dagger wrote:DelAbbot wrote:dagger wrote:There are a lot of possibilities between "blow it up" and "stand pat", a lot of shades of grey between white and black. The Raptors do have some nice assets, and you have to manage those well. The salary cap/tax line are heading up, and are expected to take a dramatic leap in the summer of 2025. You have to manage against that as well as an organization. I mean, Fred at $25 million next season might be very rich, but if the cap rises to $200 million and the tax line to about $220 million in 2025-26, and he's two years into a new four year deal, that's a different outlook - he can be traded for backup work at that point on such a contract. For this trade deadline, there is a question of what do you get in return that would constitute good asset management? How many 2023 or 2024 picks could you get from teams - 2027 or 2029 picks have less value and stretch out a retooling/rebuilding. Whose picks are you getting? A late first round, or a mid-to-late lottery pick. Big difference.
Teams get seduced by tanking, but you look at some of them, and rebuilding has been a long, long journey of terrible teams. Think five years or more unless they get lottery luck. And you need to hope you not only draft well, but your foundational picks don't lose big time from injuries. Philly lost the first two years of Joel Embiid. That helped make the process that much longer. Now, Detroit has lost a year of Cade Cunningham's development. There are just so many things to consider heading into this deadline, including the possibility that there would be better trade offers on draft night and at the start of free agency this summer.
I doubt Masai and Bobby will bring the same team back next season, and they know that now. Tipping their hand about their intentions serves no purpose.
(As an aside, I wonder what MLSE plans to do to keep the season ticket base and current pricing intact. They have brought prices up to a level that reflects their belief this team would be at least a dark horse contender. They might have to not only freeze prices if they go into some sort of retooling, they might have to go back to offering some real perks to season ticket holders to hang on.)
Good points. 
But you dont think Fred knows salary cap is going up and thus adjust his demands accordingly? He said the baseline he is willing to accept is 130M over 4 years which is 32.5M per year.
 
I think at the end of the day, Fred may have to adjust his sights, not only in talks with Masai but with other teams. The guard position has changed over the years. Guards are taller, more athletic, and they are an easier find that ever. The mock drafts currently have two tremendous PG prospects in the top four slots - Scoot Henderson and Amen Thompson. In the end, Fred may go to free agency this summer and 
find the teams that could use him now don't have the cap space or the stomach to pay him what he wants. He may also find Masai doesn't care to pay him what he might have been ready to offer last summer. That's what Fred and his agent will have to ponder as soon as the season is over - if he isn't traded at the deadline.
 
I mean isn't it the opposite? Teams like DET, ORL and HOU all could use FVV. Their cores are also rookies on small deals so they can withstand an FVV overpayment. Only 1 team can get Scoot. Thompson is a wing who in theory fits very well with FVV. Fred has options (and leverage). A lot of the bad teams can talk themselves into FVV, especially if they land Victor and want to end the rebuild:
HOU: need a steady pg badly, can't tank next year because they owe OKC their pick. 
DET: Ivey and Cade to sg/sf, FVV at pg
ORL: need a pg, fits with Fultz 
CHA: if they can move their bad deals (rumored) then FVV fits pretty well with Lamelo, Bridges (re-signed), Victor?
All of those teams can look at FVV and think "yeah, he fits pretty well and where else are we going to spend our money?"