Gasol didn’t want to be traded but glad he was | McKecknie da real MVP | Serge signing autographs in the city | Some Kawhi talk
'Janky defense' exhibit A lol. pic.twitter.com/Ba2MzX7YSj
— Paritosh Bhide (@paritosh_bhide) July 23, 2019
Malcolm Miller and the Raptors have agreed to push his guarantee date from July 24 to the start of the regular season. Miller, who previously would have received nothing if waived, will now receive a partial guarantee.
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) July 23, 2019
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Jcj3SpMzK/
Marc Gasol: I wanted to stay with the Grizzlies, thank God they ignored me | Eurohoops
“There have been few players that haven’t been traded over the years in the NBA. If it had been depended on me, I wouldn’t have been traded. I always thought I could reverse the situation there [in Memphis] and bring the team to the top. But, thank God, they ignored me,” Gasol said to reporters in the Antiga Fabrica Estrella Damm in Barcelona, per the Europa Press news agency.
Gasol also talked about Nikola Mirotic’s transfer to Barcelona and return to EuroLeague. “I’m not surprised. At the beginning I was, but whoever chooses to return to Europe while he can get a good contract on important teams in the NBA makes a brave decision. His last year was difficult with trades, the birth of a child… you are looking for some stability because being a player is important but also to be a person.”
While he wasn’t quite in the form that helped him earn Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2013, the three-time All-Star fortified the Raptors’ strong defensive identity, which helped the team to their NBA Finals victory over the Golden State Warriors in six games.
The 34-year-old will have another full season with the Raptors, after he opted in to his $25.6 million player option for 2019-20.
Gasol also became the unofficial MVP of Toronto’s championship parade – with due consideration to Norm Powell – and the images of him happily dancing and drinking along on his float will last forever for Raptors fans.
Load management guru says winning with Raptors ‘more important than anything’ – KamloopsMatters.com
“From a personal standpoint, winning it as a Canadian was more important than anything,” Alex McKechnie, director of sports science and assistant coach with the Raptors, told reporters gathered at the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame in Vancouver on Tuesday.
The Scottish-born physiotherapist was inducted into the hall in 2018, recognizing his innovative work with an array of athletes, from NBA hall of famer Steve Nash and hockey superstar Paul Kariya to Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan and English-Canadian soccer great Owen Hargreaves.
McKechnie — who spent years working in suburban Vancouver and still has an off-season home in Coquitlam, B.C. — brought the Larry O’Brien trophy to the West Coast to give basketball fans there a glimpse of the NBA’s most-coveted prize.
Seeing the hardware is nothing new for the famed physiotherapist, however. Before joining the Raptors in 2011, he spent more than a decade working with the Los Angeles Lakers and won five championships with the team.
In a competitive sense, the Clippers trailed the Raptors and the Lakers on paper, even though the Clippers believed they could still contend for championships by only adding Leonard to a core that won 48 games and pushed a healthy Golden State Warriors squad to six games in the 2019 postseason.
The Lakers had the LeBron James-Anthony Davis duo that could guarantee title contention if Leonard joined, and the Raptors’ formula — while probably not sustainable for the long haul — was proven. Leonard’s trip on the Raptors’ private plane to Toronto and back to Southern California a day later raised the Clippers’ concerns. So, too, did Danny Green’s decision to wait out Leonard’s outcome. The Clippers felt there was a legitimate chance Leonard was staying in Toronto.
The Clippers brass decided that, instead of hoping Leonard would take a leap of faith and choose them, believing that they could then trade for another star later in the summer or by the 2020 trade deadline, the franchise would cash in most of the assets it had been accumulating since 2017 and demonstrate to Leonard that it was serious about building a sustainable contender around him.
Toronto Raptors: To take a step forward, a step back is necessary in 19-20 – Sir Charles in Charge
Toronto, with their current roster, will most likely make the playoffs, but a first-round exit seems very likely as the top-tier contenders in the East stayed hot this summer and are in full pursuit of a title this year. It’d be in the best interest of the team to try and maxamize the current (aging) assets that they have currently on their roster and hope their younger ones could blossom into stars.
With young and promising talents like Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Norman Powell the future is bright for the 416. Some more young prospects and lottery picks in exchange for their vets can bring ‘The 6’ right back to contention within the next few years.
It just won’t happen this season, though. And after winning their first NBA Championship, the Raptors shouldn’t have any problem with waiting for their youngsters to develop and take the next step.
Raptors Sign Robinson, Brissett and Konate | Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors announced Tuesday they have signed forwards Devin Robinson and Oshae Brissett (oh-SHAY brih-SET) and centre Sagaba Konate (SAG-uh-bah kuh-NOT-ay). Per team policy, financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.
Who is Devin Robinson? Fast facts on the Toronto Raptors’ Exhibit 10 signing | NBA.com Canada
Robinson is a 6-foot-8 forward that brings both length and athleticism that he uses to make plenty of above the rim highlights.
Although his efficiency took a dip last season, Robinson has shown the ability to knock down the 3-ball at an efficient clip as he connected on over 38% of his attempts in his first year in the G League. Last season, he used his athleticism to his advantage to run the floor and slash to score nearly 20 points per game in the G League while shooting 55.0% from the field.
At just 24, Robinson now works under the development of the Raptors coaching staff, who has the capability to tap into his potential as an impact player in the league.
Toronto Raptors’ Serge Ibaka To Cook For Charity At Toronto Night Market | HuffPost Canada
As a team of many talents beyond the basketball court, power forward and center player, Serge Ibaka, is definitely the group’s gourmand.
Now, the NBA champion is giving the public a taste. He’ll be dishing mystery flavours for hungry crowds at the first Square One Night Market in Mississauga, Ont., taking place on July 26.
5 questions we want answered at the Leonard, George press conference – Sportsnet
“Kawhi, would you have stayed in Toronto if the Raptors completed the rumoured trade for George and Westbrook?”
Just mere hours after it was reported Leonard was signing with the Clippers and that Los Angeles had also swung a deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder to pair him up with George, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported there was a deal on the table between the Thunder and Raptors that could’ve landed Toronto George and 2017 NBA MVP Russell Westbrook.
It obviously didn’t happen and we’ll never really know for sure if OKC general manager Sam Presti truly dangled such an offer in front of Raptors president Masai Ujiri, but one thing we might be able to find out is if having both George and Westbrook in Toronto would’ve been enough to convince Leonard to stick around.
Given the reported machinations Leonard made to bring George with him to the Clippers, having him seems like a good place to start if you’re the Raptors. So then, could Westbrook have been the piece that Leonard soured on?
Again, we don’t know, but the question is worth asking.
Predicting Top 2020 NBA Free Agents Who Will Jump Ship | Bleacher Report
Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Kyle Lowry, Toronto Raptors
Due to the departures of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green, the Raptors’ 2019 title already seems like one of the greatest one-hit wonders in recent sports history. Considering the sheer number of expiring contracts on Toronto’s roster, head honcho Masai Ujiri has the potential to blow up the entire roster a year after winning a championship, 1997 Florida Marlins-style.
Ujiri has supposedly wanted to start a rebuild in Toronto since taking the job, and many of his actions support those rumors, including attempting to deal Kyle Lowry. Lowry, as well as veteran big men Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka, are all unrestricted free agents after next season and are much too old for the Pascal Siakam/OG Anunoby/Fred VanVleet young core that Ujiri may want to build around for the next few years.
Plus, despite their advancing ages, Gasol, Ibaka and Lowry are smart two-way players who can help contending teams that are willing to sell future assets for immediate impact.
It’s not often that a title-winning team looks completely different just one year after victory—even in the NBA—but Kawhi Leonard’s departure has closed the Raptors’ title window. They can fully accept that by letting their war horse veterans go compete for another championship somewhere else.
3 questions remaining for the Raptors after free agency – Clutch Points
Is it wise to keep the band together even without Kawhi?
Ujiri made it clear that he has no plans to trade Gasol, Lowry, and Ibaka, three players whose contracts will expire at the end of next season. At this point, it’s hard to argue with him, because as previously mentioned, those three are still above-average veterans who can still contribute a lot for the Raptors.
It will all depend on what will happen to the Raptors in the middle of the season. If they have a winning record around December or January, they should ride with this group until the end. However, if they won’t be competitive enough to be at least five games above .500 after their first 30-40 games, it will be time for them to blow things up and hit the rebuild button.
Siakam, VanVleet, and probably O.G. Anunoby will be the Raptors’ cornerstones over the next couple of years, and the team can build around these guys by trading for young prospects and draft picks. It is going to be painful to see Toronto go this route especially since it just won a championship, but if the first 40 games of the coming season do not bring good results, the Raptors will have no choice.
NBA: FiveThirtyEight Just Predicted This Team Will Win the East – Sportscasting
5. Toronto Raptors
We were very surprised to see the Raptors here ahead of the Brooklyn Nets, as the loss of Leonard brings them back to square one. Pascal Siakam can still be an excellent player in Nick Nurse’s offense, but with an aging pair of vets in Kyle Lowry and Marc Gasol, we would be surprised to see the Raptors win more than 45 games next season.
Send me anything I missed: rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
