No, I did it in 2 minutes. I noticed you ignored most of the list. How about you finish before I narrow the list down. I don't know who you like or hate, so it's hard to tell. And you're making a dumb assumption they sign no free agents... I would throw 25 a year at Grant Williams before 43 at FVV. So you premise is not correct because then you would only need one more player. And your body count premise is flawed too. You are assuming another team can't take someone like Kenyon Martin or Tate in a deal.
I just pulled one of them from nba.com. How about you tell me which analytic stats has him top 15 among point guards. You made the claim, can you not prove it?
FVV does what KPJ would never be able to do - give us a shot at making the playoffs. Not because of individual performance, but because how much he will elevate everyone around him. FVV dragged a lottery team to the playin last year. Without FVV you'll see how much the Raptors regress, how how much everyone on the Rockets this year takes a step forward. I am sure a lot of people will dismiss the improvement in Jabari, Tari, Green as to the players and coach, but make no mistake, FVV should be included in getting that credit.
You don't need to create an untradeable contract to do that. Clear out 2-3 of the young guys who won't get playing time, trade for overpaid veterans on short deals to get draft capital.
If we start winning then maybe we didn’t overpay. If we keep limping along then yeah, we got VanFleeced.
FVV may have been the 5th best player on his team. Certainly no better than 3rd. He didn't drag them anywhere... like saying Robert Horry dragged the Rockets to a championship.
Are you sure there was not a better option via trade? He's not "all-round". He's inefficient at scoring and not a great rebounder. He plays hard on defense and can pass the ball.
Yes he is over paid. But that's the price we have to pay for a change of culture. We need mature characters who have won on the big stage. Those guys aren't going to come play for a loosing team, (bc it makes their value fall), without being paid a premium.
Especially with the skyrocketing ticket prices and gear prices. In 20 years it will be $500 to go to a game in the nosebleeds.
Will he be bringing a wife named Greta? I may have to start watching the rockets again. It’s getting interesting.
“VanVleet sucks! He was the Raptors 4th/5th/6th best player. We just gave their 6th best player a max contract. Sad!” Also them: “Why didn’t VanVleet, the guy I just told you was their 6th best player, make them any better? They were mediocre!” “VanVleet, the 6th best player, got Nick Nurse fired!”
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/articl...only-time-will-tell-how-big-a-hole-he-leaves/ But when it comes to VanVleet, it’s not a player-in, player-out kind of moment. He’s bigger than that. The 29-year-old from Rockford, Ill. barely became a Raptor. He was signed as an undrafted free agent in the summer of 2016. The feeling was he would run their G-League team and see what would happen. He was Jeff Dowtin Jr., basically, with a beefier college resume and less hops. The Raptors had Kyle Lowry, Cory Joseph, and Delon Wright ahead of him on the depth chart at point guard. It wasn’t a position of need. But Wright injured his shoulder in Summer League that year and VanVleet got his foot in the door and instantly began building up credibility. He played well in the summer. On the first scrimmage of training camp, VanVleet made it his business to ruin Lowry’s day, showing the kind of fearlessness and competitiveness that separated him from the start. Lowry was sold early and took the rookie under his wing. Sure enough, Raptors 905 won the G-League title with VanVleet directing traffic. In 2017-18 second year VanVleet was orchestrating the ‘bench mob’ — the best second unit in the NBA and a big reason why the Raptors won a team record 59 games that year. In the 2018-19 championship season VanVleet was a constant in the rotation and — after the birth of Fred Jr. — a playoff hero. With Toronto trailing Milwaukee 2-1 in the Eastern Conference Finals, VanVleet made 14 of his next 17 threes as a second-time father and helped the Raptors storm back to down the Bucks and make the NBA Finals. Once there, he was the ‘1’ in Nick Nurse’s Box-and-1 defence he famously employed to stifle the Golden State Warriors' Steph Curry. In the championship-deciding Game 6 win, VanVleet was ‘the one’ as he went off for 12 points in the fourth quarter as the Raptors made history. In the season after his friend and mentor Lowry left, VanVleet filled Lowry’s massive shoes and became an all-star. He holds the Raptors' franchise record for points (54) and assists (20) in a game, joining Wilt Chamberlain as the only players to hold both single-game marks for one team. … The Raptors were hesitant to pay more than $90 million for three years for VanVleet — “they had a glass ceiling they didn’t want to go above,” said one source close to the situation. They wanted VanVleet back but were cognisant that he had played a massive minutes load the past two seasons and has had some injury challenges to show for it, missing 30 games over the past two years. Last season VanVleet shot 39 percent from the floor and 34 percent from three — both career lows since becoming a regular in the rotation — as a follow-up to his all-star season a year ago. He slumped badly in the second half of 2021-22 and it carried forward through the first half of 2022-23, though his ability to cause turnovers and take care of the ball when he had it never wavered. His competitive spirit was equally resolute. Still, going beyond three years seemed risky, especially considering the other contract commitments Toronto could be facing at that point while under a more restrictive collective bargaining agreement. Going beyond $30 million annually would have created problems when it came to allocating resources elsewhere, including signing Poeltl, who the Raptors had traded a lightly protected first-round pick for at the trade deadline in February. That became a problem when the Rockets emerged as a wild card in the process. Even armed with $60 million in cap space, they didn’t seem a threat as long as it looked like they were going to reunite with James Harden. The Raptors — and the rest of the NBA — were sure that was a done deal until recent weeks. When that unravelled — Harden opted into the last year of his deal with Philadelphia and demanded a trade Thursday — Houston turned to the next best veteran point guard on the market and made clear they were going to make a run at VanVleet. Per sources, by the time the Raptors met with VanVleet in Los Angeles at the opening of the free agency period, Toronto had decided to add another year to their offer, bringing it to $120 million over four years to counter the reported two-year deal worth $83 million Houston was ready to make. There was a long pause at that point with no news coming out for nearly three hours — an eternity in the opening stages of free agency when deals get announced like popcorn on high heat. It eventually became apparent why: The Rockets added a third year, bringing their total to $130 million over three years and the Raptors chose not to match. Fred VanVleet went from icon to former Raptor that quickly.
I just want to know who’s idea it was to give him this contract. If it’s Stone he should be in the hot seat If it’s Udoka then I don’t think he should have any more roster decision power This contract basically ruined my off season excitement
At least he's still 29. By the time his contract ends he will be 31. His game can't really drop off that much? He is not going to be Ty Lawson and it's not my money. So I will just enjoy the games like I did when they won 20 games see if the youngsters can take the next step.
Unless you’re trading Green you’re probably not even going to start a conversation about trading for a better PG. We could have paid less for a lesser pg but IMO this was the position that needs the most help - followed closely by a C. I think of this as it’s the 2023 cost of getting defense and stability to run the team. Get a lesser pg and get lesser team growth. We paid what we had to pay to get the best available. And as far as scoring goes I’m hoping that Green and Sengun become even more efficient. And rebounding is not a normal ph’s strength. We needed a floor general bad and that’s what he brings to the team.
