Re-Signing Kyle Lowry As The Final Piece For Toronto

[williamsonfox]

As a Raptors fan, I just want the team to be competitive and play meaningful games at the end of the season. That's all that matters. I don't care how weak a conference is - i don't care if we haven't beaten "the good teams" to be in the playoffs. You don't see Hakeem and the Rockets crying that they didn't have to beat Jordan the two years he was retired to win a ship do you? The city of Toronto was watching playoff basketball this year for the first time in a long time and it was amazing - tough finish to the season but the young team experienced it and is coming back for the next few years to build on that. They and every other team in the East still have to go through LeBron to get to the finals... as long as he is in the East - it will be hard to breakthrough... so Toronto
should settle for competitive basketball every season over lottery bound teams. Fans will not get bored of that. No one is beating LeBron in his prime to get to the finals. He will reload every year with new players that want to play with him for at least the next 5-6 years. Sorry Pacers, sorry Bulls, sorry Wizards, sorry Knicks, sorry Nets, sorry Hawks, Sorry Raptors... you will have to get through the King to have the chance to be crowned.

[Tim_W]

Yes, but what exactly is your point? Regardless of how weak the conference is, there are 8 playoff spots available on each side and if a team does make it out of the historically weak Eastern conference, they have a legitimate chance at a title, even if your team is a massive underdog.

Again, what is your point? That the Raptors are not as good as their record implies? That they don't have a batch of good young players with lots of upside? I just don't understand the point you are trying to make, and that's why I think you are trolling.

My point, as I'm guessing everyone else figured out, was to say that Lowry is NOT the final piece because they're still a ways off from being a contender, and that being in the Eastern Conference gives one an unrealistic indication of how far along a team is because the overall talent level is so low.

One thing that bothers me about many Raptor fans is how sensitive they are to ANY criticism of the team. Even legitimate criticism.

[Tim_W]

As a Raptors fan, I just want the team to be competitive and play meaningful games at the end of the season. That's all that matters. I don't care how weak a conference is - i don't care if we haven't beaten "the good teams" to be in the playoffs. You don't see Hakeem and the Rockets crying that they didn't have to beat Jordan the two years he was retired to win a ship do you? The city of Toronto was watching playoff basketball this year for the first time in a long time and it was amazing - tough finish to the season but the young team experienced it and is coming back for the next few years to build on that. They and every other team in the East still have to go through LeBron to get to the finals... as long as he is in the East - it will be hard to breakthrough... so Toronto
should settle for competitive basketball every season over lottery bound teams. Fans will not get bored of that. No one is beating LeBron in his prime to get to the finals. He will reload every year with new players that want to play with him for at least the next 5-6 years. Sorry Pacers, sorry Bulls, sorry Wizards, sorry Knicks, sorry Nets, sorry Hawks, Sorry Raptors... you will have to get through the King to have the chance to be crowned.

I want the Raptors to have a legitimate shot at a title. Period.

And Houston didn't have to face Jordan, but they won a title.

[williamsonfox]

Yes, but what exactly is your point? Regardless of how weak the conference is, there are 8 playoff spots available on each side and if a team does make it out of the historically weak Eastern conference, they have a legitimate chance at a title, even if your team is a massive underdog.

Again, what is your point? That the Raptors are not as good as their record implies? That they don't have a batch of good young players with lots of upside? I just don't understand the point you are trying to make, and that's why I think you are trolling.

My point, as I'm guessing everyone else figured out, was to say that Lowry is NOT the final piece because they're still a ways off from being a contender, and that being in the Eastern Conference gives one an unrealistic indication of how far along a team is because the overall talent level is so low.

One thing that bothers me about many Raptor fans is how sensitive they are to ANY criticism of the team. Even legitimate criticism.

just because you said it, doesn't make it legitimate criticism.

[Tim_W]

Yes, but what exactly is your point? Regardless of how weak the conference is, there are 8 playoff spots available on each side and if a team does make it out of the historically weak Eastern conference, they have a legitimate chance at a title, even if your team is a massive underdog.

Again, what is your point? That the Raptors are not as good as their record implies? That they don't have a batch of good young players with lots of upside? I just don't understand the point you are trying to make, and that's why I think you are trolling.

My point, as I'm guessing everyone else figured out, was to say that Lowry is NOT the final piece because they're still a ways off from being a contender, and that being in the Eastern Conference gives one an unrealistic indication of how far along a team is because the overall talent level is so low.

One thing that bothers me about many Raptor fans is how sensitive they are to ANY criticism of the team. Even legitimate criticism.

just because you said it, doesn't make it legitimate criticism.

Just because you don't like what I said, doesn't prevent it from being legitimate criticism.

[johnnystamos]

Lowry is the only one in his prime. Amir Johnson is 26, DeMar DeRozan is 24, Terrence Ross is 22 and Jonas Valanciunas is 21.

Most of these statements are simply false: Johnson is 27, Ross is 23, and Valanciunas is 22. And to say a nine-year veteran isn't yet his prime... when do players enter their prime, their 13th year?

In three years, Lowry will be 31, Ross will be 26, DeRozan will be 27, Johnson will be 30 and Valanciunas will be 25. All five of those guys will be under contract at the same time, which doesn't happen all that often.

Again, multiple falsities. Johnson's contract expires after this season and Ross and Valanciunas's contracts expire two years from now. Is the author living in some RealGM fantasy world where he has already worked out contract extensions assuring they will all be under contract three years from now when the majority of the lineup he is talking about isn't even under contract two years from now?


Can RealGM seriously not hire an editor to make sure that articles built around pointless lies aren't featured on the site?

Those are the "ages" the players just finished the past season playing under.

Valanciunas doesn't become an RFA until 2016, so he's not going anywhere unless the Raptors allow it to happen.

We've changed "under contract" to "likely under contract".

Ok, but the author of the article didn't say they were those "ages" (not sure why this is being put in quotes) last year, he used the word "are," which means they are those ages at the time the article is published. It's not a ludicrous error but, as I said, it's the sort of thing which should be (very easily) edited to correctness. And it is sort of important since the main gist of the article is how young the guys are and how many years they have together going forward as a result of their young ages; the casual reader might not realize that, however long the Raptor dynasty/run is going to be, it is actually going to be one year shorter than the author suggests since they are one year older than he says they are.

And, yeah, you're right about Valanciunas's contract situation and probably right about his future. But why do you not address the author's claims about Ross and Johnson also being under contract three years from now? Johnson is a UFA next year and I'm pretty sure if you put a poll on the front page asking if he would be the team's starting power forward three years from now you wouldn't see the 80%+ 'Yes's that you might see with Valanciunas for three years from now. Similar situation with Ross as well, though at least he will be restricted. I'd really like to see the poll: "Will Valanciunas, Johnson, Ross, DeRozan, and Lowry all be under contract with the Raptors in 2017-2018?" Heh, toss up there...

So initially it was the author's fancy being presented as fact, and now it's the author's fancy being presented as what is most likely to occur. That isn't at all appropriate on a legitimate site like this and I think it's weird that you would sort of defend the Valanciunas under-contract-in-the-future claim while completely ignoring the same claims about Johnson and Ross.