Raptors Discussion: REPORT: Raptors trade DeRozan, Poeltl, Protected 1st to Spurs for Leonard, Green

[AllDay28]

Popovich on DeRozan: “I couldn’t be happier. ... I think this trade is going to work out great for both teams.”

sure sounds like Leonard is gonna report

 

[AllDay28]

not saying this to be snarky, but would Raps twitter post this without knowing there isnt any issues?

 

[SeaOfBlue]

They signed D League MVP Brown to another one year deal on the cheap.

Yeah the Raptors probably have something else up then. They have a load of guards and not many 4's or 5's. Pretty much the only ones are Ibaka, Siakam and JV now.

 

[7even]

Late to the party. Anyone want to translate this into hockey terms?

 

[Duffman955]

We significantly improved our odds next season. Kawhi is a massive upgrade on Demar especially in the playoffs.

Green adds some much needed 3 point shooting and 2-way play

 

[joepeps]

Late to the party. Anyone want to translate this into hockey terms?

Clark for Sundin. except Sundin wasn't top 3 in the league and KL is.

 

[Duffman955]

Late to the party. Anyone want to translate this into hockey terms?

Its like acquiring a prime Toews except better

 

[whoshouse]

I think it'd be smart for Masai to now trade Leonard to the Clippers/Lakers. Magic would hate to see Leonard traded to the Clippers and possibly sign long term there. There's a possiblity of Masai getting a 1st + Hart and Kuzma/Ingram if the Clippers are offering something focused around Shai Gilgeous.

Just wait for Leonard to go to the US Developmental Camp and show he's healthy. Then leverage the Clippers to take advantage of the Lakers.

It should be Masais goal to get one of Gilgeous or Hart plus picks to restock the team.

 

[Morgs]

Remember when we got Donaldson?

"But, Lawrie is a good Canadian kid! What were they thinking?! I'll never watch the Jays again!"

Seriously though. I remember all my uneducated baseball friends hating AA for trading the guy, and I'm just like "We literally just got one of the best players in baseball for almost nothing".

I keep thinking this was the exact type of reaction when Clark was traded for Sundin, even though I wasn't there. Just so Toronto.

 

[Derekhanna89]

Late to the party. Anyone want to translate this into hockey terms?

Great player who doesn't want to be here. Only has 1 year signed. Traded away a good player who loved being here, but isn't as good.

 

[The Nemesis]

not saying this to be snarky, but would Raps twitter post this without knowing there isnt any issues?

Yeah, they could. I don't imagine the marketing/social media dept. is plugged in to any significant depth with basketbal ops beyond getting memos that say "we just did this."

So it wouldn't be too odd to have them hurry to get the material up and posted before there were assurances about Kawhi reporting simply because they wouldn't want to get behind the wave of the story.

It means that at the least the medical stuff has probably been checked out. But it doens't guarantee that Kawhi wouldn't potentially be standing in an airport looking at the flight-board listing for the Toronto plane and saying "wait, **** this. I'm not going."

I mean, the chances of that happening are incredibly slim, but I wouldn't take this social media post as anything to move the odds of it happening by.

 

[Jozay]

Leonard has to report.

The league will make an example out of him if he doesnt.

 

[The Nemesis]

Circling back around to the trade for a minute, the more I think about it, the less I'm even concerned if Kawhi leaves. People have been saying for a couple years now that the Raptors were not built for post-season success. They've even fingered DeMar as the chief culprit behind this. So if this team doesn't work out and Kawhi bolts, they head into the 2019 off-season:

• with $30m coming off the books in Kawhi and Green
• In a position to probably still be able to spin Lowry into something worthwhile
• Potentially able to get some value for JV as long as he keeps showing some of his growth from last year
• With Ibaka as the only really bad contract on the books, and even then it's only for next year where his awfulness could even be an asset if the team tries to tank
• With the only significant young loss off the roster to try this trade being Poeltl, who as much as I liked him, had some of his flaws exposed in the playoffs and was easily the most replaceable/least damaging loss that we could've had out of the young guys (OG, Siakam, Wright are all better parts to keep)
• Best case regarding the draft pick: the Raps finish atop the east and sacrifice a 1st in the trade that is probably 25+. Worse case: Leonard goes full Alonzo Mourning, demands to be re-routed in trade, the sell-off starts early and the tanking 2018-19 Raptors have their now-valuable pick protected and instead lose a pair of seconds (presumably for the 2019 and 2020 drafts). So no matter how the team's future shakes down, the picks sacrificed amount to extreme lottery tickets to even get a half-decent rotation player. It's not like this costs the team anything significant in terms of draft capital either way.

So realistically the optimal scenario here is that the Raptors are the best team in teh east and Kawhi gets a good experience that entices him to stay like George did in OKC.

Worst case is that a team that has perennially not been able to get over the hump for the last 5 years is in about as good of a spot as it could be to rebuild itself in short order and go right back to competing within a few years.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

The Bill Simmons emergency podcast is up. Go listen and hear how this is not a big deal, the Celtics are still da best, and Kawhi won't even report because of stuff and things.

Edit:
- The Spurs did well
- Demar is suddenly the 10th-13th best player in the league ; works hard every summer, at minimum is a 23/5/5 guy, and is not going to decline
- 12th best guy in the league; Toronto's best player, "undervalued now"
- MVP candidate through February ("I voted for Oladipo for all nba over him but....")
- The Spurs will teach him to shoot 3's
- A good closer
- Only two guard ahead of him is Harden (Oladipo)...
- "Not bad" defensively

Its amazing how fast things change.

 

[The Nemesis]

The Bill Simmons emergency podcast is up. Go listen and hear how this is not a big deal, the Celtics are still da best, and Kawhi won't even report because of stuff and things.

This doesn't sound legit. It's missing a completely superfluous reference to how Tom Brady is the greatest athlete ever and so super dreamy.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Late to the party. Anyone want to translate this into hockey terms?

Refer to post #751.

 

[trellaine201]

Sam Mitchell seems quite condescending in his interview on overdrive.

 

[7even]

Refer to post #751.

Don't know how on mobile

 

[Jmo89]

Seriously though. I remember all my uneducated baseball friends hating AA for trading the guy, and I'm just like "We literally just got one of the best players in baseball for almost nothing".

I keep thinking this was the exact type of reaction when Clark was traded for Sundin, even though I wasn't there. Just so Toronto.

You can't fault people for being a bit sad though. DD has been with us for what? 9 years? And it doesn't matter if he was paid market, he chose to stay which for this market matters.

Im not a huge basketball fan anymore (to be fair I've never had a good understanding of the cap, but super teams ruined it a bit for me.) I like the trade though. Toronto wasn't going to win with the previous team. They either needed to trade/sign a real superstar or draft one.

In the miniscule chance they keep Kawhi and he's healthy then they've gotten one early. If he leaves then the rebuild happens faster than if we had DD and hopefully we draft one.

Im still sad to see DD go though.

 

[Diamond Joe Quimby]

Don't know how on mobile

Ok, no worries.

So imagine Zdeno Chara and PK Subban had a baby....then that baby took steroids to increase their strength, speed, explosiveness. Slap some braids on it. Then give it some rhythm and creativity, and remove the corniness.

Boom. Kawhi.

 

[Ace101]

Expand your brand in a country fool instead of only one state!!! Don't worry he will realize it when he is actually here that the most money he can make is being the potential face of the NBA for an entire country. And be able to expand his brand here more fruitfully.

I doubt he wants to expand his brand that much or is just about the money. He seems very introverted and turned down 5 years 220 million from the spurs, no team can offer him that much now. Plus the country thing doesn't work as well when just California has a bigger population then Canada.

 

[Sens]

He’ll be sold on the Raps when the entire stadium is chanting “we the north”

 

[Critical13]

Tavares and Leonard in one season. Damn.

 

[Fantomas]

The Bill Simmons emergency podcast is up. Go listen and hear how this is not a big deal, the Celtics are still da best, and Kawhi won't even report because of stuff and things.

Edit:
- The Spurs did well
- Demar is suddenly the 10th-13th best player in the league ; works hard every summer, at minimum is a 23/5/5 guy, and is not going to decline
- 12th best guy in the league; Toronto's best player, "undervalued now"
- MVP candidate through February ("I voted for Oladipo for all nba over him but....")
- The Spurs will teach him to shoot 3's
- A good closer
- Only two guard ahead of him is Harden (Oladipo)...
- "Not bad" defensively

Its amazing how fast things change.

It's nice to be a professional fan. You never have to be right about anything.

 

[The Nemesis]

The Bill Simmons emergency podcast is up. Go listen and hear how this is not a big deal, the Celtics are still da best, and Kawhi won't even report because of stuff and things.

Edit:
- The Spurs did well
- Demar is suddenly the 10th-13th best player in the league ; works hard every summer, at minimum is a 23/5/5 guy, and is not going to decline
- 12th best guy in the league; Toronto's best player, "undervalued now"
- MVP candidate through February ("I voted for Oladipo for all nba over him but....")
- The Spurs will teach him to shoot 3's
- A good closer
- Only two guard ahead of him is Harden (Oladipo)...
- "Not bad" defensively

Its amazing how fast things change.

As much as I've always believed in the Spurs' ability to turn guys into far better than they started as, I'm still waiting for the point where Patty Mills, Kyle Anderson, Tiago Splitter, and every other B-grade good-supporting-player type guy they've had would ascend to the peaks of Mt. Robinson/Duncan and turn into a bonafide high-end core player.

So it's no surprise that DeRozan is suddenly elevated from "really good scorer with a lot of shortcomings" to magically become a top-shelf franchise-carrier just because his uniform has some silver trim on it now.