Raptors Discussion: v97 Raptor's 2023-2024 Season complete - 6th. worst team.

[GoonieFace]

The best teams have top end talent. Your best bet is via the draft and ideally in the lottery. Adding role players at this stage is a sign management is reluctant to do a real rebuild. Unfortunately they will likely be stuck in the middle and waste Scottie's early years. Onto the 2025 draft.

Ask Detroit how drafting in the lottery has worked out? Tanking rarely works, you just have to hit on the right talent, and make trades at the right time.

How many lottery picks did the Raptors championship team have?

Barnes and Barrett are both top 4 picks. Quickley was a late first rounder, but has proven he has lottery talent.

They have a solid base of talent, nothing is guaranteed, but they are on their way to building something.

 

[DuklaNation]

Not sure I'd describe the Raps moves over the last few months as "adding role players".

Olynyk and Agbaji are 100% role players. IQ & RJ are ideally 3rd option scorers. How do you get that top 2 option to pair with Scottie? The draft is the most realistic route. The Raps abhorrent record vs the best teams in the league speaks for itself.

Ask Detroit how drafting in the lottery has worked out? Tanking rarely works, you just have to hit on the right talent, and make trades at the right time.

How many lottery picks did the Raptors championship team have?

Barnes and Barrett are both top 4 picks. Quickley was a late first rounder, but has proven he has lottery talent.

They have a solid base of talent, nothing is guaranteed, but they are on their way to building something.

Fact: most of the championship core was acquired through past lottery draft picks. So this kind of statement is illogical.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Olynyk and Agbaji are 100% role players. IQ & RJ are ideally 3rd option scorers. How do you get that top 2 option to pair with Scottie? The draft is the most realistic route. The Raps abhorrent record vs the best teams in the league speaks for itself.

Fact: most of the championship core was acquired through past lottery draft picks. So this kind of statement is illogical.

Well, IQ and RJ aren't "role players" so there you go. The draft route is a massive long shot. Many teams have tried tanking, very few are successful and going that route takes time. You complained in another post about wasting Scottie's early years, tanking is guaranteed to do just that.

There is also another way of adding a top 2 option without drafting one, one of the recent championship teams showed how it's possible to do just that.

 

[DuklaNation]

Well, IQ and RJ aren't "role players" so there you go. The draft route is a massive long shot. Many teams have tried tanking, very few are successful and going that route takes time. You complained in another post about wasting Scottie's early years, tanking is guaranteed to do just that.

There is also another way of adding a top 2 option without drafting one, one of the recent championship teams showed how it's possible to do just that.

Half court offense matters especially in playoffs. Praying Zaza to injure another top 5 player on his last year of a contract again is wishful thinking.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Half court offense matters especially in playoffs. Praying Zaza to injure another top 5 player on his last year of a contract again is wishful thinking.

Not sure where you're going with this "half court matters" stuff.

Injuries happen, shit happens, Raptors might won even against a healthy Durant, we'll never know but they were definitely a very strong team that had a shot at the title, can't ask for more than that.

Tanking in the hopes winning a title is the very definition of wishful thinking. Building a young team that can grow and develop together and maybe get to the point where they're just one piece away from willing it all seems pretty reasonable to me. No approach is guaranteed to work but that route also is fun to watch right away. I thought played great last night, that looks like a team with a lot of potential to me.

 

[canucksfan]

The best teams have top end talent. Your best bet is via the draft and ideally in the lottery. Adding role players at this stage is a sign management is reluctant to do a real rebuild. Unfortunately they will likely be stuck in the middle and waste Scottie's early years. Onto the 2025 draft.

How did you expect to tank when the team had Barnes, OG, and Siakim? Let Siakim and OG walk for nothing?

I am all for tanking at some points but in the case of the Raptors it didn't/doesn't make sense.

 

[thewave]

How did you expect to tank when the team had Barnes, OG, and Siakim? Let Siakim and OG walk for nothing?

I am all for tanking at some points but in the case of the Raptors it didn't/doesn't make sense.

Is OG coming back?

 

[canucksfan]

Is OG coming back?

No

 

[thewave]

No

Think he may

 

[trellaine201]

Hmmm so because I don't follow really close and fully understand the lottery and lottery protection. We will have our first pick most likely in 2024?

 

[Bjindaho]

Hmmm so because I don't follow really close and fully understand the lottery and lottery protection. We will have our first pick most likely in 2024?

Basically, whether the Raptors make the play-in or not only marginally impacts whether they keep their pick this year.

Finish - odds of a top 6 pick
6th - 45.9
7th - 31.9
8th - 26.2
9th - 20.2
10th - 13.9
11th - 9.4
12th - 7.2
13th - 4.7
14th - 2.4

Raps are 8th today (according to the Tankathon site, the Raps actually lose the tiebreak to Brooklyn)

The odds of them ever touching 13 or 14 are practically 0, with the losers of the West play-in almost guaranteed those two spots (barring a miracle in the East).

Further complicating the process, if the Raptors caught Atlanta today and lost the play-in, they'd actually have a better pick than Utah (making the play-in is not held against you, so theoretically, the West could have the bottom 3 or 4 lottery teams).

If the Raps catch 10th, they will have somewhere between 9 and 11 on the list above.

Also: if the Raptors win the play-in, they give away the 15th overall pick.

If all you really care about is not giving away a top 3 pick, then things get really interesting, because the difference between each pick is 4.7, 4.8 and 5 percent respectively between 8th place and 11th.

Basically, the Raptors are better off trying to win every night and see if the current group can be the core than tanking for a slightly better chance at a high pick.

 

[Ale Brew]

Think he may

Seems incredibly unlikely. His agent is the son of the Knicks GM. He didn’t trade for him without presuming resigning him was all but assured.

 

[thewave]

Seems incredibly unlikely. His agent is the son of the Knicks GM. He didn’t trade for him without presuming resigning him was all but assured.

Agents get fired all the time. Maybe that connection is too close to the sun. How does OG know that his agent and father are not working him?

Its one of the only situations where this could be plausible. Lot of Beef between NY and Toronto. Would be no love lost.

 

[Darcy Tucker]

It's the Mavs 2nd game of a back to back and the Raptors have improved but it's Luka's birthday today. I can see him putting on a clinic tonight. Anyways , I smashed the Mavs moneyline tonight. Go Luka Go.

 

[canucksfan]

The Raps shitty 3rd quarter did them in

 

[1specter]

The sooner Bruce Brown is off this team the better. Taking minutes away from Ochai or Nwora who could be getting valuable development.

 

[GoonieFace]

The sooner Bruce Brown is off this team the better. Taking minutes away from Ochai or Nwora who could be getting valuable development.

He drives me nuts, such a ball hog as well.

 

[1specter]

He drives me nuts, such a ball hog as well.

It's unfortunate because they have no choice but to play him. It would look bad on the org otherwise and could also hurt his value if they really want to move him at the draft.

 

[saska sault]

The sooner Bruce Brown is off this team the better. Taking minutes away from Ochai or Nwora who could be getting valuable development.

He's playing his way out of that team option almost, unless you know for sure someone around the league wants him at 22 million and will give up assets.

 

[Bjindaho]

He's playing his way out of that team option almost, unless you know for sure someone around the league wants him at 22 million and will give up assets.

22M has some value even as trade ballast.

The problem with him is that he really shouldn't be playing the 1.

 

[1specter]

Sounds like Scottie is done for the year. If the tank wasn't on before, it definitely is now

 

[Dr.Funk]

 

[Squiffy]

Sounds like Scottie is done for the year. If the tank wasn't on before, it definitely is now

Was already on as far as I follow.

Not following that closely guys, only so much free time in my life, one day when the kids are gone and work is winding down I’ll be able to watch all the Jays and Raps again like I once did. So a question to you here, and it’s probably already well hashed out in here, but if someone can indulge me with an answer.

Raps traded away their first, top-6 protected right? As I hear it, draft class this year not great, next year supposedly very good. Do I have this right, and therefor we very much would prefer the Raps to finish 7 or higher this year to get the traded pick obligation out of the way?

And then run the tank full pedal down next year?

Thanks

 

[canucksfan]

Well that sucks.

 

[The Nemesis]

Was already on as far as I follow.

Not following that closely guys, only so much free time in my life, one day when the kids are gone and work is winding down I’ll be able to watch all the Jays and Raps again like I once did. So a question to you here, and it’s probably already well hashed out in here, but if someone can indulge me with an answer.

Raps traded away their first, top-6 protected right? As I hear it, draft class this year not great, next year supposedly very good. Do I have this right, and therefor we very much would prefer the Raps to finish 7 or higher this year to get the traded pick obligation out of the way?

And then run the tank full pedal down next year?

Thanks

This is probably correct. I mean there's no guarantee they're this bad or worse next year but I'd probably rather have 7-12 in next year's draft with a chance to move up than 5 or 6 in this one.