Masai Presser @ 11am

[Mr Funk]

I don't advocate giving Poeltl away, but the bold might be the point. Start KO and focus on the offense for another year, hopefully with a group of players with the skills and ability to actually play it. Masai mentioned yesterday Kelly plays the right way...there is no way anyone focusing on defense could make that statement lol.

Olynyk isn't a centre and provides zero rim protection.

Even if we draft a young centre, we'll need two centres in order to maintain a proper rotation and rim protection, especially if we want to get developing and propel BBQ forward. Poeltlt may eventually get traded, but he would also be a solid backup centre on a contending team when he's in his early 30s.

[visionquest]

The East was really weak this season.

Top 8 seeds in both conferences were comparable.

Top seed in east had 64 wins; 8th seed had 46 wins.
Top seed in west had 57 wins; 8th seed had 49 wins.

Gonna be a dogfight to make playoffs in either division next year.

[dTox]

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[ArthurVandelay]

I don't advocate giving Poeltl away, but the bold might be the point. Start KO and focus on the offense for another year, hopefully with a group of players with the skills and ability to actually play it. Masai mentioned yesterday Kelly plays the right way...there is no way anyone focusing on defense could make that statement lol.

Olynyk isn't a centre and provides zero rim protection.

Even if we draft a young centre, we'll need two centres in order to maintain a proper rotation and rim protection, especially if we want to get developing and propel BBQ forward. Poeltlt may eventually get traded, but he would also be a solid backup centre on a contending team when he's in his early 30s.

I get that. The idea would be to put out a flawed roster (which Masai has experience doing) to get to the top of that lottery next year. If Poeltl isn’t their long term solution, but someone possessing the offensive skills that KO posses is, they could just start KO and continue to focus on the style of play Darko is working towards.

It’s an asset accumulation and development move that would be made if/when wins next season are not the first priority.

[Duffman100]

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We could be getting better quality because teams are intentionally scheming us that way

[dTox]

The East was really weak this season.

Top 8 seeds in both conferences were comparable.

Top seed in east had 64 wins; 8th seed had 46 wins.
Top seed in west had 57 wins; 8th seed had 49 wins.

Gonna be a dogfight to make playoffs in either division next year.

Not sure if you are able to pull this up but I'm curious what the record is between top 8 seeds in the East vs top 8 West, that should be a better indicator since the records are skewed by the fact that teams play twice as many times against their own conference.

[WuTang_OG]

proper rebuilds MINIMUM 2 tanking/development years and he knows next year is ggoing to be another

this is the right path

Scottie, IQ, RJ, Dick

If we think IQ is that PG for us, we still need AT LEAST ONE top end talent added to the core core and then build out the depth

re-watching masai on this topic

im glad he realizes he needs more top end talent to add to our core guys

At this point, we can't expect and its never given IQ/RJ/Dick will be come that star next to Scottie so right now the best thing to do is keep growing them but do not put them in the guaranteed star conversation (down the road, for scotties prime for example). And even if IQ becomes a 20 6 and 6 guy, I still think we need another starish player next to Scottie in order to compete for a title, especially a guy who can create his own shot. in a perfect world, we would look for a paul george type and add him to our group


So im glad Masai recognizes this. Question is where are we going to get this other player

If lose our pick this year, that likely means they will try to find it in 2025 draft

[Zeno]

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We could be getting better quality because teams are intentionally scheming us that way

not sure, but isn't the quality of the shooter an element of shot quality?

[Pointgod]

at least he seems committed to a rebuild this time. think he said a proper rebuild can take 3-6 years.

this team is not sniffing the playoffs until 2026 or 2027.

Let’s see how committed they are. They didn’t move Brown, Boucher or GTJ. Move Schroeder for a salary dump and traded a pick for Olynyk and Agbaji. These moves don’t scream rebuilding to me.

They traded OG for a 23 year old and 24 year old and Pascal for 3 first round picks and change. How are they not rebuilding?

They were still trying to compete up until Scottie got injured. Are they willing to actually stick it out with younger players over vets the next 3-6 years or will we see another Poeltl transaction?

[VancouverRaps]

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We could be getting better quality because teams are intentionally scheming us that way

This was my first thought too. After OG left and outside of Trent/Dick/Quick, I don't think teams are afraid of anyone else shooting 3's on this team. I know RJ shot it well but I don't think he was heavily guarded as a 3pt threat

[Scase]

Because he was confident with the players still on the team for the Tampa tank and felt covid restrictions ruined the season. There was no excuse for this past season other than we just truly suck, which would be the first time in his Raptora existence.

If he tried to sell the fanbase on being good next year, it would just be a fake. Once he can for sure see a path back to success, his mojo will be back but he won't know that until the roster looks much better lol.

It's his job to sell hope for the future. He didn't do that very well this time imo. I get that it would've sounded fake if done poorly. This felt like more of an acknowledgement that he F'd up, he knows it, and he was wearing that a little bit in some of his answers.

Im happy hes finally realized that. Ive been saying how horrible of a job hes done since the title for a while now lol.

The lack of interest in this team down the stretch made it evident that no one cares about this team right now. If he doesn't have a big offseason then it'll continue into next year. Let's hope we get a motivated Masai to make the Raptors Great Again.

We'll see about that, he's said a lot of things in the past that have been just false or wishful thinking. This is a "I'll believe it when I see it" situation for me, the good will is long gone.

[Pointgod]

Let’s see how committed they are. They didn’t move Brown, Boucher or GTJ. Move Schroeder for a salary dump and traded a pick for Olynyk and Agbaji. These moves don’t scream rebuilding to me.

They traded OG for a 23 year old and 24 year old and Pascal for 3 first round picks and change. How are they not rebuilding?

Because "reasons".

When he told me that rebuilding meant trading veterans, getting young players and draft picks and I pointed out we got rid of Porter, Schroeder, Thad, we acquired 4-5 guys under 25 and 3-4 picks it was radio silence.

Yet we brought in Olynyk, kept Brown, GTJ and kept Boucher. Signs that we’re committed to a rebuild would be to let GTJ go and either traded Brown or let him go. Also have to address where Poeltl fits on the team, let’s see if they’re serious about rebuilding.

[ill-Will03]

The East was really weak this season. So adjust any of your interpretations on team record when guys were healthy and similar observations.

For example, Portland was 13-17 vs East, Memphis 13-18, Utah 15-15.

Raps were 7-23 vs West. Even Brooklyn was 8-23 vs West. Charlotte 7-23.

This roster isn't good and the measuring stick should be non Conference play (or good teams) as the East was just that bad this season. I'm sure management acknowledges this but it remains to be seen if they're focused on addressing the true weaknesses.

This is why I don't see us bottoming out with this current roster we have. The East is just too bad for us to actively try and tank next year for a top 6 pick.

[DelAbbot]

It's his job to sell hope for the future. He didn't do that very well this time imo. I get that it would've sounded fake if done poorly. This felt like more of an acknowledgement that he F'd up, he knows it, and he was wearing that a little bit in some of his answers.

Im happy hes finally realized that. Ive been saying how horrible of a job hes done since the title for a while now lol.

The lack of interest in this team down the stretch made it evident that no one cares about this team right now. If he doesn't have a big offseason then it'll continue into next year. Let's hope we get a motivated Masai to make the Raptors Great Again.

We'll see about that, he's said a lot of things in the past that have been just false or wishful thinking. This is a "I'll believe it when I see it" situation for me, the good will is long gone.

Masai is a habitual liar / salesman. He talked about growing pains and patience in 2021 (going into Scottie's rookie season with Achiuwa/Flynn etc) and then less than 6 months later traded for Thad to go for playoffs.

[VanWest82]

Im happy hes finally realized that. Ive been saying how horrible of a job hes done since the title for a while now lol.

The lack of interest in this team down the stretch made it evident that no one cares about this team right now. If he doesn't have a big offseason then it'll continue into next year. Let's hope we get a motivated Masai to make the Raptors Great Again.

We'll see about that, he's said a lot of things in the past that have been just false or wishful thinking. This is a "I'll believe it when I see it" situation for me, the good will is long gone.

Masai is a habitual liar / salesman. He talked about growing pains and patience in 2021 (going into Scottie's rookie season with Achiuwa/Flynn etc) and then less than 6 months later traded for Thad to go for playoffs.

He traded for Thad because we needed to get off Dragic's contract to avoid the tax which was surely a mandate from ownership. And you can pin the Dragic contract on him by saying we should've traded Lowry at the deadline, but it seemed pretty clear that Kyle needed our cooperation to get paid, otherwise why was he having to leak contract demands leading up to it.

In short, if you want to criticize Masai for that whole ordeal, it was prioritizing getting the GROAT one last big contract over whatever youth movement transaction we could have done had we not been saddled with Dragic. Personally, I think Scottie needed to hear some of Thad's tough love to push his development along but I get others will reasonably disagree.

[DreamTeam09]

They traded OG for a 23 year old and 24 year old and Pascal for 3 first round picks and change. How are they not rebuilding?

Because "reasons".

When he told me that rebuilding meant trading veterans, getting young players and draft picks and I pointed out we got rid of Porter, Schroeder, Thad, we acquired 4-5 guys under 25 and 3-4 picks it was radio silence.

Yet we brought in Olynyk, kept Brown, GTJ and kept Boucher. Signs that we’re committed to a rebuild would be to let GTJ go and either traded Brown or let him go. Also have to address where Poeltl fits on the team, let’s see if they’re serious about rebuilding.

We traded for Kelly to ensure we get to see Barnes next to a stretch 5. Something we haven't seen yet to date.
We kept brown because we didn't get an offer we liked for him & could be a better trade chip at the draft or the beginning of FA due to so many teams being in the apron...
GTJ is an expiring FA, and it's not like his PT impeded upon anyone. GD and ochai got plenty of burn down the stretch.

This is clearly a rebuild. Utah Jazz have Jordan Clarkson, they're in a rebuild.

[Duffman100]

They traded OG for a 23 year old and 24 year old and Pascal for 3 first round picks and change. How are they not rebuilding?

Because "reasons".

When he told me that rebuilding meant trading veterans, getting young players and draft picks and I pointed out we got rid of Porter, Schroeder, Thad, we acquired 4-5 guys under 25 and 3-4 picks it was radio silence.

Yet we brought in Olynyk, kept Brown, GTJ and kept Boucher. Signs that we’re committed to a rebuild would be to let GTJ go and either traded Brown or let him go. Also have to address where Poeltl fits on the team, let’s see if they’re serious about rebuilding.

So ZERO vets ever is a sign that you're serious about rebuilding? Has any team ever had ZERO vets? What a random qualification

[Tacoma]

Let’s see how committed they are. They didn’t move Brown, Boucher or GTJ. Move Schroeder for a salary dump and traded a pick for Olynyk and Agbaji. These moves don’t scream rebuilding to me.

They traded OG for a 23 year old and 24 year old and Pascal for 3 first round picks and change. How are they not rebuilding?

They were still trying to compete up until Scottie got injured. Are they willing to actually stick it out with younger players over vets the next 3-6 years or will we see another Poeltl transaction?

Here's a transcript of what Masai said re this matter:

"I think we'll see how the year [next season] starts and plays out. I think we're going to give these players and this team the opportunity to play. We've not been able to I think bring these guys together to play and that's the plan as we go into the offseason is to continue development and these things take time, so I think either way it plays out well for us. We get a high pick this year or next year we play ball and see where we stand. If you're not picking high next year then our team is good or the team is progressing the right way. That's the way we're seen it, that's the way it's been also in the past. "

This is classic Masai and reflects how every post-2019 season has played out: start off every season seeing how it starts, giving players opportunity to win but also develop at the same time. Then around midpoint to trade deadline, make a decision on which direction - tank or continue trying to win - to go.

Thus is appears pretty clear to me what his "plan" is for next season: start off trying to win and rebuild at the same time then, depending on where we stand, decide on a clearer direction by the trade deadline. Déjà vu all over again.

[TheGeneral99]

Because "reasons".

When he told me that rebuilding meant trading veterans, getting young players and draft picks and I pointed out we got rid of Porter, Schroeder, Thad, we acquired 4-5 guys under 25 and 3-4 picks it was radio silence.

Yet we brought in Olynyk, kept Brown, GTJ and kept Boucher. Signs that we’re committed to a rebuild would be to let GTJ go and either traded Brown or let him go. Also have to address where Poeltl fits on the team, let’s see if they’re serious about rebuilding.

So ZERO vets ever is a sign that you're serious about rebuilding? Has any team ever had ZERO vets? What a random qualification

It's also strange because on a rebuilding team you actually want at least a couple vets that can help guide the younger players as mentors, show them proper day-to-day habits to be a professional, and give them useful advice. Remember some of these guys are 19-22 year old dudes have been the best players on their teams their whole life and may not have the emotional maturity yet to handle a ton of money and fame. Having proper mentors that can influence you is critical.

Demar used to talk a lot about having vets like Bosh, Jarrett Jack, Calderon etc. was so important for his development.

[Scase]

They traded OG for a 23 year old and 24 year old and Pascal for 3 first round picks and change. How are they not rebuilding?

They were still trying to compete up until Scottie got injured. Are they willing to actually stick it out with younger players over vets the next 3-6 years or will we see another Poeltl transaction?

Here's a transcript of what Masai said re this matter:

"I think we'll see how the year [next season] starts and plays out. I think we're going to give these players and this team the opportunity to play. We've not been able to I think bring these guys together to play and that's the plan as we go into the offseason is to continue development and these things take time, so I think either way it plays out well for us. We get a high pick this year or next year we play ball and see where we stand. If you're not picking high next year then our team is good or the team is progressing the right way. That's the way we're seen it, that's the way it's been also in the past. "

This is classic Masai and reflects how every post-2019 season has played out: start off every season seeing how it starts, giving players opportunity to win but also develop at the same time. Then around midpoint to trade deadline, make a decision on which direction - tank or continue trying to win - to go.

Thus is appears pretty clear to me what his "plan" is for next season: start off trying to win and rebuild at the same time then, depending on where we stand, decide on a clearer direction by the trade deadline. Déjà vu all over again.

E V A L U A T I N G