Everything 2018 Off Season

[The Great One]

Will be interesting to see how Boston fares against these Cavs. We gave the Cavs so much confidence that if they play anywhere close to how they played us.. Boston is not winning a game either.

They'd fare a lot better because they don't quit, unlike the Raptors who absolutely QUIT after Game 1. The Raptors should be called out for their performances in Games 2, 3 and 4. The Taronna media is too soft on these bums though.

[planetmars]

They'd fare a lot better because they don't quit, unlike the Raptors who absolutely QUIT after Game 1. The Raptors should be called out for their performances in Games 2, 3 and 4. The Taronna media is too soft on these bums though.

I will give them credit for Game 3 in crawling back to tie it until Lebron hit that game winner. DeMar quit in that one.. but the team rose up. But generally I agree. The "leaders" are way too soft. Boston has a talent gap to Cleveland. They play hard, but if the Cavs play anything like they did against Toronto.. Boston is going to be in a lot of trouble.

I mean Milwaukee took them to 7 games. And the Bucks suck.

[The Great One]

I will give them credit for Game 3 in crawling back to tie it until Lebron hit that game winner. DeMar quit in that one.. but the team rose up. But generally I agree. The "leaders" are way too soft. Boston has a talent gap to Cleveland. They play hard, but if the Cavs play anything like they did against Toronto.. Boston is going to be in a lot of trouble.

I mean Milwaukee took them to 7 games. And the Bucks suck.

The Cavs made it look so easy because the Raptors did not play any D. And oh, did i mention how the Raptors quit after Game 1?

The Celtics on the other hand are the best defensive team in the NBA. They play hard every possession. Plus, they have a great coach. Prolly the best in the NBA.

I wouldn't be surprise if the Celtics beat the Cavs.

[Nilanka]

So we're the George Costanza of teams who lose to Lebron?

[nubreed000]

Will be interesting to see how Boston fares against these Cavs. We gave the Cavs so much confidence that if they play anywhere close to how they played us.. Boston is not winning a game either.

I won't be surprised if the entire supporting cast goes back into the shadows now that they took care of the Raptors.

[MixxAOR]

Sources: Raptors are leaning towards making a coaching change https://t.co/LK5KijLljM pic.twitter.com/BEHKn2nsNX

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) May 8, 2018

[rocwell]

Casey is flawed, but he's a good coach. I'm sure he'll find a job in the NBA again.

[A.I]

Sources: Raptors are leaning towards making a coaching change https://t.co/LK5KijLljM pic.twitter.com/BEHKn2nsNX

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) May 8, 2018

Please let it happen.

[Nilanka]

Casey is flawed, but he's a good coach. I'm sure he'll find a job in the NBA again.

If made available, he'll easily be one of the top candidates for every opening out there.

[magoon]

Uh what?
Serge averaged 12.6/6.3/1.3 during the regular season and 8.7/5.9/1.3 in the playoffs, where he cratered so hard he was benched for game 3.

He has the 36th highest salary in the NBA next year and there are maybe half a dozen teams with capspace this summer, and most of them are tanking.

https://basketball.realgm.com/analys...l-30-NBA-Teams

We had to spend 2 picks to get rid of Carroll at $30 million remaining. We almost certainly aren't going to receive anything of value for Serge at $45 million remaining.

I mean I hope I'm wrong and someone will jump at giving us something for a 12/6 big man making $22 million next year, but in this cap environment it seems unlikely at best.

You're right about the numbers in part because I was stating his per-36 numbers rather than his per-game numbers, but a lot of teams take per-36 seriously for near-star-level players so the per-36s aren't irrelevant like they might be for a lot of bench guys. And I already said "he had a bad playoffs." Comparing him to Carroll is silly because Carroll was a shell of his former self; Ibaka is still pretty good, he just hasn't played where he was two years ago.

Look, here is the thing: a lot of teams are very, very unhappy right now, and we're all still in shock and unhappy but at the same time that's making a lot of people forget that there would be a LOT of teams happy to take what Toronto managed this season because what we did was better than what a lot of other teams managed.

You want to talk about how nobody in the league respects Toronto right now? What do you think they're saying about Portland, who got swept in the first round? Speaking of which, New Orleans spent a lot of assets to trade for Boogie Cousins and then discovered that Anthony Davis plays better without him and they'll be looking for something to potentially replace Boogie. Minnesota wanted to make its run this year and yeah, they had injuries, but they had everybody healthy for the playoffs and only managed a gentleman's sweep against Houston. Washington is a basket case where nobody likes anybody and it's obvious the core doesn't work together. Miami doesn't have even a near-star player, they've got a team composed of fourth starters on a good team plus the corpse of Dwyane Wade. OKC swung for the fences and were absolutely embarrassed in every way possible, will probably lose Paul George this year and will be stuck with Russ, the rusted hulk of Carmelo and a bunch of roleplayers. Milwaukee has an actual star player, a top-ten player in the league, and they haven't won a playoff series since they got him and even missed playoffs one year, and they're getting desperate to prove to Giannis that he should stay.

And all of this is before we get to teams that didn't even make playoffs: Dallas is going to be hunting for high-calibre players, for example. Charlotte and Detroit desperately need to retool or tank and it's doubtful either can really tank effectively so they'll probably try to compete. The Lakers will try to sign both George and LeBron and if they only get one they'll want a big name to go alongside him. Sacramento will probably be interested in doing something stupid because they always are. And you can never count out the Knicks doing something silly, because they're the Knicks.

When you tell me Ibaka is untradeable unless you toss in picks or prospects to make him palatable, all that tells me is that you don't really pay attention to NBA trades, because nobody is untradeable. Look at last year:

- The Hawks couldn't play Dwight Howard in the 2017 playoffs and then traded his enormous salary to Charlotte for Miles Plumlee and Marco Bellinelli.
- Portland traded Allen Crabbe to Brooklyn so they could waive Andrew Nicholson.
- Philly traded away Okafor and Stauskas AND a pick to get Trevor Booker, who they ultimately let go anyway.
- The Melo trade.
- The Blake trade.
- The CP3 trade.
- Everything Cleveland did at the deadline.

And that was just 2017. After all of that, when you say "Ibaka can't be traded unless we give away tons of candy" I just think you're smoking something, because there are just too many teams for whom Ibaka would represent at LEAST a moderate upgrade if not a major one and too many teams who are desperate to make a change, any change, because they Need To Win and so on and so forth. Here, here are a few trade ideas off the top of my head that aren't terrible and aren't unreasonable:

- Toronto sends Ibaka and Norman Powell to Charlotte for Nic Batum and Charlotte's 2018 first-round pick (or maybe 2019 depending on which draft Masai likes better for a late-lottery first rounder; maybe more picks, depends on how much Charlotte is willing to spend)
- Toronto sends Ibaka and Alfonso McKinnie to Portland for Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless
- Toronto sends Ibaka and Malachi Richardson to New Orleans for Solomon Hill and New Orleans' 2019 first
- Toronto sends Ibaka and McKinnie to Sacramento for Zach Randolph and Garrett Temple
- Toronto sends Ibaka to Dallas for Wes Matthews (or Dwight Powell) (or both, depending on what Dallas wants to do with its money)

Ibaka is completely moveable and he's a decent asset in a league where tons of teams have bad contracts. It's very possible to move him for a contract that doesn't mess with the remaining Lowry/DeRozan window.

[Other Scott]

Okay magoon, you're right that some of those are possible but that's because for the most part you're getting crap for crap.

Let's go through them.

Toronto sends Ibaka and Norman Powell to Charlotte for Nic Batum and Charlotte's 2018 first-round pick (or maybe 2019 depending on which draft Masai likes better for a late-lottery first rounder; maybe more picks, depends on how much Charlotte is willing to spend)
Charlotte may do it for their 2018 first rounder (top 3 protected obviously) because it's a low lottery pick. They get off money a year sooner and get a potentially good young player who might be rehabilitated in exchange for their pick. Whether the Raptors want a low lottery first rounder in exchange for 27M extra on their books in 2021 is anyone's guess. I would say probably not because that's when the Raptors are banking on a ton of cap space in a potentially still cramped market. Ibaka and Batum are approximately the same amount of useful, with Batum's slipping defense and poor shooting.

- Toronto sends Ibaka and Alfonso McKinnie to Portland for Al-Farouq Aminu and Maurice Harkless
No. These are Portland's most important role players. You're looking at more like Evan Turner back.

- Toronto sends Ibaka and Malachi Richardson to New Orleans for Solomon Hill and New Orleans' 2019 first
The Solomon Hill contract might be worse than the Ibaka contract. It's less money but Hill is not useful, where Ibaka is at least somewhat. That said, the only way New Orleans would even consider this is if they offload Boogie for a bunch of assets and needs a better big man to support Davis than the mess they have right now. This is an okay trade for Toronto if they're trying to duck under the tax, if not I probably wouldn't bother.

- Toronto sends Ibaka and McKinnie to Sacramento for Zach Randolph and Garrett Temple
I don't see Sacremento doing this at all. Zach is cheaper, comes off the books sooner, and the Kings are nowhere close to being competitive where taking on tons of money for a 4th or 5th starter makes any sense.

- Toronto sends Ibaka to Dallas for Wes Matthews (or Dwight Powell) (or both, depending on what Dallas wants to do with its money)
Wes Matthew is an expiring contract. Why would Dallas spend the money that they're going to have come off their books on a bad contract when they can sign a good contract instead. Dwight is not enough of a downgrade over Ibaka to justify the extra money spent IMO.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

Firing Casey won't solve anything. We need to stop trying to compete with this roster and rebuild. If Masai doesn't do that I'm calling for his head. We do not have the firepower to win a title.

[golden]

Interesting comments by Lowry on what is needed to address in the off-season. His main requirement was to add/develop more toughness, which I completely agree with. You saw how Yak and Pascal were completely thrown off their game by the physicality of the playoffs. JV, on the other, thrived. Ibaka was shockingly disappointing.

Toughest Raptors (pound for pound): FVV, Lowry, OG & JV.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

"Toughness" isn't going to solve shit. We aren't talented enough, period. Rebuild.

[A.I]

29 teams might as well tank then. No one is winning a title except the Warriors until they break up.