Was already on as far as I follow.
Not following that closely guys, only so much free time in my life, one day when the kids are gone and work is winding down I’ll be able to watch all the Jays and Raps again like I once did. So a question to you here, and it’s probably already well hashed out in here, but if someone can indulge me with an answer.
Raps traded away their first, top-6 protected right? As I hear it, draft class this year not great, next year supposedly very good. Do I have this right, and therefor we very much would prefer the Raps to finish 7 or higher this year to get the traded pick obligation out of the way?
And then run the tank full pedal down next year?
Thanks
While next year's draft is pegged to be better, the Raptors being in 'tank mode' would be bad and would likely mean a few (if not all) of the following things happened:
1. Barnes/Barrett/Quickley have major injuries causing them to miss time
2. Barnes/Barrett/Quickley are simply not that good of a core and fail to take the next step
3. The coaching stinks or the players have quit on the coach
4. There is a culture problem and the team is not meshing
5. The team is lacking depth and the lack of a serviceable bench continues to be an issue
6. Whatever acquisitions or moves Masai and co. make in the summer failed
Now I don't think I need to explain why these are all bad things as they are self explanatory, but pretty much Masai is building the team around a nucleus of Barnes/Barrett/Quickley and it's important that they keep taking positive strides, even if that means just being a bubble team next year. If this team stinks so bad that it's in lottery territory again next year then that is a bad sign for the future. I also don't see them being that bad and I don't believe Masai has the intention of running a tank next year, you don't want to end up with a loser culture like Charlotte or Detroit in the process.
At this point, the silver lining of the Barnes injury is that Ochai and Nwora will hopefully get more chances to develop and showcase themselves.