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Hi folks,

A lot has been made about the player timeline issues that arise with the raptors, going back to Pascal and Scottie supposedly being on different timelines. I think it's important to start thinking about the timeline issues that may arise with a a top pick in this year's draft and BBQ

In that scenario, Pascal was 7 years and 4 months older than Scottie. If we take that as our "worst case" timeline scenario, I wonder what we come up with when we look at the top picks in this year's draft. Let's first look at the ages of the top 3 projected players:

1. Copper Flagg - 18 years old, August 1st birthday
2. Ace Baily - 18 years, August 13th birthday
3. Dylan Harper - 18 years, March 2nd Birthday

Not much of a difference in ages, so we can pretty much assume an equal relationship to BBQ age wise.

If we take Cooper as the one with the median age, here is how the age difference would work with BBQ:

Scottie is 5 years and 4 months older than Cooper
RJ is 6 years and 2 months older than Cooper
IQ is 7 years and 2 months older than Cooper

So can we consider Cooper Flagg to be on the same timeline as BBQ? If we use the Pascal situation as our baseline of "not being on the same timeline", then IQ is definitely out of the picture and not an optimal match with Cooper. RJ comes in only a year under this, so maybe also not the same timeline.

Finally, with Scottie as 5 years older than Cooper, can we really say he's on a the same timeline? When Cooper is 26 and getting into his prime, Scottie is 31. Is that the alignment that will end up in championships?

Now, my guess is a bunch of you will say it doesn't matter, trade everyone, all that matters is Cooper - I'm not as interested in that discussion. But for those actually looking to keep pieces from this team around, are we comfortable with the timeline that a top draft pick in this year's draft will bring, is this our best path to our second championship?

Your best players don't need to be the same age. All throughout history, teams won championship at a vast assortment of ages.

In the end, you want your best players to be able to play near their best at the same time. There is no one on this team that would be too old tbh, the only question is if they're good enough.

Did anyone care Marc Gasol was 34 and 10 years older than FVV and Siakam? Or that Kyle was 8 year older? Or that OG was was 21, a full 3 years younger than the closest rotation player?

YogurtProducer wrote:Did anyone care Marc Gasol was 34 and 10 years older than FVV and Siakam? Or that Kyle was 8 year older? Or that OG was was 21, a full 3 years younger than the closest rotation player?

lol the timeline this is so overblown!


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you ever hear of this dude named rajon rondo

Oh no the timeline! Next thread will be about the multiverse!

Where did this interpretation of the 'timeline' idea come from?

I understand it when it comes to dealing future assets (ala Golden State in 2020) or whether you want to use draft picks on raw players over guys who can contribute right away (Bucks taking AJ Johnson vs Nuggets taking Christian Braun), but when did people start thinking everyone on an NBA roster should be the same age?

time line sham line
there is a 3-5 year shelf life for each itteration of a team

Flagg’s a December birthday (the 21st). He’ll be 9 days older than LeBron was when he got selected out of high school.

The timeline fits perfectly for any rookie they draft this year. That rookie will be on a standard 4 year rookie contract. By the time they need to pay that rookie a real contract, other core members will have aged out or left.

And that rookie gets to join a competitive team, that won't rely on them for much production, so their development can be slow played.

Everyone focuses on these players like they will be here for the next decade. They may or may not be. If the team can build a players value up, and then trade them for a higher value player, they will.

Next years SL will be Yak, Barnes, BI, RJ & IQ. Even if they somehow manage to get Flagg, he is probably coming off the bench next season, which is good for his development (gets to play a bigger role against 2nd units).

let's just start winning games first before worrying about all this other stuff.

douggood wrote:time line sham line
there is a 3-5 year shelf life for each itteration of a team

there is a crowd here that believes that every single player on the raptors needs to be at least 6'9 and when they're not they are called "honorary 6'9" like a certain former pg was.

so the goal is ultimately a roster full of highly competent 6'9 players who are within 5 years of each other's age

oh and they need to all be able to dance in tiktok videos and bring immaculate "vibes" to the locker room too

REJECTEDBYCLARK wrote:

douggood wrote:time line sham line
there is a 3-5 year shelf life for each itteration of a team

there is a crowd here that believes that every single player on the raptors needs to be at least 6'9 and when they're not they are called "honorary 6'9" like a certain former pg was.

so the goal is ultimately a roster full of highly competent 6'9 players who are within 5 years of each other's age

oh and they need to all be able to dance in tiktok videos and bring immaculate "vibes" to the locker room too

I totally agree, I don't believe in timelines - made the thread because it seems to be a big conversation around here, glad a good amount of folks aren't worried about it!

JB7 wrote:The timeline fits perfectly for any rookie they draft this year. That rookie will be on a standard 4 year rookie contract. By the time they need to pay that rookie a real contract, other core members will have aged out or left.

And that rookie gets to join a competitive team, that won't rely on them for much production, so their development can be slow played.

Everyone focuses on these players like they will be here for the next decade. They may or may not be. If the team can build a players value up, and then trade them for a higher value player, they will.

Next years SL will be Yak, Barnes, BI, RJ & IQ. Even if they somehow manage to get Flagg, he is probably coming off the bench next season, which is good for his development (gets to play a bigger role against 2nd units).

A 1st OA pick of his calibre coming off the bench is lunacy, especially on a team that has won ~20 games 2 seasons in a row. If we get Flagg, someone is getting moved.

Nebuchadnezzar wrote:

REJECTEDBYCLARK wrote:

douggood wrote:time line sham line
there is a 3-5 year shelf life for each itteration of a team

there is a crowd here that believes that every single player on the raptors needs to be at least 6'9 and when they're not they are called "honorary 6'9" like a certain former pg was.

so the goal is ultimately a roster full of highly competent 6'9 players who are within 5 years of each other's age

oh and they need to all be able to dance in tiktok videos and bring immaculate "vibes" to the locker room too

I totally agree, I don't believe in timelines - made the thread because it seems to be a big conversation around here, glad a good amount of folks aren't worried about it!

It’s mainly the tankers that worry about timeline as they want to draft 3 superstars in a row like KD RW and JH and have them all around the same age.


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Scase wrote:

JB7 wrote:The timeline fits perfectly for any rookie they draft this year. That rookie will be on a standard 4 year rookie contract. By the time they need to pay that rookie a real contract, other core members will have aged out or left.

And that rookie gets to join a competitive team, that won't rely on them for much production, so their development can be slow played.

Everyone focuses on these players like they will be here for the next decade. They may or may not be. If the team can build a players value up, and then trade them for a higher value player, they will.

Next years SL will be Yak, Barnes, BI, RJ & IQ. Even if they somehow manage to get Flagg, he is probably coming off the bench next season, which is good for his development (gets to play a bigger role against 2nd units).

A 1st OA pick of his calibre coming off the bench is lunacy, especially on a team that has won ~20 games 2 seasons in a row. If we get Flagg, someone is getting moved.

Eventually someone would be moved, in a couple of years, but a couple of years coming off the bench would be good for a rookie, even Flagg (you think they are going to trade BI or Barnes this offseason ). Coming off the bench wouldn't mean he still couldn't get significant minutes, and the rook would have more of an opportunity to contribute playing against 2nd units.

Whoever they draft, they come with time to ease them into the team in terms of role and expectations.

JB7 wrote:

Scase wrote:

JB7 wrote:The timeline fits perfectly for any rookie they draft this year. That rookie will be on a standard 4 year rookie contract. By the time they need to pay that rookie a real contract, other core members will have aged out or left.

And that rookie gets to join a competitive team, that won't rely on them for much production, so their development can be slow played.

Everyone focuses on these players like they will be here for the next decade. They may or may not be. If the team can build a players value up, and then trade them for a higher value player, they will.

Next years SL will be Yak, Barnes, BI, RJ & IQ. Even if they somehow manage to get Flagg, he is probably coming off the bench next season, which is good for his development (gets to play a bigger role against 2nd units).

A 1st OA pick of his calibre coming off the bench is lunacy, especially on a team that has won ~20 games 2 seasons in a row. If we get Flagg, someone is getting moved.

Eventually someone would be moved, in a couple of years, but a couple of years coming off the bench would be good for a rookie, even Flagg (you think they are going to trade BI or Barnes this offseason ). Coming off the bench wouldn't mean he still couldn't get significant minutes, and the rook would have more of an opportunity to contribute playing against 2nd units.

Whoever they draft, they come with time to ease them into the team in terms of role and expectations.

I think if Flagg got drafted, RJ is on the move regardless, and we run the 3 of SB/Flagg/BI at the 2/3/4 spots. Scottie and Flagg manning the 3/4 slots would be a massive improvement on defence, and would help cover up any deficiencies with BI at the 2.

Then they likely try and repair BIs value, and look to package him with some other assets in a year or 2 and try to make a big trade. But the whole getting Flagg thing is a bit tricky

The 2 timelines thing was always a nothing burger to me, it was always about the lack of on-court fit between Scottie and Pascal.

This is why many of us wanted to start the rebuild in 2022.

Scase wrote:

JB7 wrote:The timeline fits perfectly for any rookie they draft this year. That rookie will be on a standard 4 year rookie contract. By the time they need to pay that rookie a real contract, other core members will have aged out or left.

And that rookie gets to join a competitive team, that won't rely on them for much production, so their development can be slow played.

Everyone focuses on these players like they will be here for the next decade. They may or may not be. If the team can build a players value up, and then trade them for a higher value player, they will.

Next years SL will be Yak, Barnes, BI, RJ & IQ. Even if they somehow manage to get Flagg, he is probably coming off the bench next season, which is good for his development (gets to play a bigger role against 2nd units).

A 1st OA pick of his calibre coming off the bench is lunacy, especially on a team that has won ~20 games 2 seasons in a row. If we get Flagg, someone is getting moved.

I would bet if we did get Flagg he would come off the bench initially until he made it without question he has to start.

And our team is not a typical 20 win team either. All it took was Quickley not playing pretty much all year AND we have a potential all-star joining next year as well. This isn't the Hornets or Wizards type 20 win team