Everything 2018 Off Season

[DogeLover1234]

I think a lot of you are being harsh on Demar reading the whole thing.

He WAS an extremely hard worker, there's never been any question of that. He constantly tried to improve every aspect of his game and was relentless in practicing. You guys are talking about effort on defense as if he didn't give his all in games, and I call bs on that. Maybe more of that effort went to the offensive side than it should have, but basketball players aren't endless reserves of energy to dedicate to both ends of the floor, those "hustle plays" look fancy but do have a cost in energy you can dedicate to other parts of the game. There's a reason Kyle Lowry has to be kept to 30-35 minutes per game or he's completely toast by the end of the year.

It's clear he's upset about being misled, and that's pretty much the extent of it:




Also,


Screw this. I want players to be honest and let me know how they really feel. If they're not going to do that or if we're going to encourage them just to speak in cliches than we shouldn't have them talk to the media at all.

To a certain degree I agree, you can't question what DD did or how hard he played for the Raptors. How much of an advance did he want on the trade? Seems silly to tell him before its done encase someone backs out. Do you think the Spurs told Danny Green he would get traded a week before the deal was done? I feel for the guy but thats a rotten excuse imo

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Trading Derozan is also a way to get out of his contract. If Kawhi leaves we can start a rebuild.

Nobody is questioning whether it's a good trade. The issue is that people seem to think DeRozan is in the wrong for being frustrated by it.

[MixxAOR]

To a certain degree I agree, you can't question what DD did or how hard he played for the Raptors. How much of an advance did he want on the trade? Seems silly to tell him before its done encase someone backs out. Do you think the Spurs told Danny Green he would get traded a week before the deal was done? I feel for the guy but thats a rotten excuse imo

Nah Green on his podcast said last summer when KD was a free agent Spurs told him that if they needed to make cap room they are going to look into trading him.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

To a certain degree I agree, you can't question what DD did or how hard he played for the Raptors. How much of an advance did he want on the trade? Seems silly to tell him before its done encase someone backs out. Do you think the Spurs told Danny Green he would get traded a week before the deal was done? I feel for the guy but thats a rotten excuse imo

I don't think he wanted a specific time period of an advance. He said that he was told that he wouldn't be getting traded, so he was blindsided by it. Seems like what he wanted was more honesty leading up to the deal taking place.

At that point it's Masai's word against DeMar's, so it's hard to know who to go with, but acting like DeMar's in the wrong for being upset is kind of out of line. It's expected though given how many people have been itching to get rid of the guy since like his 3rd season. Thank God when we finally did it we got a superstar in return (albeit a rental) and not Lance Stephenson, Avery Bradley or any of the other names I've seen Raptors fans suggest over the years.

[MixxAOR]

Report were coming out that no one is untouchable. Way before the trade

The Toronto Raptors are reportedly open for business.

Appearing on ESPN Tuesday night, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski (h/t DefPen Hoops' Rob Lopez) disclosed the Raptors won't be making anyone untouchable in trade talks this summer.

"One thing about Masai Ujiri: He has never been afraid to talk about his star players in trade talks," Wojnarowski said. "He's not going to tell you anybody's untouchable, and teams around the league know that. So they'll talk about almost anything with this roster."

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ed-untouchable

If Demar was honestly blindsided by this he needs a better agent

that was JUNE 5

[Other Scott]

Disagree. It sounds like he's more upset that he and Casey are being blamed for the repeated playoff flameouts (3 out of last 4 post-seasons ended in sweeps). I think that's where most of this is coming from. The need to protect his reputation as a player.

We saw the same instinctive lashing out by DeMarre Carroll last off-season. Their value is under attack and the reflex action is to protect it.

I think he's also upset about that, but I don't really blame him for being upset. Not in the sense that Masai is incorrect, but in the sense that it's natural to be upset when your boss says "you had your chances and didn't deliver so we're going in a different direction." I certainly would be, no matter how much of a point my boss had.

It also must be frustrating for him to basically not be given another chance to redeem himself. It's a very quick turnaround to go from "this is the year I finally deliver in the playoffs" to "nope sorry you're out of chances to do that."

I just don't see anything here that indicates any sort of lack of character in the slightest. It's a frustrated man voicing his frustrations, which in some way is what Demar has always been to some extent. He made his name in the league voicing out his struggles with depression, why would he act any different in voicing out his struggles with how his Raptors term ended.

[MACK11]

If he wanted to stay maybe he should've put in some effort on defense in the fucking playoffs instead of disappearing for the 30th time

Sent from my SM-G900W8 using Tapatalk

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Report were coming out that no one is untouchable. Way before the trade



https://bleacherreport.com/articles/...ed-untouchable

If Demar was honestly blindsided by this he needs a better agent

that was JUNE 5

DeMar said he was told by Masai he wouldn't be traded.

Idk but it seems like words directly out of the GM's mouth would be more reliable to a player than some report.

[MixxAOR]

DeMar said he was told by Masai he wouldn't be traded.

Idk but it seems like words directly out of the GM's mouth would be more reliable to a player than some report.

Masai told him no trade was imminent. I seriously doubt Masai told him you're untouchable.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Masai told him no trade was imminent. I seriously doubt Masai told him you're untouchable.

Where did I write that? Bold it and quote it to me please.

[MixxAOR]

DeMar said he was told by Masai he wouldn't be traded.

Idk but it seems like words directly out of the GM's mouth would be more reliable to a player than some report.

and it was reported by Woj. I think it's not some report

[MixxAOR]

DeMar said he was told by Masai he wouldn't be traded.

Idk but it seems like words directly out of the GM's mouth would be more reliable to a player than some report.

Ok so what does this mean then?

[Jangles]

Didn't DeMar himself say that the language Masai used was something to the effect of what they expected from DeMar going forward? That is hardly an assurance that DeMar is untouchable and not being traded.

Anyway, I have no problem with what Masai (except that their talk caused problems) did and what DeMar is doing / saying.

Hoping we somehow meet DeMar in the playoffs.

[G__Deane]

Quote G__Deane wrote: View Post
Reverse that and say DD walked as a FA and Masai does an ESPN interview saying DD had all these flaws and didn't give his all, wouldn't take his defense seriously and had told Masai that he was going to re-sign and now he feels betrayed..... how would Masai look? Not professional, I can tell you that.....

Masai DID have a press conference.

Missed the point, did Masai say any of that? What did Masai say?

Talked up DD as a person and a player, siad he gave the current cast years to get over the hump and couldn't see it happening to align with his goal of winning a championship and DeMar was the unfortunate cost of getting better. AND aplogized for any error in communication.

He stopped short of saying the eqivalent back at DD and taking any shots at his flaws as obvious justification for the trade. The closest he got was pointing out that if Kawhi was not injured last season, no was does DeMar get him here.

The time for continued petulance about the trade is over imo. You can still feel it; just don't do interviews about it that make both you and the team look bad.

PS I'll be among the first to give DD a standing O his forst game back.

[MixxAOR]

But a number of agents I’ve communicated with have described Ujiri as upfront and transparent as a matter of habit. And make no mistake: most communications between an executive and his players that relate to contracts or player movement take place through agents to avoid miscommunications and hard feelings that sensitive business discussions can sometimes bring about.

And those with clients who might be on the move that have been on the receiving end of texts from Ujiri relate the same story: messages that are on point, clear and honest about what range of possibilities might be, for example.

It only makes sense. An executive in Ujiri’s position can’t last if they get in the habit of making promises they can’t keep, so better to keep things open-ended and avoid making promises altogether.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/...cture-raptors/