Toronto, San Antonio talking Kawhi-DeRozan Swap (UPDATE: Done deal)

Very well done.

 

It's almost as if Canadians are smart and can follow something non-trivial.

 

having drake narrate and do a little dance at the end would have been better

 

Both teams extremely happy so far with the trade.

Kawhi is a top 3 player (maybe even top 2 imho) but he comes with a lot of risk since he can leave for the Lakers and he has always had an injury the past few years whenever he was starting to dominate. Pretty sure Pops is happy to have Derozan instead lol.

 

The Spurs should've traded Kawhi for picks or young players with high ceilings. DeMar won't get them anywhere. However, the deal seems great for the Raptors - even if it's just for 1 year, Kawhi raised their ceiling to a legit contender, and that's ultimately what the goal should be when forming a roster.

 

Calling out Vince, Bosh and McGrady.

Savage.

 

Derozan is as good as its gonna get, Kawhi is a flight risk no team will give up a ton of young players or high draft picks c'mon. Demar won't get them anywhere but having him is still better than a low pick or whatever poopoo platter they were gonna get for Kawhi.

If its just for 1 year the deal is horrible for the Raptors as they will be stuck in no man's land, with Lowry, Ibaka etc they will be full of vets but wont have the star power to eveb reach the Finals.

 

Camby?

Good video, but they are forgetting Leonard is going to leave too. Eventually.

All they got is an automatic path to the CFinals without Lebron killing them.

 

The video is basically saying close your eyes and ears and just enjoy this year because next year we are screwed lol

 

Not really. Toronto was going nowhere with DeMar and Lowry as their 2 best players. Masai Ujiri acquired a legitimate superstar for that last swing at the title. If Kawhi leaves, Toronto will be in an excellent position for an accelerated rebuild. It was a beautiful trade by them because they will have a clear direction whatever decision Kawhi will make. It will either be building around Kawhi, or blowing it all up and rebuilding. With DeRozan they would have continued to be a treadmill team for 3 more years! With no shot at the title whatsoever. Not only did they avoid being stuck in mediocrity for 3 more years, they have also raised their chances at the title significantly compared to what it was. Honestly, it was a really good move when you analyze it deeper, and nothing will convince me otherwise

 

No matter how you analyze it De Rozan was an asset and if Kawhi leaves in FA they lost their best asset for nothing.

What do you mean "in a great position for an accelarated rebuild"? Look at their roster its full of win now vets like Lowry, Danny Green, Ibaka, Monroe etc how is losing Derozan for nothing supposed to be an accelerated rebuild when they still have capspace tied up to all these vets and these vets will make sure they win enough games to stay out of lottery? Thats like saying if we trade away Harden for nothing then we are gonna be able to do an accelerated rebuild. An accelerated rebuild would mean lots of capspace, top draft picks and blue chip rookies Raptors have none of that they were trying to win it now.

"Blowing it all up" sounds nice in theory but nobody wants to do it unless they have very little choice, nobody will watch the team because it sucks profits are down and you don't know when you will be good again see Detroit, Sacramento, Milwaukee and Suns for teams who "blew it all up" and still suck to this day. This is especially true for the Raptors who just escaped from Rebuilding hell.

Imagine you are a Raptors fan you sucked all the time from Carter era to Tmac era to Bosh era. Finally you habe a good keeps losing to Lebron but other than that pretty good you even had best record in the East. Then your GM loses your best player for nothing and tries to sell you on blowing everything up and sucking again? And even worse your team is full of win now players tied to big deals lol good luck. If Kawhi leaves in FA Ujiri gonna be fired before Raptors "Process" is over.

 

You don't quite understand, the Raptors are potentially legitimate contender s for this year. Yes one year, but a year which you might beat the team out west. That can not be said with DeRozan on the team. The goal is to win a championship, Raptors are as close as they have ever been, might be for one year, but the goal is not to be in the championship.

 

It's true though, they would be in an accelerated rebuild if Kawhi left, because it's all relative to what their timeline would look like with DeRozan. If Leonard indeed leaves, they will be able to start the rebuild in 2019-20 instead of 2021-22. And those 'win now vets' will become effective trade chips. Even Lowry with his big contract, unless his play declines significantly (which doesn't seem to be the case yet this season) will be very tradeable, especially because he will be an expiring contract. Ibaka, while not a very attractive asset on the court, will have also have an expiring contract - lots of teams should be interested in that. Same thing with Valanciunas, another expiring if he happens to pick up his player option this year. No matter how you look at it, they have the assets to start a rebuild. And again, it's called an accelerated rebuild because you don't have to wait until 2021-22 when DeRozan's contract is done. Heck, even then, Ujiri would probably be pressured into giving DeMar another contract so that he would retire a Raptor. That sh-t would also impede the rebuild.

 

Which has a higher chance of winning a ring, one year with Kawhi or multiple years of being a contender? If your goal is to win a ring you try to be a contender as long as possible to give yourself more shots at winning. Putting all your eggs in one year and then throwing it all away means you basically guaranteed you will not win a ring as you don't know if you can be good again if you destroy your team.

 

Just because you destroy your team quicker doesn't mean you accelerate your rebuild, Sacramento blew it all up more than a decade ago how has their rebuild gone?

You act like as long as the Raps rebuild they are gonna be champions there is no guarantee they will be better than they are now if they rebuild, right now their team is good enough to beat Celts and Sixers if they rebuild and do everything right 5 years later Celts and Sixers may be the best teams in the league so they still have no chance anyway. Much safer and more strategic to keep Derozan and hope you get a lucky shot within the next 3-5 years worst case you end up rebuilding anyway which is the same result as what you are proposing.

As for Derozan if Kawhi leaves the Raptors lost their best player and most valuable asset for nothing thats not accelerated at all thats a massive step back in your rebuilding plans.

 

I would not mind the Raptors making it to the Finals if it comes to that.

 

I'm a Raptors lifer and I'll always have love for Derozan, but we were not going to win anything with Derozan/Lowry as our stars. How many chances do you expect Masai to give him?

Here's the thing. If Kawhi leaves next year, we ARE sitting pretty for a rebuild. We kept all of our young studs/assets (FVV, OG, Siakam, Delon, Norm) and only gave up protected pick in the Derozan deal. We also shed ourselves of Derozan's fat contract (27.7 M over the next 4 years? I'm good thanks). So yeah, if Kawhi leaves, we've just opened up a ton of cap space, in addition to the expiring contacts we'll have next year. There is huge potential for an 'accelerated rebuild.'

Many have tried, but no one is ever going to convince me that this deal wasn't good for the Raptors. I'd much rather go all in one year and then start our rebuild with the plethora of assets we have than trying the same **** over and over again hoping for different results.

 

^ Pretty much this. Sums it up perfectly @roslolian

 

Totally. espec. the same old crap year in year out.