Will Gay get booed on Friday's game against the Kings?

[lilmamba_]

I'd honestly, be upset if he got booed
Lets give the guy some love I'm not talking a standing ovation, but hey, you know just some applause and some eaaays and yayys
one thing I know for sure is that he doesn't deserve to be booed. End of story. He doesn't.

[RPT23]

I think this calls for that pic of Rudy Gay's eyes bulging out with the caption, "They're booing me? What did I do!!??"

[Axel]

I'd honestly, be upset if he got booed
Lets give the guy some love I'm not talking a standing ovation, but hey, you know just some applause and some eaaays and yayys
one thing I know for sure is that he doesn't deserve to be booed. End of story. He doesn't.

haha, you're too nice.

Will you still be upset about the boos if he goes off and dominates the game and we lose?

I'm ok with booing Gay for 2 reasons:

1. He was god awful here. He'd didn't VC level quit on the team, but he played passively enough to be a detriment to the team's success. How many long two's did he put up instead of driving into the paint, which could have created opportunities for the team (FTA, open looks for his teammates, etc). If a guy doesn't leave it on the floor, he leaves himself open for fan response.

2. Gay is playing well in Sacramento, so we are not kicking a guy while he's down (which I would feel bad about since he's still a person). If Gay continued his downward spiral and it looked like his career was actually in jeopardy in some way, then I wouldn't boo him because you know don't his psychological state and the potential real life impacts. But Gay is playing well. His confidence is probably the highest it's been all season; so there is no real world damage potential to the guy. I don't wish him any real ill will, but I definitely want him to know that we, the fans, were very displeased with his contributions to the team.

All that said, this isn't VC, or Bosh, or Bargnani or Colangelo; this is a guy who was a massive disappointment, but didn't directly do anything to hurt the team (I classify his passive play as indirectly hurting the team). He should get heckled and booed during the intros and a bit in the 1st Q, but by then, it should be out of our system and the focus back on cheering our team to victory.

Some guys revel in the boos: Exhibit A

[stooley]

I actually repeatedly said that Gay was doing all the hustle plays while he was here.

I frequently saw him on the floor diving for balls, going up for tough rebounds or playing good D.

[planetmars]

Yup, it's basically a lock that he'll get booed. Again, not because he deserves it, but because the storyline all year long has been "Raps are fawking AWESOME since Gay left!" :|

That's it right there.. Toronto basket-ball fans don't have the highest IQ's. They will boo because the Raptors were so bad with him in the line up.. and got better after he got traded. It's all his fault dammit!

[RepTdot]

if Gay was guilty of anything it was trying too hard to lead this team and putting too much on his shoulders...he didn't do anything wrong he just wasn't a fit in the team...we should not boo Gay...would be a bad look to the rest of the league...Damon, Camby, Tracy, Vince, Bosh, Hedo all gave up on the team...Barganani was lazy...they deserve what they got/get...Gay never gave up on Toronto.

[Nilanka]

Every time one of these booing threads come up, I can't help but ask what all the fuss is about.

Booing is what sports fans do. It's as common a sound as car horns during rush hour.

[stooley]

Every time one of these booing threads come up, I can't help but ask what all the fuss is about.

Booing is what sports fans do. It's as common a sound as car horns during rush hour.

This incredibly persuasive argument has actually kind of shifted my opinion

[CalgaryRapsFan]

Every time one of these booing threads come up, I can't help but ask what all the fuss is about.

Booing is what sports fans do. It's as common a sound as car horns during rush hour.

I get where you're coming from, but I take it to mean the incessant booing directed at a single player, every time he takes the court or touches the ball.

I understand the rationale behind disapproving the way a player acted while on the Raptors, but the ongoing directed booing has always made me embarrassed as a Raptors fan because our fan-base is perceived as a bunch of bitter whiners with an inferiority complex, as a result.

For me, I think the biggest slap in the face against ex-Raptors would be to greet them with complete indifference, as they aren't worth our time or effort, while we focus on our current roster and the team's future (especially when you consider how much of a motivating factor the booing has been for so many ex-Raptors, which only serves to hurt 'our' team).

[Nilanka]

This incredibly persuasive argument has actually kind of shifted my opinion

LOL.

I mean, what is a boo, really? Just a bunch of people forming circles with their mouths and exhaling in unison in a low frequency.

WE'RE HORRIBLE FANS!!!

[isaacthompson]

Thoughts from Wolstat:

He returns to town for the first time on Friday. What kind of reception will he receive? Hopefully it won’t be the treatment Toronto faithful have reserved for noted traitors Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Chris Bosh, or for all-world loafers Andrea Bargnani and Hedo Turkoglu. There’s a lot of blame to be shared for the failed Rudy Gay experiment in Toronto and Gay even needs to accept some of it, but if you’re looking for people to fault over his inconsequential time here, pre-Tim Leiweke Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, Ltd. would be must deserving of your scorn.

While Gay could have been a better teammate — too often he ignored the other four Raptors on the court, playing a selfish, ineffective brand of basketball and he also could have given a more consistent effort at the defensive end of the floor, given his natural abilities and length — he still played hard and had some moments as a Raptor. The team brought him in to be a star and he acted like one. Should he be reviled for that?

Colangelo had been left to dangle in the wind, with ownership unwilling to make a call on his future. Having already admirably waited a year on Jonas Valanciunas, of course he was going to pursue a big-name player with the months ticking away on his contract. Why did MLSE allow him to is the big question, given his tenuous future. Simply put, MLSE made a mistake. Not enough thought was given to the impossibility of getting Gay to mesh with DeMar DeRozan, a player who also liked the ball in his hands and had limited range. Or to how adding one of the league’s highest-paid players would impact the team’s financial picture moving forward. Sure, Leiweke wasn’t around to give a sober second thought at the time, but why didn’t anybody else provide it? What was the rush and why was Colangelo given the power to make such an important call when Cope, for one, like a member of the previous board, was far from sold on Colangelo?

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/03/05...int-blame-mlse

[Nilanka]

I get where you're coming from, but I take it to mean the incessant booing directed at a single player, every time he takes the court or touches the ball.

I understand the rationale behind disapproving the way a player acted while on the Raptors, but the ongoing directed booing has always made me embarrassed as a Raptors fan because our fan-base is perceived as a bunch of bitter whiners with an inferiority complex, as a result.

For me, I think the biggest slap in the face against ex-Raptors would be to greet them with complete indifference, as they aren't worth our time or effort, while we focus on our current roster and the team's future (especially when you consider how much of a motivating factor the booing has been for so many ex-Raptors, which only serves to hurt 'our' team).

I see it as more of an attempt to get into a player's head. It hasn't always worked (as you pointed out), but I see some of the Toronto hockey mentality spilling over, where it's not uncommon to chant an opposing goalie's name in effort to psych him out.

If booing is an attempt to give the home team an advantage, can we find fault with it?

[3inthekeon]

So MLSE was supposed to know Gay wouldn't mesh with DD? What BS.

[Nilanka]

So MLSE was supposed to know Gay wouldn't mesh with DD? What BS.

Yeah, I thought Wolstat was reaching a bit with that article. Ownership hires a GM to make the basketball decisions. Yes, they have final decision-making powers, but for the most part, they let the experts do their work.

And before Lieweke was hired, perhaps the ownership group was still unsure on Colangelo's long-term fate with the franchise.

[JawsGT]

For me, I think the biggest slap in the face against ex-Raptors would be to greet them with complete indifference, as they aren't worth our time or effort, while we focus on our current roster and the team's future (especially when you consider how much of a motivating factor the booing has been for so many ex-Raptors, which only serves to hurt 'our' team).

^ This right here. I believe that Gay did not give his full effort while he was here, and I also believe that he didn't embrace the opportunity here in TO. I feel that he could have performed much better than he did, but nonetheless, he wasn't a good fit for the team or the role he was given so I am not going to fault him like I do with VC. As such, I wish the fans at the game Friday would just pretend that Gay was never in a Raps uniform and treat him like they would any average player on any other team, with complete indifference...Rudy who?