The 2006-2007 team comes up often as a shining example of what could happen. The reason that bombed was the short term moves that Bryan made. He tried to create a team around Bosh and paid for it.
There is no one guy that we need to build around with this current roster. There is no 'superstar'. Lowry might be the closest but I don't think anyone would consider Lowry a top 20 player in the league despite the success he's had this season. And Lowry is not a 'max' guy - not even close.
They have the flexibility to get a max guy and the thing I like about MU over BC is that MU is trying to build a team.. a group of cohesive parts. BC drafted Bargnani when they had Bosh. He got Jermaine O'Neal when Bargnani wasn't enough. He signed Hedo when they already had a dominant ball handler in Jose. He traded for Gay when he already had a guy who was similar in DeMar (who he just resigned to a 4 year contract).
The only similarity might be a first round bounce.. but what were the expectations going into this season? I never considered a 3rd seed. I was thinking border line 8th seed and hoping for a tank since being in 7-11 sucks. Now that they are destined for the playoffs with a seed at least somewhere between 3-5 all we can hope for is some success and development (hoping the playoff atmosphere helps nurture some of the youth on the team).
I personally don't think the Raptors will get passed the first round, but I never considered them a playoff team after the Gay trade went down so my expectations are jaded. And if they don't I still think the Raptors are far better off than they were at the start of the 2007-2008 season.
There is no one guy that we need to build around with this current roster. There is no 'superstar'. Lowry might be the closest but I don't think anyone would consider Lowry a top 20 player in the league despite the success he's had this season. And Lowry is not a 'max' guy - not even close.
They have the flexibility to get a max guy and the thing I like about MU over BC is that MU is trying to build a team.. a group of cohesive parts. BC drafted Bargnani when they had Bosh. He got Jermaine O'Neal when Bargnani wasn't enough. He signed Hedo when they already had a dominant ball handler in Jose. He traded for Gay when he already had a guy who was similar in DeMar (who he just resigned to a 4 year contract).
The only similarity might be a first round bounce.. but what were the expectations going into this season? I never considered a 3rd seed. I was thinking border line 8th seed and hoping for a tank since being in 7-11 sucks. Now that they are destined for the playoffs with a seed at least somewhere between 3-5 all we can hope for is some success and development (hoping the playoff atmosphere helps nurture some of the youth on the team).
I personally don't think the Raptors will get passed the first round, but I never considered them a playoff team after the Gay trade went down so my expectations are jaded. And if they don't I still think the Raptors are far better off than they were at the start of the 2007-2008 season.
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