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OT: The Official Toronto Raptors Thread

zeke said:
Kawhi could just go the Lakers.
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All the stuff I read has me thinking Kawhi does not want to be a sidekick (or co-star) to LeBron. He wants to be Jordan supported by Pippen/Siakam types
 
Not to change the subject abruptly but anyone who's going to the parade - what time are you planning on being down there for?

Seems pretty tricky. I'm coming from Ajax and all those morning trains are packed with commuters to start with, add in Raptors fans and this will be a real shitshow. Anyone have a strategy?
 
hockeylover said:
Not to change the subject abruptly but anyone who's going to the parade - what time are you planning on being down there for?

Seems pretty tricky. I'm coming from Ajax and all those morning trains are packed with commuters to start with, add in Raptors fans and this will be a real shitshow. Anyone have a strategy?
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A bunch of us plan to find a parking spot at a TTC station and get off at Osgoode , which is close to Nathan PS .

9ish and take it from there . There is no way we are getting close to the venue as people have camped out .

We see what happens as we try to navigate the crowds .

Yesterday at Yorkdale there was a lineup of a few hundred deep just to get a title hat at Sportchek
 
Great move by the Lakers.

I suspect they will get either Kyrie, CP3, or Kemba, and then build out the roster with vet minimum shooters/defenders. They aren't going to make the same mistake as last year and surround LeBron with a bunch of knuckleheads.
 
Casual fan question. With Lebron being 34, what will the tail end of his career look like? Do guys like him age gracefully or fall of a cliff?
 
Lebrion might have really hurt his legacy by going to the Lakers if they bomb again next year. And I think they gave up way to much for Davis. That's still a shit team if they don't add again.
 
WellPlayed said:
Casual fan question. With Lebron being 34, what will the tail end of his career look like? Do guys like him age gracefully or fall of a cliff?
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More frequent injuries, more playing through nagging injuries. Probably a slow, relatively graceful decline into his late 30's.
 
JackBurton said:
Lebrion might have really hurt his legacy by going to the Lakers if they bomb again next year. And I think they gave up way to much for Davis. That's still a shit team if they don't add again.
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They could play a bunch of G leaguers and that won't be a "shit team". Have two generational top-5 players is stupid rare in the NBA. Lebron/Wade, KD/Steph are the last two examples of this. If they add a 3rd guy, it really doesn't matter what the rest of the roster looks like. Look at those Heat teams outside the big-three. Mario Chalmers, James Jones, Norris Cole, Udones Haslem, Michael Beasley, Chris Anderson, etc. They had Ray Allen and Shane Battier who were serviceable but really the rest of that roster was a wasteland.
 
WellPlayed said:
Casual fan question. With Lebron being 34, what will the tail end of his career look like? Do guys like him age gracefully or fall of a cliff?
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He will be fine in the next 3 years . He is too smart and talented

He wont play 82 games or 40 minutes a night

If they add Kemba , he will defer the team leadership to the other 2 in due time

I dont see how he wont be a 20/5/5 on his last legs , he is a freak of nature that we may never see again.
 
Lebron/Wade, KD/Steph are the last two examples of this. If they add a 3rd guy, it really doesn't matter what the rest of the roster looks like.
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To be "not shit", sure. To win a championship, it matters a lot what 4-8 looks like. Just in your two examples, the Warriors and the Heatles had great supporting casts after their big 3:

Miami: Battier, Chalmers, Miller, Haslem, Anthony (Ray Allen & Birdman for title #2)
Warriors: Draymond, Iggy, West, McGee, Looney, Bogut, Zaza

You're not going to win with a bunch of scrubs and G leaguers 4-8 in your rotation. Right now, even with an elite 3rd guy, that's what they project out to have 4-8.
 
MindzEye said:
To be "not shit", sure. To win a championship, it matters a lot what 4-8 looks like. Just in your two examples, the Warriors and the Heatles had great supporting casts after their big 3:

Miami: Battier, Chalmers, Miller, Haslem, Anthony (Ray Allen & Birdman for title #2)
Warriors: Draymond, Iggy, West, McGee, Looney, Bogut, Zaza

You're not going to win with a bunch of scrubs and G leaguers 4-8 in your rotation. Right now, even with an elite 3rd guy, that's what they project out to have 4-8.
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Yeah, I was responding to the "shit" comment. I agree the rest of your roster has to be serviceable to win a chip. I think they will have no issues filling it out in free agency, though.
 
MyNameIsJonas said:
Vets chasing a ring on a minimum deal in LA to play with Lebron isnt a tough sell
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Where were they last year then? Rondo was 9 millie, Lance was 4.5. The only vet minimums were McGee and Chandler. In Cleveland, Korver was 7 million. The vet min guys were Calderon (who was done), Perkins (ditto), and Jeff Green...who was the only valuable ring chaser they had.

The idea that valuable vets are showing up for the vet minimum doesn't seem to hold much actual weight. During the King of the East era, here are the vet min ring chasers (who signed, not via trade mid season):

17-18: Calderon, Jeff Green
16-17: James Jones
15-16: 35 yr old Richard Jefferson, James Jones
14-15: James Jones, 36 yr old Shawn Marion in his final year, Brendan Haywood (35, came back after missing entire year previous, also his final season), 34 yr old Mike Miller (-3.0 bpm, 0.4 wins)
13-14, last year of the Heatles: 35 Birdman (was quite solid), 34 yr old Rashard Lewis (was useless by the time he was 32), Greg Oden, James Jones

It gets no prettier, with names like 39 yr old Juwan Howard involved.

Where those teams historically get useful veterans to come play with them is for the MLE (Channing Frye in Cleveland), and if they're really lucky they're able to get two (Ray Allen and Battier for the Heatles). The vet minimum is typically reserved for guys who are completely done and are just "good team mates". You get the odd bit of value out of it (Javale McGee, Birdman, Jeff Green) but that's the exception.
 
leaffan2005 said:
Yeah, I was responding to the "shit" comment. I agree the rest of your roster has to be serviceable to win a chip. I think they will have no issues filling it out in free agency, though.
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If they add a 3rd stud, I think they're going to struggle like hell to get beyond the #4 spot with any quality. They'll find a solid veteran willing to show up for the MLE but vet minimum guys are usually terrible.
 
Oh, it also looks like the timing of this trade is changing the script. The trade will be official on July 6th, which means that assuming Davis doesn't turn down his trade kicker (4 million), the Lakers will have 23.7 million. There's no 3rd stud coming for 23.7 million. They should be able to attract 2-3 good rotation players for that money though, and another with the MLE.
 
Doesn't this trade actually help us with Kawhi? He goes to LA now and he'll be on the second popular team in the city, and be behind several stars on the lakeshow.
 
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