Is there any potentially available aged star that would catapult the Raps to Finals contention?

[ItsDanger]

This poll suggests the team is far from being in legitimate contention for a championship. The draft offers the most realistic opportunity to improve the roster. As the odds are low in obtaining that from this 2024 draft, the choice is clear to keep a high pick in the 2025 draft.

[YogurtProducer]

This poll suggests the team is far from being in legitimate contention for a championship. The draft offers the most realistic opportunity to improve the roster. As the odds are low in obtaining that from this 2024 draft, the choice is clear to keep a high pick in the 2025 draft.

Got this post ready and templated for every thread that pops up?

[YogurtProducer]

I am a bit more optimistic of the BBQ Dick Core than many;
But I think we are way early in understanding what we really have to be talking about making that sort of win now move.

When we made the Kawhi move you had a team that was constantly making the playoffs as a home court seed with two guys who were generally yearly all stars with a lot of strong supporting pieces, we just aren't there yet.

We may get there depending in growth and additions but I don't think we are one player away from being a finals team.

We are one player PLUS one of IQ/RJ breaking out to all-star territory.

However - that can be said for pretty much every team in the NBA

[Psubs]

The East is easy, unless Philly gets Paul George. Even then, Milwaukee is old and Doc Rivers is terrible.

Only Boston is clearly more talented BUT they are going to choke against Cleveland. The East has so much parity while the West has a tougher top 8 teams.

[Scase]

This poll suggests the team is far from being in legitimate contention for a championship. The draft offers the most realistic opportunity to improve the roster. As the odds are low in obtaining that from this 2024 draft, the choice is clear to keep a high pick in the 2025 draft.

It's a shame you cant see who voted for what, I have a sneaking suspicion it would be the exact names we all expect

[HumbleRen]

Finals contention ? No one in the league unless Scottie makes an all nba leap similar to how Maxey did.

[6ixpessant]

lol... oh dear. Not one of em OP

[Rapsalot]

No.
Aged stars not great defenders anymore or ever and that is what our core needs.

[WaltFrazier]

I am a bit more optimistic of the BBQ Dick Core than many;
But I think we are way early in understanding what we really have to be talking about making that sort of win now move.

When we made the Kawhi move you had a team that was constantly making the playoffs as a home court seed with two guys who were generally yearly all stars with a lot of strong supporting pieces, we just aren't there yet.

We may get there depending in growth and additions but I don't think we are one player away from being a finals team.

We are one player PLUS one of IQ/RJ breaking out to all-star territory.

However - that can be said for pretty much every team in the NBA

The 2018 Raptors were very good, and 10-11 deep. And traded 2 players for 2 players, Kawhi and Danny Green. I don't think the current Raps are remotely close to being in that position.

[SaveTheHens]

If we could magically plop an aged superstar then Steph or Kawhi would do it. Then wed have the assets to get them some help and easily can be a contendor. If we had to trade for one then much less likely wed retain enough talent. KD plus some masterful trades might be able to do it

[Brinbe]

lol remember how strong our entire team was in 2019? Lowry, Green, Kawhi, Pascal, Gasol, Fred, Norm, Ibaka. OG wasn't even available, we were giving McCaw minutes as a 9th man plus Lin was washed and we won.

My point being that one or two players isn't catapulting us. It's gonna take a lot more, plus our best players aren't there yet themselves either.

[YogurtProducer]

I am a bit more optimistic of the BBQ Dick Core than many;
But I think we are way early in understanding what we really have to be talking about making that sort of win now move.

When we made the Kawhi move you had a team that was constantly making the playoffs as a home court seed with two guys who were generally yearly all stars with a lot of strong supporting pieces, we just aren't there yet.

We may get there depending in growth and additions but I don't think we are one player away from being a finals team.

We are one player PLUS one of IQ/RJ breaking out to all-star territory.

However - that can be said for pretty much every team in the NBA

The 2018 Raptors were very good, and 10-11 deep. And traded 2 players for 2 players, Kawhi and Danny Green. I don't think the current Raps are remotely close to being in that position.

Lets be honest though that 2019 team was also able to trade Demar/Poeltl for Danny/Kawhi, then lose Danny/Kawhi fo nothing, and still be a 60-win caliber team. That team was just insanely deep with like 9 starting caliber guys in Lowry/Danny/Kawhi/Siakam/Gasol FVV/Powell/OG/Ibaka. Just a situation we likely will never see again.

League is a little different now to with the new cap rules. IMO teams overall have been compressed and the top end is lower caliber but the 7ht/8th seeds are better than they were in 2018.

But we would 100% have finals aspirations if we somehow got PG13 for free, Barnes was an all-star, and IQ broke out to all-star caliber as well. Any team that has 3 all-star players, 2 of which could flirt with all-nba, you have the highest standard with your team.

Not that it matters because we are not getting PG13 for free and it is unlikely IQ breaks out like Maxey or something.

[YogurtProducer]

lol remember how strong our entire team was in 2019? Lowry, Green, Kawhi, Pascal, Gasol, Fred, Norm, Ibaka. OG wasn't even available, we were giving McCaw minutes as a 9th man plus Lin was washed and we won.

My point being that one or two players isn't catapulting us. It's gonna take a lot more, plus our best players aren't there yet themselves either.

Like I said above, our 2019 team was such an anomaly. IMO it has the argument for being the deepest team of all-time.

[Yallbecrazy]

You guys are smoking crack in here, take out any one of the 7 poll options and we probably win the ship. KD is probably the best so take him out and you have a roster of:
Lillard
Butler
George
Barnes
Towns
with Jaylen Brown, Quickley, Trae Young, Poeltl, and Barrett off the bench.

That team wins 70 games easily in my opinion.

[Brinbe]

lol remember how strong our entire team was in 2019? Lowry, Green, Kawhi, Pascal, Gasol, Fred, Norm, Ibaka. OG wasn't even available, we were giving McCaw minutes as a 9th man plus Lin was washed and we won.

My point being that one or two players isn't catapulting us. It's gonna take a lot more, plus our best players aren't there yet themselves either.

Like I said above, our 2019 team was such an anomaly. IMO it has the argument for being the deepest team of all-time.

Yes and that team was built through years of losing/development plus smart pick-ups in the 2nd round/UDFA until it was time for trades to make a final push.

But it's not an anomaly and it doesn't have to be a one-to-one. Look at the contenders now. The Celtics, Twolves, Thunder, Pacers have good/decent depth and even the Knicks have been able to survive after having a star in Randle and two rotation level guys in OG/Robinson be out with injury. The Cavs/Mavs are more top-heavy but they haven't done too bad roster-building as well.

Of course it helps that they have top-tier stars and that's where we lack too as Scottie isn't on that level yet and may never get there. RJ has proven that he can be a playoff performer but that's not nearly enough firepower, not to mention that Olynyk/Ochai/Gradey isn't exactly scaring anyone. And that's my point. We've seen this in the past two/three years, where we had good players and no bench to carry things once they hit the bench.

We're a far ways away from competing anytime soon no matter what aging star you add. Ideally we add a young player with potential on-par with Scottie's and play the long-road of growth for this team.

[Merit]

The floater disappearing has been the biggest shock to me. Feels like it’s totally mental.

Yeah and IQ isn’t little like Fred and Brunson are so I’m staying hopeful.

Would you rather trade our pick(s) for a player who’s more certain or bank on drafting and developing and continuing to build?

What holes do you see in our lineup?

IQ/RJ/?/Scottie/Poeltl
?/Gradey/Ochai/Kelly/?

^^ that’s what I see. We could potentially nudge Scottie to the 3 and play Kelly as a starter.

I for one am desperate for a bench. If I had my way it’d be a bench mob redux.

What’re your thoughts?

Building through the draft works. That’s my approach. We’re not at the point where we should be filling holes. We need high end talent and so far that’s only Scottie. I say give our 4 young guys a lot of freedom next year. It should once again be about developing their games. Get a top 6-8 pick in a much better draft next year and go from there. If a couple of our players jump in production then the team will automatically be worth adding to in order to get into the playoffs or play in.


Ideally we should have traded Siakam and OG when we had more leverage (a year earlier), same with Fred. Not acquired Poeltl for the price that we did.

If we had chosen to tank earlier that would’ve made sense, but at the time we were trying to win. What set us back the most was losing Fred for nothing.

[720]

Yeah and IQ isn’t little like Fred and Brunson are so I’m staying hopeful.

Would you rather trade our pick(s) for a player who’s more certain or bank on drafting and developing and continuing to build?

What holes do you see in our lineup?

IQ/RJ/?/Scottie/Poeltl
?/Gradey/Ochai/Kelly/?

^^ that’s what I see. We could potentially nudge Scottie to the 3 and play Kelly as a starter.

I for one am desperate for a bench. If I had my way it’d be a bench mob redux.

What’re your thoughts?

Building through the draft works. That’s my approach. We’re not at the point where we should be filling holes. We need high end talent and so far that’s only Scottie. I say give our 4 young guys a lot of freedom next year. It should once again be about developing their games. Get a top 6-8 pick in a much better draft next year and go from there. If a couple of our players jump in production then the team will automatically be worth adding to in order to get into the playoffs or play in.


Ideally we should have traded Siakam and OG when we had more leverage (a year earlier), same with Fred. Not acquired Poeltl for the price that we did.

If we had chosen to tank earlier that would’ve made sense, but at the time we were trying to win. What set us back the most was losing Fred for nothing.

The limitations of Fred and Siakam have been evident for awhile now. Trying to win was delusion and slowed down our rebuild. Had we began tanking starting from the Chet year or at least the Jabari Smith/Banchero year, we would be in great position right now, or at least a better position.

[YogurtProducer]

lol remember how strong our entire team was in 2019? Lowry, Green, Kawhi, Pascal, Gasol, Fred, Norm, Ibaka. OG wasn't even available, we were giving McCaw minutes as a 9th man plus Lin was washed and we won.

My point being that one or two players isn't catapulting us. It's gonna take a lot more, plus our best players aren't there yet themselves either.

Like I said above, our 2019 team was such an anomaly. IMO it has the argument for being the deepest team of all-time.

Yes and that team was built through years of losing/development plus smart pick-ups in the 2nd round/UDFA until it was time for trades to make a final push.

But it's not an anomaly and it doesn't have to be a one-to-one. Look at the contenders now. The Celtics, Twolves, Thunder, Pacers have good/decent depth and even the Knicks have been able to survive after having a star in Randle and two rotation level guys in OG/Robinson be out with injury. The Cavs/Mavs are more top-heavy but they haven't done too bad roster-building as well.

Of course it helps that they have top-tier stars and that's where we lack too as Scottie isn't on that level yet and may never get there. RJ has proven that he can be a playoff performer but that's not nearly enough firepower, not to mention that Olynyk/Ochai/Gradey isn't exactly scaring anyone. And that's my point. We've seen this in the past two/three years, where we had good players and no bench to carry things once they hit the bench.

We're a far ways away from competing anytime soon no matter what aging star you add. Ideally we add a young player with potential on-par with Scottie's and play the long-road of growth for this team.

It is 100% an anomaly.

If the Knicks lose Brunson and Donte are they winning 50 games next year like we did in 2020? Celtics lose Tatum and White? TWolves lose Ant and McDaniels? 100% a complete anomaly of a team in terms of depth. That team was bringing FVV (who was an all-star), OG (all-defence), Ibaka (former DPOY), and Powell (6MOTY candidate) off the bench at the same time.

I think we are vastly underrating the power of a star here though. We would not be a Celtics, but IMO if we just plunked a star here in TO there is no reason why we would not expect to be a NYK / CLE level of a team.

[Brinbe]

Like I said above, our 2019 team was such an anomaly. IMO it has the argument for being the deepest team of all-time.

Yes and that team was built through years of losing/development plus smart pick-ups in the 2nd round/UDFA until it was time for trades to make a final push.

But it's not an anomaly and it doesn't have to be a one-to-one. Look at the contenders now. The Celtics, Twolves, Thunder, Pacers have good/decent depth and even the Knicks have been able to survive after having a star in Randle and two rotation level guys in OG/Robinson be out with injury. The Cavs/Mavs are more top-heavy but they haven't done too bad roster-building as well.

Of course it helps that they have top-tier stars and that's where we lack too as Scottie isn't on that level yet and may never get there. RJ has proven that he can be a playoff performer but that's not nearly enough firepower, not to mention that Olynyk/Ochai/Gradey isn't exactly scaring anyone. And that's my point. We've seen this in the past two/three years, where we had good players and no bench to carry things once they hit the bench.

We're a far ways away from competing anytime soon no matter what aging star you add. Ideally we add a young player with potential on-par with Scottie's and play the long-road of growth for this team.

It is 100% an anomaly.

If the Knicks lose Brunson and Donte are they winning 50 games next year like we did in 2020? Celtics lose Tatum and White? TWolves lose Ant and McDaniels?

I think we are vastly underrating the power of a star here though. We would not be a Celtics, but IMO if we just plunked a star here in TO there is no reason why we would not expect to be a NYK / CLE level of a team.

I'm just not as high on this team as you are and that's fine. We're a long ways away from being on the Cavs or Knicks level. Those teams have more effective/proven stars, more depth and are much-better coached. We've already seen all this play out over the past 2/3 years. Literally had Siakam/OG/Fred/Scottie/Yak as a core plus Nurse as a coach and it amounted to nothing.

[TheGeneral99]

Yes and that team was built through years of losing/development plus smart pick-ups in the 2nd round/UDFA until it was time for trades to make a final push.

But it's not an anomaly and it doesn't have to be a one-to-one. Look at the contenders now. The Celtics, Twolves, Thunder, Pacers have good/decent depth and even the Knicks have been able to survive after having a star in Randle and two rotation level guys in OG/Robinson be out with injury. The Cavs/Mavs are more top-heavy but they haven't done too bad roster-building as well.

Of course it helps that they have top-tier stars and that's where we lack too as Scottie isn't on that level yet and may never get there. RJ has proven that he can be a playoff performer but that's not nearly enough firepower, not to mention that Olynyk/Ochai/Gradey isn't exactly scaring anyone. And that's my point. We've seen this in the past two/three years, where we had good players and no bench to carry things once they hit the bench.

We're a far ways away from competing anytime soon no matter what aging star you add. Ideally we add a young player with potential on-par with Scottie's and play the long-road of growth for this team.

It is 100% an anomaly.

If the Knicks lose Brunson and Donte are they winning 50 games next year like we did in 2020? Celtics lose Tatum and White? TWolves lose Ant and McDaniels?

I think we are vastly underrating the power of a star here though. We would not be a Celtics, but IMO if we just plunked a star here in TO there is no reason why we would not expect to be a NYK / CLE level of a team.

I'm just not as high on this team as you are and that's fine. We're a long ways away from being on the Cavs or Knicks level. Those teams have more effective/proven stars, more depth and are much-better coached. We've already seen all this play out over the past 2/3 years. Literally had Siakam/OG/Fred/Scottie/Yak as a core plus Nurse as a coach and it amounted to nothing.

I mean it didn't amount to nothing...the team won 48 games in 2022 and then 41 games in 2021 (playing at a 50 win pace after the Poeltl trade). But yes, that team was not going to go deep in the playoffs regardless.

I think our future really depends on a multitude of factors:

1) Do we get a top 6 in this draft? If so, we have two 1st round picks and even if we don't hit on a star we could hit on 1-2 starter level players to add depth.

2) Do Scottie, Quickley and RJ continue to improve? All of them are under the age of 24...there is no reason why each of them can't make some improvement.

3) Does Gradey Dick emerge as a 6th man type player who can give you 15 points off the bench?

4) We have a lot of cap space...who do we sign to give us some seriously needed depth?