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Post by haisan on Mar 12, 2024 20:30:39 GMT -5
Now that we're in the endgame to the 2023/4 season and clearly tanking, I guess it might be useful to have a dedicated thread to the draft and all that leads up to it.
At the moment, the Raptors are 1 game ahead of Memphis in the "race" for the 6th spot. But Memphis is kicking the Wizards' butt, so that could be just half a game soon.
For the sake of it, let's say the Raptors have a 50% chance of having a top-6 pick in the draft this year.
The Indiana pick is currently 16th, but Golden State, Miami and the Lakers all have easier schedules the rest of the way, so there's a good chance that could improve a couple of spots.
And, of course, we have the 31st pick from Detroit.
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Post by scully19 on Mar 13, 2024 9:02:39 GMT -5
32nd pick. Washington is now worse than Detroit.
I keep wondering what I want here. Keep the top 6 pick? I think there's a couple decent pieces at the top that could fit well here, namely Sarr more than anyone. So if we get him I'm happy for sure, but otherwise I don't know.
Are we going to be too good next year that we lose that pick? If yes I hope it's out of the lottery then I'm happy.
Right now we're just sitting at who the hell knows.
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Post by scully19 on Mar 14, 2024 6:20:03 GMT -5
Tank watch, Memphis loses but Portland wins. Now 4 wins up on Portland.
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Post by zugzwang on Mar 14, 2024 9:27:25 GMT -5
I keep wondering what I want here. . . This is what I am struggling with. Do we want to keep the pick this year (the notorious San Antonio Top 6 protected pick)? If we do, we have to pay it next year. Isn't the draft supposed to be better next year? If so, isn't the goal to get out of the bottom six? Is the Raptors front office being short-sighted? Or does going 7+ mean that the Raptor rebuild will be slowed. It's best to tank as hard and fast as possible. A player drafted this year to begin development is better than a player drafted next year. Otherwise we risk a drawn-out tank like the Sixers or the Pistons. I don't know if I am supposed to be happy with a loss or what right now. I do hope I will soon be able to go back to rooting for my team to actually win. But I get that we are now a development team and I will need to chill.
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Post by sandman on Mar 14, 2024 9:48:37 GMT -5
I'm on board with getting the pick this year and get this team competitive in ~2 seasons. It's possible with the right moves, we might be playoff bound next season (play-in, atleast). 2 years from now? Hopefully back to a top 5 team in the East.
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Post by scully19 on Mar 14, 2024 10:47:24 GMT -5
To be clear, my ideal scenario is to tank 2 seasons since next season is supposed to be so strong.
My problem is the FO won't and Scottie plus IQ plus keeping people like Poeltl will help the team too competitive to be bottom 6 again barring injuries. If they commit to tanking next year then I'm in. That or get into playoffs no matter what the seed and I'm good.
How do we tank in between such good draft years lol.
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Post by sandman on Mar 14, 2024 16:27:42 GMT -5
They could dedicate next season to development - sign a few promising G-leaguers. I'd love to see some Euro's brought in ala Parker and Garbo who could come in and make an impact.
However, we gotta think Scottie wants to win sooner than later. Not sure he's going to be happy with another "tank" season.
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Post by haisan on Mar 14, 2024 20:13:27 GMT -5
Tbh, I'm not letting it bother me that much. I think I've seen just about every scenario for rebuilding, and I've seen every scenario work amazingly and fail miserably. Look at the Spurs — Robinson, Duncan, Tony Parker, Ginobli ... and after all that, they score Kawhi Leonard (and Dejounte Murray), and they STILL ended up a sub-0.500 bottom feeder for the past 5 seasons, with another most likely next year (I'm guessing they'll be flirting with 0.500 in two seasons, though).
Imho, becoming a 41-50-win team isn't that hard ... with a bit of smarts, you can snag B+ players all over the place. Like the Raptors have done regularly over the years. But to really matter, you need the A/A+ guys, and I don't see much of a pattern with them. Look at the top-20 guys by PER this year ... 7 were drafted between 1 and 10, 7 were drafted 11-20, and 6 were drafted later than 20.
Scottie Barnes could very well be another Scottie (Pippen) ... but I doubt he's ever going to be a true, A/A+ force. He needs a great player to play next to.
Could we get lucky in the draft this year and use that to fuel our next rise to the top? Maybe. Could we lose our pick this year and limp to a high draft pick next year and use that? Maybe. I hope we get lucky and become good, but who knows? I'm just enjoying the ride.
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Post by haisan on Mar 14, 2024 20:15:21 GMT -5
That said ... I do hope we find someone good in the next couple of years ... and then the real wild card might be the Pacers' 2026 pick. If we can get a good foundation in place, then add a 6-10 pick, I like those odds.
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Post by scully19 on Mar 14, 2024 21:08:26 GMT -5
I think the Spurs starting planning for their Wemby shot the year they traded away Murray. So I don't count multiple of those down years really since I don't think they were trying.
But ya your above is really leaning me back to going to keep the pick, and especially move up in the draft. So we have a top 4 pick, 16ish and 32. All over the place to try to get someone.
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Post by haisan on Mar 15, 2024 0:39:04 GMT -5
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Post by scully19 on Mar 19, 2024 7:12:27 GMT -5
Grizzlies took Kings to OT to lose. So close to getting some space. Blazers lose by 3 to Bulls as time is trickling away on them catching without winning games like that.
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Post by freewheel on Mar 19, 2024 15:07:33 GMT -5
The Raptors as currently constructed without the injured players are a sub 20 win team. Maybe even Wizards bad. I hope our front office isn't being fooled by any big numbers someone like Trent is putting up in these awful losses.
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Post by haisan on Mar 19, 2024 17:32:25 GMT -5
Back when I was a Raptors noob, I remember getting all excited when Acie Earl got 30 points toward the end of the season. End of season scoring on a bad team means nothing.
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Post by haisan on Mar 24, 2024 20:12:47 GMT -5
Draft pick update:
Raptors have the 6th spot. • Memphis is 1 game ahead, with a slightly easier schedule remaining. (12th-hardest for the Raptors vs. 15th hardest for Memphis)
Indiana is currently scheduled to pick 17th. They're 1 game ahead of the Heat and the 76ers, and 1 1/2 games ahead of the Lakers. • But Indiana's remaining schedule is 13th hardest. • Heat have the 2nd easiest remaining schedule. 76ers the 7th easiest. • Lakers have the 11th-easiest. • So, with a little luck, the Pacers' pick could realistically end up around 14th or 15th.
Detroit is back to being the worst team in the NBA, giving the Raptors the 31st pick.
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Post by haisan on Mar 31, 2024 17:03:24 GMT -5
I don’t know if Zach Edey will be any good in the NBA or if the Raptors would even want him … but damn, is he ever putting up numbers this NCAA tournament. 40 points and 16 rebounds and a block to take Purdue to the Final Four. I guess I have hope that he’ll prove the scouts wrong and be a different kind of big man that succeeds.
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Post by freewheel on Mar 31, 2024 22:32:24 GMT -5
We've seen what Poeltl is in the NBA firsthand. Tall, slow, passably mobile, good passer, decent below the rim finisher, steady but not a difference maker.
I need someone to explain to me how Edey would be different than Poeltl. However if we find some way to unload Poeltl then I might be interested.
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Post by haisan on Mar 31, 2024 23:03:59 GMT -5
7'4" and 300 pounds is substantially different than 7' and 245. And at least year's draft combine, Eday posted quite good numbers for a big, and he's reportedly gotten faster since then.
But that's the kind of thing people said about Jokic too. So of course the odds aren't great (that's why the scouts have him going lower) ... but special players break moulds.
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Post by scully19 on Apr 1, 2024 8:46:36 GMT -5
I haven't seen one thing of him, but if he looks coordinated and skilled and the only problem is the weight then I'm not always if taking a chance on him. Like others said, Jokic had the same problem, Marc Gasol, Draymond. There's plenty of room to improve conditioning when it's your job now.
Not to say it's a guarantee but this is a weak draft and getting a difference maker is what matters. If he can be a difference maker and we can move Poeltl I'm down. Moving Poeltl seems like it'll be hard though, apparently the Spurs still like him and want a true C, so sure give us our pick back and whatever contract you want.
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Post by zugzwang on Apr 1, 2024 9:43:58 GMT -5
That would be funny/cool/sad if the Raps dealt Poetl to the Spurs twice. Maybe we could make it a thing where we swap him back and forth every two years. The secret truth is he plays for both teams and puts on the jersey of whichever team needs him the most at the time.
I don't see it happening, but it would be a neat story.
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Post by scully19 on Apr 1, 2024 12:27:02 GMT -5
Big tank game tonight, Memphis plays Detroit. Memphis could really use the extra win so we can get a gap here. 1 win gap currently and they have the tie-breaker...not sure if that matters for draft though if they end with the same record i believe they split the odds and Toronto only gets an extra ball at best. If that is the case then we could use another Memphis win for some space because Toronto still has Washington and Brooklyn to play and they could win these games if they get any players back by then.
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Post by haisan on Apr 1, 2024 20:47:07 GMT -5
Grizzlies won! Yay!
Pacers won, too. Boo~
Tomorrow — Lakers vs. Raptors, for the potential double-tank "win".
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Post by scully19 on Apr 2, 2024 9:36:48 GMT -5
I'm starting to get into looking at some of the draft stuff, mostly looking at boards across a couple places - Givony (ESPN), Vecenie (Athletic) and KOC (Ringer) and what they say and show is that all these guys are all over the place. I heard Vecenie yesterday saying he might talk to one scout looking at someone they think might go 10 where another wouldn't pick them until 40. There's often setups where it follows pretty closely who is fitting where in the draft and for the most part that doesn't exist this year. The Pacers pick seems like it could be very interesting (with lower bar based on talent of draft). For the short term i am also very interested in keeping the pick and seeing what comes of it this year.
If we even look towards the top and recent mock drafts, Zaccharie Risacher seems to be ranked low on some boards (10 on Ringer) but then the mocks seem to all have him going 1 (including Ringer). Cody Williams had gotten up to top 3 in places is now down towards 10, but then again mocks from the same people have him going 4/5 range. Then guys are listed higher like Clingan, Castle seem to do the opposite, ranked higher but drop in mocks. I guess all this movement is just because of the wide open level of talent that team needs are taking a lot of precedent.
I also have some interest in Reed Sheppard, and it's largely because (coming from Thorpe I believe where i heard it like a month ago) Kentucky guards seem to always be good, but even bigger is that Kentucky guards are asked to play conservative defensively but Sheppard is still raking up steals and showing a really high defensive prowess. Getting a really solid defender and shooter and just a high quality role player in this draft who fits and plays a perfect role seems like a really nice pick instead of swinging for the fence which is so unlikely to hit.
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Post by scully19 on Apr 2, 2024 9:59:48 GMT -5
Next bit, more on Zach Edey from KOC: www.theringer.com/college-basketball/2024/4/1/24117783/ncaa-tournament-nba-draft-final-four-previewI heard this about his defense on a different pod and i could really see him being a much different impactful player when allowed to play it. His defense is probably vastly underrated at this point and Brook Lopez seems like an amazing comp to hope for. Barnes worked amazing as a floater on defense so he could fill that Giannis role next to Lopez. Would just need another lanky Forward to play next to them. Maybe they get a high pick and get Zaccharie (or who they have projected to draft right now in Matas Buzelis on Ringer who is 6'11 forward), then Edey with the Pacers pick. They can play out the year next year with 3 bigs rotation with Poeltl and Kelly and then move Poeltl if it looks like Edey will work out. EDIT: went and found the Twitter post to put it her to show what he was talking about and how good that block looked.
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Post by scully19 on Apr 2, 2024 10:24:11 GMT -5
Triple post? Fuck it! I told you I'm looking up more stuff lately...we'll here's a talk between Erik Koreen and Sam Vecenie for Raptors draft needs:
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Post by sandman on Apr 2, 2024 18:30:01 GMT -5
I'm terrified that somehow the Raps end up trading their picks for some washed up guy who's a 6th man at best. Think, a Trent Jr. type of impact player.
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Post by freewheel on Apr 2, 2024 19:19:25 GMT -5
Wh3en the draft gets close I'll take a closer look at the guys the Raps might take but right now I'm out on Edey unless it's the 2nd round. Just looks too slow to me.
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Post by scully19 on Apr 2, 2024 21:44:36 GMT -5
I'm expecting them to draft Bronny with the second round pick and I'm here for it.
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Post by haisan on Apr 3, 2024 21:34:10 GMT -5
Toronto loses. Grizzlies win.
Pacers lose. Lakers win. Pacers pick is now tied for 15th.
Detroit loses. Looking like we get the 31st pick, not the 32nd.
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Post by Pseudonym on Apr 5, 2024 19:52:23 GMT -5
It's crazy that after this heroic tanking there is still a ~40% chance (please, please correct me) of conveying the pick. What a mess.
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