MEM shopping Rudy Gay (Raps interested, PHX in lead? P. 32)

[YoungG]

Raptors NEED to get in on this. Having Gay as a serviceable wing is going to help this player. This system fits him.

Landry fields, Jose and Aaron Gray for Rudy and Tony Wroten!

[Canucklehead]

If you're willing to accept being the joke of the league for just a couple years you can make a OKC type turn around happen quite fast. This isn't really a problem as we're already one of the few running jokes.

Trade everything away for lotto picks. Would be important to keep one guy you can sell to the average fan as a future type player.

This will also ensure your own pick is a top pick for the next few years.

Dabble with scrubs getting major minutes on cheap contracts. Find someone who could surprise your very own Jeremy Lin if you will and ship there asses out for you guessed it more high end picks.

Year 1 and two if there isn't that franchise player in the draft available you guessed it trade the now picks for picks in later years if a move is available.

Year two or 3 you're a team with a lot of assets in the draft one draft out of those 4 years must have yielded a franchise type player maybe two, a ton of cap space, and some surprise glue type players that were given a chance they'd never have gotten anywhere else.

Championship

[JunkYardSubs]

F*ck the Suns. F*ck this organization. F*ck BC. F*CK.

What the hell? This is the last thing Id be upset about with this squad

[ATLTimekeeper]

Sounds like the Grizz are looking to break it down. I saw a rumour where they're shopping Randolph, too. I think Rudy for two more years isn't such a bad idea, even if he's making a mint. I doubt he gets close to the max again, and he'll be young enough that he could be locked into a palatable enough deal. For Phoenix I think it's a no brainer, provided they aren't giving up this year's lotto pick.

[TheGoodDoctor]

I fully expect a team like the Suns to get Rudy Gay and then this board whines after the fact how we missed out but didn't want to give our great "assets" from our 12-21 roster just like Harden.

[TheGoodDoctor]

Sounds like the Grizz are looking to break it down. I saw a rumour where they're shopping Randolph, too. I think Rudy for two more years isn't such a bad idea, even if he's making a mint. I doubt he gets close to the max again, and he'll be young enough that he could be locked into a palatable enough deal. For Phoenix I think it's a no brainer, provided they aren't giving up this year's lotto pick.

Jose + Bargnani for Randolph and DeMar + Fields for Rudy Gay

Lowry
Ross
Gay
Randolph
Valanciunas

Dinosaur championship time!!!

[Canucklehead]

I fully expect a team like the Suns to get Rudy Gay and then this board whines after the fact how we missed out but didn't want to give our great "assets" from our 12-21 roster just like Harden.

Not only this but how come we didn't do it without trading our untouchables which include everyone with any value at all on the entire roster.

[Rapsobsessed7]

i hope we get Rudy Gay, it would be a huge opportunity missed. Hes having a down year, but last year and even in the off-season many wanted to deal #8 for Gay.

Ross
Calderon
Kleiza
Anderson

any combination in any 3 way trade or straight up with Memphis is fine with me. I want a team consisting of

Lowry
Derozan
Gay
Davis/Bargnani
Val

[Double Helix]

The NBA is designed to reward different levels of "success" both in the way of individual player and coaching awards and through the playoff setup. The league would have contracted at least 10 teams if the playoffs had been closer to MLB's much more exclusive playoff setup. Instead, the league allows more than half of the watered down 30 team league into its playoffs. Every realist knows that in any given NBA season there are approximately 5 contenders capable of actually winning 4 rounds of best out of 7 basketball but everyone goes along with it anyway. The teams that miss out get the draft. The teams that make it in make millions more in revenues that year, increase their chances of signing a star who may be up for free agency, and expand their reach through increased media exposure. That's the incentive to try and why teams do. When the season ends there's awards handed out to further keep fans interested and excited about the future regardless of where their city is on the ladder.

The goal for the hard core fan is the title at all costs no matter how much tanking is necessary. For everyone else it's fun in the moment game-by-game with annual improvements and the hope of the playoffs. When I was young I always felt the team had a chance. It wasn't until I became older and looked at the numbers and realized the dynasties and the scarcity of talent capable of leading a team to a title that I realized what the league is REALLY about.

And yet my awareness of these truths -- that we are all but assured of never winning a Championship unless we have an MVP candidate on our team, an unbelievable Robin, and a solid third banana -- doesn't change the fact that I feel it is time to to really try to make the playoffs again this year or the next. The reasons for this are surprisingly simple but I'd like to share them anyway because this board is so loaded with people who are of the "win it all or tank till you do" mentality. So here goes my top reasons to hope the Raptors land Rudy Gay and compete for the playoffs. Life is not infinite. Do you want to die during a depressing tank year? Bad basketball is awful to watch. Are you going to skip them all until they're ready to win the whole thing? Variety is the spice of life. 5 years of draft boards and lotto odds talk is enough in a row. Are we fans of the sport or simply the concept of winning a title? And last but not least... it's possible for me to enjoy basketball being played in front of me on a game by game basis for what it is and enjoy the battles while ignoring the war. So, give me my small victory of a playoff birth again and let me naively hope for the best like I used to as a child. Tomorrow is not guaranteed and the world is a depressing enough place when distractions and entertainment are pulled away as it is. So, entertain me again, Raptors. Let me turn off the cynic and return to the hope and naivete I used to feel as a kid watching this team. Let me hear a playoff halftime show on TNT with the Raptors involved again. Let me suspend disbelief again for a moment or two and enjoy victories again for what they are rather than the lotto odds they're ruining. I want to see the home team achieve the next level of success. The system they created to hook me as a young kid still works on me years later. The cynic hasn't entirely won out. So, give me playoff basketball again and then I'll return gladly to tank nation as I have in years past.

[Harry Palmer]

DH:

Hypothetical.

The Raptors play exactly the same way they are playing now.

Only the league changes the rules so that instead of almost 60% of teams making the playoffs, almost 90% do.

Is your experience watching the exact same games played by the exact same players different? Is the bad basketball better?

If it is, isn't the solution to be found within our own perspectives? Just decide that today we want 100 points/pizza. Tomorrow we want a lot of 3s. W/e. it's not about having a chance to win it all, so let's set our own goals. As you say, the league sets their lines based on marketing...why do we buy in if the reality isn't different? We're seeing the top w/e % of basketball players in the world playing the game...if we abandon the need to build a real winner, why not find contentment wherever we look?

[Double Helix]

DH:

Hypothetical.

The Raptors play exactly the same way they are playing now.

Only the league changes the rules so that instead of almost 60% of teams making the playoffs, almost 90% do.

Is your experience watching the exact same games played by the exact same players different? Is the bad basketball better?

If it is, isn't the solution to be found within our own perspectives? Just decide that today we want 100 points/pizza. Tomorrow we want a lot of 3s. W/e. it's not about having a chance to win it all, so let's set our own goals. As you say, the league sets their lines based on marketing...why do we buy in if the reality isn't different? We're seeing the top w/e % of basketball players in the world playing the game...if we abandon the need to build a real winner, why not find contentment wherever we look?

Harry, I want to reply to this but can't. I'm heading out for the night but will later. If you see it, awesome. If not, I wasn't ignoring.

[cdel00]

For me it's about watching the game played the right way. The thrill of long stretches of great team work on both ends of the court. The oohs and aahs of a well set pick. The joy of beautiful defensive rotations. The crispness of a buttery smooth stroke on a wide open shot created by a well executed play. Etc.

I often hear that only thing that counts is the W but I disagree. I think the only thing that counts is the performance during the 200 or so possessions. The result is not as meaningful to me as the play that lead to the result.

I want to see proper execution for 200 plays.

Win or lose I don't care for me it's all about the content that lead to the result.

[Big Shot]

Wall(2010), Irving(2011),and Davis(2012) were all consensus #1 pick and considered as franchise players.

I would be interested in waiting patiently and knowing how long it would take for their teams to turn into contenders.

[Harry Palmer]

For me it's about watching the game played the right way. The thrill of long stretches of great team work on both ends of the court. The oohs and aahs of a well set pick. The joy of beautiful defensive rotations. The crispness of a buttery smooth stroke on a wide open shot created by a well executed play. Etc.

I often hear that only thing that counts is the W but I disagree. I think the only thing that counts is the performance during the 200 or so possessions. The result is not as meaningful to me as the play that lead to the result.

I want to see proper execution for 200 plays.

Win or lose I don't care for me it's all about the content that lead to the result.

Why watch the NBA? You sound like a natural NCAA fan.

[Harry Palmer]

Harry, I want to reply to this but can't. I'm heading out for the night but will later. If you see it, awesome. If not, I wasn't ignoring.

Cheers. Have a good one.