Double Helix wrote:I'm going to go out on a limb and predict that less than 4 different cities will win a championship over the next 5 years. How's that for long-term? I would probably bet on that if the odds made it tempting enough.
Everyone would bet on anything if the odds were tempting enough. That's not saying anything at all.
5 years is a reasonable timeline for that kind of prediction, but I don't think that many who wanted the Raptors to tank this year and the next expected a championship in that period. We can rule out the first two years right away, and the next three would be devoted to making the playoffs and building and developing into a championship-worthy team. I think that people want hope for a championship at some point, and recent developments have squelched that. Instead of surging toward the end of that 5 years and beyond, when success is more feasible (as you said yourself) the Raptors have committed to shadowing the Thunder and the Heat, surging in the short-run and declining in a few years.
Two once in a generation talents are entering their prime years in different conferences and if the Jordan era taught us anything it's that players who are likely to be on a shortlist of the top 25 GOAT-level talents, during their prime years, in this sport, with these rules, can't and won't be stopped.
I don't think you understand the concept of singularity. Either there can't be multiple once-in-a-generation talents of the same generation, or "once-in-a-generation" means that these two specific players don't literally have clones in the same generation, and every player is a once-in-history player. Maybe some people thought that Valanciunas, Drummond, and one of a few players in the 2014 class (whom I wonder if you'll be classifying as "once in a generation") could develop into top 3 players at their positions all around the same time. That sounds pretty good to me. Maybe the Raptors could cheat their way into a championship the same way the Mavericks must have since it wasn't possible to beat Lebron James in his prime (or did I dream that they won the championship?).
So, all this talk about how we only deal in band aid fixes and short-term planning are, quite frankly, hilarious to me. If you really view it as championship or bust then it's time to simply wait. Grantland has had articles on this very subject. Everyone else is simply pretending during this era. Many of you view the fans (or homers) of the team that support "mediocrity" with disdain because you feel that in your infinite wisdom you're a better long-term planner. You and only you know what has to happen to beat Lebron and KD.
Shut the f uck up.
That has to be one of the most ill-conceived, condescending passages I've read in this forum. It doesn't take anything like "infinite wisdom" to be a better planner than writers for some website (?) called "Grantland" or another group of Raptors' fans. Maybe I'll go find a writer and some fans who disagree with
you and accuse
you of believing that you're infinitely wise. On balance, you seem to be more arrogant than most who take the opposing position.
"If you really view it as championship or bust then it's time to simply wait."
Sure, if you're talking from the perspective that we can't do anything ourselves to make the team any better, but, for management, that means that it's time to focus on building for a time when winning a championship is more feasible.
Quit acting like simply putting forth one of the more competitive teams this city has seen since Bosh, or VC before that, is such a horrible thing for this franchise in this era.
There have been only a few teams since Bosh. If this team is only "
one of the more competitive teams" in that time period, I'd say that it can still be horrible depending on circumstances that bear on the long-term prospects of the team. What people don't like is that these job-saving moves inhibit their maximal success for quite some time. It's just delaying a real re-build, which is now unlikely to occur at the most opportune time.
This is the reality of the situation for the NBA's only non-US team. We have to have treadmill seasons. It's part of being in the NBA.
Which is it? Because of being a non-US team, or because of being in the NBA? Ugh. Don't make us read this. Put some effort into it.
We will tank again but better to time the next rebuild around an in-prime Jonas Valanciunas and an aging Lebron/Wade/KD/Westbrook because it won't matter until then regardless. You want to think and talk about the long term and building a championship winner? Start there. Start 4-5 years from now because [blah, blah]
Yeah, the Cavaliers should really just blow it up and start over in 4 years, too. They're stupid to expect their team to peak a few years after their young talent enters the league. They obviously (in their infinite wisdom) don't realize that teams and players don't magically develop over the course of several years. Of course, players are play-off ready in their first two years in the league and young teams don't benefit at all from gaining playoff experience together.
