RealGM

Starts at 7 min mark, thought it was a good listen
Importance of drafting well late referenced Toronto.
Building a complete team with 7-8 guys that can do a variety of things. 19' team was a good recipe
The specialist guy is getting obsolete, need to be able to stay on the floor to do multiple things to help winning

The 2019 team was a perfect example. A superstar surrounded by 6-7 guys who were all 2 way players who couldn't' be played off the court at either end.

Drafting well and acquiring cheap talent is going to be even more important because once you pay your stars, there won't be much left to fill out your roster. It's going to be almost impossible to win now if all your money is going to 2-3 guys and you have no quality depth around them. Teams have become too good at exploiting weaknesses and mismatches.

OakleyDokely wrote:The 2019 team was a perfect example. A superstar surrounded by 6-7 guys who were all 2 way players who couldn't' be played off the court at either end.

Drafting well and acquiring cheap talent is going to be even more important because once you pay your stars, there won't be much left to fill out your roster. It's going to be almost impossible to win now if all your money is going to 2-3 guys and you have no quality depth around them. Teams have become too good at exploiting weaknesses and mismatches.

2019 team is also damn near impossible to replicate.

Superstar - Kawhi
All-NBA - Lowry & Siakam
Former DPOYs - Ibaka and Gasol
All stars - FVV
All defense - Danny Green, Anunoby
SMOTY Candiates - Norman

That was a team that lost Kawhi and Danny for nothing and still won 53 in a 72-game season. I just dont know with the current cap that way it is if we will ever see a team like that again. If Kawhi had not left and stuck around we literally might be talking about a candidate for GOAT team (or 3-year run or whatever).

YogurtProducer wrote:

OakleyDokely wrote:The 2019 team was a perfect example. A superstar surrounded by 6-7 guys who were all 2 way players who couldn't' be played off the court at either end.

Drafting well and acquiring cheap talent is going to be even more important because once you pay your stars, there won't be much left to fill out your roster. It's going to be almost impossible to win now if all your money is going to 2-3 guys and you have no quality depth around them. Teams have become too good at exploiting weaknesses and mismatches.

2019 team is also damn near impossible to replicate.

Superstar - Kawhi
All-NBA - Lowry & Siakam
Former DPOYs - Ibaka and Gasol
All stars - FVV
All defense - Danny Green, Anunoby
SMOTY Candiates - Norman

That was a team that lost Kawhi and Danny for nothing and still won 53 in a 72-game season. I just dont know with the current cap that way it is if we will ever see a team like that again. If Kawhi had not left and stuck around we literally might be talking about a candidate for GOAT team (or 3-year run or whatever).

Man that was a deep team. If kawhi stays and OG returning I still believe they win in the bubble.

vulture wrote:

YogurtProducer wrote:

OakleyDokely wrote:The 2019 team was a perfect example. A superstar surrounded by 6-7 guys who were all 2 way players who couldn't' be played off the court at either end.

Drafting well and acquiring cheap talent is going to be even more important because once you pay your stars, there won't be much left to fill out your roster. It's going to be almost impossible to win now if all your money is going to 2-3 guys and you have no quality depth around them. Teams have become too good at exploiting weaknesses and mismatches.

2019 team is also damn near impossible to replicate.

Superstar - Kawhi
All-NBA - Lowry & Siakam
Former DPOYs - Ibaka and Gasol
All stars - FVV
All defense - Danny Green, Anunoby
SMOTY Candiates - Norman

That was a team that lost Kawhi and Danny for nothing and still won 53 in a 72-game season. I just dont know with the current cap that way it is if we will ever see a team like that again. If Kawhi had not left and stuck around we literally might be talking about a candidate for GOAT team (or 3-year run or whatever).

Man that was a deep team. If kawhi stays and OG returning I still believe they win in the bubble.

we only lost to 1 team in the entire bubble (including the regular season games) and that was boston.

If obtaining cheap talent (late draft picks) was a positive before, the absence of that would be a negative.

This is one of the reasons going for a high floor in the draft is the best move in the middling ranges.

WuTang_OG wrote:Starts at 7 min mark, thought it was a good listen
Importance of drafting well late referenced Toronto.
Building a complete team with 7-8 guys that can do a variety of things. 19' team was a good recipe
The specialist guy is getting obsolete, need to be able to stay on the floor to do multiple things to help winning

Watch on YouTube

I am pretty sure that was the original '6'9' vision; big guys that can do everything and guard multiple positions. Unfortunately the 6'9 vision is basically having 5 LeBrons on the floor, and that is not possible.

I. Couldn't. Believe ...

that PJ Washington trade at the time. Grant Williams was like the worst contract in the league, and I'd always been impressed with Washington on the Hornets. Way to hit on a trade. Dallas would still be stuck in neutral without that and the Gafford trade. And having tanked to pick up Lively II. Not luck - skill.

Yes, a lot of it is luck, but not all. OG falling to #23 was lucky, but recognizing him as a value pick was skill. Even in 2016, the team (and I) wanted Poeltl more than the T-Rex-armed Sabonis. But management's conscious decision not to pick Skal or Deyonte at #27 wasn't luck. Bringing in Fred to a team that already had Lowry, Delon and CoJo at PG wasn't luck. Hell, persuading him to sign here was skill.

Picking Malachi over Bane wasn't incompetence. Just bad luck. A lot of journalists liked the Flynn pick.

tecumseh18 wrote:I. Couldn't. Believe ...

that PJ Washington trade at the time. Grant Williams was like the worst contract in the league, and I'd always been impressed with Washington on the Hornets. Way to hit on a trade. Dallas would still be stuck in neutral without that and the Gafford trade. And having tanked to pick up Lively II. Not luck - skill.

Yes, a lot of it is luck, but not all. OG falling to #23 was lucky, but recognizing him as a value pick was skill. Even in 2016, the team (and I) wanted Poeltl more than the T-Rex-armed Sabonis. But management's conscious decision not to pick Skal or Deyonte at #27 wasn't luck. Bringing in Fred to a team that already had Lowry, Delon and CoJo at PG wasn't luck. Hell, persuading him to sign here was skill.

Picking Malachi over Bane wasn't incompetence. Just bad luck. A lot of journalists liked the Flynn pick.

I don't know if it can ever be replicated but the Raptors run of Poetl/Delon/Siakam/Norm/OG/Fred is genuinely one of the greatest runs of acquiring talented players despite having only one of those guys be in the mid lottery.

It's why when you you had those measures for who the best drafting team was the past decade, the Raptors were ahead handily every single time. The odds of getting three all stars from two picks in their 20s and an undrafted player was incredibly low.

Terrence Davis could have been the continuation of that if hadn't been a dumbass and developed past his excellent rookie year.

tecumseh18 wrote:I. Couldn't. Believe ...

that PJ Washington trade at the time. Grant Williams was like the worst contract in the league, and I'd always been impressed with Washington on the Hornets. Way to hit on a trade. Dallas would still be stuck in neutral without that and the Gafford trade. And having tanked to pick up Lively II. Not luck - skill.

Yes, a lot of it is luck, but not all. OG falling to #23 was lucky, but recognizing him as a value pick was skill. Even in 2016, the team (and I) wanted Poeltl more than the T-Rex-armed Sabonis. But management's conscious decision not to pick Skal or Deyonte at #27 wasn't luck. Bringing in Fred to a team that already had Lowry, Delon and CoJo at PG wasn't luck. Hell, persuading him to sign here was skill.

Picking Malachi over Bane wasn't incompetence. Just bad luck. A lot of journalists liked the Flynn pick.

Not drafting Sabonis (a mistake) and Bane are related - both have T-rex arms. Both are not due to bad luck but a blind spot of this FO's draft strategy - which is measurements over skills.

Raptorfan2012 wrote:

WuTang_OG wrote:Starts at 7 min mark, thought it was a good listen
Importance of drafting well late referenced Toronto.
Building a complete team with 7-8 guys that can do a variety of things. 19' team was a good recipe
The specialist guy is getting obsolete, need to be able to stay on the floor to do multiple things to help winning

Watch on YouTube

I am pretty sure that was the original '6'9' vision; big guys that can do everything and guard multiple positions. Unfortunately the 6'9 vision is basically having 5 LeBrons on the floor, and that is not possible.

The 6'9 theory makes sense - the problem is good 6'9 players become expensive.

You see it with OG. The guy is very mediocre on one side of the floor and is about to get 40M. 6'9" guys simply get pricey.

DelAbbot wrote:

tecumseh18 wrote:I. Couldn't. Believe ...

that PJ Washington trade at the time. Grant Williams was like the worst contract in the league, and I'd always been impressed with Washington on the Hornets. Way to hit on a trade. Dallas would still be stuck in neutral without that and the Gafford trade. And having tanked to pick up Lively II. Not luck - skill.

Yes, a lot of it is luck, but not all. OG falling to #23 was lucky, but recognizing him as a value pick was skill. Even in 2016, the team (and I) wanted Poeltl more than the T-Rex-armed Sabonis. But management's conscious decision not to pick Skal or Deyonte at #27 wasn't luck. Bringing in Fred to a team that already had Lowry, Delon and CoJo at PG wasn't luck. Hell, persuading him to sign here was skill.

Picking Malachi over Bane wasn't incompetence. Just bad luck. A lot of journalists liked the Flynn pick.

Not drafting Sabonis (a mistake) and Bane are related - both have T-rex arms. Both are not due to bad luck but a blind spot of this FO's draft strategy - which is measurements over skills.

A blind spot? It seems to be a strategy that has worked at one of the best rates in the league.

Also, not sure how you can say we draft measurements over skills when we took Malachi Flynn instead of Bane.

And regarding Poeltl vs Sabonis - if I had to bet which one might win a title one day, IDK if I would bet on Sabonis. He seems like the kind of guy who is going to be abused in the playoffs every time he makes it and his great counting stats is going to cap a team out very, very quick. When contracts are considered, I take Poeltl. Sabonis about to make 40M a year, and 50M within the next 4 years.

YogurtProducer wrote:

OakleyDokely wrote:The 2019 team was a perfect example. A superstar surrounded by 6-7 guys who were all 2 way players who couldn't' be played off the court at either end.

Drafting well and acquiring cheap talent is going to be even more important because once you pay your stars, there won't be much left to fill out your roster. It's going to be almost impossible to win now if all your money is going to 2-3 guys and you have no quality depth around them. Teams have become too good at exploiting weaknesses and mismatches.

2019 team is also damn near impossible to replicate.

Superstar - Kawhi
All-NBA - Lowry & Siakam
Former DPOYs - Ibaka and Gasol
All stars - FVV
All defense - Danny Green, Anunoby
SMOTY Candiates - Norman

That was a team that lost Kawhi and Danny for nothing and still won 53 in a 72-game season. I just dont know with the current cap that way it is if we will ever see a team like that again. If Kawhi had not left and stuck around we literally might be talking about a candidate for GOAT team (or 3-year run or whatever).

Fr we had like 9 starting caliber players on that roster. That’s why I get pissed off when other fanbases say Kawhi single handedly won us the title.

Raptorfan2012 wrote:

WuTang_OG wrote:Starts at 7 min mark, thought it was a good listen
Importance of drafting well late referenced Toronto.
Building a complete team with 7-8 guys that can do a variety of things. 19' team was a good recipe
The specialist guy is getting obsolete, need to be able to stay on the floor to do multiple things to help winning

Watch on YouTube

I am pretty sure that was the original '6'9' vision; big guys that can do everything and guard multiple positions. Unfortunately the 6'9 vision is basically having 5 LeBrons on the floor, and that is not possible.

Yeah the majority of those 6’9 guys majorly lacked skill. That’s where Masai got it wrong.

C_Money wrote:

Raptorfan2012 wrote:

WuTang_OG wrote:Starts at 7 min mark, thought it was a good listen
Importance of drafting well late referenced Toronto.
Building a complete team with 7-8 guys that can do a variety of things. 19' team was a good recipe
The specialist guy is getting obsolete, need to be able to stay on the floor to do multiple things to help winning

Watch on YouTube

I am pretty sure that was the original '6'9' vision; big guys that can do everything and guard multiple positions. Unfortunately the 6'9 vision is basically having 5 LeBrons on the floor, and that is not possible.

Yeah the majority of those 6’9 guys majorly lacked skill. That’s where Masai got it wrong.

He got overly confident with his program of turning non shooters into shooters and thought he could do it to every 6'9" guy.

GS built a team around 6'4"-6'6" guys but they could all shoot and the league was trending that way so it worked for them. You could argue they created that trend but the 3pt shot has gained major significance for a while now. 4/5 guys at least need to be able to shoot 3's in modern nba.

At least now we are creating a more traditional roster

djsunyc wrote:

vulture wrote:

YogurtProducer wrote:2019 team is also damn near impossible to replicate.

Superstar - Kawhi
All-NBA - Lowry & Siakam
Former DPOYs - Ibaka and Gasol
All stars - FVV
All defense - Danny Green, Anunoby
SMOTY Candiates - Norman

That was a team that lost Kawhi and Danny for nothing and still won 53 in a 72-game season. I just dont know with the current cap that way it is if we will ever see a team like that again. If Kawhi had not left and stuck around we literally might be talking about a candidate for GOAT team (or 3-year run or whatever).

Man that was a deep team. If kawhi stays and OG returning I still believe they win in the bubble.

we only lost to 1 team in the entire bubble (including the regular season games) and that was boston.

I didn't realize that! Kawhi leaving was possibly the stupidest thing he did.

YogurtProducer wrote:

OakleyDokely wrote:The 2019 team was a perfect example. A superstar surrounded by 6-7 guys who were all 2 way players who couldn't' be played off the court at either end.

Drafting well and acquiring cheap talent is going to be even more important because once you pay your stars, there won't be much left to fill out your roster. It's going to be almost impossible to win now if all your money is going to 2-3 guys and you have no quality depth around them. Teams have become too good at exploiting weaknesses and mismatches.

2019 team is also damn near impossible to replicate.

Superstar - Kawhi
All-NBA - Lowry & Siakam
Former DPOYs - Ibaka and Gasol
All stars - FVV
All defense - Danny Green, Anunoby
SMOTY Candiates - Norman

That was a team that lost Kawhi and Danny for nothing and still won 53 in a 72-game season. I just dont know with the current cap that way it is if we will ever see a team like that again. If Kawhi had not left and stuck around we literally might be talking about a candidate for GOAT team (or 3-year run or whatever).

I can't think of a more complete team top to bottom in the modern era. We had everything to play any style.

WuTang_OG wrote:

C_Money wrote:

Raptorfan2012 wrote:
I am pretty sure that was the original '6'9' vision; big guys that can do everything and guard multiple positions. Unfortunately the 6'9 vision is basically having 5 LeBrons on the floor, and that is not possible.

Yeah the majority of those 6’9 guys majorly lacked skill. That’s where Masai got it wrong.

He got overly confident with his program of turning non shooters into shooters and thought he could do it to every 6'9" guy.

GS built a team around 6'4"-6'6" guys but they could all shoot and the league was trending that way so it worked for them. You could argue they created that trend but the 3pt shot has gained major significance for a while now. 4/5 guys at least need to be able to shoot 3's in modern nba.

At least now we are creating a more traditional roster

Not even just shooting but guys who can get into the paint at will and either score or kick it out. This is crucial for any winning team.

PushDaRock wrote:

YogurtProducer wrote:

OakleyDokely wrote:The 2019 team was a perfect example. A superstar surrounded by 6-7 guys who were all 2 way players who couldn't' be played off the court at either end.

Drafting well and acquiring cheap talent is going to be even more important because once you pay your stars, there won't be much left to fill out your roster. It's going to be almost impossible to win now if all your money is going to 2-3 guys and you have no quality depth around them. Teams have become too good at exploiting weaknesses and mismatches.

2019 team is also damn near impossible to replicate.

Superstar - Kawhi
All-NBA - Lowry & Siakam
Former DPOYs - Ibaka and Gasol
All stars - FVV
All defense - Danny Green, Anunoby
SMOTY Candiates - Norman

That was a team that lost Kawhi and Danny for nothing and still won 53 in a 72-game season. I just dont know with the current cap that way it is if we will ever see a team like that again. If Kawhi had not left and stuck around we literally might be talking about a candidate for GOAT team (or 3-year run or whatever).

I can't think of a more complete team top to bottom in the modern era. We had everything to play any style.

And could handle injuries, no problem. Two all-star-level point guards, two DPOY centres. Raptors had a lot of injuries in that epic 2019-2020 season. But still ended up with the second best winning percentage in the league, for the third season in a row.