Nash Watch: L.A. bound (#1009)

[DaveKim]

i am really disappointed. Not as a Raptors fan but as a Nash fan.

After all those great series of Phoenix vs Lakers and Phoenix vs Spurs i couldn't imagine he would go there. Where is the rivalry? sigh.

[The Coach]

Lol at Ed Davis' last tweet, http://twitter.com/#!/eddavis32

I love Calderon, but want him to get a chance on a new team... Tweet's like this can't be good for Jose's self-esteem.

[The Coach]

I blame Matt

I blame the new ads!

[Seeten]

To be honest, Nash might not have owed us anything, but whether Nash knows it or not. he more or less humiliated the Raptors in the worst way possible. We are probably the biggest laughing stock in the NBA right now. The Raptors, a team that already has trouble getting free agents, can't even convince a Canadian free agent to come. If even a fellow Canadian won't come, why would an American player want to come? For someone who wants to develop basketball in Canada, that's a pretty d-bag move to make towards Canada's only team. Personally, I respect his decision since it's his decision to make and I won't personally boo him when he comes to the ACC, but I can almost guarantee that he will get booed harder than VC, T-Mac, and Bosh combined. It's not only a big blow towards the Raptors, but it's also a pretty big blow towards Canadian basketball in general.

Deron Williams just refused to go to his home city, and Toronto is 3000 miles from Steve Nash's home city.

I think this "He's a Canadian" angle is way overplayed.

Yeah, it would have been awesome to have him here, but come on. The Raptors organization sucks because of a variety of factors, 0 of which are named Steve Nash.

[ceez]

people forget that playing in your home town adds a TON of stress

[Blacklash2k4]

im sure he gets booed vigorously in T.O... but he's going to get booed unmercifully by NY fans...

Maybe PHX too for going to the Lakers...

[Blacklash2k4]

Deron Williams just refused to go to his home city, and Toronto is 3000 miles from Steve Nash's home city.

I think this "He's a Canadian" angle is way overplayed.

Yeah, it would have been awesome to have him here, but come on. The Raptors organization sucks because of a variety of factors, 0 of which are named Steve Nash.

Like you said, the Raptors organization sucks and now we suck even more now that the only Canadian player refuses to be with us. He had no obligation to come here, but by him not coming to Toronto, he's basically said that even I won't come to Toronto cuz they suck. It's an unintentional insult that will scar the Raptors and Canadian Basketball for years to come.

[Seeten]

Here is my suggestion to the Raptors organization. Stop sucking. Become first class. Rebuild the right way. If you are gonna tank, tank. Don't half ass anything. Stop offering big money to players that aren't worth big money. You know what teams overpay roleplayers?

Bad teams.

[Apollo]

Nash can only play for one team. He refused NYC, Brooklyn, Dallas and Phoenix as well. This doesn't look bad on the Raptors. Nash picked a shot at a title. It might look bad on Nash to some Canadian fans but the fact that he chose to go else where doesn't look bad on the Raptors.

[Seeten]

Going after free agents is never guaranteed. I really really wanted to enjoy watching Raptors games this coming season, but I'd rather Nash has a great year for a relevant team, and gets his ring. Further, if the Lakers win, its Nash putting them over the top. I wish him all the best, every other Canadian should do the same. If he gets booed at the ACC, it just shows Canadians have no class.

[Jclaw]

Whew! Glad I went out for dinner and the promised drinks and didn't look at my phone. This stings a bit less knowing it's a done deal and not a rumour. And yes, it stings a bit less that he is going to LA. A chance to play with Kobe. Should be interesting to see who does the ball handling. Kind of had a feeling that they wouldn't be denied when they were mentioned as a dark horse. Can we blame Gretzky for this? When he meant to say go to Toronto to do what I did in LA, did he flub it and say do it in LA? I guess the telling youtube clip was the Star Wars one. Nash has gone Hollywood. Best of luck. We will carry on and find a way to win.

[Apollo]

Damn no Nash

Source: Twitter @eddavis32

[NoPropsneeded]

lmao. Does he know that he might be going to houston soon?

[Hotshot]

people forget that playing in your home town adds a TON of stress

Wait until he plays with Kobe, he will call Nash out in the media for being too old or breaking down on him.

[Miekenstien]

Wait until he plays with Kobe, he will call Nash out in the media for being too old or breaking down on him.

kobe will mostly complain that nash makes the easy play to gasol or bynum instead of the pass to iso kobe

[Pill]

The first thing that gets mentioned after this Nash deal is that its now a better fit for D. Howard in LA.

They might as well contract the league to like 8 teams because most of the big time players in this league only want to play for these teams exclusively.

The rest of the teams get to fight and overpay for B-Tier players while the aforementioned teams sign the biggest stars for cheaper than anyone else because they want to win a championship. The raps are in an even worse position due to being in a totally different country with high taxes. These super teams can endlessly reload through free agency and demanded trades while the rest of the league gambles on unproven talent through the draft. But you better not draft anyone good because he is going to want to go join his buddies in a few years and win championship #389439043 for the Lakers or whoever the hot team is at the moment. Its kinda depressing.

If the "Decision" was for those 3 guys to go to Cleveland I would have been on board with that. Not to Miami that won a title a few years back. I actually love that CP3 is trying to get people to play for the clippers. They have been a horrible team for so long. They are due for some success.

All it takes is 1 star to get people to come to his city and bring about a change in perception. That is what I was hoping Nash would do for us here. We are an awesome basketball market with passionate fans who love the team. I remember going to a playoff game years back and the energy level in the ACC was crazy. It was just as loud and passionate as those OKC crowds. Its a shame that he decided to do exactly what is wrong with this league and join the Lakers.

[torch19]

The first thing that gets mentioned after this Nash deal is that its now a better fit for D. Howard in LA.

They might as well contract the league to like 8 teams because most of the big time players in this league only want to play for these teams exclusively.

The rest of the teams get to fight and overpay for B-Tier players while the aforementioned teams sign the biggest stars for cheaper than anyone else because they want to win a championship. The raps are in an even worse position due to being in a totally different country with high taxes. These super teams can endlessly reload through free agency and demanded trades while the rest of the league gambles on unproven talent through the draft. But you better not draft anyone good because he is going to want to go join his buddies in a few years and win championship #389439043 for the Lakers or whoever the hot team is at the moment. Its kinda depressing.

If the "Decision" was for those 3 guys to go to Cleveland I would have been on board with that. Not to Miami that won a title a few years back. I actually love that CP3 is trying to get people to play for the clippers. They have been a horrible team for so long. They are due for some success.

All it takes is 1 star to get people to come to his city and bring about a change in perception. That is what I was hoping Nash would do for us here. We are an awesome basketball market with passionate fans who love the team. I remember going to a playoff game years back and the energy level in the ACC was crazy. It was just as loud and passionate as those OKC crowds. Its a shame that he decided to do exactly what is wrong with this league and join the Lakers.

Yup. I agree. It takes 1 star -- 1 star in order to gain credibility in the eyes of their peers. Amare boldly went to New York after years of irrelevance. Surprisingly enough, Melo wanted to come after.

We need some luck man. Seriously. We need someone to step up and say "I think Toronto is a great market because I will be relevant in 2 countries because of my status as a star." Either that, or luck the f*** out in the draft & land an instant ticket seller.

I thought it was going to be Steve Nash. I guess I was wrong. Although I can't fault the guy, he wants to go after a championship not that far away from his kids, as a Raptor sports fan, I hope the L.A. experiment & what I think they will do next (DWIGHT) blow up in their faces.

[stretch]

I'll admit to being a Bill Simmons fan. Here's his take on the events that transpired with Nash's signing with the Lakers and Fields with the Raptors:

For my single favorite moment of the month: Toronto going all out for Steve Nash, even giving Landry Fields a $19 million poison-pill contract in a desperate attempt to block New York's rumored Steve Nash trade … only the Lakers snared Nash and poor Toronto was stuck with Fields,6 leading to a hilarious scenario when the Raptors immediately tried to amnesty Fields's deal even as he was signing it. (Just kidding. I made that up.)

You know what the whole thing reminded me of? The Larry Sanders roast (one of the greatest TV episodes of all time7), when Artie had to book an obscure comedian named Kip Addotta to get Jerry Seinfeld at the roast, only Seinfeld canceled at the last minute, leading to Addotta droning on at the roast as Larry fake-laughed in pure misery. Eventually, he leaned over to Artie for the following exchange:

Larry: "Who the f-ck is that?"
Artie: "That's Kip Addotta."
Larry: "Who's that?"
Larry's agent: "He's the guy we had to get to get Seinfeld."
Larry: "Where's Seinfeld?"
Larry's agent: "The bastard canceled an hour ago."

Basically, Toronto's summer was the Larry Sanders roast, Steve Nash was Jerry Seinfeld, and Landry Fields was Kip Addotta. The good news for Toronto: They salvaged things (a little) by acquiring Lowry, and everyone loves last year's no. 1 pick (Jonas Valanciunas, a stud by all accounts). We don't need to get rid of basketball in Canada just yet.

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