Spoiler Raptors are in an interesting position. Kinda sorta but not really went in at the deadline. Ross & late (Clippers?) pick for Ibaka. Poo-poo platter for Tucker. Ibaka, Patterson & Tucker will be free agents. Lowry has a PO that he will surely opt out of. With Dwane Casey: They've missed the playoffs twice(first two years) Gone home in the first twice Made a run to the CF last year Staring at a first or 2nd round exit this year so... I don't know that the alternative is better but are you gonna go "all in" on a 50-ish win team that's probably not gonna win a title? Maybe not even a ECF team? Are you gonna pay Ibaka what he's looking for? Gonna pay Kyle Lowry, good in the regular season, not so much in the playoffs? But then again, you paid DeRozan, you paid Valanciunas, you paid DeMarre Carroll but now not pay Lowry and/or Ibaka and/or Patterson and/or Tucker? I don't know. They're kinda in that gray area. Bring everyone back & fire Dwane?
I want to root for the Bucks, and wanted to like Giannis when he got into the league, but his scuffle with Harden in 2014-15 season can't cut it. I want this dude to struggle. I hope Harden can continue to humble him.
Instead of bashing the Raptors pay attention to what is brewing in Milwaukee. This team is on the rise and has scary defensive potential with the amount of length and quickness that they possess. What they have can't be easily replicated, either. Giannis and Thon Maker don't grow on trees. The Raptors have 42 points late in the 3rd quarter. Frankly the Raptors don't have the spacing, but the Bucks could be the NBA's natural evolutionary counter to the high octane offenses of the Rockets and Warriors. Not that the Rockets need to worry about the Bucks since they are in the East, but if the Bucks were in the West, I'd want Morey to consider whether his offense will work against the Bucks style defense. We already struggle against a similar type of defense in the Warriors, the Bucks are just taller and longer. Scary if you think about it. It makes sense though, positionless basketball has made offenses hard to stop, positionless defense is right around the corner.
I think he's going to pay them, no chance he changes his mind at this point, they may look to trade Valanciunas, he has a good contract and they really don't use him like they should, they would probably be as good if not better playing Nogueira as a starter for how they use Jonas. This assuming those guys are ok staying there obviously.
lol i didn't mean it like that, but the first step is definitely to fire casey or find some way to use jonas correctly. he is one of the few players that can give the bucks trouble but he's out here getting benched for CoJo. i voted for raps in 5, but i'm not at all surprised by the bucks putting on such clinical performances in this series. if you watched them this year, they've shown flashes of that potential, but get doomed by their inexperience in situations. so what i am surprised about is how poised their young players are. giannis is not afraid of the moment at all, which is a huge surprise when you consider how much respect he gives to other players/his idols (lebron for example). always knew brogdon was poised since he was developed at virginia, but these other players believing will do wealths for them. maker is playing much better than i thought he would be - especially considering how he recently got more minutes. for all of kidd's faults, him being a HOFer/former champ allows him to relate to the team and has them believing. with that said, i don't think this series is over just yet... raps can get game 4 and we're back to holding serve.
Yeah, they probably will stay together. Like I said, the alternative isn't better. Stay the course, trust the process, blahblahblah...
Yep, they're also not a great market so it would be very risky to lose two of their best players (and some bench) in the same free agency. Masai is good in assembling a good, but not very good roster imo (personally i think he's a bit overrated as a gm but that's just me), so i can see him being happy with this team and eventually looking for a pretty big trade later.
Masai Ujiri has some big decisions to make. If they lose in 5, Casey will be fired. He definitely won't pay Lowry & Ibaka whatever they're asking. Raptors will take a huge step backwards next year unless he can pull a rabbit out of his hat.
hahaha that was nice. But nothing is over yet. Craptors may win the next and we're back to a tie. I hope this series makes more people appreciate Middleton. Especially his passing in the pnr and playmaking. (which developed only last year).
So the Raptors suck in game one(s) AND on the road? Well damn... Raptors are 6-27 all-time on the road in the playoffs, the 2nd-worst win percentage among active franchises (Pelicans).
I don't see how you can justify giving Kyle Lowry max money if you see yourself as a contender. He has disappeared every year in the playoffs for Toronto and he's on the wrong side of 30. I could see Philadelphia making a run at him.
Actually, if Jonas wasn't a high lotto pick and didn't get that nice contract, he wouldn't see ANY minutes on Raptors. Casey despise him for whateva reasons he has against him. He has constantly benched him in 4th his entire carrier, he has constantly made him scapegoat after games to the media (despite players like DeRozan playing no D whatsover either), not only that, but when Jonas entered league, he was fast like Gazelle, but instead just letting him bulk up few pounds naturally, they made him bulk up way too much, and now his way too slow to defend pick and roll and gets murdered on D, so Casey has another reason not to play him, his confidence on D gets affected by the amount of touches he gets on offense, and sadly what we saw in last year playoffs where he bailed out Raptors against Pacers and Heat (until he got hurt) won't be seen again (at least not on Raptors), there were numerous rumors that Spurs wanted and tried to trade for him on draft day, the boy is damaged good, he could been and maybe still could be a great player but not on Raptors or at least not for Casey. Raptors whole offense is ISO DeRozan and just a pick up game without 2 star players being accountable for their mistakes, Raptors been in the bottom of the league in assist department for years now.
Toronto has to break the team up after this. This isn't a core you can build on. They've had several years together. Why lock themselves into an expensive, mediocre team? Bucks look like the future. Giannis will be an MVP someday.