leaffan2005
Well-known member
Honestly if he can just hit that corner 3 a little more consistently he would be all kinds of deadly. Could see a 22-9-3 with solid percentages type of season out of him this year if he can take that next step.
OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread
- Thread starter hockeylover
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Honestly if he can just hit that corner 3 a little more consistently he would be all kinds of deadly. Could see a 22-9-3 with solid percentages type of season out of him this year if he can take that next step.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
He needs some sort of a mid range pull up, as well as improved ability to pass out of the double. He's going to see a whole fuckton of double teams this year. He does his best work off of the ball (both in transition and in the half court as a cutter), he's going to be challenged to improve on the ball in the half court this year.
leaffan2005
Well-known member
Oh yeah definitely re: passing out of double teams. I don't expect teams to double him as often as you may think when they realize everybody in our starting line-up can hit the three (including the bigs) and is an offensive threat. Have high hopes for a guy like Thomas coming off the bench and helping to space the floor with shooting.
leaffan2005
Well-known member
RHJ and Stanimal also intrigue me. We should again be very long and touch defensively.
Definitely in play for top-three in the east. And in the playoffs who knows? Giannis and Embiid haven't proven themselves in the playoffs so both Philly and Milwaukee can definitely be had this year.
Definitely in play for top-three in the east. And in the playoffs who knows? Giannis and Embiid haven't proven themselves in the playoffs so both Philly and Milwaukee can definitely be had this year.
LeafGm
Well-known member
I won't pretend that I wouldn't much rather watch them run back the championship roster with Kawhi this year, but this year will be a fun science experiment. I'm curious to see how well the rest of the team can do without Kawhi. As great as he was, a lot of these guys came up huge in the playoffs.
I'll be surprised if they don't get 50+ wins, but I'm more curious to see how they do in their next crack at the playoffs.
Volcanologist
Well-known member
The important thing is the title. Immortal, forever. Now that Kawhi is in the rearview, I am kind of excited to see what Masai will do next.
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
It looks like he's lining us up for 2 yrs of "gud pro" Raptors with Pascal as the undisputed #1 option, with massive salary cap flexibility in the uber huge UFA summer of 2021. I think Masai is betting that he's made the Raptors a legit destination and either through free agency or trade will land another superstar.
Not much more we can do to show stars the high class treatment the elite get when they get here
Toronto is a fist class city for loaded millionaires .
We cant fix the weather or any star that wants to stay in the USA for family reasons
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
New York, Chicago, and Boston can't fix their weather either and rarely have a problem attracting free agents. The USA thing is real though, and I'm not sure how the organization should tackle that. It's clear that being a rich black man in Canada is better than being a rich black man in roughly 90% of the US, but it's tough to get that message across without being a little too much on the nose.
Volcanologist
Well-known member
The possibilities are:
1) a legit elite player who is non-American emerges, and can be sold more on the program here, rather than being able to eat his favourite shitty takeout brand and not deal with Customs
2) we get an American star who is a different cat personality wise...like a Kawhi, except without the deep California roots and desire to be there in particular
3) we draft one, and manage to stay so good he doesn't want to leave (probably would help if the player were from a place that wasn't an NBA hotbed)
1) a legit elite player who is non-American emerges, and can be sold more on the program here, rather than being able to eat his favourite shitty takeout brand and not deal with Customs
2) we get an American star who is a different cat personality wise...like a Kawhi, except without the deep California roots and desire to be there in particular
3) we draft one, and manage to stay so good he doesn't want to leave (probably would help if the player were from a place that wasn't an NBA hotbed)
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Yeah, pretty much. I think we're going to end up with 1) in Giannis or 2) a trade for a star in a small market who wants out (similar to AD last season, likely KAT this season, etc) has significant term left (3 yrs or more) and decides to stay in Toronto.
3 is less likely, but with us turning Pascal into a star and Masai's eye for talent I wouldn't count that out either.
Knicks and Bulls are hardly destinations for top NBA free agents . Brooklyn did a great job with Marks creating team culture and nabbed 2 this year
I think the biggest issue is almost all of these top players have squat to do with Canada with regards to relatives or ties to anything aspect of life .
Other than a drunken night with Drake and a few visits a year trying to make it past airport security , Canada means nothing to them .
Euros on the other hand most likely have family here and visited before and connected with the city in some aspect.
No doubt we opened up the NBA eyes this year and hopefully the door to end this Toronto stigma
MindzEye
Wayward Ditch Pig
Because both teams suck, both organizations suck. Back when this board was arguing about the direction the organization should go in (most wanted to tank for Wiggins), I was pointing that out. Destination city isn't really enough (unless you're the Lakers or Miami). Build a real organization that wins. Doesn't even have to win the whole thing, just be competitive every fucking year. Do that in a premium city and you'll attract to free agents, or trade for elite players and be able to keep them (usually).
Good example...a top tier market (not Manhattan, but close) that was dreadful and couldn't get top talent to come, just became competitive and superstars start showing up.
I took the Lou Williams video to heart on this subject. Yeah, a lot of these guys have family who don't have passports, have criminal records, etc and can't come see them in Toronto. I'd like to see us take a more direct approach as an organization to rectify that shit in the future. Maybe a mid level executive that handles shit like that. Sort of like a fixer.
Basketball becoming a global game is good for us, because yeah, the idea of working and living in the US has probably lost it's shine to a lot of international players.
CH1
The Artist Formerly Known as chiggins.
For all the amount of partying they do, and how brash they might seem, US players are a fairly conservative and non-curious lot.
They marry young and they stay close to home. If it weren't for basketball, most of them wouldn't have passports.
While they love to party in Toronto, Canada is a foreign country. Full stop. With no ESPN, In N Out Burgers, or whatever else these guys grew up with.
They marry young and they stay close to home. If it weren't for basketball, most of them wouldn't have passports.
While they love to party in Toronto, Canada is a foreign country. Full stop. With no ESPN, In N Out Burgers, or whatever else these guys grew up with.
