http://www.raptorscage.ca/should-the...alan-anderson/

What do you think about Anderson being re-signed?

realgm.com

This may be an easy way for us to get back into the draft. It's one pick lower than we were suppose to have and it wouldn't hurt to strength our team.

I'm not sure how we would aquire it -- are players like Pietrus still on our payroll to trade until the draft?

or could we trade a future second round pick and cash?

Who would you draft at the 13th spot?

**Feel free to merge elsewhere but the goal of this thread is to remove Colangelo centered talk and look to the future**

Stephen Brotherston at HoopsWorld.com has a good article regarding potential new GMs for Toronto.

Interesting list.

Who would you like to see? Or maybe more appropriately, who do you think will be next GM? One of these or another?

My Top 10

Cleveland - Nerlens Noel.
Orlando - Ben McLemore
Washington - Anthony Bennett
Charlotte - Shabazz Muhammad
Phoenix - Otto Porter
New Orleans - Rudy Gobert
Sacramaento - Trey Burke
Detroit - Victor Oladipo
Minnesota - Alex Len
Portland - Cody Zeller

Something like that lol. Damn, this draft is pretty bad. I think we're going to see lots of trades.

Leiweke said today raptors will go through a rebranding project. Should they decide to change the name, which many believe will happen because we're named after a movie. What would you like it to be changed to and why?
Or
If they don't change the name, how would you like te logo and jerseys changed?

So I know we have a 0.7 chance of winning the lottery. If there was ever chance for the raptors to win into the top 3 it would be the weakest draft in years. My question fur y'all if we did who would you pick with 1, 2 and 3 pick.

With 1 pick I would have to go with Noel. A front court of him and JV is just too tempting for me. I know his injuries and weighted in at 206 lbs but, he has the most potential. I feel like are team is in position to wait for him. We really don't need a productive rookie this year. He could take the whole year off a la Derrick Rose.

For the other 2 picks I would go with Victor Oladipo. I have developed a serious man crush on this dude. I'm a huge DD support so you know it would take a lot for me to support a would be successor of his. I just feel like he would be a perfect fit next to Rudy. Hands down the best defensive player in this draft. His motor doesn't stop and be has a crazy work ethic. Really smart got his degree in three years. Did I mention that his an athletic freak! Measure out 6'4.25" in shoes with a 6'9.25" and a 42 inch max vert. He got better every year in college. At worst he will be Tony Allen but, he is currently already a better offensively player that TA. I know it's crazy for the raptors to draft another wing player but, with a new GM I can see him taking care of our wings issue. There is just too much money there and to many assets not to use them. I'm done with my rant.

Can some tell if any team has ever won the lottery with a 0.7 chance or less?

Hey guys, I was wondering if you guys would consider adding the ability to add sigs to our posts. I've seen them on other forum sites and they are pretty damn cool. It would be awesome to see all the creative sigs people come up with.

Here's a good example:

Grantland: The Kawhi Leonard Conundrum and Why Life is Unfair

tl;dr Sometimes, it's not the player, but the situation he lands in that makes him what he is. Some teams consistently put players in a good situation - and make their picks a steal, not make a steal of a pick. Thoughts?

Hi,

Do we have any money to buy 2nd rounder this off-season?

I did watch NBA TV that day when Rudy was traded and they were saying that Raptors also gave up maximum money allowed. That means 3M$.

I can't find info anywhere ( that money was added ) right now, so I guess I just misheard, anyone can confirm or deny this?

What a Dufus I am. I noticed I had 16 notifications. So I'm like "Whaaa?" When I checked it out, I notice people of discrimination are liking my posts. Not a lot over the last few months but I will take what I can get. Then I had vague memories of having noticed that it is possible to "like" posts, but I had completely forgotten it.

So my apologies to all those whose posts I have enjoyed tremendously but neglected to "like." I will definitely be making an effort to in the future, because I'm like, so into liking.

And a reminder to readers to throw a little love around. It encourages good posts.

I love this idea. Hopefully Charlotte can pull this off.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...eason-In-Italy

I watched Lawal play a lot at Georgia Tech and he definitely has NBA talent at the PF position. Like many GT players, he underformed in college due to the terrible coaching of Paul Hewitt, which dropped his draft stock to the 2nd round. Sounds like he has finally put it all together. Bringing in Lawal would be a great way to make up for the lack of a draft pick this year. I think he'd make a nice backup PF if we stick with Amir as the starter.

Whether it's Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Kevin Pritchard or Masaj Ujiri, this is a few moves they should do

1) Hire a new coach - Who's available, Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, most likely not. Doc Rivers (maybe a few weeks ago but he decided to resign with the Celtics). Brian Shaw? Steve Van Gundy? Maurice Cheeks? Nate McMillan? Mike Malone? Anyone but Kevin O'neil, Sam Mitchell or Dwayne Casey again.

2) Find a new home for Bargnani - This must be addressed in the offseason as in Bargs stated after the last game of the Raptors that he wish to play for a new team so why not grant his wish. Possible suitors
Chicago - Boozer + Nate Robinson for Bargs + Ross + Lucas III
Utah - Millsap + Watsons for Bargs + Fields
LA - Gasol + Nash for Bargs + Ross + Telfair??
MIN - K.Love for Bargs + DeRozan + Future 1st rounder

3) Buy a pick perhaps or trade one of our player for a late first rounder and grab a backup PG or C.
PG: CJ McCollom, Myck Kabongo, Nate Wolters
C: Rudy Golbert, Gorgui Dieng, Jeff Withey

4) Buy a second round pick and grab a backup SF or a third stringer SG
SF: Michael Snaer, Deshaun Thomas, Livio Jean Charles
SG: Jamal Franklin, Glen Rice Jr, BJ Young

5) Free Agent Signing Options
C: Samuel Dalembart, Nazr Mohammad, Brendan Haywood
PF: Carl Landry, JJ Hickson, Gani Lawal
SF: Dorrel Wright, Mike Dunleavy, Marquis Daniels
SG: JJ Reddick, Tony Allen, Nick Young
PG: Jose Calderon, Eric Maynor, DJ Augustin

6) Summer Camp Invites to fill the remainder of the Roster
a) Gani Lawal
b) Bobby Brown
c) Undrafted players from 2013 NBA Draft
d) Asian, African, European or Australian prospects (Zhou Qi, Luigi Datome, Vassilius Spanoulis, Nathan Jawaii, Shawn James)

Seems like TL has been shopping for new GM candidates:

"Leiweke is not conducting the search for a possible replacement on his own; multiple NBA sources say MLSE has hired a head-hunting firm to whittle down a list of possible replacements," Smith wrote.

Interesting.

Also, looks like Jerry Sloan turned down the Bucks, but is interested in a return to coaching:
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/92...ucks-job-agent

So, if DC is gone due to BC's departure, new GM-guy has to make that call, right? Dunno if its so cut and dry. Re already tried Lenny Wilkens...ugh.... I don't know if I can work through another old-school coach trying to remake-it in the "new NBA".

I personally would be in favour of keeping Casey. I think he's done a good enough job given the talent and the scrambled expectations of the head-office for the players he's been dealt.

Nice article I found in NY Times Magazine

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/19/ma...lone.html?_r=0

Enjoy.

This has been going on for a few days now.
Couldn't find a place to post about it.

Here's a link to the released measurements so far:
http://www.nbadraft.net/2013-nba-dra...e-measurements

Pretty interesting stuff.

Also NBA.com has some interviews up:
http://www.nba.com/draft/

Thoughts? Comments?
Other than Gobert measuring well (and apparently blocking everything) I haven't heard much.
Olynyk, and Burke measured well too.

Meanwhile, Shabazz is taking some hits.

I dont think posters will really take my post seriously, but, nothing really much to talk about since its the off-season.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...ks-Ready-To-Go

Would you be willing to overpay to get Oden as JV's backup?

http://gawker.com/for-sale-a-video-o...-cra-507736569

so that happened.

i don't even care if it's true or not... but look forward to the hilarity of the entire situation unfolding

i actually drive through the neighborhood he allegedly buys his crack in every single day and always comment on how much it looks like something taken right out of the Wire...

Check out this image that's floating around the interwebs -


That's what I call a collection! Its unreal! (Note the 3 Vince Carter Jerseys.)

Thought it would be cool to put player updates in this thread see what they are up to during the time off before next season... For any updates on the current roster now and future cpost here :)

Follow @Raptors for all the general updates.

DeMar DeRozan
@DeMar_DeRozan

-Prepping for Drew-League
-just donated 15,000 to charity
-expecting his child soon?

Rudy Gay
@rudygay22

-Just had Eye surgery taking it easy

Terrence Ross
@T_DotFlight31

-At UW working out and has been playing ball non stop for the past week

Landry Fields
@Landryfields

-Is Traveling with his fiancee'

JV
*No Twitter :O Follow @Raptors and @RaptorsMR for JV updates*

-Spending quality time with his family
-joining the Lithuanian team for some ball

Andrea Bargnani
@AndreaBargnani*Seldom updated*

- In Italy
-Spoke with Colangelo and his agent no news on future plans "A"possible change of scenery" was the key phrase used in the talks at season wrap up.

Quincy Acy
@QuincyAcy

-After a light vacation and dolphin riding with Ross he's in Dallas

Amir Johnson
@IamAmirJohnson

-delayed plans to LA workouts to follow and support the Leafs.. now that they are out I assume the plans are back on?

Kyle Lowry
@KLow7

-Was supporting Leafs delayed his trip to Philadelphia (workouts, family)

Sebastion Telfair
@BassyS31T

-Traveling to China

John Lucas III
@Luke1luk

-Still in Toronto delayed workouts to support the Leafs

Alan Anderson
@ASqared06

-In Toronto enjoying quality time with loved ones.

Pietrus and Aron Gray: ?????????????????

Not a lot of happy campers in Raptorland but I think the one thing everyone basically agrees with is the current Raptor team with just minor tweaks has a low ceiling and requires a lot of "IF's" to make the playoffs - let alone go beyond the first round.

So whether you want the team to stay as is, blow it up, or make a trade give YOUR list of "IF's" that would make you excited for next season.

I made a post here that has a lot of the rationale behind my thinking for this thread.

In a nutshell for the Raptors to really compete with what they currently have, they need to obtain a quality PF with just these two assets at their disposal:

- one of Ross or DeRozan.
- Bargnani.


So what is your best trade to address PF involving just one of DD/Ross and Bargnani?

On Sports Guy's pod cast with Zach Lowe they went off on Rudy Gay for about 10 minutes. Long story short Lowe says it's POSSIBLE it could still work in Toronto.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/grantla...yer?id=9270983

It's around the 25:00 mark.

Boring offseason stuff I know.

(Disclaimer: This is not an Andrew Wiggans thread)

What do you say we become the worst team in the NBA? BCs desperation has left us in NBA no-mans land.:

• Not good enough to win a playoff series
• Unlikely to even make the playoffs
• Still too good to not get an impactful draft pick
• Too tied up in terms of cap space to sign a star player
• Not enough players with trade via to improve the team via trade

We are headed for AT LEAST 3 more years of irrelevancy as currently constructed under this strategy. This thread is about limiting our continued irrelevancy to only 3 years by aggressively tanking and trading away all current assets for terrible players/contracts and draft picks.

Move 1:
Trade Rudy and Landry to the Nets for Gerald Wallace, Chris Humphries and a 1st round pick in 2014
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ct86vho

Given that money is no object for the Nets, perhaps they could even pony up some cash for a potential Wallace buy out in 2015. Rudy and Landry are both overpaid, but the Nets do this to get out of the Wallace deal and to add another “star”. Derron/JJ/Rudy/Evans/Brook. That’s a quasi-contender that King can sell to the Russian as a real contender.

Move 2
Trade Amir to Phoenix for Beasley and a (protected) first round pick
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=chxpgj6

Not sure we can land their top 5 pick this year for taking Beez off their hands and giving them Amir. But if we protect it like: Top 10 (2013), Top 5 (2014), Top 5 (2015), Top 3 (2016), unprotected (2017), they might bite on the chance to ditch Beez and we’d still get a lottery pick out of it.

Move 3
Trade Lowry and Demar to Detroit for Jerebko, Stuckey and their (top 5 protected) 2013 first rounder
(Note: This trade fails straight-up in the trade machine, but after the first 2 moves, it works)
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=btjas5p

Detroit gives up a mid-lotto pick to get out of 2 bad contracts, get a good one back (Kyle) and add a pretty good young piece on the wing (Demar). Kyle and Demar are probably both better than what they’d get at 7 this draft, and it accelerates their rebuild.

Then we bring back Grey, Anderson and Lucas. Your 2013-2014 Toronto Raptors (!!!!):

1) Stuckey, Lucas
2) Ross, Anderson
3) Wallace, Beasley, Jerebko
4) Bargnani, Humphies, Acy
5) Valanciunas, Grey

Plus a top 10 pick in 2013 from the Pistons (say, MCW). We could provide heavy minutes to a young lineup of MCW/Ross/Jerebko/Acy/Val. Is that bad enough to virtually guarantee a top 3 pick in 2014? I say yes. We might even get a top 3 pick in 2015 with this core. Plus, we get a team with 2 guys named Jonas!

Then Stuckey and Hump are off the books, and Beez/Wallace/Bargs can be bought out or paid to stay home. That leaves us going into 2016 with:

• Ross
• Val
• Acy
• Detroit’s 2013 (#7)
• Brooklyn’s late 2014 first rounder
• Phoenix’s 2014, 2015 2016 pick (likely #6-10)
• Our top 3 2014 pick
• Our top 3 2015 pick
• 2 high second round picks of our own

We’d have cap space to fill out the roster with veteran leaders as needed, plus potentially get a star to fill whichever remaining hole is biggest.

We would need a care taker coach for the next few years before bringing in somebody to guide the team forward – similar to the Carlisimo/Brooks handoff in Seattle/OKC (although they may have misfired with Brooks a little). PJ is available.

Now that I’ve gone through all this, my questions for y’all are:

1. Would you be on board with another 3-5 year rebuild if we really, truly committed to bottoming out?
2. Do you think a massive rebuild like this is even necessary, or do you want to roll with the core as constructed?
3. What do you think the likelihood of any/all of these moves from the other team’s perspective? Could this actually be pulled off?
4. Do you have your own ideas of how to tank & rebuild?
5. Do you think we could embark on a strategy like this without mortally wounding the development of any young guys (Ross/Val/etc)?

So, it seems like we are in wait-and-see mode to find out how the Phil Jackson / BC thing plays out.

What about Larry Bird for GM / Prez?

He's won as a player (MVP), Coach (COY), Executive (EOY). He completely rebuilt the Pacers into the winning team they are today without tanking or a having a definable superstar on a limited small market budget.

Credibility? Check. Name appeal? Check. Winner? Check. Available? Check.

I figured out how to change it, but every photo I select is too large, even on photos that are smaller than the required size. Why is this happening?

Basically asking if you think the Lowry trade was worth it. Some mocks have Michael Carter Williams in that spot; others have CJ McCollum, Dario Saric, Kelly Olynyk or Gorgui Dieng going in 12ish territory.

If your selecting "Yes", reply and state who you'd pick and why.

If your selecting "No", reply and tell us how far up the draft board you'd go in exchange for Kyle. That is, what's the pick # where you would no longer want to trade Lowry? You could also include which high lottery pick you're targeting.

Could he be the offensive coordinator that we wanted for this team??

Dude looked spent as a baller last year. Same old issues about defensive positioning, no nose for the ball, etc, plus the added bonus of being a terrible, terrible shooter. At $11 & $12 mil for the upcoming 2 seasons, his value is at an all time low and he's one of the worst contracts in the game. What are the options for shipping him out?

1) Amnesty.

Widely reported we're using this on Linus. Barg's $23 mil remaining certainly outweighs Linus' $4.6. Pulling the trigger on Andrea would give us more cap room, but also increase the money we're spending on literally no contrabutions. THis option seems more likely if BC is gone because Andrea is his baby to a certain degree.

2) Sit Tight.

We could try to revive him as an off-the-bench scorer, if only his shot would start falling. Maybe we could get a decent 6th man season out of him and deal him as an expiring next year (like Jose this past season).

3) Trade.

As one of the league's worst deals, we're not getting much (if anything) back. BC basically begged for offers this February and got ziltch. There is zero chance we get a first rounder for him. REPEAT: ZERO. We're only going to get a deal done if we take an even more horrific contract back (examples: Gerald Wallace, Amare), we trade a blue-chipper along with Andrea (JV), or we catch a team desperate team in a unique situation and hope they make a dumb move. I don't want Wallace or Amare. I want to keep JV. So who might make a silly trade with us? I suggested that we look at the Kings can ask for Chuck Hayes and Jimmer back. People here thought i was trolling and I'm not sure why. Are we really getting more than that back for our deadweight? Eric Gordon is begging to get out of New Orleans. David Lee is looking like a piece that no longer fits in GState. But those 2 guys are WAAAAY more valuable to AB at this stage.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ctezfpe

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=blaho5v

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cnhgtkq

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cagx8ls

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=bdccz8t


Do you guys think any of these trades are realistic and intriguing? (Again, I HIGHLY doubt we're getting a pick back for him, so let's avoid tossing any into our hypothetical deals)

Would you rather amnesty him?

Do you want to roll into next year with him?

Just an idea I have here. This trade would benefit the Rap's a bunch on the bench, and we could get rid of DeRozan later on.

Proposal:

To the Wizards:

C Andrea Bargnani

F/C Quincy Acy


Coming Back:

F Trevor Booker

PG John Wall

SF Jan Vesely

Interesting article from Grantland:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...-playoff-teams

It looks at this season's experiment with "small ball" while noting that in the second round of the play-offs, only two teams that played a lot of it are still in the race


"That leaves New York and Miami as the only true small-ball outliers left, and the Heat have the benefit of the world's greatest player, a totally unique multipositional cyborg who defies almost everything we know about basketball players. The playoffs have reinforced two very basic NBA realities we sometimes forget in anointing this the Era of Small Ball:

1. Size is really important, at all positions. I think Jarrett Jack just hit another midrange pull-up over Ty Lawson.

2. A big guy who can actually play both ends of the floor at a B-plus level is the most valuable non-superstar commodity in the league. This is why Josh Smith is getting a max deal this summer, no matter how distasteful you might find it. This is why Al Horford, earning a flat $12 million per season through 2015-16, is rising up through the informal "best contract in the NBA" rankings every league exec keeps in his head. It's why David West is underpaid, even if the real reason he's underpaid is because he signed his current deal while recovering from an ACL tear. It's why Tyson Chandler, when healthy, is easily worth his $14 million annual salary, even though dunking on pick-and-rolls constitutes 80 percent of his offensive game."

The Raptors have two very competent big men, in JV and Amir. I know many here don't think Amir is a starting caliber PF, but I would say he is definitely a B-plus level big.

"If teams are indeed going small more often, it's not because they've figured out that small ball is better in some objective, all-encompassing way. It's because they've realized playing small is better for teams who simply don't have enough competent big men."

This article would tend to support those RR members who are arguing for another dependable big to fit into the rotation. I like Grey, but definitely not a B-plus big because of he lack of speed and mobility compared to other bench bigs he must play against.

http://www.raptorshq.com/2013/5/8/43...ey-valanciunas

Lots of stuff rehashed that Raptor fans have been talking about non-stop - especially here. Worth the click and a good read.

The panel for this discussion is:

I figured I'd put the questions discussed in the article here for discussion in this thread. I don't want to copy and paste the whole article because that is not quite fair to that site. I HIGHLY recommend clicking the link.





What I find hilariously/maddeningly/painfully/unsurprisingly is: everyone is in agreement the team did not move forward and may have even taken a step back and everyone is in agreement the wins at the end of the season are 'fools gold' but yet not everyone is in agreement change is needed or are on the fence.


How would you answer the questions?

Lately I've been thinking ..

Tim Lewieke keeps saying he's about winning championships ..

Does our roster have the potential to win championships .. ?
Maybe.

Would you guys be okay with him tanking next season on pursuit for Wiggins?

He's gonna be a star .. A LEBRON-JAMES star.

He might be the only way.

Toronto trade Bargs, DeRozan, Kleiza, future 2nd rounder
Toronto receive E.Gordon, Austin Rivers, Devin Harris

Toronto trade Ross, A.Gray, future 1st rounder
Utah trade P.Millsap, D.Carrol

Raps resign A.Andersen and sign Carl Landry to a 3 years 20mil contract and sign Jose Calderon for the vet minimum (let's hope he resigns with us), and grab Nazr Mohammad from the Bulls.

Raps Lineups
Lowry/Jose/Harris
Gordon/Rivers/A.Andersen
Gay/Fields/Carrol
Millsap/Carl Landry/Acy
Val/Amir/Mohammad

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...sexual-assault

Welp. Can't say I'm not surprised. He's been known to abuse marijuana in the past, but this just takes the cake.

I don't know if he'll be in the league much longer, considering his play has also dropped off considerably.

Got this off of Bleacher Report's 'Starting Five Predictions for Every NBA Team Next Season'

Toronto Raptors

Starting Five: Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay, Jason Maxiell, Jonas Valanciunas

You might be wondering how the Toronto Raptors are going to have enough money left over to sign Jason Maxiell and fill the void at power forward.
I'll give you a hint.
It involves Andrea Bargnani and the amnesty clause. With the Italian big man off the books, Toronto has a bit more financial flexibility and the ability to make one relatively large move during the 2013 offseason.
The Raptors are set everywhere else, and Maxiell is a cost-effective option.
This team could surprise a lot of people.

Written by : Adam Fromal

Thoughts?
Would you guys be satisfied with Jason Maxiell .. ?

Hey guys. I'm looking to get a regular game going over the course of the summer.

Just seeing who is interested. I'm located right down town near Yonge & Bloor.

Looking for people who are adults or close enough to adults that they wont cry when I foul them :P

I would say my skill level is somewhere around a guy that could play backup minutes on a Fanshawe College like school team....about 40 lbs ago.

Fact - They basically had the same record at the end of last season. Now, the Warriors are in the 2nd round of the playoffs. And it's looking like this series against the Spurs is going 7 games.

Raptors on the other hand once again is out of the playoffs. :mad:

Fact - It is much tougher to get into the playoffs in the West than in the Eest because there's so many great teams in the West.

Another thing, Warriors play their rookies a lot. Mark Jackson is not afraid to use Ezeli or Barnes or Green or even Bazemore in crunch time. In fact, Green and Barnes plays clutch mins for the Warriors every night. Goes back to what Casey said about Jonas a couple of months ago that if the Raps were fighting for a playoff spot, Jonas would likely not get much playing time :confused:

Does this really deserve a fine? I mean seriously. It's not that bad. If the NBA didn't give a fine to this:



I don't think Belinelli deserves to be fine. I mean which is more dirty and suggestive? Stern just wants to pocket more cash!

http://view.mlsefanmail.com/?j=fe521...0d79711570&r=0

I just received this in an e-mail and would encourage everyone to complete it. I'm a big believer in "if you don't vote, you don't get to complain". I think it's important for the team to receive genuine anonymous feedback regarding our broadcasts, which I believe are in the bottom half of the league from a professionalism standpoint. Here's your chance to be heard. Use it.

Toronto trade Bargs, Amir, Ross, Future 1st rounder for Glenn Davis + 1st rounder

Raps draft Nerlens Noel with the Magic pick

Raps Lineups
Lowry/PG/PG
DeRozan/Anderson?/SG
Gay/Fields/Kleiza
Noel/Davis/Acy
Val/Gray

I find this whole paragraph contradictory. On one hand he has family in LA. On the other hand he has Canadian family, he likes Toronto, he wants to see the Raptors succeed.... but is the 2nd last sentence foreshadowing? It sounds as if Phil Jackson is coming at some point in the near future. I think Bryan Shaw not being hired by Detroit will be like throwing a jug of gasoline on a fire on the Raptor-Jackson talk.

Oh yeah, I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Leiweke is looking for problems, solutions, and answers while Colangelo is doing more circles than a spin class describing how Gay and DeRozan have set the foundation for a championship team.



http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/05/03/o...o-for-the-cup/

so a milwaukee ball boy did an ama on reddit.

http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments...eam_attendant/

and he had quite the anecdote.

http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments...endant/c9rpdgu

"Here's another one I was just thinking about. It occured about a month ago when the Raptors were in town. I was just walking through the visitor's locker room when Amir Johnson and Rudy Gay called me over. Normally this would be a job for one of my supervisors, but he ran an errand.
So it went something like this...
RG:"Hey. Just saying, hypothetically...you know.... i'm not really asking....but just maybe....I mean theoretically.....could you get us some liquor?
Me: "Yeah for sure. What were you thinking?"
AJ:"You knoww...we need come ciroc. you know what that is"
White suburban me even knows what ciroc is.
Me: "Yeah, of course"
RG: "Aight, we need some ciroc peach, we need to make our trip home a but more interesting"
I told my supervisor (because he is 21) and suffice to say, they got their ciroc peach."

If we were to fire coach casey and get a new coach for whatever reason who would you like to hire? I personally would love to have Jeff Van Gundy as our coach

I was thinking of players that the Raps might be able to target for their back-up PG role. What we need is a cheap and available option, but someone who is ideally more of a distributor than scorer to counter Lowry's style.

So when I was thinking of names, one that popped up interested, but I was wondering what the RR thought of bringing in T-Mac. At this point in his career, he is more of a distributor than scorer but can still hit the open jumper. He is a veteran who can be had for fairly cheap.

Would you welcome back T-Mac to be Lowry's back-up?

What do you all think?

Toronto Raptors might have a great chance to get the 7th or 8th playoff spot if:

- they become more aggressive
- terrence ross is a young player who can shoot and also hype up and motivate the team with his dunks (let him play some minutes)
- Demar Derozan needs to hit up the gym and practice his jump-shot outside of the paint.
- Rudy gay needs to practise his 3 pointers because he is very inconsistent with his points and his percentage

What do you all think??

http://dimemag.com/2013/05/video-did...rmelo-anthony/

Funny stuff, but now Crawford will be seen as a dickbag. Worth a look.

I hate both teams and wish they could lose every game.

well I am not making any money but am going to give my opinion anyways....

I watched bryan's end of season press conferences a few times now and have had time to digest it. one thing I want to address was his thoughts about lowery. I do not at all think this point guard is the future for this team, now bryan didnt say he thinks that either but what he did say was that he seen improvement, I didnt. from what I seen in houston and what I seen from him in toronto he physically had digressed, his basketball IQ I think is avg, his defense is just above calderon, he doesn't have a consistent 3 point shoot which we need if rudy and demar are on the floor together.

there is the rule of thumb you want 2 players on the floor that can hit the 3 on offenses at all times to space the floor that can come from ideally the 1 and 2 spot (demar can't hit 3's), the 1 and 3 spot (rudy is not a 3 point shooter), the 2 and 3 spot ( look at the spurs) and the unconventional ( 1 and 4 spot or 2 and 4 spot) we have bargani ( i said he was injury prone 2 years ago and got hit up for it).

lowery does not posses the skill set to be a starting point guard on a championship contenting team. the starting point MOST have these 3 skills ( i stress most). hit the open 3 to prevent double teams on players in the low post, create shots for others ( this doesnt have to be ankle break cross over followed by a insane behind the back pass, just get the rock to the right place at the right time for one of your teammates to have a open look. last but not least play defense.The only skill he has a chance to excel at is number 3 play defense.

I also think he is a west coast GM ehere run and gun is the style he wants well toronto is on the east coast and east coast ballasketballl is walk the ball up the floor and pound your face off and if you try and run up and down the court every man on the team is going to put a hit on you to slow you down. chip kelly has a amazing quote "big people beat up litlle people"

To say a I psychotic, maybe to an extent that I think I know what Phil Jackson's thinking. So if MR.Zen the Phil is hired, as Phil I would pull a move like this.

1) The Hiring of Phil as our Pres ofcourse.
2) Phil fires Coach Dwayne Casey but promote him to be our assistant coach, hires Brian Shaw as our head coach
3) Phil brings a bunch of guys together, assistant coaches, trainers, etc

Now trades and player movement. For the triangle offense to work, Phil will decide to keep our starting lineup of players with a few minor tweaks

1) Toronto send Bargs + Landry Fields + Kleiza
LA send Gasol + S.Blake

2) Toronto use LLE on Samuel Dalembart

3) Toronto resigns Alan Anderson for a 1 year contract

4) Toronto signs Derek Fisher to play cheap for the Raptors, more like provide tutelage for the young Lowry and S.Blake

5) Raps use MLE on Mike Dunleavy and the rest on a 3rd stringer defender SF like DeMarre Carol or buy a pick and somehow draft DeShaun Thomas in the second round

Raps Lineups next year
Lowry/Blake/D.Fisher
DeRozan/T.Ross/Alan Andersen
Gay/M.Dunleavy/D.Carol or D.Thomas
Gasol/Amir/Acy
Val/Dalembart/Gray

Phil will give T-Ross another year or maybe before the deadline to see whether DeRozan is a keeper of Ross is a heir to Kobe. Our backcourt are great with Lowry and Blake handling the point. M.Dunleavy is a gonna be a great backup behind Gay as in he can knock down the shot from the 3 point line and capable of starting for this team if Gay or DeRozan is injured. Gasol is aging but I would take him as opposed to Bargs, even if he has to come off the bench, he will contribute positively for this team, him and Amir will do wonders for this team, on some night, Amir and Gasol will play together. We get a veteran backup center in Dalembart who not only can block shot but provide help for the young Val.

This might not be so far fetched after all. :)

Source - Click here

G'day Keeper League Owners/Managers!

Figured now would be as good a time as any to start next seasons Thread for the Keeper League!
Season 4 already, can you believe it?

Would like to start out by saying Thank You to Apollo for his dedication to the Leagues in Years past.
His presence will be missed. However, we couldn't be happier to welcome Tucas to the League as Apollo's official Incumbent owner/manager. Welcome Tucas!

Just as a reminder, (or quick run-down for Tucas) I'm posting all of the Rules again, so they are fresh and easy to find:

I'd recommend everyone start putting some thought into your Keepers now, so you are not leaving to the last minute. Feel free to announce any keepers now, which you can modify down the road if you decide.
I'll be keeping track of everyone's keepers here:

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joey_hesketh Keepers - Kevin Durant($30), Chris Paul($30), Paul George($30), Al Horford($30)
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Soft Euro Keepers -
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RaptorsFan4Life Keepers -
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Matt52 Keepers -
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SKYWALKER Keepers - James Harden ($30), Marc Gasol ($30)
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drizz Keepers -
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WJF Keepers -
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Mack North Keepers - Jonas Valanciunas($30), Dwyane Wade($50)
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Tucas Keepers -
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Raptor4Ever Keepers -
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jbml Keepers -
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Mangokid Keepers -
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There has been some talk on the forum of people wanting us to get a post presence; preferably someone who can pass. To help that discussion I've compiled a list of players with their post and assist stats. Some are there because they are among the best in the league, other because they have been mentioned as targets. I've included Valanciunas and Johnson for comparison.


Sources are Synergy and Hoopdata

He became the first NBA player to say it when he said "I'm a 34 year old center, I'm black and I'm gay." What are your thoughts on this. I think it cool that he had the balls to say it. There have probably been others(see any Chris bosh photo) who have been too afraid.

Which big man is better?
Which fits the Raptors better?

If you were the Raptors' new GM what would be your top three priorities in terms of personnel? This could involve either players or coaches. Please don't end it with brief one liners, let's have some fun with this.

• If you tell us you want Casey out of here then who would you replace him with, who would be your backup plan?
• If you tell us you want Bargnani traded then what or who would you be looking to get back?

There are no right or wrong answers... That is unless you forget to consider the salary cap; let's pretend it's not going to change.

Title says it all.

Why would the Bobcats do it? Well, they need talent. And if Bargnani got something, it is talent. Also, it appears that relations between Ben Gordon and the Bobcats organisation are not going really well. I also guess that Gordon would welcome a new start. Same for Andrea.

Why would the Raptors do it? Well, it is pretty obvious that the Raptors need to get rid of Andrea Bargnani. By doing this trade, they will save around 10M$ when the summer of 2014 comes. Also, they get Ben Gordon, a combo guard who's proved in the past that he's really, really clutch. He's a scorer, and he's a good veteran NBA player. He'd be great coming of the bench. He can play some minutes at the point, also.

I know some of you will say that Anderson gives us about the same type of game for a lot less money and that it would only cut on Ross' minutes. Well, I don't agree with you. Here's why. We want to be a playoff team. Gordon is an NBA player. A true one. Ross will play more next year than this past one that's for sure. But he probably still won't be ready to play huge minutes.

I'd still like to see Anderson back as the third small forward.

Valanciunas/FA/Gray
Johnson/FA/Acy
Gay/Fields/FA
DeRozan/Ross/Gordon
Lowry/FA/Lucas

Kleiza get amnestied. Would you do that trade? Do you like this roster?

Title explains it.

CAN someone PLEASE upload Behind the draft 2012 and the Open Gym episodes please ;(?

Can't find where I read it but BC meeting/presentation is May 7th. Wish I could find it.


blackjitsu posted this interview:

http://pmd.fan590.com/audio_on_deman...-Interview.mp3


Also should be noted that Leiweke is no NBA novice. Served as president of Nuggets for four seasons in addition to working for the Wolves.

Jalen brought up this idea on Simmons' podcast today.

Bargnani for Nash, straight up. (Although I'm thinking Toronto would have to throw in a 2nd rounder or something).

Nash is the backup everyone wants for Lowry. He also gets paid a little less than Bargs. And Bargs in a D'Antoni system would be one of the few places he could thrive in.

It works straight up: http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=c7vp7p4

I mean personally I'd take anything for Bargs that didn't take in more salary but this kind of makes sense.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cqjw82c

We will have to throw two future first round pick

MLSE has named a new president and it is a fantastic hire! I would see this as a step toward Colangelo being not renewed, but that is speculation on my part.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/mlse-hires-leiweke-as-new-presidentceo/

20. Kevin Love
Tough love for Love! He already lost the 2013 Mokeski to David Lee; now he's bungee-jumping 16 picks from last year's lofty no. 4 spot to this year's semi-insulting no. 20 position, which normally wouldn't happen to a 24-year-old franchise star unless he was arrested with two underage girls and three and a half pounds of molly. Just know that he didn't drop 16 spots because of that twice-broken hand. If we're measuring players by trade value, we're really measuring them by the probability that they'd ever be traded. And Kevin Love WILL be traded. It's inevitable. It might happen this summer, it might happen during next season, but it's going to happen.
And here's why: Before the 2011-12 season started, Minnesota could have locked Love up to a five-year max extension that he wanted to sign. Incredibly, the T-Wolves decided it would be dumb to lock up a 23-year-old franchise guy for as long as humanly possible; they wanted to save that "max" extension slot for Ricky Rubio. Love signed a lucrative four-year extension with a player option for Year 4 (after 2014-15) that may as well be called "Kevin Love's Get Out of Jail Free Card." He's been bitter ever since. You would be too.
What should you do if you're Minnesota? If you're smart, you'd build around Rubio (about to get an extension), Pekovic (about to get paid) and whatever you can get for Kevin Love. The blueprint: In February 2011, the Jazz shrewdly dealt Deron Williams 17 months before he could bolt Utah for a high lottery pick (Derrick Favors) and a future lottery pick (that became no. 3 overall: Enes Kanter), maximizing any and all leverage they had. I don't see how the T-Wolves make it through this summer without doing the same. The likeliest suitor? Chicago. The Bulls have big contracts to make the trade work (Luol Deng on the enticing side, Carlos Boozer on the less enticing side); they're loaded with assets like Jimmy Butler (no. 49 on this year's list), the rights to Mirotic (a high lottery pick if he entered this year's draft), and the rights to Charlotte's future no. 1 pick (top-10 protected in 2014, top-eight protected in 2015, unprotected in 2016); and they're a big-market contender with a superstar in house (so they could keep Love for the long haul).
Let's say Chicago calls Minnesota in June and offers them Boozer's contract with Butler, Mirotic AND the Charlotte pick. How could the T-Wolves turn that down? And if you're the Bulls, how would you turn down the chance to (a) dump Boozer's deal, and (b) upend a potential Miami dynasty with a nucleus of Rose, Noah, Love, Deng, Taj Gibson and Tom Thibodeau these next few years? You know, unless your owner was too cheap to make a real run at the Heat? (Cut to every Chicago fan grimacing.) Anyway, I'm dropping Love to 20 only because that Bulls trade made too much damned sense. It just did.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...e-value-part-2

Any chance we can get him?

1) If David Khan gets irritated with Love because of his comments and demeanor, what better way would there be than to throw him to an eastern team who hasnt been to the playoffs in so many years?

Would you do Amir + DD + 1st rounder for Love?
Amir would be a good backup or even play alongside Pecovic, DD as the starting SG and 1st rounder as icing on the cake.

A conversation over in the Video Game thread gave me an idea for a new Thread!

And this picture I saw a few days is a perfect starting point:



Lesson to learn here kiddies - Tattoos can help you get lucky, and make you look SUPER badass and cool ... OR .. they can make you look like an absolute idiot. Word of Caution.

I always see people looking at stats as averages, or extrapolated averages (e.g. Per 36 minutes). How come no one ever looks at the variance of those stats?

For example, the standard deviation for FG% or rebounds would tell us a lot about consistency and, therefore, reliability. If one player shoots 40% one night and 50% another, whereas another player shoots 45% both nights, who would you rather have?

I'm not sure if the advanced metrics take this into account, but I haven't read that they do. I guess this is more a question for Blake, but just wondering, is all...

You realize that if brooklyn didn't make that stupid trade with portland last season (6th pick and mehmet okur for gerald wallace) then lillard would have fell to us due to both golden state-7th pick and brooklyn-6th pick already having elite point guards in steph curry and d-will, imagine a lineup with lillard, derozan, gay ,amir and jv........... if only i could go back in time and talk billy king out of it

http://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/n...losing-battle/

So Casey saying that our offensive package was built to be similar to what Dallas had around Nowitzki isn't exactly news. We all know what a mistake this was. However, with our new, non-Bargnani core, obviously that offensive package makes even less sense. I am hopeful that the isolation-intensive offense we saw late in the season was simply Casey scrambling to give his guys something easy to learn, and that given an offseason and training camp, he'll put together something more sophisticated (or bring in someone who can). However, it also seems realistic that the best he can do as a non-offense guy is just ripping off another team's schemes.

Let's say, hypothetically, that our core stays the same going into next season and Casey remains HC. And let's say Casey was looking to copy an offensive package from another NBA team. What (current or past) team's offensive schemes do you think would most suit the Raptors? I'm asking this because for me it's a bit of a head-scratcher. I can't really think of another team's offense that would make perfect sense for the Raptors, although admittedly I don't watch a lot of non-Raptors NBA other than during the playoffs. Any suggestions?

I found this interesting analysis published after the 2011 season. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/7...n-2011/page/27

The analyst ranked the top NBA players for the 2011 in terms of PER, who were under the age of 25. The premise was that building a team around the best young players (based on PER) was a good way to develop a franchise.

For Raptors fans, the results would be encouraging, and puzzling. The current roster has no less than 5 of the top 35 under 25 during 2011:

34. DeMar DeRozan (age 21): PER 14.52
30. Andrea Bargnani (age 25): PER 16.50
28. Kyle Lowry (age 25): PER 16.51
24. Amir Johnson (age 24): PER 17.67
22. Rudy Gay (age 24): PER 17.88

So, what are we to make of this? Is the PER a somewhat unreliable predictor of individual success? Probably.

Did some of these players fail to develop further? It would seem so.

Have the Raptors had too young a team to really succeed? I think so.

Have the Raptors suffered from problems with chemistry? Definitely.

Do the Raptors have some young talent that might grow "organically" with effective and consistent coaching? We shall see.

After a couple months with a case of serious depression after stepping down as site administrator, old faithful Apollo has decided to join our ranks once again. The thought of not running this ship was eating away at him so he came crawling back. ;)

With all seriousness though, its great to have Apollo back now that his life has slowed down a tiny bit. Great timing too because my life is pretty hectic and busy at the moment and I don't have a ton of spare time outside of doing some of the behind the scenes things here at Raptors Republic.

So without further ado, lets welcome him back to the team. :)

In order to open up minutes to develop Terrence Ross, how do you guys think Rudy Gay would do at the 4 in some situations?