Everything 2018 Off Season

[white men can't jump]

The young guys all showed higher character and better compete levels. If we could even just scrape into the playoffs with a younger team, MLSE still gets a round or two of playoff revenue (the same this older/more expensive core gets) while being better set up with trade pieces for the long term.

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[Rudy Bargnani]

Nice article from Barolt on the main page on offseason plans.
In particular he talks about perimeter defense being weak.

I took a look at some lineup stats and the Derozan/Miles combo seems like it’s tough to play together against good offences.

[Nilanka]

Except this same ownership group willingly traded the biggest contracts on a treadmill Leafs team and hit the lottery.

But that was a treadmill Leafs team that wasn't making the playoffs either way. Makes more sense to stink with young studs, than stink with overpaid old pylons.

[Puffer]

But the team has gotten better pretty much every year. With the exception of 2015-16 where I think Cleveland just didn't take the Raptors seriously for a couple games, (the 4 games the Raptors lost were utter blowouts), they have improved each and every year of the Masai/Casey/DeRozan/Lowry era.

I think once we stop seeing improvement, that's the time we can say there's no clear path to improvement. But we haven't seen that yet.

You are behind the times. The new definition of treadmill team is a team that can't beat LeBron.

[Nilanka]

You're throwing out 82 games, then?

Geez, even that aside, the Wizards missed the playoffs two years ago, got handled by the Raps this year in the playoffs, and both the Blazers and Wizards have won one playoff series in the last 3 years (compared to the Raps winning 4 in the last 3 years).

Like, are we really of the mindset that those are equal accomplishments, even if we accept that the regular season is an irrelevant measure of success (which I do not, by the way)?

If the goal is to be one of the 2 teams left standing in June, then one could argue that these are distinctions without a difference.

EDIT: Because we aren't any closer to knocking off LeBron.

[hotfuzz]

Us, Washington, Portland?

Geez, nevermind. Yeah, we are totally in the same boat as Washington and Portland.

I mean, if you look at it, we're not that different from them if you look at our chances of winning a ring. That is, our chances of winning a championship are slim to none, right in line with blazers and wizards chances.

[slaw]

I don't think it's even a question that MLSE doesn't want to tank. They let the leafs do it was because they had a long term plan and people still watch them when they suck (and they sucked anyways without trying).

I think Masai has to consolidate some of the prospects and trade them for a star. Otherwise we're just going to lose important pieces by salary cap attrition (e.g. JV, our actual third best player) and be left with a weaker version of the same team.

The Leafs rebuilding plan was developed over the course of months through consultation with outside advisors and internal hockey people and had the full support of Tim Leiweke who ordered the review for all MLSE teams. It wasn't the only plan presented to Shanahan, who had the final call, but it was the considered best approach of the people brought in to do the review. I am 100% certain about this.

[Puffer]

Nice article from Barolt on the main page on offseason plans.
In particular he talks about perimeter defense being weak.

I took a look at some lineup stats and the Derozan/Miles combo seems like it’s tough to play together against good offences.

Yes. The real problems on the Raptors are Derozan and Ibaka, as things now stand. Miles turned into a problem when Casey had to sit Ibaka. If Ibaka had played like "Good" Ibaka instead of "Bad" Ibaka, DeRozan's miscues on offence wouldn't have been so glaring, because there would have been more spacing. What did Ibaka shoot over the four games? 25%? I remember one game he missed six or seven in a row. Siakim doesn't have to improve a hell of a lot to be better than Ibaka was through the playoffs.

Can Derozan improve his defense? He could get significantly better if he just remembered to stay close to his check. He should never think about helping. Play his man and that's it. Always put him on the worst player, or the small slow one.

How much did the Raptors lose ground when Yak was on the floor in the playoffs? It's like he forgot how to play, or was simply overpowered. If he comes back stronger, with a shot he isn't afraid to take, it makes a big difference in his game.

If Masai can do something to improve, great. If all he does is stand pat, this team improves.

Derozan gets better
JV gets better
Siakim gets better
Delon gets better
Yak gets better
Freds shoulder heals
Ibaka gets traded or plays fewer minutes
Lowry plays similar or less minutes and stays fresh for the playoffs
OG gets better
Miles becomes more effective because Casey realizes he needs to always use double screens to free him up
Casey agrees when Masai explains that all time out plays will be drawn up by Nurse

Significant improvement

[G__Deane]

See I feel kind of the opposite about moves. I would rather keep the youth we have and try to add to it by trading our expensive vets. Use Demar to get some young pieces/prospects. Maybe shop him to the Lakers for Kuzma, Randle and a 1sr rounder. Shop Ibaka for a role player or two, ideally younger, and maybe a 2nd rounder. Shop Lowry for something similar, but a 1st instead of a 2nd rounder.

Load up while getting younger but still trying to compete. Gives us more pieces to trade and still maintain youth/depth. I could see us still competing for playoffs and then being able to make a better play on someone like Giannis if/when he wants out of Milly.

Right now the only star that might be available is Kawhi, and frankly no one has any clue what the actual fuck is going on there. And the Spurs won't trade him unless they're ok with blowing up the team, in which case we probably don't have the pieces to get a deal done, and if we do we likely no longer have mich of any depth or youth.

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What about the contract $$$$? And how much do you want to retain?

More realistically, can you move Ibaka and some of the core bench for a legit starter to elevate DeMar/Lowry playoff games? Would you want to if it means semi-gutting the bench?

[Other Scott]

How much did the Raptors lose ground when Yak was on the floor in the playoffs? It's like he forgot how to play, or was simply overpowered. If he comes back stronger, with a shot he isn't afraid to take, it makes a big difference in his game.

I wonder if Jakob got tired. He was the only Raptor to play all 82 games, which is a big jump from any other year in his career, and his game involves a lot of moving around for a very large center. It might just be that the improvements on that side just need to be from a conditioning perspective.

[G__Deane]

So do many fans actually agree that outside of the top 4-5 teams that have any shot at a championship, the other 15 (who aren't already abysmal) should blow it up and tank for the small chance that they luck into a top pick that actually develops into a superstar?

That's the actual PLAN?

I don't agree that 50-60 wins of entertaining and fun basketball but ultimately falling against LeBron is a failure. I've experience enough of the former to understand the difference.

I'd still fire Casey......kick him upstairs, whatever.

[G__Deane]

I wonder if Jakob got tired. He was the only Raptor to play all 82 games, which is a big jump from any other year in his career, and his game involves a lot of moving around for a very large center. It might just be that the improvements on that side just need to be from a conditioning perspective.

I saw him get bullied during a lot of late season games (last 20) and commented on it. That's wearing both physically and mentally. Gettign constantly called for bullchit fouls made him hesitant as well.

He needs to put on 20 lbs partially by growing a pair .... and get past the rookie never gets a call period

[white men can't jump]

What about the contract $$$$? And how much do you want to retain?

More realistically, can you move Ibaka and some of the core bench for a legit starter to elevate DeMar/Lowry playoff games? Would you want to if it means semi-gutting the bench?

Well if you do my LAL trade for Demar, Randle is RFA. So my hope would be he signs at something like $12M or so for a couple of years and LA has capspace to absorb any difference. You'd probabbly shave around 10-15 million in that deal. Anything else you could shave off in other deals would be gravy. And we'd have less (or no) big contracts left on the books.

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[MixxAOR]

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— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) May 10, 2018

new bruno

[Puffer]

I wonder if Jakob got tired. He was the only Raptor to play all 82 games, which is a big jump from any other year in his career, and his game involves a lot of moving around for a very large center. It might just be that the improvements on that side just need to be from a conditioning perspective.

That would be awesome. If he comes back stronger, with an improved shot, all of this years experience and in better condition to allow himself to be more effective, that's a huge step up.