Feschuk: Masai contemplating a step back next year, Lowry trade

[WildWolfdog]

Feschuk was on the hockey beat until the day the Leafs played their last game. Then he was sent across the hall to do some Raptors coverage. Anyone dumb enough to think Masai actually talks to this guy deserves to be misled by him.

Dave Feshuk, YOU KNOW NOTHING!

Lol completely agree - anyone who believes anything Feschuk has to say clearly hasn't had enough exposure to the Toronto media. This guy is a grade A trolling **** - always has been and always will be. Take his coverage and "opinionated facts" on any Toronto team, go on, pick anything.

[Dr Positivity]

The Raptors beat writers need to decrease their diet of BS

[WeTheNorth77]

Tanking is the wrong word, but we could easily deal DD and Lowry for picks and try to max a young RFA, which could have us with 4 or 5 good young players growing together instead of 1 (or 2 if counting Bruno), and the maxed RFA as the only sizable contract on the books. That puts you in a much better position to succeed, with both internal growth potential and the potential to sign FAs.

I like your thinking. If we do tank we should sign a young rfa to the max (hopefully the other team doesn't match) like u said. Good idea tbh

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[TheSamMitchell]

Franchise record for wins isn't good enough, this team must be blown up. By no means was this season a success, but I am positive that Masai is not thinking about tanking. This team needs some new players and a new coach to reinvigorate the team. They looked bored in the playoffs.

I am scared that this franchise will fold if it goes through another rebuild.

[WeTheNorth77]

Why the **** would you tank after making 45+ win seasons back to back?

Why try to build a real team when you can tread on the mill.

its good cardio though. Lowry needs it. Who knows he might lose some weight when we get on the treadmill again next season.

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[Raps Militia]

Tanking?!
Again?!?!

I don't know if Masai is become stupid all at once or not...

We have a solid core, we just have to strengthen it and take a coach (at least decent), it's not difficult.
And you want to make tanking, the year of the All-Star game in Toronto? Seriously?

No, I will not believe.

Masai, takes out the balls and do that for which you have been paid, make this franchise a winner!

[WTNRaps]

It's a **** cycle with this team

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Feschuk was on the hockey beat until the day the Leafs played their last game. Then he was sent across the hall to do some Raptors coverage. Anyone dumb enough to think Masai actually talks to this guy deserves to be misled by him.

Dave Feshuk, YOU KNOW NOTHING!

Lol completely agree - anyone who believes anything Feschuk has to say clearly hasn't had enough exposure to the Toronto media. This guy is a grade A trolling **** - always has been and always will be. Take his coverage and "opinionated facts" on any Toronto team, go on, pick anything.

I know people may not like what's being said, but C'mon. Firstly , there's a difference between what Feschuk said and what the OP titled the thread. If you listened to it you know the comments came from mentioning something Masai had said on air, which you can also listen to. Masai was on the TSN radio with him last week, when he told him and everyone else the same thing. So yes Masai does "talk" to him, but this was never presented as a private insight Masai shared, it was a based on a public comment Masai made that anyone can hear. I posted a link to the interview in the thread about it at the time. All Feschuk says is Masai acknowledged it was possible. It seems many people based on their opinion of Casey, seem to think him being back is proof Masai isn't planning to compete next season. I don't think we can draw that conclusion and Feschuk wasn't drawing that conclusion anyway.

What is Feschuk's opinion, and which I've thought for a while now, is that it's going to be challenging to address the talent needs through free agency which just became much more difficult with the rising cap next year and the increase in competition, coupled with the fact that we embarrassed ourselves and are back to being irrelevant in the league. This is why he sees the option of stepping back as possible.

Personally, I can go either way, I'd love to add more talent and keep if going, but I'm not sure if the chemistry we had is lost and gone forever and I'm not optimistic in seeing how Masai adds that talent. I'd like him to, but I don't see it. If he can't then I'd like to take a step back and see if we can't add two nice picks next year.

I actually don't believe they have the stones though to do anything major. I don't think Masai will trade on of DD/JV/KL and I don't think PP, Ross or GV are going anywhere either. If I had to bet our big change will be no Amir, and Lou will come back and we add some mid level type player. I think we will take a step back, but not on purpose. I think we simply have a real bad season, fire Casey and end up picking in the 12-14 range.

[username1]

If you guys wanna tank, this sexy beast is still active:

[Inevitable]

If you guys wanna tank, this sexy beast is still active:

My goodness is she beautiful

[dacrusha]

It all starts with tanking.

Who's our best player and what'd we do to get him? DeMar, Tank

TOR: tanked drafted demar, jv, which is the only 2 players in their lineup they want to keep
GSW: contender because tanked and drafted curry, thompson
MEM: tanked and drafted pau, traded for marc, drafted conley
CAVS: tanked drafted LBJ
LAC tanked drafted blake, deandre (cp3 wouldnt have been traded there if not for blake)
WAS: tanked drafted beal, wall
MIA: tanked drafted wade
CHI: idk they were mediocre team and then got lucky in the lottery + great drafting (jimmy)
ORL: tanked drafted oladipo + more is coming
MIN: tanked drafted love led to wiggins
OKC: tanked drafted kd, russ, ibaka
NOP: tanked drafted AD


It all starts with tanking.

Spoiler:

tank

You've just proven how useless tanking is:

For all the tankers you list, there is one championship among them... and that only because of Shaq was added to the mix in Miami.

Here's a who's who of tanking over the past 5 years:

T'Wolves - will continue to be crappy unless to can acquire a another superstar to play alongside Wiggins
Knicks - LOL
76ers - LOL
Lakers - Tanking for the first time in forever; their road to recovery is through free agency and trades, not draft.
Magic - Nice talent, should be treadmill worthy in the East without a true star on the roster.
Kings - They have tanked forever, have a top-5 talent and still suck. Need to fluke out out a another true superstar to achieve even a winning season in the west.
Nuggets - Garbage
Pistons - No true stars; forever wallowing in mediocrity
Hornets - Same as Pistons
Jazz - One decent player, but nothing else. Stuck on treadmill of mediocrity.
Pacers - Tanked for a few seasons, lost all of their fanbase and are garbage treadmill again after George's injury.
Nets - Heading for the tank; made their big push, lost $100 million in taxes... without draft picks, will be bottom of the league for years to come.
Celtics - Garbage treadmill unless they fluke out on two more true stars to come aboard. Danny Ainge's ploy to parley Rando into some kind of star failed.
Bucks - No true stars, good coach. They max out on the 1st/2nd round exit treadmill for a few ears before their FAs jump ship.
Pelicans - Even with the best C in the league, they're a borderline playoff team. Like the Bucks, they're a 1st/2nd round treadmill team for the forseeable future. Outside of AD, they're talent level is mediocre.
Cavs - Tanking did dick all for them... their contender status is based on nothing more than a sentimental LBJ coming back to the fold. Winning the lottery got them a very disappointing Kevin Love.

[TheAlchemist]

It took a lot of work for this team to change the culture.

I don't know if people where here for our last Tank efforts pre-bosh, we where horrible. Toronto already faces an unusual stigma in the NBA. If we tank again after actually being somewhat successfull, no player/coach/spots personality will take our franchise ans organization seriously.

This is clearly a coaching issue. We have young talent on this team who can develop, well. It's more like do thay want to invest in an actual coach, make moves to reign in on Lowry, get veteran presence, get rid of locker room issues.

[kidr1211]

Looks like a lot of posters here are content with treadmilling. All the tanking teams right now will be contenders before us

[deeps6x]

WTF is going on here? Is ol' Dave a MLSE yes man or not? Did he actually write something that goes against MU's plan, or is it part of MU's plan?


If you want to trade Lowry, you don't publicly trash him. You build him up, trade him, then try to justify it to the fans AFTER you get as much as possible for him.

If you want to fire Casey, you've got the perfect excuse after that hugely embarrassing playoff round.


I'm NOT seeing a GM that looks like he has a clue what he is doing here right now.


IF the team goes into rebuild mode, it damn well better be a FULL REBUILD. Kyle, DD, JV, and even 2Pat better be traded for picks this summer. Resign TRoss to an extension commensurate with his pathetic level of effort this past season and he can be our new tank commander. I'd definitely say fire Casey and give some new, young blood coach a chance, but I know MLSE will want to save a few mil on his deal, and quite frankly he deserves to have a 19-63 record next season added to his inflated record.

[Ari_Emanuel]

Definitely would be stupid at this point. You tank when you lose a stud / superstars. Not coming off the heel of the best season we've ever had. Would much rather treadmill to the playoffs every year and try to get better thru strategic trades and signings rather than crap out n hope for draft luck

Foolish teams tank after they've already lost their best players for nothing. What this is suggesting is Masai is reading the tea leafs... moving Derozan before a massive over pay extension and recognizing we don't have enough talent for sustained success. Better to tank now. We can sell assets for more draft picks and the tank will be short and sweet.

[CoachJReturns]

Looks like a lot of posters here are content with treadmilling. All the tanking teams right now will be contenders before us

Given that we have two, what I would call, borderline all-stars in the starting lineup already, I don't necessarily think we need to tank. And this is coming from an avid supporter of tanking in mediocre circumstances. We have assets that can be used and cap space which can be thrown at Harris(for those like myself who think highly of him), so we may be able to stay competitve while making major changes to the roster.

A big key to our future success may be the failure of New York this season. If they fail to lure a big free agent, as they have in the past, they will be a bottom 10 team next year along with Denver. A top 10 pick, along with our own pick in the 15-20 range might be enough to move up and draft a stud. I'm not saying I'm strongly opposed to a complete tear down and tank, but I don't see us going all out like Philly.

[gamer1035]

It all starts with tanking.

Who's our best player and what'd we do to get him? DeMar, Tank

TOR: tanked drafted demar, jv, which is the only 2 players in their lineup they want to keep
GSW: contender because tanked and drafted curry, thompson
MEM: tanked and drafted pau, traded for marc, drafted conley
CAVS: tanked drafted LBJ
LAC tanked drafted blake, deandre (cp3 wouldnt have been traded there if not for blake)
WAS: tanked drafted beal, wall
MIA: tanked drafted wade
CHI: idk they were mediocre team and then got lucky in the lottery + great drafting (jimmy)
ORL: tanked drafted oladipo + more is coming
MIN: tanked drafted love led to wiggins
OKC: tanked drafted kd, russ, ibaka
NOP: tanked drafted AD


It all starts with tanking.

Spoiler:

tank

You've just proven how useless tanking is:

For all the tankers you list, there is one championship among them... and that only because of Shaq was added to the mix in Miami.

Here's a who's who of tanking over the past 5 years:

T'Wolves - will continue to be crappy unless to can acquire a another superstar to play alongside Wiggins
Knicks - LOL
76ers - LOL
Lakers - Tanking for the first time in forever; their road to recovery is through free agency and trades, not draft.
Magic - Nice talent, should be treadmill worthy in the East without a true star on the roster.
Kings - They have tanked forever, have a top-5 talent and still suck. Need to fluke out out a another true superstar to achieve even a winning season in the west.
Nuggets - Garbage
Pistons - No true stars; forever wallowing in mediocrity
Hornets - Same as Pistons
Jazz - One decent player, but nothing else. Stuck on treadmill of mediocrity.
Pacers - Tanked for a few seasons, lost all of their fanbase and are garbage treadmill again after George's injury.
Nets - Heading for the tank; made their big push, lost $100 million in taxes... without draft picks, will be bottom of the league for years to come.
Celtics - Garbage treadmill unless they fluke out on two more true stars to come aboard. Danny Ainge's ploy to parley Rando into some kind of star failed.
Bucks - No true stars, good coach. They max out on the 1st/2nd round exit treadmill for a few ears before their FAs jump ship.
Pelicans - Even with the best C in the league, they're a borderline playoff team. Like the Bucks, they're a 1st/2nd round treadmill team for the forseeable future. Outside of AD, they're talent level is mediocre.
Cavs - Tanking did dick all for them... their contender status is based on nothing more than a sentimental LBJ coming back to the fold. Winning the lottery got them a very disappointing Kevin Love.

So how the **** are we ever gonna acquire a superstar to win a championship? Instead of **** saying tanking doesn't work how about you give us a **** solution. No free agent will sign with us, no one will trade us a superstar.


How about you take your head out of your ass and tell us a realistic way to acquire a superstar to get us on track to win a championship

[DreamTeam09]

Definitely would be stupid at this point. You tank when you lose a stud / superstars. Not coming off the heel of the best season we've ever had. Would much rather treadmill to the playoffs every year and try to get better thru strategic trades and signings rather than crap out n hope for draft luck

Foolish teams tank after they've already lost their best players for nothing. What this is suggesting is Masai is reading the tea leafs... moving Derozan before a massive over pay extension and recognizing we don't have enough talent for sustained success. Better to tank now. We can sell assets for more draft picks and the tank will be short and sweet.

No1 on our team is approaching 30, why can't this success be sustainable. Our division remains crap, we got 0 production from two starters and our backup 1 and 3.

We can change and grow.

[OrganicGrowth]

How about Masai is seriously considering doing nothing, leaving the team how it is and letting it organically grow
The Raptors' Summer Holidays are turning out to be Christmas without the snow ... Honestly i can care less now... Just let the free agents walk and sign Andrea Bargnani since they are clearly planning on doing more planning.
Evaluate this
The 2nd round Lieutenant himself,

The only Franchise Player this Organization deserves ...
#OrganicGrowth

[DJ_RnC]

I don't understand why you would tank in the first year of the team's re-branding and the All Star Weekend happening in Toronto. Especially since (after making some improvements to the roster) we would be the favorites to win the Atlantic unless the Knicks really win out in free agency (won't happen).