NBA Thread

[Orgfiller]

No because they played like dog s*** in the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row.

 

Because the team isnt a giant disaster like the Post Bosh teams we're all supposed to be satisfied? God forbid this team gets rid of Casey and Demar and works toward a championship.

 

This is a much different team than the one against Brooklyn and the one against Washington.

 

And yeah, I'd say a top two finish, best record in franchise history, the emergence of JV, and a conference final finish is plenty to be satisfied with. I'm not blindsided by homerism to know that this current team isn't a championship contender like the tier of teams that GD posted, as we lack that absolute superstar and/or exceptional coaching that all of those teams have in common.

[GD]

This is a much different team than the one against Brooklyn and the one against Washington.

 

And yeah, I'd say a top two finish, best record in franchise history, the emergence of JV, and a conference final finish is plenty to be satisfied with. I'm not blindsided by homerism to know that this current team isn't a championship contender like the tier of teams that GD posted, as we lack that absolute superstar and/or exceptional coaching that all of those teams have in common.

 

Lowry is an upper tier player at least. A lot of +/- stats have him as top 5 I think. Realistically there's no beating GSW but if you surround healthy Lowry with legitimately useful talent then you should be able to be one of the teams that has an actual chance.

[jays_fever]

They excelled in the regular season with a, who cares at this point? This isnt baseball where you just want to get in. We beat a bottom feeder and a team missing its 2 studs+ other players banged up lol. Yippie? You guys have such low standards for your teams at this point.

 

Indiana should have won that series. This is just a poorly managed team. You should want to see progress.

 

Reaching the post season then having Demar being allowed to chuck away and Casey not even fielding proper lineups/plays isnt progress

[Stoneyen]

On the ESPN halftime show they asked what the Raptors can do to get back in it. They said try not to get injured or lose by 30.

 

We only had 7 defensive rebounds in that entire half haha

[burlingtonbandit]

They excelled in the regular season with a, who cares at this point? This isnt baseball where you just want to get in. We beat a bottom feeder and a team missing its 2 studs+ other players banged up lol. Yippie? You guys have such low standards for your teams at this point.

 

Indiana should have won that series. This is just a poorly managed team. You should want to see progress.

 

Reaching the post season then having Demar being allowed to chuck away and Casey not even fielding proper lineups/plays isnt progress

 

Lowry a legit All Star and top 15 player, JV and Norman Powell improving to be good rotational players. Yeah such a crap season. You are just looking to be negative at this point. Casey isn't nearly as bad as you make him out to be either. He isn't a great coach by any means but he's in that 10-20 range.

[TRM]

They excelled in the regular season with a, who cares at this point? This isnt baseball where you just want to get in. We beat a bottom feeder and a team missing its 2 studs+ other players banged up lol. Yippie? You guys have such low standards for your teams at this point.

 

Indiana should have won that series. This is just a poorly managed team. You should want to see progress.

 

Reaching the post season then having Demar being allowed to chuck away and Casey not even fielding proper lineups/plays isnt progress

 

It's possible that Masai agrees with you, and this team got a year of experience this season (value that how you may) and comes back next year without Casey, Demar and is able to use 20ish Mill (or whatever) worth of cap space to build this team with the 9th overall pick on top of that.

 

I like you and respect your opinions (and even feel the same way to a certain degree), and it's obvious you're educated on this and know what you're talking about... but christ you're a miserable **** about the Raptors. This was a fun regular season, with, while maddening at times, as fun as a postseason that we've ever witnessed. I'm not gonna preach, but trust me when I say it's more fun to just enjoy it, at least until we know what this team plans to do this offseason.

[dineke]

I know you're the eternal pessimist but you know full well it's not a guarantee at this point. I still think it's likely, but to say it's a guarantee is pretty ridiculous.

 

I'm not a pessimist! I actually love this team... Lowry, Biyombo, JV, Norm... I just f***ING hate Demar. That's all. Get rid of Demar and I'm happy!!!

[Orgfiller]

Don't really agree with that fragrant call there.

[jays_fever]

I've been negative since the opening round after they came out playing like crap again.

 

I agree I am becoming a miserable **** about this team because this team is set up for success but there's 2 very major obstacles in the way. I've said from game 1 this year if they made the conference finals and put up a good fight against the cavs I would enjoy it.

 

If it was a team full.of.young inexperienced players fine, but watching them barely make it against teams that would have gotten swept by some of thr other top teams in the league is whatever to me.

[thatoneguy]

I've been negative since the opening round after they came out playing like crap again.

 

I agree I am becoming a miserable **** about this team because this team is set up for success but there's 2 very major obstacles in the way. I've said from game 1 this year if they made the conference finals and put up a good fight against the cavs I would enjoy it.

 

If it was a team full.of.young inexperienced players fine, but watching them barely make it against teams that would have gotten swept by some of thr other top teams in the league is whatever to me.

 

...because they aren't as good as those "top teams", this has already been highlighted...

[jays_fever]

It's honestly because I've watched this team for years and now they finally have a good core with a good gm and it's going in circles. The Cincinnati Bengals of the nba

[TRM]

It's honestly because I've watched this team for years and now they finally have a good core with a good gm and it's going in circles. The Cincinnati Bengals of the nba

 

I'd argue to trust that said good GM will make the right moves this offseason

[Orgfiller]

Lol Lebron is having a jolly good time out there.

[dineke]

hey at least we can agree the raptors have a much better future than those sad sack blue jays amirite?

[Abomination]

Time to take the regulars out and get a little extra rest. See if any of the bench can provide a good matchup.

[Orgfiller]

Tyron Lue is not an attractive man.

[jays_fever]

I'd argue to trust that said good GM will make the right moves this offseason

 

Hopefully, Lowry is getting up there and JV's a beast. Like I said, get rid of Demar, bring in a modern NBA coach and if they lose they lose. Just make positive moves

[dineke]

raptors getting punched harder than jose bautista lmao

[crazy47larry]

Cavs playing the sabermetrics dream game. Either drives to the hoop or 3 pointers. Its crazy how badly they beat our perimeter defenders. Even Lowry and Carroll getting exposed out there. Thats an insanely tough thing to correct aswell. You cant just say "Hey Kyle be quicker than Irving" or something like that. Probably gotta go back to the drawing board defensively but honestly when your playing LeBron I cant really fault Casey&Co for that. Thats just what LBJ makes you do. Only thing you can really do is bring a help defender but the Cavs are more than capable of hitting the open jumper. We need to do something with our defensive rotations. Gonna be interesting to see how Casey&Co respond.

[HERPDERP]

Raptors official twitter account calling the USA chants classless, that's pretty odd from an official account lol.

[Dick_Pole]

It's honestly because I've watched this team for years and now they finally have a good core with a good gm and it's going in circles. The Cincinnati Bengals of the nba

 

What about the Clippers? Or the Grizzlies? OKC to some extent although they're looking good this year...Utah in the 90's. Or how about the Suns, the fourth best regular season winning percentage all-time behind the Spurs, Celtics and Lakers and still a big goose-egg in the championship column in 48 years. There are a lot of teams that could be considered the Bengals of the NBA.

 

You speak as if the Raptors can drop DeRozan and Casey, snap their fingers and everything will be ok. What Golden State has put together is incredibly special. The Spurs have been downing 50+ win seasons since the Raptors came into existence. I wouldn't put the Cavs in the same class. They're not a good franchise, they just happened to suck at the right time and are lucky enough to have had the freak of nature they drafted be born just down the road, close enough to consider Cleveland his home town and return to them.

 

With or without Casey or DeRozan, this season has been amazing. And if those guys are back and the Raptors win 50+ next season and are contenders in the East, I'll be satisfied with that too. If they can get Horford or Durant that would be awesome but let's not pull any punches at how hard that will be to do. Short of poaching San Antonio's front office I'm not sure what else you expect the Raptors to do at this point that's going to put them in the same class as the Warriors overnight. The team is in a better position than 25 other NBA teams when you consider current roster, cap space and upcoming draft picks. That's a lot better than three years ago when they were in the bottom 10.

[Krylian]

Cavs are gonna take this series in 3

[jays_fever]

What about the Clippers? Or the Grizzlies? OKC to some extent although they're looking good this year...Utah in the 90's. Or how about the Suns, the fourth best regular season winning percentage all-time behind the Spurs, Celtics and Lakers and still a big goose-egg in the championship column in 48 years. There are a lot of teams that could be considered the Bengals of the NBA.

 

You speak as if the Raptors can drop DeRozan and Casey, snap their fingers and everything will be ok. What Golden State has put together is incredibly special. The Spurs have been downing 50+ win seasons since the Raptors came into existence. I wouldn't put the Cavs in the same class. They're not a good franchise, they just happened to suck at the right time and are lucky enough to have had the freak of nature they drafted be born just down the road, close enough to consider Cleveland his home town and return to them.

 

With or without Casey or DeRozan, this season has been amazing. And if those guys are back and the Raptors win 50+ next season and are contenders in the East, I'll be satisfied with that too. If they can get Horford or Durant that would be awesome but let's not pull any punches at how hard that will be to do. Short of poaching San Antonio's front office I'm not sure what else you expect the Raptors to do at this point that's going to put them in the same class as the Warriors overnight. The team is in a better position than 25 other NBA teams when you consider current roster, cap space and upcoming draft picks. That's a lot better than three years ago when they were in the bottom 10.

 

Basketball is the one sport for me personally where success comes down to what you do in the post season after a year. The Clippers, Grizzles and OKC(especially) have all had played well and just lost to some great teams. Like I've mentioned, what the Raptors did this post season was not impressive by any means. Winning and losing isn't black and white to me. Ultimately I just want to watch this team being run properly and play good basketball which they havent been in either of the past 3 playoffs.

 

Atlanta had a heck of a season last year and played well against the Cavs in the ECF, if the Raps did that I'd be happy. The Suns had an incredible run of championship contender teams while playing an exciting brand of basketball. That isn't the same to me as what the Raptors are doing.

 

Dropping Casey and DeRozan will be a very good start in the right direction, I've never said they will suddenly become title contenders by doing it. Demar stopping the ball, taking bad shots and playing no defense just isn't fun for me to watch, nor is Casey's rotations or play calls.

 

Making it to the NBA finals is such a hard task for most teams in the NBA with the way cap space and roster management is set up, I'm mostly looking for them to just play well and entertain us. The past 2 series have been painful to watch for me, especially when you compare it to the GS-Portland series.

[Stoneyen]

Basketball is the one sport for me personally where success comes down to what you do in the post season after a year. The Clippers, Grizzles and OKC(especially) have all had played well and just lost to some great teams. Like I've mentioned, what the Raptors did this post season was not impressive by any means. Winning and losing isn't black and white to me. Ultimately I just want to watch this team being run properly and play good basketball which they havent been in either of the past 3 playoffs.

 

Atlanta had a heck of a season last year and played well against the Cavs in the ECF, if the Raps did that I'd be happy. The Suns had an incredible run of championship contender teams while playing an exciting brand of basketball. That isn't the same to me as what the Raptors are doing.

 

Dropping Casey and DeRozan will be a very good start in the right direction, I've never said they will suddenly become title contenders by doing it. Demar stopping the ball, taking bad shots and playing no defense just isn't fun for me to watch, nor is Casey's rotations or play calls.

 

Making it to the NBA finals is such a hard task for most teams in the NBA with the way cap space and roster management is set up, I'm mostly looking for them to just play well and entertain us. The past 2 series have been painful to watch for me, especially when you compare it to the GS-Portland series.

 

This is mostly how I feel too. Seeing them play good basketball and continue to move in a positive direction is really what's important. Although I would say this year was massively positive with the development of young players and some entertaining games, not to mention a top ten pick too

[crazy47larry]

The way I have been measuring this team is versus the 2001 team and I think to myself "Is this Raptor team the best team I have seen? Which Raptor team is better? Which Raptor team am I going to reminisce about more when I am an old man lecturing young'ins?" Just because this years team steamrolled a s***** division in a s***** conference and then beat thoroughly mediocre teams in the playoffs doesnt automatically make them better in my mind. I still dont know which side I would take but the playoffs arent over either. If the Raps show me something vs Cleveland than those caveats can get marginalized.

[Dick_Pole]

Making it to the NBA finals is such a hard task for most teams in the NBA with the way cap space and roster management is set up, I'm mostly looking for them to just play well and entertain us. The past 2 series have been painful to watch for me, especially when you compare it to the GS-Portland series.

 

Far be it for me to criticize how someone else wishes to enjoy being a sports fan. Especially since I am far more of a casual fan in basketball than other sports. But DeRozan brain farts aside, I have found the playoff run to be pretty f***ing entertaining. This team goes balls out every night. Every game except the final two have been competitive down to the last few minutes. Lowry looks like he came out of a boxing match. Each guy on this team deserves praise for picking up the slack when Lowry and DeRozan stunk it up and now that those two finally have some life I'm not going to write this team off against Cleveland even if they lost the first game by 50.

 

Whatever happens in the off-season, happens. But I think it is naive to think that whatever Ujiri decides, plans were altered because the Raptors went deep into the playoffs against sub-par teams. He didn't become the GM because he's an idiot, he didn't fall into an exec position like a Ruben Amaro or Ed Rogers. If there's a serious opportunity to get Horford or Durant or someone else that can take the team to the next level, you better believe that he will pack DeRozan's bags himself. If Ujiri determines that those plans aren't possible and that DeRozan represents the best/only opportunity to put forth the most competitive team possible next year, then he's going to sign him. But he's not going to say "oh wow, Raptors made the conference finals, I'm gonna sign DeRozan to the max at the first possible opportunity and not even look at other possible options".

[GD]

Demar starting us off with an airball

[Abomination]

Kyle was slightly late, but Lebron just shoved Carroll out of the way which probably should have been called.

[dineke]

are we playing the same sport? damn

[dineke]

oh spoke too soon