money.

Edit: Yeah if the goal is to just try to win ~55 games again and get smoked by Boston/Philly/LeBron then sure re-signing FVV is the right move I suppose. He was our 4th most important player last year. I just do not agree with that fucking goal at all.

[saints91]

So his two biggest moves were both mistakes?

Is that not somewhat of a cause for concern?

I wouldn’t say Trading for Ibaka was a major mistake. We were in need of a next level PF and it was believed league wide that Ibaka was a step up from Patternson(who was one of my favourites). We’ll see how Nick Nurse uses him.

Bruno was a bad pick but he’s also drafted Delon, Poetlt, Siakam, OG, Norm (2nd round).

So his mistakes IMO are the Bruno, resigning Serg to the big extension and Norms extension.

Keep in mind Toronto has had difficulty retaining players in the past though.

So he’s not perfect....

RC and Pop have had their misses too, Rudy Gay, Gasol’s contract, Kyle Anderson wasn’t a hit in the draft.

Morey... well good he is another make a ton of trades and see if it works kind a guy, and they haven’t nailed the draft.

Ange... well he’s a golden boy with all the assists he got from the nets and got on a bunch of his picks.

[Demographic Shift]

So his two biggest moves were both mistakes?

Is that not somewhat of a cause for concern?

So....you didnt like Casey ...
You don't think much of Ujiri..
You don’t like the players....
You don’t care for anyone’s opinions on this forum save for your own..

Why are you so invested in this team,it’s players and fans, and in this forum if it’s all so pathetic ?

[golden]

Precisely. Odds are that DeRozan brings you back less than he provides. And that is your big piece. Here's a question. Can Nurse coach the team into a better performance than they provided last season? In all the talk of trades I see not much attention paid to internal development (player and coachwise). Casey definitely lost the team games last year, in the regular season and more importantly in the playoffs. I don't believe the team as constructed was going to win the finals. Not a chance in my estimation. But they had a great chance to beat Cleveland. They should have beat Cleveland. Nurse has Summer League, the pre-season and 82 games to make something more out of this team. Leaving aside the improvement of the players during the off-season, I believe Nurse improves their defense and offense.

It’s counterintuitive, but the best time for the Raps to move big pieces is always during the regular season, when our stars look like studs and the team is rolling. And that’s when other teams are panicking and scrambling, just to make the playoffs. GMs have short term memories and can always talk themselves into doing something desperate to save their jobs. Mid-season, when hope springs eternal, is when Masai needs to strike.