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OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread

Also....everything kind of hinges on where we draft. One of the top 3 changes the trajectory of this core by a fair bit imo, and maybe changes the capability of the bench immediately depending on who it is.
 
MindzEye said:
That's probably this front office's plan moving forward tbh.

It's tough though, because you'd ideally like to evaluate the guards together before moving on from one unless it was a slam dunk trade. The guys who makes the most sense this summer imo is Jake + Gradey for an upgrade at the 5 but I don't see that move out there.

If it's RJ or IQ we're considering, I think we just chill and evaluate this year unless someone throws something foolish out there at us. Maybe Desmond Bane if JJJ's extension ask is massive and they're internal capped or something because small market.

We're at a weird cross roads though, because the starting unit is playoff quality, but that kid bench is not inspiring imo. It has some okay looking prospects on it, but we can't have a fringe top 10 starting group winning their matchups against oppo starters and then have the kids getting caved in. It's bad for everyone. It's exactly what we did with the last good but not great core. We let a Precious, Malachi, Thad, Trent, Birch, Svi, Yuta, etc, etc group of bench players fuck it up the ass over the course of a few seasons. Honestly, this year isn't that different than the Tampa Massacre. Crazy shit season with injuries, and covid fuckery where we semi fluked into a high lottery pick in a good but not great draft. Returning a core of good but not great players in their early primes (FVV and Pascal were 26, OG 23) and added Scottie 4th overall. That could have been an okay core (it won 48 games the next season) to kickstart the new era, but we fucked it with terrible depth that gutted us night after night.
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tbh it would be RJ that i'd be looking to move just because he's weakest in the 3+D areas.
 
zeke said:
tbh it would be RJ that i'd be looking to move just because he's weakest in the 3+D areas.
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I don't see a SG move out there that would be impactful. RJ is 13th among SG in OBPM, and a handful of those are worse to much worse defensively (Sexton, Reaves, McCollum) and a few others are kind of PG/SG hybrids like IQ (Kyrie, White). With the improvement in his D this season (from real bad to just kinda bad), I'm okay with being patient and hoping for additional improvement.

I also just don't think that Gradey is ever going to be as good as RJ. RJ's 19-20 yr old seasons were a fair bit better than Gradey's to this point and imo what Gradey does is the new "tweener". He doesn't have the ball skills to be a feature guard, and he doesn't do forward things like defend, rebound, etc. The high end comps some people made on draft night (Gordon Hayward, etc) were all way better by their 2nd year than he has been.

If someone was high on him, I'd be listening.
 
Dick seems like a guy who goes off to Europe, learns how to be a deadeye shooter, comes back around 28 and has a good 3-5 year career.
 
zeke said:
yeah i was thinking more of a trade of like RJ + Dick or Walter + for maybe an older better more expensive SG.
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Only guy I see that makes sense is Bane tbh, if Memphis tries to be cheap when JJJ's extension comes due.

Fwiw, Starter SG BPM

Jalen Williams 4.1
Donovan Mitchell 3.8
Josh Hart 3.8
Bane 3.5
Powell 3.5
Kyrie 3.5
Edwards 3.5
Herro 3.1
Booker 1.3
Reaves 0.9
Daniels 0.8
Cason Wallace 0.7
Green 0.6
Monk 0.5
RJ 0.2

I'm not against improving on RJ, but I don't see a better SG we can get for the price.
 
zeke said:
or maybe the trade is Poeltl + kids for a better C.
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The name I'm really interested in is Gafford. That's a trade I would do. Gafford and PJ Washington for RJ. Then turn around and trade Jake for something like Edey and an extended Kennard. Basically a young backup C who can actually play and a shooter. Even if they're defensively challenged. I'd be more than okay with hitting free agency to get a defensive specialist like Melton or Thybulle who I can work into certain rotations and situations.
 
Need a better pg for the bench. Too bad Schroeder is a shit because he’s got a good skill set for the bench. Another big man in addition to Poeltl is a must.
 
Leafin' said:
Need a better pg for the bench. Too bad Schroeder is a shit because he’s got a good skill set for the bench. Another big man in addition to Poeltl is a must.
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With IQ as the main guy, I'd prefer a defensive specialist like Melton as the backup. I like Shead, but he's better suited for 3rd string/G League minutes next year imo, and let his play dictate whether he can handle a bigger role.

Assuming we don't do anything bigger in the off season that moves significant pieces/salary around and we're just playing with the MLE and whatever cap space scraps we have left, my wish list for backup PG is Melton, Tyus Jones, Banton, Brogdon...I'm not even sure in what order other than my preference is Melton if his knee is good to go.

For backup C, I want Larry Nance.
 
MindzEye said:
With IQ as the main guy, I'd prefer a defensive specialist like Melton as the backup. I like Shead, but he's better suited for 3rd string/G League minutes next year imo, and let his play dictate whether he can handle a bigger role.

Assuming we don't do anything bigger in the off season that moves significant pieces/salary around and we're just playing with the MLE and whatever cap space scraps we have left, my wish list for backup PG is Melton, Tyus Jones, Banton, Brogdon...I'm not even sure in what order other than my preference is Melton if his knee is good to go.

For backup C, I want Larry Nance.
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Marcus Smart 👀
 
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