https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9p5ZpJ7K-E
Raptors leader Kyle Lowry has a lot of miles left — but he might not retire here | The Star
But there is a question, and it’s a legitimate one that probably won’t be answered for a year, about whether or not he will end his career in Toronto. Next season is not a big question — the point guard has a year left on his contract – but looking much further out is intriguing.
It is Lowry’s longer-term future that is the most interesting aspect of his story, and will be something for fans to think about — now and into the 2020-21 season, whenever it begins.
It was almost a year ago that Lowry was rewarded with a one-year, $31-million (U.S.) contract extension after a holdout/non-holdout where he didn’t take part in the pre-season until after the deal was consummated.
But it is a virtual certainty there will be no extension this time around — Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster need to save some financial wiggle room for the summer of 2021 — and even the possibility of a trade is remote.
Not only would it rob the Raptors of one of their best players and undisputed leaders, but management isn’t going to take back long-term money in a deal for precisely the same reason they are unlikely to talk to Lowry about sticking around.
Ujiri, however, was effusive — and perhaps a bit hyperbolic — in discussing Lowry this past week.
“I don’t want to start pushing him as a Hall of Famer and all this stuff, because I want 10 more incredible years from this guy,” the team president said. “It seems to me the older he becomes, the better he becomes. It’s crazy. I’ve never seen anything like that. As a human being, as a person, as a teammate, Kyle was phenomenal.”
The prudent approach, even if it’s not going to offer Lowry any long-term security, is to play through next season and then see where things are.
Ujiri press conference incident highlights need for diverse voices – Sportsnet.ca
Ujiri had just spoken candidly and vulnerably about what the fight for Black lives has meant to him personally. To follow that up with “but what about gun violence?” works to discredit the intention of everything Ujiri said before.
Is anybody counting gun death stats since Brendan Shannahan, Mark Shapiro or Bill Manning were hired? Can anyone find footage of any of them being asked about crime stats or their team’s supposed responsibility to fight crime? Why are you asking the only Black team president in both the NBA and Canadian sports a question that’s better suited for the mayor or premier?
Basically, Steve Simmons asked a man who was a victim of systemic racism if the Toronto Raptors should devote less energy to combating systematic racism.
Ujiri’s response was measured. He acknowledged there is a problem, saying, “It’s so weird that you said that because, as I was walking out of my room today, my wife was looking at her phone and she said to me, ‘The shootings and the killings are becoming too much here in Toronto.’ And we’ve talked about this a lot. And we need to do something about it.”
But he also made sure to counter the “what about”-ism. “We are not omitted from all this stuff that’s going on in the world,” Ujiri said. “And I hear what you are saying, but there’s a lot of — there is racism here. We sometimes think that, oh, you know, we are not included in this in Canada. There are huge issues here. Sometimes we are drawn thin in what we can do and where we can be and in issues we talk on and how we can affect — we can’t be everywhere. But I know that this is a subject that we are going to talk about. We are going to have to address and help in as many ways that we can.”
You shouldn’t need the grace and tact of an Obama to handle a postseason presser. As the conventional wisdom has it: when they go low, we go high. I just wish it didn’t have to be applied so often. And I wish there were more of us in the room asking the questions.
This job is a privilege, one that many people from minority communities dream of and then grind to achieve. There is real currency to the access we’re granted, and wasting it so callously is disappointing. The ability to do that is its own privilege.
The 10 NBA Players Most Likely to Change Teams This Offseason | Bleacher Report
Part of what made the Kawhi Leonard trade such a no-brainer for the Toronto Raptors was that it didn’t hamper their ability to pivot to a rebuild.
If Kawhi stayed, great. If he left, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Norman Powell and OG Anunoby were all developing into bigger roles. And the contracts of Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka would soon come off the books.
The outlook is a bit different now. Lowry’s contract was extended another year. And Marc Gasol was added via trade, but his deal runs out at the same time as Ibaka’s. After their second-round exit at the hands of the Boston Celtics, don’t be surprised if both bigs move on.
Both are in their 30s and entering a different phase than any of the younger Raptors. If the organization is going to compete for another title, it will likely be during the primes of the aforementioned youngsters and with a center closer to their age.
Ibaka and Gasol, meanwhile, are likely headed to smaller individual roles on teams in need of veteran leadership.
The case for and against the Toronto Raptors extending OG Anunoby this offseason | NBA.com Canada
There’s a decent amount of risk involved in delaying Anunoby’s extension.
If Anunoby doesn’t sign an extension with the Raptors this offseason, he will become a restricted free agent next offseason, meaning he will be able to field offers from any team in the league. The Raptors would have the option of matching any offer sheet he signs, but allowing him to become a restricted free agent would open the door to Anunoby getting a deal that they aren’t comfortable matching.
Where it gets tricky is that it’s hard to put a number on what Anunoby’s extension might look like. At least with Siakam, he seemed destined to sign a max extension, whether it was last offseason or this offseason. With Anunoby, there’s still a lot up in the air.
At the very least, Anunoby has proven to be a reliable 3-point shooter and one of the most versatile defenders in the league. That combination makes him an incredibly valuable role player, the type any team in the league would love to have at the right price. However, Anunoby showed this season that he still has a lot of untapped potential. Expecting him to make a Siakam-type leap next season might be unreasonable, but he’s shown that he still has a lot of developing to do.
One figure that has been thrown out there by ESPN’s Bobby Marks: $70 million over four years. That might be overpaying Anunoby based on the player he is right now, but it could very well become an underpay depending on how much he improves.
Take Stephen Curry as an example. Back in 2012, the Golden State Warriors signed him to a four-year, $44 million extension. While some considered it to be a risky deal at the time – it’s easy to forget that Curry dealt with ankle injuries early in his career, raising questions about his durability – it turned out to be one of the best bargain deals in NBA history, as Curry was still on his rookie scale extension when he won both MVP awards.
Now, it’s safe to assume that Anunoby will never reach the heights Curry has, but there is a world in which the Raptors sign Anunoby to an extension this offseason that might look like an overpay but turns into a bargain because of a leap he eventually makes, similar to what happened with Curry.
Send me any Raptors related content that I may have missed (or just say hi) – rapsfan@raptorsrepublic.com
