Everything 2018 Off Season

[G__Deane]

NOW what's Masai gonna do?
Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey has been named the National Basketball Coaches Association coach of the year for the 2017-18 NBA season.

Not to be confused with the NBA’s coach of the year award, this award is voted on by Casey’s coaching peers and is separate from the official award, which is decided by selected members of the media.

So his peers voted Casey in and zero for Brad Stevens....makes zero sense. I'd bet the media gets a few votes for Stevens

[S.R.]

NOW what's Masai gonna do?
Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey has been named the National Basketball Coaches Association coach of the year for the 2017-18 NBA season.

It doesn't change anything. There are nice guys and overall success up and down this franchise. At some point that doesn't matter anymore if you're just not good enough.

Besides, a Casey COY is 50+% the EOY Masai should have gotten at some point here for taking Colangelo's 34 win non-playoff team and turning it into a 59 win first seed. That transition has been more Masai than Casey, there's no doubt about that.

[Scraptor]

Legit question, DS.

The Sixers started tanking the same year Masai took over the Raptors. They won one more playoff game than us this year, have the 10th and 26th pick in the draft (we have none), and have $57 million less salary committed than we do next season ($70.6 vs $127.6).

They also have two (arguably three) players with a higher ceiling than anyone on our roster.

I get that people don't like losing. I get that it's a business and MLSE won't like the short-term pain. I also get that the league has changed the rules for tanking (in our favour imo, because we won't be bad enough to hit rock bottom). And I know the Sixers are the best case scenario while the Suns have done a piss-poor job.

But isn't it possible to think that there can be something of merit in the approach?

People calling pro-tankers stupid and they should shut up, and making long-winded satire and smug jokes.... We've had five years of our current approach and outside of this board we are the joke.

Doesn't it warrant at least a little open-mindedness? I've been a Raptor fan since 1995. I was super-anti-tanking until the Bosh years with BC showed that building around a flawed core was an almost impossible task.

IMO there's a 90% chance we won't tank, but it's not because it's a stupid idea.

[slaw]

The Sixers started tanking the same year Masai took over the Raptors. They won one more playoff game than us this year, have the 10th and 26th pick in the draft (we have none), and have $57 million less salary committed than we do next season ($70.6 vs $127.6).

Now do the previous 5 years.....

[G__Deane]

Other than the truly horrible teams, I wonder if fans of all the middle of the road are begging for tanking since there no way to beat the Cavs and GSW, never mind the Rockets.

Should the Hornets, Pistons and Wizards, KIngs, Lakers, Clips and Nuggets all join Toronto in tanking? Ridiculous....

[Demographic Shift]

Legit question, DS.

The Sixers started tanking the same year Masai took over the Raptors. They won one more playoff game than us this year, have the 10th and 26th pick in the draft (we have none), and have $57 million less salary committed than we do next season ($70.6 vs $127.6).

They also have two (arguably three) players with a higher ceiling than anyone on our roster.

I get that people don't like losing. I get that it's a business and MLSE won't like the short-term pain. I also get that the league has changed the rules for tanking (in our favour imo, because we won't be bad enough to hit rock bottom). And I know the Sixers are the best case scenario while the Suns have done a piss-poor job.

But isn't it possible to think that there can be something of merit in the approach?

People calling pro-tankers stupid and they should shut up, and making long-winded satire and smug jokes.... We've had five years of our current approach and outside of this board we are the joke.

Doesn't it warrant at least a little open-mindedness? I've been a Raptor fan since 1995. I was super-anti-tanking until the Bosh years with BC showed that building around a flawed core was an almost impossible task.

IMO there's a 90% chance we won't tank, but it's not because it's a stupid idea.

Well.. I never said stupid ... however if you inferred that the answer to any complex question for the raptors is blow it up and tank may not be the only avenue and a bit of emotional rushed judgement in light of a really bad loss in the semi finals ....your correct....

My opinion is that Ujiri, as bad as it looks, should move on from the Casey regime. The Raptors died again in the third matchup with the Cavs. Whats worse is .. they appeared to quit. You have to ask why that is. Is it the character of the players or are the players reflecting that no matter what the plan is from the coach is....they are going down. I think a bit of both.

So Casey moves along and so does one of DD or KL. The self pity in Demars exit interview and the cavalier (bad pun ) attitude of Lowry says their best before dates here has been reached.

Its perfectly normal to sell off your cash cow assets for high salvage value as the organization moves into the next business cycle.

Does tearing it all down to the studs for a lesser return make sense. To some yes. To some no. It all depends on how much of your money is in the game. On this board.. none of it is. At MLSE .. all of it is.... Don't hold your breath for the nuclear option.

As for Boston and Philly..
Shit happens man. No one has a lock on what happens in the future.
Players health are subject to change (Irving - his knee .. third time under the knife. Embiid - he of the bad back and bad feet .. will the current run of good health last ? Hayward - yes Paul George came back... hope he does to but nothing is guaranteed after that gruesome injury..)..
Cap situations change. Boston is now capped out and they still have to decide on Smart. Philly is going to have to save some of that room for Simmons and do they bring back a Reddick or Belly or Illyasova as they added a lot to that teams run this year. Like closet space.. cap room gets used up in a fucking hurry.
The skys the limit player ceilings and future potential move from year to year. One year you have the next MVP and the next that guy is lunch bag letdown. In Philly will Fultz find a jump shot ? Has Embiid with a bad back and bad feet emphatically erased any health issues. After watching the Chowdas shut down Simmons to a single point in a playoff bed shitting worse than DD ever displayed a harbinger of the future or a one time thing. No one knows.

A change in management and a bit of profit taking on Lowry or Demar is to me is a far more preferable option than being the going the tank route. You could be the Phoenix Suns for 8 years or with some luck the Hinkies for 6.

Apologies to my good friend Nilanka for making him read more than a 128 character twitter post to develop and present a point of view.

[LJ2]

Hmmm. What does the RR board read into this?

Casey will be stepping down...obviously

[MixxAOR]

Other than the truly horrible teams, I wonder if fans of all the middle of the road are begging for tanking since there no way to beat the Cavs and GSW, never mind the Rockets.

Should the Hornets, Pistons and Wizards, KIngs, Lakers, Clips and Nuggets all join Toronto in tanking? Ridiculous....

Hornets, Kings, Clips, Pistons need to tank.
Lakers, Nuggets need to keep developing their young guys and add to them
Wizards need to get rid of the trash that surround Wall, Beal and Porter.

[LJ2]

My fear is that Masai tells everyone "we were that close, won 59 games and it's only LeBron that stopped us getting to the finals"
Casey will tell everyone "we're only a tweak or two away, need to play more physical" and let Kyle and DeMar completely off the hook.

Oh, and totally ignore the contributions of JV or Casey's own bizarre matchups, lineup blunders, non-plays after time-outs, sitting the hot hand, bringing in the stone cold ones (BeBe) and failure to hold his stars accountable for defensive blunders until it was too late.

Casey needs to go. Stackhouse built OG, Wright, Poeltl, Bebe and Siakam etc. The entire bench mob. Let him continue their growth trajectory.

How much time did OG spend with 905?

[MixxAOR]

How much time did OG spend with 905?

Zero

[LJ2]

Zero

Well then Stack should definitely be promoted to head coach of everything.

[G__Deane]

How much time did OG spend with 905?

None

[rocwell]

Casey to speak first. Stream anyone?

[Scraptor]

Casey to speak first. Stream anyone?

http://www.iheartradio.ca/tsn/tsn-to...play=1.1748194

Rod and Leo just eviscerating us in the intro. "Gutted like a fish" "squashed like a bug" etc

[Nilanka]

As per Blake Murphy, Raps working out Kostas Antetokounmpo today.

The Giannis sweepstakes have begun!