The "future" is about building around Gay

[isaacthompson]

Are you crazy??? I would trade Ross JUST to get rid of Bargnani! Lets be HONEST here..... Who here wanted Ross over Barnes or Lillard or Drummond????

Raptor Fans fall in love with our players tooo easily. If Ross was as good as you thought he was - Why can't he find time on the court?? Do you realize that we're like 15 games below .500?

I want Ross to turn into a perennial all-star too! BUT Im not willing to wait 7 years like we did for bargnani! Ross NEEDS a whole lot of improving to do! I really hope he does BUT I would trade him faster than I would trade JV OR DD if it could bring us back something good (in a package).

Keep in mind we still have fields, DD and Rudy to make up for the loss of Ross.

+10000

I am not sold on Ross. His shooting numbers when he does play have been very poor

[isaacthompson]

I wanted him over Drummond not Lillard or Barnes i'll admit that. Btw the reason Ross isn't getting time is the same reason Valanciunas isn't, Dwane Casey thinks we still have a chance at the playoffs.

How many of you can honestly say you heard about T. Ross before the draft happened? Not very many I presume...

[Matt52]

How many of you can honestly say you heard about T. Ross before the draft happened? Not very many I presume...

In the draft thread we had going he was mentioned a number of times. Don't think anyone ever thought he would go 8 though so not a lot of attention paid. Also don't think anyone thought the Raps would end up higher than 8 so the Barnes/Lillards etc were fawned over most of the time.

[ReubenJRD]

I would take Barnes/Lillard > Ross 10 out of 10 times.

[torch19]

Damn coin toss .... Our roster would be so different had we not lost that.

[ReubenJRD]

Damn coin toss .... Our roster would be so different had we not lost that.

Yes, because not only would we have the opportunity to have traded Lillard/Barnes, we would still have the opportunity to trade for Gay..

[NoPropsneeded]

How many of you can honestly say you heard about T. Ross before the draft happened? Not very many I presume...

i knew about him cause of the 360 oop from tony wroten

[ReubenJRD]

i knew about him cause of the 360 oop from tony wroten

Now THAT. THAT, was a fine play.

[white men can't jump]

I would take Barnes/Lillard > Ross 10 out of 10 times.

It was about the fact that we didn't have a chance at Barnes or Lillard. Pretty sure Portland promised they'd draft him. And also when we lost the coin toss to GS, we lost Barnes.

I wanted Ross, but I admitted I didn't think we'd have to go at 8 to get him (who knows in the end). My draft wish list was to trade down (like 12-14...maybe 15 or 16 at the lowest), where I hoped for Ross or Terrence Jones, and then a few other names that I would've been ok with (like Harkless, Lamb....).

I also admit I wasn't big on Lillard. I was way too worried he wouldn't be able to pass the ball well at all. And then I'm not a fan at all of having what's basically a shooting guard play point. He seems to have proven me wrong, though.

[Matt52]

i knew about him cause of the 360 oop from tony wroten

Which I believe you said at the time was no big deal. haha

[NoPropsneeded]

Which I believe you said at the time was no big deal. haha

Did I? wow lol. It was actually a nice play, i was set on Barnes so i didn't really pay too much attention to Ross which is why i ripped him back then.

[NoPropsneeded]

A couple of days before draft night i was looking at Ross and i liked his game so i didn't freak out like most people when we picked him.

[isaacthompson]

A couple of days before draft night i was looking at Ross and i liked his game so i didn't freak out like most people when we picked him.

I was one of those people lol. I was so high on Austin Rivers but look how he's turned out...

[golden]

In the draft thread we had going he was mentioned a number of times. Don't think anyone ever thought he would go 8 though so not a lot of attention paid. Also don't think anyone thought the Raps would end up higher than 8 so the Barnes/Lillards etc were fawned over most of the time.

That's right, and let's face it, if Barnes fell to us at #8, 90% of Raps fans would have been ecstatic. The other 9% wanted Austin Rivers. There were a few people, say 1%, talking up Drummond. That said, TRoss was sold to the fanbase as being an NBA ready shooter/scorer, justifying drafting for need vs. talent upside of Drummond. His shooting has been a major disappointment, unfortunately.

[enlightenment]

He still shoots better than Bargs...

[special1]

Once the Raptors are out of the playoff picture (really all season, but I've long since given up on Casey and rebuilding ever being synonymous) I hope that both Valanciunas and Ross are spoon-fed all the minutes they can handle. I expect both of them to make significant improvements next season, while also playing a larger role on this team.

If I were BC, I'd be targeting Millsap in the offseason, to be my 'big splash'. It would require a S&T with Utah to make it happen - based on salary balancing and team needs (both Utah & Toronto), a DeRozan for Millsap trade would seem to make a lot of sense. A Bargnani for Millsap trade is a Toronto pipe-dream, without a 3rd team being involved (much more unlikely).

The second move needs to be trading Bargnani for anything positive/useful that doesn't hurt the team's financial flexibility any more than Bargnani currently does (ie: not Boozer).

The third move is to amnesty Kleiza, assuming he uses his player option.


Those moves would leave the Raptors with a very good, young team:
C: Valanciunas, Gray (expiring)*
PF: Millsap, Johnson, Acy
SF: Gay, Anderson*
SG: Fields, Ross
PG: Lowry, Lucas (expiring)*

* assume the player's option is picked-up (Gray-player & Lucas-team) or is re-signed (Anderson)


The team's biggest needs for the next couple seasons would be (assuming none are addressed by a Bargnani trade):
- veteran backup PG, ideally a pass-first facilitator to get the most out of the team's 2nd unit (Calderon?)
- veteran backup C to replace Gray
- a 4th wing to eventually replace Anderson

You forgot a decent shooting guard......I know that DD is our best asset BUT are you seriously thinking that Ross & Fields are ready to fill the HOLE that this trade would create?? I would really prefer we go after Carl Landry (somehow) and keep DD.

[special1]

I would take Barnes/Lillard > Ross 10 out of 10 times.

That's what i'm saying!!.....some guys are acting like they wanted him all along (okay maybe you did). BUT.....untouchable?? I would pick Barnes or Lillard over him 10 out of 10 times as well. Hindsight....I would also pick Drummond and Henson over him.

[ebrian]

It was about the fact that we didn't have a chance at Barnes or Lillard. Pretty sure Portland promised they'd draft him. And also when we lost the coin toss to GS, we lost Barnes.

I wanted Ross, but I admitted I didn't think we'd have to go at 8 to get him (who knows in the end). My draft wish list was to trade down (like 12-14...maybe 15 or 16 at the lowest), where I hoped for Ross or Terrence Jones, and then a few other names that I would've been ok with (like Harkless, Lamb....).

I also admit I wasn't big on Lillard. I was way too worried he wouldn't be able to pass the ball well at all. And then I'm not a fan at all of having what's basically a shooting guard play point. He seems to have proven me wrong, though.

My short list back in May 2012 was: Perry Jones, Austin Rivers, Jeremy Lamb and Terrence Ross.

Rivers obviously has looked horrible, the other two are buried deep on a team probably headed for the NBA Championships, and then there's Ross. I wasn't big on Lillard either.

[planetmars]

I was high on Lillard, and was really bummed that Portland took him. If we landed Lillard would Bryan still go after Nash and in the mean time get Fields? Would he then have gotten Lowry even though Jose was on the team?

Lillard would have been sweet.. we'd probably still have our 2013 pick (although knowing Bryan, he would have probably sent that to Phoenix for Telfair).

[ebrian]

Pretty much impossible (and pointless) to predict what would have happened. But yea, Lillard looks like the real deal now. Given what was left we didn't end up too badly in the draft. I'm still mad at guys like Ben Uzoh for making us miss out on Harrison Barnes.