Should the Raptors target Jamal Murray in 2025?

[dTox]

Funny that the reason we don't want to re-sign Siakam is because we can't offer a near max contract.
Now people are looking for other star players and think it will work?

To be fair - Jamal is a much better fit with Scottie.

I believe that is only on the offensive side that you are referring to. Siakam is a better fit on the defensive side, and we are clearly lacked size up front.

Siakam is not a great fit next to Scottie on Defense either, primarily because both can guard 2-4, and are undersized at the 5. There's a reason Siakam is playing the best defense of the past 3-4 years in Indy, there's not much positional overlap in the starting lineup. Murray's fit next to Scottie is so much superior than Scottie + Siakam on offense that it more than makes up for whatever he lacks on the other end of the floor. Regardless, this a pipedream, Denver is keeping Jamal.

[MiamiSPX]

Has had some serious injuries, would be an idiot to leave Jokic, and lives in Colorado full time. SGA should be the target.

In 2027 - when RJ and Poeltl coincidentally come off the books.

I've said this many times before, but it's telling that Masai refused to give Pascal more than three years on a max extension.

I'm with you. Normally I do not assume these Canadians would want to play for the Raptors but it did make me pause and say "whoa" when I heard SGA lives in Burlington in the offseason.

On a related note, I saw n interview with Jamal Murry and his GF (at the time, no clue if he's still with her) and he was raving about the Denver area. He lives there year-round. That doesn't mean he wouldn't want to play for the Raptors, but the dude is living his best life. A city he wants to live in, making max money, competing for chips alongside the best player in the game. He'd be an idiot to walk away from that, patriotism be damned.

[Kingsway_fan]

Has had some serious injuries, would be an idiot to leave Jokic, and lives in Colorado full time. SGA should be the target.

In 2027 - when RJ and Poeltl coincidentally come off the books.

I've said this many times before, but it's telling that Masai refused to give Pascal more than three years on a max extension.

I'm with you. Normally I do not assume these Canadians would want to play for the Raptors but it did make me pause and say "whoa" when I heard SGA lives in Burlington in the offseason.

On a related note, I saw n interview with Jamal Murry and his GF (at the time, no clue if he's still with her) and he was raving about the Denver area. He lives there year-round. That doesn't mean he wouldn't want to play for the Raptors, but the dude is living his best life. A city he wants to live in, making max money, competing for chips alongside the best player in the game. He'd be an idiot to walk away from that, patriotism be damned.

Who in their right mind would want to freeze their a** off in high tax Toronto, when they could play elsewhere, such as Denver?...

Not happening. Which is why we overpay for players and which is why when players DO WANT TO STAY... like Norm... you don't trade them!!

Having said that... I'll take SGA ANYTIME, PLEASE

[dhackett1565]

Whether we want to or not, assuming a max extension for Scottie this summer (should be a no-brainer) and say 25M next summer for IQ on the deal he signs this summer, we might have 15M in cap room. So I'm gonna go ahead and say, no, targeting any big name FA in 2025 is not in the cards.

FA is not the path. They've got too much core in place now. The >MLE but <max cap room they could have this summer is their best shot at using cap room if that's the goal, otherwise probably have to wait until yet another new timeline reset post-Scottie.

Wishcasting should be focused on potential trades from here on out. That and lottery luck.

[Indeed]

To be fair - Jamal is a much better fit with Scottie.

I believe that is only on the offensive side that you are referring to. Siakam is a better fit on the defensive side, and we are clearly lacked size up front.

Siakam is not a great fit next to Scottie on Defense either, primarily because both can guard 2-4, and are undersized at the 5. There's a reason Siakam is playing the best defense of the past 3-4 years in Indy, there's not much positional overlap in the starting lineup. Murray's fit next to Scottie is so much superior than Scottie + Siakam on offense that it more than makes up for whatever he lacks on the other end of the floor. Regardless, this a pipedream, Denver is keeping Jamal.

Barnes can't guard 1-2, he is not quick enough, agreed by many here, can't turn his hip. Siakam can guard some of the 1s. So I am unsure you can have Murray and Barnes together, which is why Quickley is important due to his defense.

[Indeed]

To be fair - Jamal is a much better fit with Scottie.

I believe that is only on the offensive side that you are referring to. Siakam is a better fit on the defensive side, and we are clearly lacked size up front.

Pascal hasn't played defence since 2019. Keep up!

And he has been playing defense in 2024 playoff. Keep up!

[Dalek]

Whether we want to or not, assuming a max extension for Scottie this summer (should be a no-brainer) and say 25M next summer for IQ on the deal he signs this summer, we might have 15M in cap room. So I'm gonna go ahead and say, no, targeting any big name FA in 2025 is not in the cards.

FA is not the path. They've got too much core in place now. The >MLE but <max cap room they could have this summer is their best shot at using cap room if that's the goal, otherwise probably have to wait until yet another new timeline reset post-Scottie.

Wishcasting should be focused on potential trades from here on out. That and lottery luck.

I agree with you because free agent chasing is just not a likely scenario given our core and the likely commitments coming up.

Prior to the start of the 20254 free agency we can potentially move off of Poeltl and Bruce Brown. My target is Karl Anthony Towns. If we have control over our 2025 I would send it and those two players for Towns. Towns to me became expendable with Naz Reid and Minny will need a tax break and we need a starting C that can shoot and carry our offense.

[Reeko]

Our best shot is SGA and if he wins a title/s with OKC, I would say our chances decrease pretty significantly.

[dTox]

I believe that is only on the offensive side that you are referring to. Siakam is a better fit on the defensive side, and we are clearly lacked size up front.

Siakam is not a great fit next to Scottie on Defense either, primarily because both can guard 2-4, and are undersized at the 5. There's a reason Siakam is playing the best defense of the past 3-4 years in Indy, there's not much positional overlap in the starting lineup. Murray's fit next to Scottie is so much superior than Scottie + Siakam on offense that it more than makes up for whatever he lacks on the other end of the floor. Regardless, this a pipedream, Denver is keeping Jamal.

Barnes can't guard 1-2, he is not quick enough, agreed by many here, can't turn his hip. Siakam can guard some of the 1s. So I am unsure you can have Murray and Barnes together, which is why Quickley is important due to his defense.

Siakam can guard 1-2 but he's not great at it, as we have seen many many times over the past 3-4 years, he's pretty much on the same tier as Barnes when it comes to guarding 1-2. Siakam can stay in front of his man better than Scottie, but Scottie knows how to leverage the team defense to make up for that and is a significantly better weakside defender. There is a reason why our championship coach Nurse and Darko both trusted Scottie over Siakam to guard 1-2 position. Main point is, Scottie is a much better fit next to Murray, and Siakam isn't a good enough defender to make up for it.

[will]

Our best shot is SGA and if he wins a title/s with OKC, I would say our chances decrease pretty significantly.

OKC is going to be clutching/clinging onto SGA like JVG did to Alonzo Mourning.

Only way he's leaving OKC is when he retires.

[MiamiSPX]

Our best shot is SGA and if he wins a title/s with OKC, I would say our chances decrease pretty significantly.

Counterpoint: Bringing them a title might make it easier to ditch them. Not as much backlash.

[Reeko]

Our best shot is SGA and if he wins a title/s with OKC, I would say our chances decrease pretty significantly.

Counterpoint: Bringing them a title might make it easier to ditch them. Not as much backlash.

I'm not even taking that into consideration. I'm speaking strictly from the assumption that SGA wants to win and if he's the lead dog on a team with two other potential all stars in Chet and Jalen, meanwhile the only good thing we have going for us at that point is still Scottie, then why would he want to leave?

[OakleyDokely]

Our best shot is SGA and if he wins a title/s with OKC, I would say our chances decrease pretty significantly.

Counterpoint: Bringing them a title might make it easier to ditch them. Not as much backlash.

Winning a title (or being successful in general) also means a lot of guys will want to get paid.

SGA on supermax and both Williams/Chet on max will be tough to accommodate before you even get into a proper supporting cast. A lot of teams right now are finding it hard to build around 3 max guys.

[will]

Our best shot is SGA and if he wins a title/s with OKC, I would say our chances decrease pretty significantly.

Counterpoint: Bringing them a title might make it easier to ditch them. Not as much backlash.

Winning a title (or being successful in general) also means a lot of guys will want to get paid.

SGA on supermax and both Williams/Chet on max will be tough to accommodate before you even get into a proper supporting cast. A lot of teams right now are finding it hard to build around 3 max guys.

We can and we will.

[MiamiSPX]

Our best shot is SGA and if he wins a title/s with OKC, I would say our chances decrease pretty significantly.

Counterpoint: Bringing them a title might make it easier to ditch them. Not as much backlash.

Winning a title (or being successful in general) also means a lot of guys will want to get paid.

SGA on supermax and both Williams/Chet on max will be tough to accommodate before you even get into a proper supporting cast. A lot of teams right now are finding it hard to build around 3 max guys.

"The disease of more" as Pat Riley once said. We've seen it firsthand how everyone starts getting paid. I am shocked at how passive OKC was at the deadline. I felt they should have been the ones to land Siakam or OG because even if they bolted, who cares? They have enough in the war chest to absorb taking a chance like that.

[Reeko]

Our best shot is SGA and if he wins a title/s with OKC, I would say our chances decrease pretty significantly.

Counterpoint: Bringing them a title might make it easier to ditch them. Not as much backlash.

Winning a title (or being successful in general) also means a lot of guys will want to get paid.

SGA on supermax and both Williams/Chet on max will be tough to accommodate before you even get into a proper supporting cast. A lot of teams right now are finding it hard to build around 3 max guys.

That's not as big of an issue for OKC though with the abundance of draft picks that they have. They can keep finding good role players through the draft and develop them over the years as the older players price themselves out.

[Chandan]

I believe that is only on the offensive side that you are referring to. Siakam is a better fit on the defensive side, and we are clearly lacked size up front.

Siakam is not a great fit next to Scottie on Defense either, primarily because both can guard 2-4, and are undersized at the 5. There's a reason Siakam is playing the best defense of the past 3-4 years in Indy, there's not much positional overlap in the starting lineup. Murray's fit next to Scottie is so much superior than Scottie + Siakam on offense that it more than makes up for whatever he lacks on the other end of the floor. Regardless, this a pipedream, Denver is keeping Jamal.

Barnes can't guard 1-2, he is not quick enough, agreed by many here, can't turn his hip. Siakam can guard some of the 1s. So I am unsure you can have Murray and Barnes together, which is why Quickley is important due to his defense.

Quickley's defense is actually pretty suspect so far. But then he's playing darko ball so take it with a grain of salt.

[OakleyDokely]

Counterpoint: Bringing them a title might make it easier to ditch them. Not as much backlash.

Winning a title (or being successful in general) also means a lot of guys will want to get paid.

SGA on supermax and both Williams/Chet on max will be tough to accommodate before you even get into a proper supporting cast. A lot of teams right now are finding it hard to build around 3 max guys.

"The disease of more" as Pat Riley once said. We've seen it firsthand how everyone starts getting paid. I am shocked at how passive OKC was at the deadline. I felt they should have been the ones to land Siakam or OG because even if they bolted, who cares? They have enough in the war chest to absorb taking a chance like that.

I think what eventually happens is they they will need choose between Chet and Williams. If they keep all three of the core guys, it will be almost impossible to keep guys like Giddey, Dort, Cason.

If OKC was a big market, I'd have more confidence in them spending huge amounts to keep everyone together, but I just don't see it. I think the next 2 years is probably the best roster they will ever have with this core because after that, everyone will want to get paid and they will need to make tough choices.

[Kevin Willis]

In 2027 - when RJ and Poeltl coincidentally come off the books.

I've said this many times before, but it's telling that Masai refused to give Pascal more than three years on a max extension.

I'm with you. Normally I do not assume these Canadians would want to play for the Raptors but it did make me pause and say "whoa" when I heard SGA lives in Burlington in the offseason.

On a related note, I saw n interview with Jamal Murry and his GF (at the time, no clue if he's still with her) and he was raving about the Denver area. He lives there year-round. That doesn't mean he wouldn't want to play for the Raptors, but the dude is living his best life. A city he wants to live in, making max money, competing for chips alongside the best player in the game. He'd be an idiot to walk away from that, patriotism be damned.

Who in their right mind would want to freeze their a** off in high tax Toronto, when they could play elsewhere, such as Denver?...

Not happening. Which is why we overpay for players and which is why when players DO WANT TO STAY... like Norm... you don't trade them!!

Having said that... I'll take SGA ANYTIME, PLEASE

Weather matters less than taxes and foreign country. Players still want to play in NY and Chicago and they're cold. Players don't bad mouth the city, especially the elite players.

[kieferli]

We need to build like OKC, that’s the only way for Toronto have chances to win. OKC young’s fun to watch , they don’t need to sign a superstar to help them to be #1 in the West . Many young players they have look like can be an All stars or may ne superstar.