ArthurVandelay wrote:mdenny wrote:Rapsfan07 wrote:
Okay, at this point its either:
1) There is some serious beef between him and management
OR
2) He knows that other teams are not going to give him the 5th year.
It's the only way I can make sense of this. The Raptors are not that great of a team, from a personal or basketball standpoint and any other team that obtains him via trade can also offer the very same 5th year we can. So he's that serious about getting his 5th year (which is completely fine), why not offer a list of teams with which he is willing to re-sign? That way, both him and the team can move on from this mess.
Instead, he remains adamant that he wants to re-up here. Why? As I said earlier, we can't possibly be that great. We've been shopping him on and off for the better part of a year now and it's clear that the team is headed in a different direction so what's the issue? Why make this a bigger deal than it needs to be?
I think he knows that other teams will not give him the 5th year and Masai can't afford to have him walk for nothing. So if he wants a 5th year, his best chance of getting it is here.
But as I and others have said repeatedly - this is on Ujiri. You would think that after taking back garbage for Lowry and losing an All-Star for nothing, he would have learned to not do this. But for some reason, he seems insistent on doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result. This is part of my issue with him as a leader - just very slow man.
There is a plausible explanation though: Pascal is going to Philly.
If true, it makes it all make sense. Philly's not gonna trade for him because they can sign him outright in the summer. Pascal is not gonna lie to a team and say he will resign because he's already made up his mind in going to Philly. So that means he's a rental for any other team.
I think the most plausible scenario is Pascal is angling for a 5 year max or near max 5 year contract this summer. It’s all about the 5th year. Whoever offers it will get him. He’s going to ransom Toronto or whoever holds his Bird Rights to get it with the threat of leaving for nothing, using Philly as leverage as long as they keep cap space available. He’s going to the top bidder. He might be willing to negotiate more with Dallas (4 vs 5 years and salary) because of taxes, climate, and family, but end of day, he goes to top bidder.
Personally I can’t wait until he’s gone. Pascal cares about Pascal, it is evident in his play. I care about the Raptors. Our priorities are in conflict. **** him at this point.
I believe the reason Pascal wants to stay on the Raps, and then decide in the summer, is he is trying to play this out like the Lowry situation. If Raps are holding his bird rights, they are incentivized to take any deal they can get in the summer to get a return (he is assuming Raps will play ball). So Pascal would be able to leverage all teams against each other in the summer to get the 5 year max in a S&T.
If Pascal is traded at the deadline, the team trading for him will have given up assets to acquire him, and therefore probably less likely to play ball if he wants a S&T somewhere else. So his choice then would be FA and a 4 year max at lower percentage increases (if offered from another team), or whatever the team holding his rights offers him (if it is better).
Clearly Pascal is thinking about Pascal. He has probably been doing this for awhile now (going back to last year) and that was the reason for Masai's comments last year about the selfish play. Can't wait until he is gone (hopefully he is gone at the deadline).
