Nylanderthal
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- Jun 9, 2010
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For Thad young (and his bird rights), the 33 overall pick (our pick was 20) and a trade exception of about 3-4m off the top of my head….for...Thad Young ugh
For Thad young (and his bird rights), the 33 overall pick (our pick was 20) and a trade exception of about 3-4m off the top of my head….for...Thad Young ugh
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.
Thad also had a lot of great things to say about the organization so he certainly seems to like it here.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.
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.Raptors' decisions in free agency will speak to Masai Ujiri's belief in team core
The Raptors’ offseason decisions with peripheral players, as unsexy as they might be, will serve as a bellwether for the future.theathletic.com
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.
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.
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.