Everything 2018 Off Season

[Mindlessness]

Embiid can be a defensive force, but at least last year you saw him being lazy a lot. Not running back hard, not aggressive with coverages. His conditioning is probably crap since he's barely played ball in the past few years.

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Uhhhh Embiid came top 3 in DPOY voting this year...

Even Lowe had him 2nd on his list behind Gobert. Ahead of AD.

[white men can't jump]

Uhhhh Embiid came top 3 in DPOY voting this year...

Even Lowe had him 2nd on his list behind Gobert. Ahead of AD.

Did you watch them a lot? Especially late in the year? He would coast a lot. Hence why I said he can be a defensive force. He just doesn't do it consistently.

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[Mindlessness]

Did you watch them a lot? Especially late in The year? He would coast a lot. Hence why I said he can be a defensive force. H ejust doesn't do it consistently.

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I didn't watch them a lot, but Lowe did. Not trying to disregard what you say or anything, but I do trust Lowe's opinion.

Also, didn't he miss like the last 16 games or so, you sure you're thinking of him?

[white men can't jump]

I didn't watch them a lot, but Lowe did. Not trying to disregard what you say or anything, but I do trust Lowe's opinion.

Also, didn't he miss like the last 16 games or so, you sure you're thinking of him?

Yes I'm sure I'm thinking of him. He didn't miss 16 games. He missed like 16 days. He sat out like 2.5 weeks going into the first couple of playoff games. He clearly needed the rest anyway so maybe that broken face was a blessing in disguise.

He's a great rim protector, but he would get gassed in games. He would just stay home near the rim a lot more when that would happen. Sometimes he wouldn't even bother trying to rotate if it meant having to run out at someone.

I respect Lowe's opinion, but media are still media, and sometimes it's a lot more fun to hype up and talk about the "new guy", rather than re-hash how Davis is maybe the most versatile defensive big of all time and has pretty much zero holes in his defensive game.

[white men can't jump]

I'm not saying Embiid is bad defensively (he's actually good, just can't always maintain it), but he has to get better at working through the ups and downs of a season. It's not surprising given the limited amount of games he's played since being drafted. Conditioning should be the thing he works on the most this offseason.

I thought this showed because in his first season he didn't play enough games/minutes to hit that kind of wall. He was very impressive in those 30 or so games. Didn't really let up through them.

*For now I'd say the best defensive bigs are Gobert and Davis, with Davis being the more complete one but Gobert is the best rim protector.

[Blacklash2k4]

For the love of God, just stop coming up with trades.

Nah man. Forums fool is his job here.

[Scraptor]

I have no problem with DeMar having a hard time with this.

I have issue with so much of the media and fans, especially in Toronto, making DeMar the story instead of the fact that we just acquired the best player in our franchise's history. The press should be embarrassed with how today's press conference played out. And the fans who seem to be loyal to DeMar more than the Raps can fuck off and follow another team.

How many non-Demar trade scenarios did they cook up to improve the talent around him, with much less impressive players than Leonard involved? And every time you disagreed it's "oh you aren't a real Raptors fan, you just hate DeMar and would rather see him gone".

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The trade has a 91% approval rating on RealGM, so I'm not sure that there are many "fans who seem to be more loyal to DeMar than the team". Other people who didn't approve of the trade were uncertain whether Kawhi would play at all this year or beyond this year, which doesn't indicate loyalty to Demar over the team but concern over the soundness of the trade. I personally love the deal but I understand why they are upset.

DeMar is the franchise leader across a number of categories and has been here for a decade. The guy he was traded for reportedly didn't want to be here.

In the absence of Kawhi being here or showing any enthusiasm, are you really surprised that people wanted to talk about DeRozan?

You can be for the trade and for the team and still show some concern for and respect for our longest-tenured player. Lewenberg's next tweet nailed it for me.

And, to be clear, this doesn't mean I'm suggesting you shift your contempt to Masai Ujiri, who made a smart basketball move. There doesn't always have to be a hero and a villain, just humans doing their jobs and living their lives.

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 20, 2018

DeMar has always been one of the most divisive players in team history, but I personally find it sad that he received so much contempt and vitriol. He was never meant to be a foundational superstar, yet people were always upset that he wasn't James Harden.

That people think nine years of service, however flawed, would be tossed aside in less than 48 hours is certainly a fitting epitaph for his tenure here.

[Apollo]

I have no problem with DeMar having a hard time with this.

I have issue with so much of the media and fans, especially in Toronto, making DeMar the story instead of the fact that we just acquired the best player in our franchise's history. The press should be embarrassed with how today's press conference played out. And the fans who seem to be loyal to DeMar more than the Raps can fuck off and follow another team.

How many non-Demar trade scenarios did they cook up to improve the talent around him, with much less impressive players than Leonard involved? And every time you disagreed it's "oh you aren't a real Raptors fan, you just hate DeMar and would rather see him gone".

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It sounds like they felt a special connection with DD. You don't see that everyday and so he earned that through who he is. I think it's pretty over the top to tell people to fuck off because they felt sorry for him. It didn't help that Leonard's camp sprung more leaks than the Titanic about how he wasn't gonna show, how he didn't want to play in Toronto and how he wouldn't stick around past the season.

I'm not one of these fans but I get where they're coming from.

[white men can't jump]

The trade has a 91% approval rating on RealGM, so I'm not sure that there are many "fans who seem to be more loyal to DeMar than the team". Other people who didn't approve of the trade were uncertain whether Kawhi would play at all this year or beyond this year, which doesn't indicate loyalty to Demar over the team but concern over the soundness of the trade. I personally love the deal but I understand why they are upset.

DeMar is the franchise leader across a number of categories and has been here for a decade. The guy he was traded for reportedly didn't want to be here.

In the absence of Kawhi being here or showing any enthusiasm, are you really surprised that people wanted to talk about DeRozan?

You can be for the trade and for the team and still show some concern for and respect for our longest-tenured player. Lewenberg's next tweet nailed it for me.

And, to be clear, this doesn't mean I'm suggesting you shift your contempt to Masai Ujiri, who made a smart basketball move. There doesn't always have to be a hero and a villain, just humans doing their jobs and living their lives.

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) July 20, 2018

DeMar has always been one of the most divisive players in team history, but I personally find it sad that he received so much contempt and vitriol. He was never meant to be a foundational superstar, yet people were always upset that he wasn't James Harden.

That people think nine years of service, however flawed, would be tossed aside in less than 48 hours is certainly a fitting epitaph for his tenure here.

Sometimes it's important to remember the people posting on RR or realgm make up a small minority of fans.

At my work, most of the casual fans all disapproved of the deal, not because Kawhi isn't better than DeMar, but because of "what the Raptors did to DeMar".

Also one of the guys at work who's a massive sports fan said that the first poll he saw after the trade (I think on Sportsnet or tsn or something) had just 51% supporting it.

Again this is Kawhi Leonard. It's not like we traded him for Tyreke Evans and a 2nd round pick.

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[Shaolin Fantastic]

Sometimes it's important to remember the people posting on RR or realgm make up a small minority of fans.

At my work, most of the casual fans all disapproved of the deal, not because Kawhi isn't better than DeMar, but because of "what the Raptors did to DeMar".

Also one of the guys at work who's a massive sports fan said that the first poll he saw after the trade (I think on Sportsnet or tsn or something) had just 51% supporting it.

Again this is Kawhi Leonard. It's not like we traded him for Tyreke Evans and a 2nd round pick.

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But we're on RR right now. What casuals are saying doesn't really matter because they don't post here.

[golden]

Sometimes it's important to remember the people posting on RR or realgm make up a small minority of fans.

At my work, most of the casual fans all disapproved of the deal, not because Kawhi isn't better than DeMar, but because of "what the Raptors did to DeMar".

Also one of the guys at work who's a massive sports fan said that the first poll he saw after the trade (I think on Sportsnet or tsn or something) had just 51% supporting it.

Again this is Kawhi Leonard. It's not like we traded him for Tyreke Evans and a 2nd round pick.

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But we're on RR right now. What casuals are saying doesn't really matter because they don't post here.

Yep. Anybody who actually takes the time to post regularly on RR or Realgm probably represents 0.001% of Raptor fans.

[Yuri Gagarin]

Very happy about the trade but Im sure its tough. You can be a janitor and you get to choose the city you live and work in so its weird that you can be one of the best in the world at what you do and get told where to work. But thats how it goes. Toronto loves you DD its just basketball.

[saints91]

Ian Begley: Several opposing executives say the Toronto Raptors remain motivated to shed salary via trade following the Kawhi Leonard deal earlier this week. 3 hours ago – via Twitter IanBegley

I still feel like the they need to balance the roster, we need another big. I can’t see them shying away from paying the tax in a very important year for this organization.

[Puffer]

Very happy about the trade but Im sure its tough. You can be a janitor and you get to choose the city you live and work in so its weird that you can be one of the best in the world at what you do and get told where to work. But thats how it goes. Toronto loves you DD its just basketball.

The price you pay for that privilege is 10's of millions of dollars a year in your pocket, and having to wait an extra year with a team or in a city you don't love before exploring your options of switching to one of 30 different cities in North America or moving to Europe or Asia to do somethign you probably love doing.

You can be a janitor, and you have no choice to go be a janitor someplace else, because shoolboards are cutting staff like crazy, and faced with losing their dominat position in education because of the oncoming wave of AI managed online learning, and you will lose your benefits if you leave your current position to take another job someplace else. And making $50k a year.

I know which career I would prefer to endure for 5-6 years, and then be set up for the reat of my life as opposed to facing 35 years of labour and then shome shit pension.

[saints91]

I call bullshit on that quote, I could see wanting to shed salary if we were bringing essentially the same roster back, but motivations have changed.

I want to see a swing for the fences move like a sign and trade for Capela etc. Or even obtaining Trey Lyles or one of the Sac bigs.