Trade: [TOR/SA] Leonard and Green to TOR for DeRozan, Poeltl and draft considerations

[The Mighty Duck Man]

This thread getting bumped reminded me there were people out there who thought this wasn't good for the Raptors. The first couple pages are good for a laugh.

Regardless of whether Kawhi stays or leaves, this trade was a huge win for the Raptors. They've also done all they can on their side to get him to stay.

This also reminded me how people were so sure of the Celtics and how they were such an overwhelming favorite out East.

 

[Voight]

This thread getting bumped reminded me there were people out there who thought this wasn't good for the Raptors. The first couple pages are good for a laugh.

Regardless of whether Kawhi stays or leaves, this trade was a huge win for the Raptors. They've also done all they can on their side to get him to stay.

What killed me was fans on social media were losing it... i mean how can you be a "basketball fan" without knowing just how great of a player Leonard was? I get you never hear his name outside of the NBA season but still, after 2014 majority of fans knew who he was. It was a trade that anyone would make; if you can acquire a top 3/5 talent for even one season, you do it every single time.

Besides they gave DeRozan plenty of time to prove himself. It was nice to see Ujiri cared more about winning than maintaining the his & Lowry's friendship.

 

[Voight]

problem is which Kawhi are you getting. Odds are he misses significant time to start the year, then what rust are you looking at with barely playing over 6-12 months.

Even a healthy Kawhi doesnt make them better than the Celtics, they cant match the depth.

Kyrie, Hayward, Horford, Tatum, Brown

and a bench of Rozier, Smart, Morris, Baynes and Williams

Doesn’t make sense to me. I get Kawhi is better than DD but it’s still not even close to being enough to beat the Celtics. You needed three of Lowry, Kawhi and DD for that.

Hindsight is 20/20 but damn the Celtics couldnt win more than 1 against the Bucks, who the Raptors then won 4 straight against after dropping the first 2.

I always knew they were overrated.

 

[le_sean]

Hindsight is 20/20 but damn the Celtics couldnt win more than 1 against the Bucks, who the Raptors then won 4 straight against after dropping the first 2.

I always knew they were overrated.

Damn bad take. Thought the Celtics would be unreal and not unravel like that.

 

[Voight]

Damn bad take. Thought the Celtics would be unreal and not unravel like that.

A lot of people did but I just didn't buy into the hype, Kyrie never seemed fully into it, Hayward was coming off a gruesome injury and Tatum/Brown/Rozier were getting a little too much hype.

 

[jasonleaffan]

E

If you have a chance to acquire a top 5 player, you go for it. End of story.

Exactly!!!! Who wouldn't do this trade all over again knowing we're in the finals?

 

[Del Preston]

Some real bad posts in here.

 

[b1e9a8r5s]

I kind of like this for the Raps. You knew what the ceiling was as currently constructed. East isn't that hard and if Kawhi is healthy and invested they should be a legit contender.

 

[Maestro84]

Lol the first two pages on this thread are laughable. The raptors were never going anywhere with demar and his ridiculous contract. Something had to be done and thankfully, Masai pulled the trigger to get the best player to ever put on a raps jersey. Even if it’s just for one season, Kawhi and the rest of this year’s team put the raps in a position to win the nba championship; something that wouldn’t never happened with Derozan

And to those that say the raps only made it out cuz LeBron left, yeah I don’t buy that. This year’s raps team was significantly better than last year’s cavs team and tbh the top 4 teams in the east this year were all better than last year’s cavs team. Also, had the raps decided to run it back, Toronto would not have gotten by Philly will Demar, let alone the bucks

 

[Dr Pepper]

I didnt have a problem with the trade itself, just the way it was done.

If it's true that Masai told DeMar that he wasnt going to trade him, only to trade him like a day later, that's pretty low.

No complaints with how far Kawhi has taken them, no doubt. Just feel for DeMar is all, who legit loved it here.

 

[phillipmike]

I didnt have a problem with the trade itself, just the way it was done.

If it's true that Masai told DeMar that he wasnt going to trade him, only to trade him like a day later, that's pretty low.

No complaints with how far Kawhi has taken them, no doubt. Just feel for DeMar is all, who legit loved it here.

No way this was done on purpose. Masai and Webster said the deal took close to a month (or was it over a month) to make and many times thought the deal was dead because the Spurs were looking for too much from many teams like the Lakers and Celtics. Raps probably thought the deal was dead and when the other teams didnt step up the Spurs came knocking again to get the deal done.

 

[Dr Pepper]

No way this was done on purpose. Masai and Webster said the deal took close to a month (or was it over a month) to make and many times thought the deal was dead because the Spurs were looking for too much from many teams like the Lakers and Celtics. Raps probably thought the deal was dead and when the other teams didnt step up the Spurs came knocking again to get the deal done.

I'm still not entirely convinced that Bobby Webster is a real person.

WHERE THE **** IS THIS GUY?!

He's the GM of a team that's two wins away from an NBA championship, and he's been a ghost for the entire playoffs while Masai has been front and center since Day 1.

 

[phillipmike]

I'm still not entirely convinced that Bobby Webster is a real person.

WHERE THE **** IS THIS GUY?!

He's the GM of a team that's two wins away from an NBA championship, and he's been a ghost for the entire playoffs while Masai has been front and center since Day 1.

I first had it as "Weber" then "Webber" then i said thats not right and i had to look it up.

 

[King Mapes]

hahaha, giving up DeRozan for half an injured Kawhi that might play half the year?

well, thats 1 less team the Celtics have to worry about

I love reading initial reactions to the trade. How did Celtics do?

 

[King Mapes]

This is so bad for us. Demar really wanted to stay, this guy is a FA next summer and didn't want to come here. Looks like he gets hurt a lot too. Man.... this could get bad

I’ll even call myself out on this. Might be bad. Well it hasn’t been so far

 

[Dr Pepper]

Worth it.

 

[Field of Dreams]

This is going to turn out really really bad for the Raptors lol

This thread is great

 

[HockeyFan100]

Masai is the GOAT, what a trade.

 

[Voight]

This is now without a doubt a top 5/10 trade in NBA history

It directly lead to a championship, the Franchises first ever.

 

[The Hanging Jowl]

The hot takes in this thread were generational.

 

[irunthepeg]

This is going to turn out really really bad for the Raptors lol

Who won the trade?

 

[NyQuil]

I was on the wrong side of both major trades.

Toronto seemed to have issues retaining talent (e.g. Carter, McGrady, Bosh) and here you had DeMar who wanted to play here.

It was a massive gamble and I tend to favour trying to stay competitive as long as possible as opposed to stacking the deck for one hand.

I also felt that Jonas V. would have a longer and ultimately greater impact than an older Gasol.

Ultimately, Ujiri realized that you can’t win a championship without a top 3 talent and he proved it.

But I don’t think it’s crazy that people were cautious about both trades.

If things had not worked out, what would the reactions have been? In Leonard’s case, he proved his quality all season long so I think most people were converted even before the playoffs started.

 

[Voight]

The hot takes in this thread were generational.

Really thinking about sending this thread to the Freezing Cold Takes guy on Twitter.

My favorites were the ones about Boston, who couldnt even make it out of the 2nd round and now look like a train wreck.

I was on the wrong side of both major trades.

Toronto seemed to have issues retaining talent (e.g. Carter, McGrady, Bosh) and here you had DeMar who wanted to play here.

It was a massive gamble and I tend to favour trying to stay competitive as long as possible as opposed to stacking the deck for one hand.

I also felt that Jonas V. would have a longer and ultimately greater impact than an older Gasol.

Ultimately, Ujiri realized that you can’t win a championship without a top 3 talent and he proved it.

But I don’t think it’s crazy that people were cautious about both trades.

If things had not worked out, what would the reactions have been? In Leonard’s case, he proved his quality all season long so I think most people were converted even before the playoffs started.

Personally, as i stated before, you always make a move for a top player. Loyalty is awesome and not common for the Raps especially but you cant say no to acquiring an elite player, let alone one in Leonard who is unquestionably a top 3 player, possibly the best in the league.

J-Val was good but I think Gasol was a huge difference in these playoffs, Jonas wasnt tough enough IMO. Plus Gasol's veteran leadership was good to have.

Had Kawhi played 10 more games he would have been nominated for MVP IMO (mind you that rest clearly helped in the long run, especially with how he carried the team the first 3 rounds).

 

[Dr Pepper]

Speaking of Masai, apparently Woj couldn't even wait an hour after the game ended before blurting out that the Wizards are going to try and poach him away from Toronto.

What a dick move.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Who won the trade?

Hard to say.