12 hours later: What are your thoughts on this deal?

[SHFT]

now that Kawhi is going to play hard and has good convos with our FO I am wayyyyy more excited than I was when this deal went down.

And I was pretty excited once I found out that we kept OG Delon AND Siakim.

Regardless if he stays or not.

[Lord_Zedd]

Still a great trade considering what we gave up, and what they were asking from other teams

[TheMainEvent]

Yeah, I'm just in the "sad for Demar but happy for the Raptors" camp. I wish things had worked out better for DeMar and the Raptors together, that he could have gotten what he wanted and been a Raptor-lifer... Wish he could have played better defense, been more efficient offensively... Wish his contract wasn't so huge so that it'd be easier to keep him around, lol.
And I also liked Poeltl but not on an OG level, lol.

But yeah, on the basketball side of things, still love the deal. Gives the team so much more flexibility, whether Kawhi stays or goes.

[Tim Horton]

i think Kawhi is at best a salary dump at worst a rental.

[Jadoogar]

I want to ask the 13 people who voted for Demar+Poeltl, why? We have had this core for 5 years and we have clearly seen the ceiling. Yes Lebron left but we were definitely a step below Boston (might still be).

Everyone whines that you can't win a title without a top 10 player and we just got one. That level of players aren't normally available and when they are, they're not this cheap. Demar is maybe a top 25 player on a bad contract. Poeltl is promising but he was never going to be a star. The pick is negligible (and heavily protected, good work Masai). If that's the cost to have even a 20% chance of keeping a top 5 player in his PRIME, you do that every day of the week.

[MEDIC]

I still have a level of discomfort with the uncertainty of things & some of the PR issues, but I have started to really look forward to seeing a healthy Kawhi play for this team & see what it can do next season. Especially because of this teams defensive potential.

When I look at these names on the roster, it gets me pumped thinking about watching them shut teams down:

Leonard
OG
Siakam
Wright
Green

That lineup would be fantastic to watch.

Even Lowry, FVV, JV, Powell are all capable.

[ReggieSlater]

I fully realize how hypocritial the media / players are. They criticize the Raptors FO for not being loyal but the media talks about how Bosh, Carter and McGrady left the Raptors (although all 3 were willing to come back or regret leaving). So wouldn't the lack of loyalty by past players impact current management? Players not loyal ok. FO not loyal not ok.

Lou Williams talks about not being loyal but he signed with the Clippers who did Blake Griffin incredibly dirty.
Carroll threw shade at DD and Lowry for not passing the ball but you love him now to give him a statue?
Ross should be quiet, he barely plays.
Kanter plays for the Knicks.

Losing DD still hurts but one thing I remember well now - Masai isn't stupid. He's also close with SA so they can help each other out. He has a plan if he shows up and one if he doesn't. One if things are bad and one if they're great. One for Lowry if he is down and one if he wants out. At the end of the day he wants to give us the best chance to win and that can't be forgotten.

SA is also savage. Pops got rid of Hill, who he loved, for Kawhi. They didn't keep Parker. Didn't keep K. Anderson. As a loyal FO we were not competing with savages like Ainge, Buford, Morey, etc. We need to take advantage of situations to win and I don't like the trade but 12 hours later I embrace it a push to get by our limitations.

Players stick up for players, and Demar liked league-wide. This isn't a big deal.

[Bank Shot]

Loved it yesterday, love it even more now that it's sunk in. I can't wait to watch our defense next year. We're going to be regularly throwing out lineups where someone like Lowry, a very solid defender most of the time, is the weakest defender in it.

I think it's an excellent deal even if Kawhi walks. If he walks, we get a great season and we get to start tolhe rebuild earlier. I'm also pretty pumped for Green. Replacing a guy who couldn't handle a washed JR Smith with one of the best wing defenders in the league is pretty exciting.

[Hipster Doofus]

Boldest move of the offseason league-wide. Took bomboles to pull this off. I like it.

[MEDIC]

I want to ask the 13 people who voted for Demar+Poeltl, why? We have had this core for 5 years and we have clearly seen the ceiling. Yes Lebron left but we were definitely a step below Boston (might still be).

Everyone whines that you can't win a title without a top 10 player and we just got one. That level of players aren't normally available and when they are, they're not this cheap. Demar is maybe a top 25 player on a bad contract. Poeltl is promising but he was never going to be a star. The pick is negligible (and heavily protected, good work Masai). If that's the cost to have even a 20% chance of keeping a top 5 player in his PRIME, you do that every day of the week.

I think a lot of people simply like Demar & his story. We've watched him grow to an allstar level player from a super raw rookie. People have a level of comfort with him as a family man who is loyal to the city (I hope he remains loyal to the city regardless of what the organization did).

I think a lot of people would have liked to see Leonard added to the Lowry/ Demar core rather than Demar get traded away.

Its a tough one for me personally because & really enjoyed watching Demar develop as a player & a human. I respect the hell out of the guy & appreciate him continually repping the city & the country while other US based players have continually tried to tear it down. At the same time I am a fan of gritty defensive basketball, which Demar lacks in his game.

[Jadoogar]

I want to ask the 13 people who voted for Demar+Poeltl, why? We have had this core for 5 years and we have clearly seen the ceiling. Yes Lebron left but we were definitely a step below Boston (might still be).

Everyone whines that you can't win a title without a top 10 player and we just got one. That level of players aren't normally available and when they are, they're not this cheap. Demar is maybe a top 25 player on a bad contract. Poeltl is promising but he was never going to be a star. The pick is negligible (and heavily protected, good work Masai). If that's the cost to have even a 20% chance of keeping a top 5 player in his PRIME, you do that every day of the week.

I think a lot of people would have liked to see Leonard added to the Lowry/ Demar core rather than Demar get traded away.
.

You have to give up something to get something. There wasn't an option to add Kawhi to the Lowry/Demar core (a proven mediocre core). It was either get Kawhi for Demar or run it back and lose in the second round again.

[TravisScott55]

I loved DeMar the person, but this was the right deal.

[MEDIC]

I want to ask the 13 people who voted for Demar+Poeltl, why? We have had this core for 5 years and we have clearly seen the ceiling. Yes Lebron left but we were definitely a step below Boston (might still be).

Everyone whines that you can't win a title without a top 10 player and we just got one. That level of players aren't normally available and when they are, they're not this cheap. Demar is maybe a top 25 player on a bad contract. Poeltl is promising but he was never going to be a star. The pick is negligible (and heavily protected, good work Masai). If that's the cost to have even a 20% chance of keeping a top 5 player in his PRIME, you do that every day of the week.

I think a lot of people would have liked to see Leonard added to the Lowry/ Demar core rather than Demar get traded away.
.

You have to give up something to get something. There wasn't an option to add Kawhi to the Lowry/Demar core (a proven mediocre core). It was either get Kawhi for Demar or run it back and lose in the second round again.

Yup. Some may have thought JV, Wright, OG type deal would be more appropriate rather than Demar. Not saying that deal was available, but we really don't know.

You also have the element of attaining a player that possibly doesn't want to be here. Most fans want players that want to play for the city & embrace the city. There is always the notion of "if you don't want to be here, we don't want you here".

Plus the Leonard thing can possibly be a black eye for the franchise. People that have been fans long enough are sick of hearing about players that want out or players refusing to report. They look at the overall picture & long term health of the franchise rather than just "next season".

I've been a fan since day one, so I have lived though BJ Armstrong, Stoudamire, Kenny Anderson, T-Mac, Carter, Alonzo, etc.
Those were some frustrating times as a fan.

At the end of the day this franchise may be better off for this trade, but there are a lot of different things to navigate through & it is going to take a long time for it to settle.

[Alpha Mentality]

Its basically been 24 hours and I'm still extremely happy and excited. I was honestly down on the NBA until I heard this might actually happen. The Cousins thing hurt my soul. This gave me life.

[DJ_RnC]

I'll be sad about Derozan leaving until the season starts and we see how good this team can be if Kawhi actually shows up. If we play much better than previous years, especially in the playoffs, I don't think anyone can be upset at the deal even if it just for this year's run.