NBA Toronto Raptors thread

[Maestro84]

At this point, its fair to compare the Cavs (and/or Lebron's) dominance over the Raps to other one sided rivalries in sports. I mean if we look at their matchup, the Cavs are owning them the same way the Pens own the Caps, the Yankees owned the Twins, Federer owned Roddick, Tiger owned Phil, etc. Every time it looks like something different is about to happen in the matchup, the same result ends up occurring regardless.

 

[Virtanen18]

The reason for Love being ****ted on is because Lebron disrupts the flow of the offense has much as he compliments it. There is no need for a point guard on that team and is probably the main reason Kyrie bounced. LeBron made Thomas less of a floor general. With Lebron's size he should be around the rim more but instead he is alway parked at the 3 point line starting the offence. Everybody on a team has to have a role and Lebron by having the ball so much turns his teammates into reactionary players based on what he does. When you look at GS it is the complete opposite and a very smooth offense. They have some of the sickest passing plays to score a basket where everyone on the floor touches it. Kind of like you learn in JR high school in practice when the coach says make 5 passes before you score.

LeBron in the post? It's a no from me, man. The last thing I'm trying to do is limit the best player in the world. Big guys who shoot crap percentages from 3pt should probably be in the post more? But LeBron is way too good and way too valuable to minimize his potential contributions like that.

The reason him and Kyrie worked so well on the Cavs was because Kyrie could go get buckets with his eyes closed when they LeBron was off the ball.

 

[VancouverJagger]

Word on the street is that Casey is gonna get the can........even though I think he's a good coach they absolutely have to make some changes. Unfortunately I think that they mental fortitude of this team just isn't what it needs to be and that's going to be a function of leadership - Derozan, Lowry and Casey. Out of those 3 I think the most feasible option to jettison would be Casey.

 

[dahrougem2]

The most feasible and easy option is to jettison Casey.

The correct option is to jettison DeRozan and Lowry, but that's not going to happen.

 

[Vamos Rafa]

Start trading everyone and make room for LeGoat. Your first pitch to him is "If you can beat us, join us."

 

[dahrougem2]

Start trading everyone and make room for LeGoat. Your first pitch to him is "If you can beat us, join us."

Their first pitch should be renaming the city to LeBronto.

 

[kihei]

About as unimaginative a move as you could get. Same line up is going to equal the same result next year even if God is coaching.

 

[Dr Pepper]

I loved listening to Overdrive rip into Ujiri's presser.

Ujiri went on about how Casey didnt do anything wrong, it was a really tough decision, etc.

Well if he didnt do anything wrong, why the **** did you fire him?!

 

[Dr Pepper]

About as unimaginative a move as you could get. Same line up is going to equal the same result next year even if God is coaching.

This. Cant make chicken salad out of chicken ****, and this team just cant cut it in the playoffs.

 

[chaosrevolver]

I think people are being a little naive to think there wont be some pretty significant roster changes this off-season.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

I loved listening to Overdrive rip into Ujiri's presser.

Ujiri went on about how Casey didnt do anything wrong, it was a really tough decision, etc.

Well if he didnt do anything wrong, why the **** did you fire him?!

Culture change is necessary. As good as Casey has been, it was abundantly clear the team has peaked under him and that peak is not good enough.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

The most feasible and easy option is to jettison Casey.

The correct option is to jettison DeRozan and Lowry, but that's not going to happen.

They could keep both, the problem is neither is a franchise type player. Keeping them is a good idea as they have great chemistry and are very productive, but they need a franchise player. Derozan shouldn't be the number 1 option if the team wants to win.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Culture change is necessary. As good as Casey has been, it was abundantly clear the team has peaked under him and that peak is not good enough.

Then why make Casey the fall guy? This core obviously isnt good enough, change the core. Casey wasn't the problem.

 

[Fish on The Sand]

Then why make Casey the fall guy? This core obviously isnt good enough, change the core. Casey wasn't the problem.

Maybe both need to be changed? If the Raptors land Bud and can add a legit frontline scorer while relegating Derozan to wingman they might actually be able to compete next season.

I personally think its in vain though. Other than Anthony there really won't be any top level scorers available in the off season, and it remains to be seen if Anthony is even still at that level anyways. It seems unlikely they'll be able to compete with the Celtics/Sixers and if Lebron stays in Cleveland then you can keep them in the mix too.

Raptors should honestly go scorched earth at this point. Unload Derozan/Lowry/Ibaka for draft picks and start tanking. I realize tanking will be insanely hard next year with the new lottery format, but they don't have much choice since the necessary moves to take them to the next level just aren't available to them (barring something unrealistic like Lebron deciding to head north).

I doubt that happens though, however any truly objective assessment of the Raptors would conclude that they aren't good enough as constructed and need a major move to change that. Tinkering won't help that. The type of move they need just simply isn't available to them so the best course of action is to go scorched earth.

 

[JackSlater]

Firing Casey was the wrong move but it isn't like Ujiri was going to fire himself. The team was constructed to get regular season wins but never stood a chance in the playoffs. In the NBA teams win with superstars - top five players. The only exception in the last 30 years is the 2004 Pistons, but that team had four all star level players (the Raptors have two) and even then was lucky that the Lakers (with two top five players) were imploding. Even if the Raptors managed to beat the LeBron one man show and the injury depleted Celtics there was no chance that the team would beat Golden State (or whoever survives the West). The Raptors should blow it up and attempt to build a legitimate championship contender. It should have happened years ago honestly. Go after RJ Barrett and build around him. Bringing in some new coach to handle this roster is putting paint on a house with a cracked foundation.

 

[Fantomas]

Yeah why have a 60-win team when you can have a 15-win tanking team that might have an outside shot of drafting RJ Barrett who may or may not be better than Derozan in the future. Galactic brain.

 

[Fantomas]

And yeah, Casey deserved to be fired.

 

[Reality Check]

Toronto might not win as many games next year. But something needed to change and they might just be stuck with the roster they have. So Casey had to go.

Watching both Indiana and Boston giving all Cleveland can handle while Toronto just laid down like a dog illustrates this.

 

[robertmac43]

After thinking things over the last couple of days, I have decided we should all be excited for next year. It will be interesting to see this roster under a new system. Also a new coach may get more out of the players, should be interesting!

 

[Stylizer1]

After thinking things over the last couple of days, I have decided we should all be excited for next year. It will be interesting to see this roster under a new system. Also a new coach may get more out of the players, should be interesting!

I'm not excited about DeRozan though.

 

[robertmac43]

I'm not excited about DeRozan though.

I would not say I'm particularly excited for him as an individual player as well. That being said let's give the guy the benefit of the doubt and get behind him. He is the first star to sign the contract staying in Toronto

 

[Virtanen18]

it isn't like Ujiri was going to fire himself

You say this like firing one of, if not the best, GMs in the league is a feasible option.

 

[JackSlater]

You say this like firing one of, if not the best, GMs in the league is a feasible option.

No, I said it for literally the opposite reason. Ujiri obviously wasn't going to fire himself, not that the best GM in basketball would try to build around Lowry and DeRozan though.

 

[Virtanen18]

No, I said it for literally the opposite reason. Ujiri obviously wasn't going to fire himself, not that the best GM in basketball would try to build around Lowry and DeRozan though.

Who do you suppose he build around? The hot free agents that come running to the free agency hotbed of Toronto?

 

[JackSlater]

Who do you suppose he build around? The hot free agents that come running to the free agency hotbed of Toronto?

Build through the draft. I don't expect big free agents to sign in Toronto, so the only way to get a superstar player is through the draft. It's a waste of time to build around Lowry and DeRozan if a team is looking to win a championship. The Raptors did about as well as could be expected with such a roster, and Ujiri did a good job complementing those two, but the problem is that he was trying to complement them in the first place. DeRozan and Lowry are the second and third options on a championship contender, not the first and second. There is more than enough NBA history to tell us this.