Everything 2018 Off Season

[golden]

The entire front page of reddit nba is tweets from players and media members saying how mean and dirty Toronto is

Masai allowed Casey and DeRozan to have carte blanche with the franchise and he made them fabulously wealthy and decorated. They both were allowed to have the team cater to their outdated styles of play and coaching.

All MU asked in return was for them to put up a decent fight in the playoffs. He gave them multiple chances and even a warning shot across the bow with the culture reset edict last off-season. They were both put on notice along with Lowry. If somehow Demar was assured he wouldn't be traded 2 weeks ago, then yes that was a dumb move by Masai or Webster. But otherwise, Masai made it clear that the goal is championship and getting completely humiliated in the playoffs was unacceptable.

If people think the franchise did Demar dirty, they're not looking at the last 3-4 years as a whole.

[white men can't jump]

I don't know actually .. I definitely see what you're saying, but I also think a big part of Lebron going to the Lakers was seeing how they treated Kobe in his later years (and how they continue to treat all of their past greats). The Lakers are notoriously loyal to their own, and I think players notice that, and respect it.

Kobe was an all-time great (and I"m not even the biggest Kobe fan). One of the top players at his position and through his era. Kobe almost asked out, and instead LA went out and got Pau (after Stern fucked them on the CP3 trade). So lets not pretend it was a constant fairy tale relationship. Kobe would have bolted if they didn't improve. The thing is, guys like Kobe (or Dirk for another example) actually are franchise players. DeMar is not.

[Shredder]

No one is talking about the endorsements that Kawhi could only get up here. Do you think Powell would get national tv ads in the states on any other team? Kawhi could get more than enough endorsements to cover the difference in the taxes. Not to mention he is making US dollars and living up here for the season.

Side note: If Lowry is truly hurt and wants a trade, do you think Minny would take him for Butler. Go all in for next year and then have a bunch of cap space if everyone bolts?

[white men can't jump]

Masai allowed Casey and DeRozan to have carte blanche with the franchise and he made them fabulously wealthy and decorated. They both were allowed to have the team cater to their outdated styles of play and coaching.

All MU asked in return was for them to put up a decent fight in the playoffs. He gave them multiple chances and even a warning shot across the bow with the culture reset edict last off-season. They were both put on notice along with Lowry. If somehow Demar was assured he wouldn't be traded 2 weeks ago, then yes that was a dumb move by Masai or Webster. But otherwise, Masai made it clear that the goal is championship and getting completely humiliated in the playoffs was unacceptable.

If people think the franchise did Demar dirty, they're not looking at the last 3-4 years as a whole.

I somehow don't really buy the narrative on this.

The reports pre-draft were that no one on our team was untouchable. They may have told DeMar that they are not trying to trade him in Vegas, but that's not the same as promising not to trade him at all. If an MVP-caliber player becomes available, anything can happen. I wouldn't be surprised if Masai tried to see about building a deal around Ibaka, JV or Lowry instead, but there's no reason for the Spurs to be as high on those guys, especially since no team is willing to give up much youth/future assets for Kawhi due to the high flight risk after this season.

[Other Scott]

I love Demar. I've called him the greatest Raptor ever earlier. I wish he got the opportunity to be THE career Raptor.

But you know, it was in his hands a bit. If Toronto makes the Finals, if Demar doesn't miss in Game 1 then proceed to play 3 awful games in later stages of the Cleveland series, maybe today is a little different.

An organization has to do their job. They have to make the best decisions for their teams. They can't afford to just give their players whatever they want no matter what they want, even if they deserve it, if there's better options. Demar is somewhere between the 15th - 25th best player in the league. He's never led a team to the Finals, he's arguably never even been the best player on his team (I think he was in 2017-18 for the record). No franchise can afford to make that player their untouchable centerpiece, give him whatever contract he wants, and make him untradeable. It's tough, but that's what the players signed up for with basketball. If you aren't a top 5 player, you're expendable. And that's the way it has to be. It sucks, I hate it. But it's how things have to go.

[Blacklash2k4]

I don't know actually .. I definitely see what you're saying, but I also think a big part of Lebron going to the Lakers was seeing how they treated Kobe in his later years (and how they continue to treat all of their past greats). The Lakers are notoriously loyal to their own, and I think players notice that, and respect it.

Are you sure it's not because they're a dynasty franchise that has won multiple rings in the past?

[KHD]

Masai allowed Casey and DeRozan to have carte blanche with the franchise and he made them fabulously wealthy and decorated. They both were allowed to have the team cater to their outdated styles of play and coaching.

All MU asked in return was for them to put up a decent fight in the playoffs. He gave them multiple chances and even a warning shot across the bow with the culture reset edict last off-season. They were both put on notice along with Lowry. If somehow Demar was assured he wouldn't be traded 2 weeks ago, then yes that was a dumb move by Masai or Webster. But otherwise, Masai made it clear that the goal is championship and getting completely humiliated in the playoffs was unacceptable.

If people think the franchise did Demar dirty, they're not looking at the last 3-4 years as a whole.

yeah, this is my stance.

Most other teams would not have enabled Demar the way we did. I bet Demar has earned $50M more than he would have in his career because we catered to him so explicitly and allowed him to play his style despite its inefficiency.

I also really don't buy the notion that Masai/Webster would tell him in absolutes that he wouldn't be traded given the rumors about everyone's availability and the words spoken at the end of season pressers by Masai.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Not sure what the DeMar slander is about. DeMar would've gotten paid a max on his last deal whether he got it from us or not. The Lakers were ready to sign him if you guys remember.

And we're not unique in that we allowed a non superstar to take a lot of shots. Most teams in the league are forced to do that.

He was loyal to this team and worked extremely hard while he was here. He was never good enough to be a #1 guy on a championship team because of his flaws but he tried his best to be that. No need to start throwing shade now that he's gone. He has every right to feel slighted now that he's been traded when he was seemingly informed that he wasn't going to be.

[Other Scott]

Not sure what the DeMar slander is about.

Derozan slander? This is a new concept to me.

[KeonClark]

Not sure what the DeMar slander is about. DeMar would've gotten paid a max on his last deal whether he got it from us or not. The Lakers were ready to sign him if you guys remember.

And we're not unique in that we allowed a non superstar to take a lot of shots. Most teams in the league are forced to do that.

He was loyal to this team and worked extremely hard while he was here. He was never good enough to be a #1 guy on a championship team because of his flaws but he tried his best to be that. No need to start throwing shade now that he's gone. He has every right to feel slighted now that he's been traded when he was seemingly informed that he wasn't going to be.

Who's slandering? And HE has every right to feel pissed off. Human nature. The rest of the peanut gallery (nba fans) can fuck off

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Who's slandering? And HE has every right to feel pissed off. Human nature. The rest of the peanut gallery (nba fans) can fuck off

The slander is people saying he wouldn't have gotten paid anywhere else or that he wouldn't have gotten so many shots anywhere else. The reality is he would have. Not sure why people are acting like the Raptors gifted him his whole career. The guy is a hard worker and earned what he got.

[Puffer]

After reading Twitter ever I've found human beings are literally retards. The men in black (or is it matrix) quote is so good

"A person is smart. People are very very dumb."

Was it Carlin who said, "Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that."

[golden]

Not sure what the DeMar slander is about. DeMar would've gotten paid a max on his last deal whether he got it from us or not. The Lakers were ready to sign him if you guys remember.

And we're not unique in that we allowed a non superstar to take a lot of shots. Most teams in the league are forced to do that.

He was loyal to this team and worked extremely hard while he was here. He was never good enough to be a #1 guy on a championship team because of his flaws but he tried his best to be that. No need to start throwing shade now that he's gone. He has every right to feel slighted now that he's been traded when he was seemingly informed that he wasn't going to be.

Nobody's slandering DeMar here, but apparently some people on Reddit are slandering Masai & Webster for trading him, which makes no sense. DeMar was treated way beyond fair here.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Nobody's slandering DeMar here, but apparently some people on Reddit are slandering Masai & Webster for trading him, which makes no sense. DeMar was treated way beyond fair here.

I mean if they told him that he wasn't getting traded then traded him then that's somewhat justified.

[Joey]

Are you sure it's not because they're a dynasty franchise that has won multiple rings in the past?

I didn't say that was exclusively the reason why he signed, so sure, no doubt that was part of the equation.

Anyway, I'm not really on either side of the fence here - it was a move that probably needed to happen, and nobody really knows what happened behind the scenes. So it is what it is.

And we have Kawhi Leonard ...