RealGM

Toronto Raptors (17-33) vs. Charlotte Hornets (10-39). Last game before the deadline.

Scottie All-Star and his groupies visit Cha-town. The tank wars rage on. Need a clutch L here.
Lamelo is ruled out. The Dick & Ball show postponed.

2 wins in our last 14 games

Wonder who they're holding out tonight? Would be a pretty big clue.

Duffman100 wrote:Wonder who they're holding out tonight? Would be a pretty big clue.

Darko just wont play them if its role players

Must lose game.

Brown, Bruce - DNP - packing his belongings from his AirBnB

Gonna be a tough one to lose, but if you rest everyone they have a shot.

Hope to see another good game from Dick, and a refreshed Barnes.

if we want to have the pick next year - in a better draft - we must win tonight. Essentially winning all games against the worse teams is important.

Shakril wrote:if we want to have the pick next year - in a better draft - we must win tonight. Essentially winning all games against the worse teams is important.

It is possible to be bad this year for a top 6 pick this year and next.

mtcan wrote:

Shakril wrote:if we want to have the pick next year - in a better draft - we must win tonight. Essentially winning all games against the worse teams is important.

It is possible to be bad this year for a top 6 pick this year and next.

Possible but stupid. In the end this team still is talented enough to be at least in the Play-In. Losing on purpose is the worst thing you can do to a developing Player. The consequences are brutal - beeing extremely bad for a long time and every Player with talent will leave as soon as possible.

After the L tonight, let's go streaking....

Shakril wrote:

mtcan wrote:

Shakril wrote:if we want to have the pick next year - in a better draft - we must win tonight. Essentially winning all games against the worse teams is important.

It is possible to be bad this year for a top 6 pick this year and next.

Possible but stupid. In the end this team still is talented enough to be at least in the Play-In. Losing on purpose is the worst thing you can do to a developing Player. The consequences are brutal - beeing extremely bad for a long time and every Player with talent will leave as soon as possible.

They are not "losing on purpose", they are just a bad team (well maybe Darko is trying to lose). How is a bottom 3 team in the league (after trading Pascal and OG) going to become a play in contender? The Raptors are not going to sign any big FA this off season. Thats not to guarantee a top 6 pick next year, but I say the odds of a top 6 pick next year are higher than a not top 6 pick right now.

artsncrafts wrote:

Shakril wrote:

mtcan wrote:It is possible to be bad this year for a top 6 pick this year and next.

Possible but stupid. In the end this team still is talented enough to be at least in the Play-In. Losing on purpose is the worst thing you can do to a developing Player. The consequences are brutal - beeing extremely bad for a long time and every Player with talent will leave as soon as possible.

They are not "losing on purpose", they are just a bad team (well maybe Darko is trying to lose). How is a bottom 3 team in the league (after trading Pascal and OG) going to become a play in contender? The Raptors are not going to sign any big FA this off season. Thats not to guarantee a top 6 pick next year, but I say the odds of a top 6 pick next year are higher than a not top 6 pick right now.

We played a month without Poeltl. IQ and RJ are in and out of the Line-Up and we lose games cause of stupid decisions on the court or Darko. Yes i do believe they can be better. But at the same time, i dont think anyone right now has his mindset on winning.

I watched the game against NO, Poeltl & Dick are busting their asses off and the rest just goes through the motions.

I just want to highlight, that there are reason for the bad play we are witnessing right now. But in the end, we have Talent. And at some point this Talent needs to win or it will be gone.

Shakril wrote:

mtcan wrote:

Shakril wrote:if we want to have the pick next year - in a better draft - we must win tonight. Essentially winning all games against the worse teams is important.

It is possible to be bad this year for a top 6 pick this year and next.

Possible but stupid. In the end this team still is talented enough to be at least in the Play-In. Losing on purpose is the worst thing you can do to a developing Player. The consequences are brutal - beeing extremely bad for a long time and every Player with talent will leave as soon as possible.

I would have agreed with you three weeks ago, but this team isn't near as talented now when you take what was our best offensive player out of the equation. We're 2-8 since the Siakam trade (with both wins coming on nights that we were abnormally hot from the field, and especially behind the three-point line as the team was a combined 34/67) while our offence is 26th in that span (111.2 ORTG would be tied for 25th with Washington if prorated over the entire season) and our defence has been just as bad at 26th as well (121.5 DRTG would be dead last in the league if prorated over the entire season).

To be fair, we were missing Poeltl for a majority of that time while Quickley and Barrett also missed some games – but I think we've also seen enough to know that this team isn't good at all right now.

Shakril wrote:

mtcan wrote:

Shakril wrote:if we want to have the pick next year - in a better draft - we must win tonight. Essentially winning all games against the worse teams is important.

It is possible to be bad this year for a top 6 pick this year and next.

Possible but stupid. In the end this team still is talented enough to be at least in the Play-In. Losing on purpose is the worst thing you can do to a developing Player. The consequences are brutal - beeing extremely bad for a long time and every Player with talent will leave as soon as possible.

Our record after the trades has been horrible.

Dude, this is what we are. We don't have to try to lose on most nights.

We do have to try and lose tonight though.

Must lose game?

Duffman100 wrote:Wonder who they're holding out tonight? Would be a pretty big clue.

Might be the entire bench if we are hopeful traders.

Shakril wrote:

artsncrafts wrote:

Shakril wrote:
Possible but stupid. In the end this team still is talented enough to be at least in the Play-In. Losing on purpose is the worst thing you can do to a developing Player. The consequences are brutal - beeing extremely bad for a long time and every Player with talent will leave as soon as possible.

They are not "losing on purpose", they are just a bad team (well maybe Darko is trying to lose). How is a bottom 3 team in the league (after trading Pascal and OG) going to become a play in contender? The Raptors are not going to sign any big FA this off season. Thats not to guarantee a top 6 pick next year, but I say the odds of a top 6 pick next year are higher than a not top 6 pick right now.

We played a month without Poeltl. IQ and RJ are in and out of the Line-Up and we lose games cause of stupid decisions on the court or Darko. Yes i do believe they can be better. But at the same time, i dont think anyone right now has his mindset on winning.

I watched the game against NO, Poeltl & Dick are busting their asses off and the rest just goes through the motions.

I just want to highlight, that there are reason for the bad play we are witnessing right now. But in the end, we have Talent. And at some point this Talent needs to win or it will be gone.

They dont have that much talent though. Scottie, RJ and...IQ? IQ is maybe 6th man material, certainly not starting PG on a contender. They are definitely better than what they showed in New Orleans, but that was an embarrassing effort by everyone. If they trade purtle tomorrow, next year looks even better for the tank.

Tonight is the basketball version of World of Tanks