Kevin O'Connor: "There's people in that front office that want full rebuild"

[JShuttlesworth]

c'mon Masai do the right thing

[Boogie!]

The right move is to hire Jordi. He knows what he's doing more than anyone in our entire organization does and we need his vision and leadership.

He sold me when I heard him say this about "positionless basketball" which the Raps are obsessed with:

"...positionless sounds really good, but a lot of times it gets, you know, misunderstood. You cannot be trying to do too much and at the end you do nothing."

Which to me signifies how he understands that positionless basketball is BS. You need guards with guard skills, wings with wing skills, bigs with big skills. If you can find special athletes for each position fine, but you can't force guys into doing things they struggle at or allow them to attempt it all the while vastly underproducing. They have to be able to achieve the tasks that players at the given position are required to achieve in order to be successful.

Did you see Miamis lineups last night? They had 5 perimeter players on the floor. They're in the finals.

Positions really don't matter as much as talented players with high iq. In today's nba, shooting the 3 is also a priority. Our problems have nothing to do with being positionless.... they have to do with things we've discussed ad nauseum, I.e inability to shoot the 3, inability to create off the dribble, inability to pass to the open man and create good looks... its a talent and systemic issue not a positionless issue.

[SurgeIblocka]

I don’t think its in their hands anymore. It was in their hands to decide the direction at the trade deadline, now it’s up to if Fred and or Gary want to sign back or not because if they don’t they may not go to a team that requires a sign and trade, or even if they do the pieces coming back won’t be anything great. The issue i think for the management team right now is probably Fred hasn’t given any indication if he's coming back which to me means he’s probably on his way out. They most likely will be forced into a rebuild which is pretty pathetic if they are hoping for Fred to stay so they don’t have to rebuild. If Fred hasn't committed to staying by now then they should rebuild because they are not getting any decent return for him in the summer.

[tecumseh18]

My bet is GTJ is most expendable.

Fred will represent the biggest chasm between production and salary if he comes back. He thinks he's Brunson, he wants more money than Brunson, but he's not Brunson. The Raptors without Fred won two playoff games (and several regular season games) against the Sixers last year. Even if he walks for nothing, that frees up room under the tax to re-sign Gary and Jak, use the full MLE and BAE, and sign #13, and be in a better cap position in 2024 when Pascal and OG's extensions or new deals kick in.

[Indeed]

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https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-mismatch/id1317853625?i=1000614955486

54 min

Just listened to the podcast again because on first listen earlier it didn’t sound like much. And this quote sounds like something. But if you listen to the podcast it is him saying that they aren’t sure what the want to do. He did say that there are some who want a full rebuild but also followed that by saying some want status quo. So really there isn’t anything there.

all this says is that we are considering a retool ie moving core pieces which I think most of us want. They are not going to move Siakam unless they get the right deal

All this says is that we are waiting for our FA.
If we are losing our FAs for nothing, it is best we rebuild.

[Indeed]

Read on Twitter

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https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-mismatch/id1317853625?i=1000614955486

54 min

Just listened to the podcast again because on first listen earlier it didn’t sound like much. And this quote sounds like something. But if you listen to the podcast it is him saying that they aren’t sure what the want to do. He did say that there are some who want a full rebuild but also followed that by saying some want status quo. So really there isn’t anything there.

This is no different from what Windhorst said a few weeks ago. Again they put themselves in this situation at the trade deadline. They now need to make the hard decision this offseason. You can't stay status quo and put the team in cap purgatory with minimal upside.

"They" making the hard decision referring to our FAs?
I think we will stay status quo. I don't see a GM evaluate the core based on one year.
Did we do well the previous year? So how do you know we weren't over achieving the previous year instead of under achieving this year?

[DelAbbot]

It’s gotta be my guy Dan Tolzman, I knew there was a reason I liked him.

Give Dan some picks and let him cook.

Dan is the Boss

[Michael Jordan]

I'd support the rebuild but I'm assuming that means Poeltl walks.

If Poeltl walks they look like terrible gamblers cause there's likely no 2024 first, so much for a rebuild.

If Poeltl doesn't walk, I don't want to see a half-ass rebuild where this team ends up in the 10-11 seed.

Go hard or go home.

[VanWest82]

Wait, is the double breasted jacket + skinny pants combo a thing? Masai might've lost it...

[ForeverTFC]

Kevin O'Connor has zero sources and just constantly throws s*** at the wall hoping something sticks. He makes up the most rumors and most NBA fans don't call him out on it because they can relate to him because he is a nerd.

He said in the pod that he’s not very tuned in to the Raptors and a lot of this reporting was around what others are saying.

I wonder how many of the folks who replied took 5 min to actually listen tbh. I’m not the biggest KOC guy but he hedged himself on this one.

[Los_29]

With a lightly protected pick next year, going full rebuild or aiming for the playoffs are the only two options.

[tms]

We traded for Thad last year, Poetltl this year, and our first next year is only top 6 protected.

Just top 6? I didn't even know that. You're right then, they're not blowing it up. No one's tanking for a year only to lose the pick. Way too risky. This is fake news imo.

[TravisScott55]

Kevin O'Connor has zero sources and just constantly throws s*** at the wall hoping something sticks. He makes up the most rumors and most NBA fans don't call him out on it because they can relate to him because he is a nerd.

He said in the pod that he’s not very tuned in to the Raptors and a lot of this reporting was around what others are saying.

I wonder how many of the folks who replied took 5 min to actually listen tbh. I’m not the biggest KOC guy but he hedged himself on this one.

Kevin O'Connor should not be cited is what I am saying. He has no sources and anyone can listen to a bunch of podcasts and regurgitate what they hear.

[djsunyc]

With a lightly protected pick next year, going full rebuild or aiming for the playoffs are the only two options.

my guess is that we are trading a player and getting a pick(s) back in return.

[Los_29]

With a lightly protected pick next year, going full rebuild or aiming for the playoffs are the only two options.

my guess is that we are trading a player and getting a pick(s) back in return.

Hoping that the 3rd pick is available and if we do that we're also getting back another young asset and/or future pick. I don't think a tear down is needed especially after seeing what happened in these playoffs.

[Raps in 4]

The right move is to hire Jordi. He knows what he's doing more than anyone in our entire organization does and we need his vision and leadership.

He sold me when I heard him say this about "positionless basketball" which the Raps are obsessed with:

"...positionless sounds really good, but a lot of times it gets, you know, misunderstood. You cannot be trying to do too much and at the end you do nothing."

Which to me signifies how he understands that positionless basketball is BS. You need guards with guard skills, wings with wing skills, bigs with big skills. If you can find special athletes for each position fine, but you can't force guys into doing things they struggle at or allow them to attempt it all the while vastly underproducing. They have to be able to achieve the tasks that players at the given position are required to achieve in order to be successful.

Did you see Miamis lineups last night? They had 5 perimeter players on the floor. They're in the finals.

Positions really don't matter as much as talented players with high iq. In today's nba, shooting the 3 is also a priority. Our problems have nothing to do with being positionless.... they have to do with things we've discussed ad nauseum, I.e inability to shoot the 3, inability to create off the dribble, inability to pass to the open man and create good looks... its a talent and systemic issue not a positionless issue.

That's true, but the talent issue stems from our obsession with positionless basketball. Masai looks at a player's height and wingspan and ends his analysis there. Basketball skills are an afterthought. We need guys who can shoot, dribble, and pass. Whether they are tall or short should be irrelevant.

[iBall101]

All this rebuilding talk when we could have traded to ring someone by Pascal is sad to see.

Gonna get ugly if they trade him.

We have the pieces to compete too. The FO clearly feels they can milk the fan base off the championship

Woah buddy! Don’t mislead the folks.
Even Ray Charles knows a Pascal lead team can never get us to an NBA finals. This is an inevitable breakup that’s been long overdue. Rebuild the team around Scottie and OG with brand new coaching personnel. The fanbase will respect management for choosing a more realistic option. We’re tired of play-ins and boring first round exits.

[Badonkadonk]

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-mismatch/id1317853625?i=1000614955486

54 min

Just listened to the podcast again because on first listen earlier it didn’t sound like much. And this quote sounds like something. But if you listen to the podcast it is him saying that they aren’t sure what the want to do. He did say that there are some who want a full rebuild but also followed that by saying some want status quo. So really there isn’t anything there.

Yeah just listened to it too, another nothingburger.

I'll state it again, the MO is to win big in a trade. If they can get a stud for the equivalent of what Kawhi cost, they'll do that. If they can get a big package of firsts for Pascal, they'll do that. If they don't see any deals they like, they'll stand pat, add around the edges and wait until one of the previous two options emerge.

[YogurtProducer]

The right move is to hire Jordi. He knows what he's doing more than anyone in our entire organization does and we need his vision and leadership.

This board makes a lot more sense when you realize people actually believe things like this

[brownbobcat]

The right move is to hire Jordi. He knows what he's doing more than anyone in our entire organization does and we need his vision and leadership.

He sold me when I heard him say this about "positionless basketball" which the Raps are obsessed with:

"...positionless sounds really good, but a lot of times it gets, you know, misunderstood. You cannot be trying to do too much and at the end you do nothing."

Which to me signifies how he understands that positionless basketball is BS. You need guards with guard skills, wings with wing skills, bigs with big skills. If you can find special athletes for each position fine, but you can't force guys into doing things they struggle at or allow them to attempt it all the while vastly underproducing. They have to be able to achieve the tasks that players at the given position are required to achieve in order to be successful.

You cannot have any hope of positionless basketball if your players can't shoot, that's just a fundamental flaw.