Raptors Discussion: v97 Raptor's 2024-2025 - Training camp begins Oct. 1

Keep or Trade - Siakam

  • Trade

    Votes: 63 90.0%
  • Re-Sign

    Votes: 7 10.0%

  • Total voters
    70
  • Poll closed .

DuklaNation

Registered User
Aug 26, 2004
5,932
1,752
Raps trading down 13 spots for 2 months of Thad Young will be a mistake down the road. Lot of big upside unpredictable players in this 2022 draft. At #20, you're in position to pick, at #33, you just take whatever is left. That move was questionable at the time, it looks even worse now. Other teams are accumulating talent. Next season will be MUCH harder than 21/22.
 

tmlfan98

No More Excuses #MarnerOut
Aug 13, 2012
2,405
1,375
Hockey's Mecca
Raps trading down 13 spots for 2 months of Thad Young will be a mistake down the road. Lot of big upside unpredictable players in this 2022 draft. At #20, you're in position to pick, at #33, you just take whatever is left. That move was questionable at the time, it looks even worse now. Other teams are accumulating talent. Next season will be MUCH harder than 21/22.

IMO that trade is only a mistake if Thad doesn't re-sign, but based on how little teams actually have cap space this offseason and the Raps having Thad's bird rights, I would be pretty surprised if Thad left assuming he doesn't get offered the mid level exception by another team (there are way better MLE candidates out there).

I would take Thad as an Udonis Haslem type elite culture guy + the 33rd pick over the 20th pick in a draft where the 12-40 range is basically a wash (according to ESPN). Masai likely knew this too when he traded back. Raps will probably land a player at 33 they have ranked in the top 20.
 
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1specter

Registered User
Sep 27, 2016
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IMO that trade is only a mistake if Thad doesn't re-sign, but based on how little teams actually have cap space this offseason and the Raps having Thad's bird rights, I would be pretty surprised if Thad left assuming he doesn't get offered the mid level exception by another team (there are way better MLE candidates out there).

I would take Thad as an Udonis Haslem type elite culture guy + the 33rd pick over the 20th pick in a draft where the 12-40 range is basically a wash (according to ESPN). Masai likely knew this too when he traded back. Raps will probably land a player at 33 they have ranked in the top 20.
Thad also had a lot of great things to say about the organization so he certainly seems to like it here.
 

hockeywiz542

Registered User
May 26, 2008
16,211
5,286

Barring some bizarre moves, the Raptors will not pay the tax next season, with all of their core players locked into contracts. However, they have multiple decisions that could impact when they will have to confront the tax issue, which means it is a factor starting now, even if the bill won’t come due until 2024 at the earliest.

The Raptors have an even spottier history in terms of paying a tax bill than the Celtics, having paid in the title year and not since 2002-2003 before that. No head basketball decision-maker has ever said that ownership has to spend more on its roster, with Masai Ujiri repeatedly saying that MLSE is open to those conversations. A reminder: The NBA has a salary cap, if not a hard one, so a team cannot simply “decide” to spend into it. It only comes up when a team has given its own players enough money, through the Larry Bird exception or related transactions, to push the payroll to and beyond the threshold.

Those decisions are coming though. Extension windows for Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam open this offseason. In 2023, OG Anunoby will be eligible for such a deal, and VanVleet, if he doesn’t sign an extension, and Gary Trent Jr. could hit free agency. The offseason after that, Siakam would be a free agent without an extension, Anunoby could be and Precious Achiuwa would be restricted. Hanging over all of that: Scottie Barnes, and what the Raptors hope will be the maximum-value extension he will have earned in two offseasons, which would go into effect in 2025-26.

These issues might seem far off, but with the collective bargaining agreement limiting contracts to five years at the most, they can creep up on a franchise faster than you think. Even with league revenues and, accordingly, the cap and tax thresholds projected to rise over the next few seasons, it would be difficult to pay all those players their market value and ducking under the tax, especially if you are trying to accumulate a modicum of depth. It is not a coincidence that Anunoby trade rumours are surfacing. It is why the Raptors should at least talk through potential VanVleet trades, even if the most money they can give him in an extension would be entirely reasonable in terms of the size of cap-hit percentage it would represent. Moving players who already make eight figures a year and are heading for raises for players on less expensive deals is how you keep those future costs down.

That is why the Raptors’ offseason decisions with peripheral players, as unsexy as they might be, will serve as a bellwether for the future. If the Raptors are willing to give more than one or two guaranteed years to their own free agents, Chris Boucher and Thaddeus Young, and anyone they might bring in using the midlevel exception, it will show that management is at least willing to create scenarios in which they have to get creative to keep the books responsible. If they keep the deals shorter, you’ll know the threat of paying the tax is still a significant onus for the franchise. (You’ll know this because Ujiri and Bobby Webster will use the word “flexibility” a lot.)

The interesting thing here is that with the championship picture more blurry than in years past, the whole idea of proof of concept might have changed. In the past, Raptors ownership paid the tax when there was a clear shot at a title. Before the year, the Warriors and Celtics had the fourth- and 13th-lowest championship odds. A year prior, the Bucks and Suns slid in at second and 14th. It is harder and harder to know when that window will open.


“We still preach patience and growth here,” Ujiri said after the season ended. “I know with how the results came at the end of the season, I know the expectations now become day-to-day. I understand that from a fan perspective or media perspective. It’s win now. But we’re thinking (about) the long game here.”

In the NBA, however, the distance from here to there has rarely seemed shorter. The future might arrive sooner than you think.
 

Suntouchable13

Registered User
Dec 20, 2003
44,623
20,870
Toronto, ON
Golden State is something else. 19-20 they are dead last in the West. Last season they are only in the play in. This year they are back to being Golden State of old laying waste to teams in the playoffs on the way to another finals.
 
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DuklaNation

Registered User
Aug 26, 2004
5,932
1,752

Barring some bizarre moves, the Raptors will not pay the tax next season, with all of their core players locked into contracts. However, they have multiple decisions that could impact when they will have to confront the tax issue, which means it is a factor starting now, even if the bill won’t come due until 2024 at the earliest.

The Raptors have an even spottier history in terms of paying a tax bill than the Celtics, having paid in the title year and not since 2002-2003 before that. No head basketball decision-maker has ever said that ownership has to spend more on its roster, with Masai Ujiri repeatedly saying that MLSE is open to those conversations. A reminder: The NBA has a salary cap, if not a hard one, so a team cannot simply “decide” to spend into it. It only comes up when a team has given its own players enough money, through the Larry Bird exception or related transactions, to push the payroll to and beyond the threshold.

Those decisions are coming though. Extension windows for Fred VanVleet and Pascal Siakam open this offseason. In 2023, OG Anunoby will be eligible for such a deal, and VanVleet, if he doesn’t sign an extension, and Gary Trent Jr. could hit free agency. The offseason after that, Siakam would be a free agent without an extension, Anunoby could be and Precious Achiuwa would be restricted. Hanging over all of that: Scottie Barnes, and what the Raptors hope will be the maximum-value extension he will have earned in two offseasons, which would go into effect in 2025-26.

These issues might seem far off, but with the collective bargaining agreement limiting contracts to five years at the most, they can creep up on a franchise faster than you think. Even with league revenues and, accordingly, the cap and tax thresholds projected to rise over the next few seasons, it would be difficult to pay all those players their market value and ducking under the tax, especially if you are trying to accumulate a modicum of depth. It is not a coincidence that Anunoby trade rumours are surfacing. It is why the Raptors should at least talk through potential VanVleet trades, even if the most money they can give him in an extension would be entirely reasonable in terms of the size of cap-hit percentage it would represent. Moving players who already make eight figures a year and are heading for raises for players on less expensive deals is how you keep those future costs down.

That is why the Raptors’ offseason decisions with peripheral players, as unsexy as they might be, will serve as a bellwether for the future. If the Raptors are willing to give more than one or two guaranteed years to their own free agents, Chris Boucher and Thaddeus Young, and anyone they might bring in using the midlevel exception, it will show that management is at least willing to create scenarios in which they have to get creative to keep the books responsible. If they keep the deals shorter, you’ll know the threat of paying the tax is still a significant onus for the franchise. (You’ll know this because Ujiri and Bobby Webster will use the word “flexibility” a lot.)

The interesting thing here is that with the championship picture more blurry than in years past, the whole idea of proof of concept might have changed. In the past, Raptors ownership paid the tax when there was a clear shot at a title. Before the year, the Warriors and Celtics had the fourth- and 13th-lowest championship odds. A year prior, the Bucks and Suns slid in at second and 14th. It is harder and harder to know when that window will open.


“We still preach patience and growth here,” Ujiri said after the season ended. “I know with how the results came at the end of the season, I know the expectations now become day-to-day. I understand that from a fan perspective or media perspective. It’s win now. But we’re thinking (about) the long game here.”

In the NBA, however, the distance from here to there has rarely seemed shorter. The future might arrive sooner than you think.
THe most recent luxury tax penalties are well over $400M. The 23 non luxury tax teams get a share of that pot. Multiply that by 2-3 years when you're not a serious contender, its an obvious financial choice.
 

Eyedea

The Legend Continues
Jan 29, 2012
27,796
3,645
Toronto, Ontario
Golden State is something else. 19-20 they are dead last in the West. Last season they are only in the play in. This year they are back to being Golden State of old laying waste to teams in the playoffs on the way to another finals.

Culture shifted the moment Kerr took over for Jackson. The fact that they revitalized Wiggins and turned him into a usable player is evidence of that.
 

Dr.Funk

Registered User
Jul 2, 2004
19,958
2,649
Golden State is something else. 19-20 they are dead last in the West. Last season they are only in the play in. This year they are back to being Golden State of old laying waste to teams in the playoffs on the way to another finals.

Healthy superstars goes a long way. Plus Wiggins has fit well with them and the development of players like Jordan Poole
 

hockeywiz542

Registered User
May 26, 2008
16,211
5,286

1. Secondary playmaking

Internal candidates for improvement:
pretty much everybody, but especially Barnes, OG Anunoby and Malachi Flynn

Free agency targets: Malik Monk, Tyus Jones, Victor Oladipo, Delon Wright, Kyle Anderson

Draft targets: Dalen Terry, Wendell Moore Jr., Andrew Nembhard, Jean Montero

2. Shooting

Internal candidates for improvement:
pretty much everybody, but especially Barnes, Siakam, Chris Boucher (if he’s back) and Justin Champagnie (ditto)

Free agency targets: Monk, Bobby Portis, Pat Connaughton, Mo Bamba, Otto Porter Jr., Bryn Forbes

Draft targets: Moore, Christian Braun, Jalen Williams

3. Rim protection

Internal candidates for improvement:
Barnes, Anunoby, Dalano Banton

Free agency targets: Isaiah Hartenstein, JaVale McGee, Mitchell Robinson, Bamba, Portis

Draft targets: Christian Koloko, Walker Kessler, Ismael Kamagate

4. Perimeter defence — particularly on smaller guards

Internal candidates for improvement:
Barnes, Flynn, Banton, Gary Trent Jr.

Free agency targets: Gary Payton II, Jevon Carter, Wright, Oladipo, Cody Martin, Bruce Brown, Austin Rivers

Draft targets: MarJon Beauchamp, Braun, Moore
 

DuklaNation

Registered User
Aug 26, 2004
5,932
1,752
This team needs to pick a direction. Small ball 5 or let Barnes run the point? Especially with Vanvleet and Trent in last years of their player option contracts. Masai is too player friendly in negotiations. He's got to make a decision on that backcourt. IMO, their #1 issue is poor shot creation from guard position. It would be a mistake to extend both of them because the team needs to be constructed around Barnes' skillset.
 
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DuklaNation

Registered User
Aug 26, 2004
5,932
1,752

Would be a mistake. The future is Barnes as primary ball handler. Vanvleet may not take a lesser role on offense (he's really an off ball catch & shoot guy). And you're overpaying for him at that price. Anyways, with Trent also lined up for a raise, something has to give for their team cap in 23/24. Now is the right time to trade somebody (perhaps right after an extension), preferably both of the backcourt. Get a real C. Trent's production is the easiest to replace and I wouldn't pay him $20M+, there are plenty of SGs around. Not sure what they'll do but this team needs clarity in direction. There's probably something to those OG rumours, usage rate is a zero sum and you can't excel with too many players wanting shots.
 

dredeye

BJ Elitist/Hipster
Mar 3, 2008
27,437
3,104
Has the rumour of Portland prioritizing OG for the 7th overall pick this off season being discussed? I haven’t really followed raps rumours but just saw it now.
 
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