Everything 2018 Off Season

[makochin]

First off this was the most disappointing season that I've experienced in the last 15 years or so of following the Raptors. The higher the expectation the harder the fall.

However I don't think we should make drastic changes to the roster. For the most part I like how our culture change has transformed our team. Mental hurdles aside I don't think anyone can argue that our team played a different style of basketball this year. We can't just ignore that completely just because we lost to the same team.

I think we are in the right direction in terms of what a good team should have. Like many people said it's important to have a system rather than just good players. Look at Boston right now even without their 2 best players are playing much better than us. I think for a team like us who have trouble attracting star players, it's more important to continue building our system so that one day when the system is as solid as the ones in San Antonio and Boston, we would be able to achieve more with less.

I'm okay with keeping Casey but I'm fine if we replace him with Stackhouse. You can't really pin the loss on Casey since if Lue coached us I'm pretty sure we would get swept as well. As bad as Ibaka was this year I don't think we can trade him without downgrading our overall talent. I do feel that next year Siakam should get equal if not more minutes than Ibaka. Norm on the other hand needs to be better than what he has been this year. We need to find away to get him minutes and define a set role that will maximize his potential.

[slaw]

I've seen many good Masai press conferences. This was not a good Masai press conference.

You're in business. You must have attended AGMs. Would that performance from an executive inspire any measure of confidence in you? It was the closest I've seen to Masai sounding desperate and irrational. He was lashing out at people making fun on the internet.

Conversely it was the calmest and most composed I've ever seen Casey. It was like bizarro land.

It certainly wasn't his finest hour. Ujiri has a lot goodwill built up though. He should have prepped that better, too.

[Shaolin Fantastic]

I'm starting to get concerned that "evaluating" is becoming the new "organic growth"...

Yep.

If DeMar and Casey are both here next year I'm turning on Masai.

At a certain point you can't even blame DeMar and Casey anymore if he keeps bringing them back. They try their best they just aren't fucking good enough. It's on Masai to make a change.

[Cody73]

I'm.... I'm scared, guys.


From what Masai said, it sounds like they want to stay the course..... and thus, we become a treadmill team. That's the last thing I want as a fan. Staying the course gets mundane after a while, especially when you feel like you can't get over the hump..... it leaves us with no real future after all our big guys contracts are up. A shake-up of some sort is needed here..... and it's 100 percent time to move on from Casey. It's been 7 years & he has grown as a Coach, but it's not enough anymore..... we've made excuse after excuse after excuse for the guy. It is time to let him move on & for us to give something new a try.

In regards to making a trade, I have no idea what Masai could move & what he would want to move..... my biggest fear is that he's looking to deal Jonas to free up cap to bring back Freddy while making Ibaka the full time Center next to Siakam..... and we sign another PF with our left over cap space as a rental.... and that along with maybe another minor move is all that we do to change things. That's not enough..... we need to get to another level.

[Rudy Bargnani]

At a certain point you can't even blame DeMar and Casey anymore if he keeps bringing them back. They try their best they just aren't fucking good enough. It's on Masai to make a change.

This is a good point and maybe we need to check our expectations a bit. Maybe status quo this roster without that superstar is simply a top 8 team in the NBA but one that will lose to Cleveland/GS/HOU and perhaps another 4-5 teams. Maybe they are what they are and a 2nd round playoff matchup is what we should have expected.

I was hoping for more, and was disappointed with how they lost. But maybe they just weren’t good enough.

[Axel]

This is a good point and maybe we need to check our expectations a bit. Maybe status quo this roster without that superstar is simply a top 8 team in the NBA but one that will lose to Cleveland/GS/HOU and perhaps another 4-5 teams. Maybe they are what they are and a 2nd round playoff matchup is what we should have expected.

I was hoping for more, and was disappointed with how they lost. But maybe they just weren’t good enough.

But if Masai knows that to be true, then he either has to a) let it ride so that ownership can enjoy that playoff revenue until it ends and then rebuilt from scratch or b) start retooling now while risking the 50 wins plateau.

I know as a fan, I want B, but Masai’s bosses are probably quite happy and prefer A. Issue for Masai is, if he goes down A, his own job security is on the line was that rebuild finally starts.

[JimiCliff]

I'm starting to get concerned that "evaluating" is becoming the new "organic growth"...

Sure - but it's backed up by wins, playoff appearances, and an ability to find good players late in the draft. As opposed to none of those things.

[TheWaterboy]

I'm.... I'm scared, guys.


From what Masai said, it sounds like they want to stay the course..... and thus, we become a treadmill team. That's the last thing I want as a fan. Staying the course gets mundane after a while, especially when you feel like you can't get over the hump..... it leaves us with no real future after all our big guys contracts are up. A shake-up of some sort is needed here..... and it's 100 percent time to move on from Casey. It's been 7 years & he has grown as a Coach, but it's not enough anymore..... we've made excuse after excuse after excuse for the guy. It is time to let him move on & for us to give something new a try.

In regards to making a trade, I have no idea what Masai could move & what he would want to move..... my biggest fear is that he's looking to deal Jonas to free up cap to bring back Freddy while making Ibaka the full time Center next to Siakam..... and we sign another PF with our left over cap space as a rental.... and that along with maybe another minor move is all that we do to change things. That's not enough..... we need to get to another level.

If you want to stay the course, the most sensible thing to do (in my opinion) is to try to get out from under the Ibaka deal somehow, start a much-improved Siakim at the 4, and platoon a Biyombo type or even a Hansborough type with a re-signed Bebe for the back-up 4 spot. We aren't going any further than we did this year unless Ibaka is able to both defend and hit threes consistently (and ideally bring some toughness to boot), and I think he's too far on the downslope of his career to do that.

[Puffer]

I'm not questioning Masai's motives. I'm just saying that despite his attempts to address our weaknesses, the past 2 years have felt like stagnation.

You have got to own your own feelings. It feels like stagnation to you but a new franchise record in wins, 1st in the conference, new style offence, top five in defense and offence. Those are advances, not stagnation. If the team disappointed you and your expectations, sorry. They were expected to finish the season anywhere from 4th to 6th. They lost in a sweep in the second round and the losing margin in two of the games was a total of three points. You know how much of the game is mental. The way they got beat in game two shows how much it affected them. To come back in Cleveland and lose to a crazy, #10 degree of difficulty shot from LeBron, with 8 second left? I don't call that stagnation. I call that growth and improvement. The result is still a sweep, but you can lose a car race by running out of gas (support staff), driving poorly (personnel), running into a wall (skill and development) or by a stroke of lightning hitting the car (LeBron James).

Having said all that, it looks like Casey will be returning. That disappoints me. But I have to trust that Masai knows more about this than I do. Masai forced Casey to change the playing style of the team. I think that will only get more ingrained going into next year. Maybe Masai can force DD to play defense, and force Casey to not take the teams highest scoring player out of a game and substitute him with Bebe.

[Puffer]

"The Pacers took more games off the Cavs in the first round than the Raptors have taken in three series combined."

https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/1541546

The pacers didn't get out of the first round. If progression is the mark of achievement Pacers = FAIL

[Puffer]

...I think 90% of us wanted JV gone last offseason, that tune has changed... but I think it's time to cash in on his value, Jakob is waiting...

Are you a member of Yak's immediate family? You did notice his effectiveness in the playoffs, didn't you? You are expecting him to make huge progress over the summer I take it.

[Nilanka]

You have got to own your own feelings. It feels like stagnation to you but a new franchise record in wins, 1st in the conference, new style offence, top five in defense and offence. Those are advances, not stagnation. If the team disappointed you and your expectations, sorry. They were expected to finish the season anywhere from 4th to 6th. They lost in a sweep in the second round and the losing margin in two of the games was a total of three points. You know how much of the game is mental. The way they got beat in game two shows how much it affected them. To come back in Cleveland and lose to a crazy, #10 degree of difficulty shot from LeBron, with 8 second left? I don't call that stagnation. I call that growth and improvement. The result is still a sweep, but you can lose a car race by running out of gas (support staff), driving poorly (personnel), running into a wall (skill and development) or by a stroke of lightning hitting the car (LeBron James).

Having said all that, it looks like Casey will be returning. That disappoints me. But I have to trust that Masai knows more about this than I do. Masai forced Casey to change the playing style of the team. I think that will only get more ingrained going into next year. Maybe Masai can force DD to play defense, and force Casey to not take the teams highest scoring player out of a game and substitute him with Bebe.

I'm just not impressed with regular season accomplishments anymore. If we 82-0 next year, and get still get swept by LeBron in the 2nd round, that's not an improvement.

Conversely, if we win 40 games, barely squeeze into the 8th seed, and make it to the finals, that's a huge improvement.

Long story short, regular season means nothing.

[Nilanka]

The pacers didn't get out of the first round. If progression is the mark of achievement Pacers = FAIL

That's an arbitrary measure, don't you think?

Bottom line is that the Pacers did a better job than the Raptors against the best player in the world.

[DanH]

I honestly dont think the Raptors "gave up" until the 2nd half of game 4.

But the moment they gave up that 4th quarter lead in Game 1, they were scared to lose. And that tentativeness is what plagued them the rest of the way.

Another reason to be pissed at Casey for literally throwing that lead away.

[Puffer]

I really think that Serge playing at a high level could have made a huge difference in that series. And that has been MU's biggest challenge, finding competent and consistent players to put between Lowry/Demar and JV. We thought (well maybe not all of us) we had that when Carroll was signed, but it unfortunately didn't work. We thought we had that with Serge, but unfortunately it didn't work. Luckily, it appears OG might sure up the SF position for the future of this core, and maybe beyond. Can Siakam become that starting PF that could really help these guys get over the hump? Is it possible to trade Serge and get that guy via another avenue? I'm not sure but I think MU may be asking that same question. Because unless you have one of the very few top guys in this league, you are gonna need a solid starting unit 1 through 5 to actually challenge the top teams/players (as well as some great bench pieces). And I will not be disappointed if thats the route this team takes this offseason or even the next. And really, if this isn't the strategy a team would take to build it's roster, then the only other option is to play for the lottery. And I wouldn't be disappointed if we go that route either. But I'm not really interested in too much tweaking. Find another PF and give this group a shot, or start stripping it down this offseason by finding takers for Lowry and Demar. No, we may not be bad enough to get a top 5 pick in 2019 in that scenario, but it starts the process and you go from there. It might be the 2020 or even 2021 draft before we have really bottomed out. And guys like Wright, FVV, Siakim and Poeltl might have to be moved as well to make it happen. Serge, not so much. And who knows, maybe within those trades comes a draft pick from a team that just happened to hit the lottery as well and we benefit from that. The more picks the better, but if the team decides to tank, do it proper.

Hard to believe it is possible, but if Siakim improves as much in this off season as he did in the last, then the PF spot is sewn up. Ibaka can come off the bench, where he might feast, or get traded for parts, if a trade is possible.