I'm sorry but am I the only one who thinks Toronto will be good?

They will be good enough for a #9-12 pick in next years draft.

 

Oh he is going to be good, key word is going to be good. Still needs to fill out and he's raw as heck.

He didn't do much last night against Nigeria. And their best player is Aminu.

 

Lowry is going to bust his ass making sure the Raptors keep their pick. He's going to want to stick it to the Rockets.

 

Lol he had a PF/C listed and you go ahead and name two guards and Melo.

 

your point? he's still only 25. neither has derozan or fields, who he's still way better than. they were still a better team last season, and will be a better team this season, along with the wizard, cavs, and a few more teams.

 

Let's do some simple math to project Lowry's impact:

The simplest approach I can think of Lowry's possible impact on the Raptors is using his win shares per minute and replacing them with Jose Calderon's.

Let's say Lowry plays about 2000 minutes next year (a reasonable number with his history in 82 game seasons) at the same production level as 2011-2012, which was by far his best season. (.157 WS/48).

.157*(2000/48) gives us 6.54 win shares.

Calderon last year had .136 win shares/48. Let's say Calderon would have played 2000 minutes next season anyways for simplicity's sake.

.136*(2000/48) gives us 5.67 win shares.

So conservatively, replacing Calderon with Lowry by itself is probably worth only about a one win improvement in a 82 game season.

Raptors were essentially a 29 win team in a 82 game season last year, so Lowry makes them a 30 win team.

So the real wild card is Valanciunas, but I venture to say a 20-year old center would not make THAT much of an impact his first year and he'd be replacing Aaron Gray and Ed Davis's minutes who were not terrible. So let's be conservative and say he adds another win.

So we're looking at a 31 win team here, which is probably good for about the 10th or 11th draft pick.

 

That was the point. I was supporting the argument.

 

Listen to yourself.

Bayless was once projected over
Davis was once considered

Jonas Valančiūnas is 20 years old. Hard to expect immediate impact.

If NBA becomes a dunk contest, be afraid, until then, they have to prove themselves.

 

yeah.... but they are still the raptors, so they will always suck. Plus there is a lot of bacteria in toronto.

 

Just like Aaron Brooks busted his ass to get the Suns to the playoffs...wait.

 

lol, my bad. It didn't seem that way for some reason

 

Rockets had far more depth/talent than this current Raptors team do. They suck.

 

The Rockets team that went 10-9 without Lowry? (Losing to Dallas twice, OKC twice, Clippers, Heat, Pacers, Cavs, Suns).

We also managed to beat the Lakers twice, OKC, & Memphis.

 

what was the rockets record for games lowry started vs games he did not

 

idk if they will be that good but what about the suns and the warriors have improved with bogut and lee down low curry and klay in the back court and they drafted barnes and utah was a playoff team last year

 

I pretty much agree with juicystream, only would I also label the Sixers as a wild card/potential playoff team. We don't know yet what they'll do with Lou Williams and they still might trade Iggy for a younger piece.
I also don't think the Cavs will be in the hunt for the playoffs.

 

Lowry is better, do not count when Lowry came back from injury( he wasnt healthy)

Lowry gives them 5 more wins, and the Lithaunian kid will get them in the playoffs

 

That was if the teams pretty much stay pat. Certainly the Sixers could make moves that put them on the out.

Cavs depend on Kyrie Irving's growth. I don't want to dismiss the possibility of him being even better, though the roster is mostly crap.

 

lockout season, i hate to say they were fluke wins, but we beat the Bulls without D.Rose, and a lot of these teams like the Mavs were just packing it in

The Raptors will make the playoffs

 

Cavs arent doing anything this year. Dion Waiters will be a bust