What's the most likely use/ outcome of new flexibility?

[WaltFrazier]

Knicks could really use Jak to replace Hartenstein but I've no idea the kind of trade that would work for both teams, and keep NYK contending.

[CazOnReal]

Knicks could really use Jak to replace Hartenstein but I've no idea the kind of trade that would work for both teams, and keep NYK contending.

Probably Robinson and a pick for Poeltl. Maybe we include Koloko if he's back with the roster but it'd probably be one of their remaining firsts from that OKC trade.

Okay so the salary matching is a problem.

[deeps6x]

We keep Jak, BB gets traded at the deadline for like a SRP or 2. Don't listen to anyone calling any of this flexibility, it's the same people saying Thads contract was a good thing to have because it's good for trades.

BBs peak value has passed. Better to just accept it and move on.

Yup. I'd even trade him now to avoid his value plummeting even more. But nobody really wants him.

The most important component on any returrn for BB is not whether it's an early 2nd or a mid-2nd etc..,, but what type of player(s) with what kind of salary we get back. We literally can't let his money continue to hurt us into any future years. The more I think about it, the more I think picking up his option was dumb. The FO had to do it though to continue to justify the trade. (hoping for a miracle! )

Picking up BB's option made the trade look EVEN WORSE.

[deeps6x]

Masai's thinking better have been along these lines:

If we pick up Brown's option, then he'll be one of the highest paid players on the team, and we'll HAVE to make him a starter and give him HEAVY minutes, and since he sucks, it will greatly help with the tank.

Maybe Brown will be necessary to get a top 8 pick in the 2025 draft. And maybe we can flip him at the trade deadline for another pick. I can't see us landing a 2025 or 2026 FRP for him, unless an extra year of someone's crap $30M contract is attached to it.

If Brown sucks, and helps us rack up a pile of Ls for the first four months of the season, AND we flip him for a good pick, then I might forgive Masai for what I thought was sheer stupidity when they picked up his option.

[CazOnReal]

I have yet to hear a good argument for not picking up Bruce Brown's option when...
-We wouldn't have freed up notable cap space even after letting Trent walk like we did
-We wouldn't have been able to take on a larger contract for draft capital than we could via Bruce Brown who allows us to pick up someone with around $28 million in cap space/multiple players of that same space
-This free agency class sucked and you probably aren't signing someone better than Bruce Brown with what money you'd have (Hartenstein was never going to choose Toronto over a contender like OKC and you wouldn't have enough cap space to match Claxton's extension)


The Siakam trade being bad doesn't mean you actively make it worse by getting nothing for Bruce when he was injured and can very easily rehab his value (As is, there are trades where you can get value for him by taking on bad salary for a pick or even a stopgap player like John Collins and a 25 1st for example).

Or doing what a not insignificant part of the fanbase did when Fred VanVleet walked for nothing: Cope by trying to suggest that signing a worse player that's replacing them is somehow "trading for them" before that player gets traded for nothing like Schroder did.

[YogurtProducer]

Masai's thinking better have been along these lines:

If we pick up Brown's option, then he'll be one of the highest paid players on the team, and we'll HAVE to make him a starter and give him HEAVY minutes, and since he sucks, it will greatly help with the tank.

Maybe Brown will be necessary to get a top 8 pick in the 2025 draft. And maybe we can flip him at the trade deadline for another pick. I can't see us landing a 2025 or 2026 FRP for him, unless an extra year of someone's crap $30M contract is attached to it.

If Brown sucks, and helps us rack up a pile of Ls for the first four months of the season, AND we flip him for a good pick, then I might forgive Masai for what I thought was sheer stupidity when they picked up his option.

The amount of people who think Brown “sucks” is ridiculous

[Thaddy]

Masai's thinking better have been along these lines:

If we pick up Brown's option, then he'll be one of the highest paid players on the team, and we'll HAVE to make him a starter and give him HEAVY minutes, and since he sucks, it will greatly help with the tank.

Maybe Brown will be necessary to get a top 8 pick in the 2025 draft. And maybe we can flip him at the trade deadline for another pick. I can't see us landing a 2025 or 2026 FRP for him, unless an extra year of someone's crap $30M contract is attached to it.

If Brown sucks, and helps us rack up a pile of Ls for the first four months of the season, AND we flip him for a good pick, then I might forgive Masai for what I thought was sheer stupidity when they picked up his option.

The amount of people who think Brown “sucks” is ridiculous

It's propaganda you deal with as a Raptors fan. We have a player that was viewed as a "super role player" on the Nuggets but now he's a worthless scrub. These national narratives drive trade value because GMs don't want to be attacked by the media. The media plays a big role in trades, contracts players get and a lot more. In the past we've seen GMs like Joe Dumar purposely give some reporters scoops to get good coverage.

We will make Brown the starter instead of Gradey. We can't have a weak defensive link starting for us, that's something Gradey will likely be labelled as for the rest of his career. He will have to earn the starting position and show growth. I don't think he showed any improvement in the summer league. He gained a lot of weight but his handle looked the same and he didn't hit a single three.

The only way starting Brown goes bad would be if he does too much. We just need POA defense, off ball offense like cutting and hitting open shots, rebounding, and ball movement. The pluses would be if he can provide secondary ball handling if Barnes faces a press, although Scottie needs to be better at dealing with that.

[YogurtProducer]

Masai's thinking better have been along these lines:

If we pick up Brown's option, then he'll be one of the highest paid players on the team, and we'll HAVE to make him a starter and give him HEAVY minutes, and since he sucks, it will greatly help with the tank.

Maybe Brown will be necessary to get a top 8 pick in the 2025 draft. And maybe we can flip him at the trade deadline for another pick. I can't see us landing a 2025 or 2026 FRP for him, unless an extra year of someone's crap $30M contract is attached to it.

If Brown sucks, and helps us rack up a pile of Ls for the first four months of the season, AND we flip him for a good pick, then I might forgive Masai for what I thought was sheer stupidity when they picked up his option.

The amount of people who think Brown “sucks” is ridiculous

It's propaganda you deal with as a Raptors fan. We have a player that was viewed as a "super role player" on the Nuggets but now he's a worthless scrub. These national narratives drive trade value because GMs don't want to be attacked by the media. The media plays a big role in trades, contracts players get and a lot more. In the past we've seen GMs like Joe Dumar purposely give some reporters scoops to get good coverage.

We will make Brown the starter instead of Gradey. We can't have a weak defensive link starting for us, that's something Gradey will likely be labelled as for the rest of his career. He will have to earn the starting position and show growth. I don't think he showed any improvement in the summer league. He gained a lot of weight but his handle looked the same and he didn't hit a single three.

The only way starting Brown goes bad would be if he does too much. We just need POA defense, off ball offense like cutting and hitting open shots, rebounding, and ball movement. The pluses would be if he can provide secondary ball handling if Barnes faces a press, although Scottie needs to be better at dealing with that.

Yeah Brown is just fine - he is not a stud but he certianly not "sucks" and it absolute insanity to suggest that the only reason he is going to play is because he is paid, and he is somehow going to "help" the tank. That is just ludicrous to suggest.

In DEN, Brown was a 14.6/5.2/4.2 57TS% per 36 guy
In IND, Brown was a 14.0/5.7/3.7 57TS% per 36 guy
In TOR, Brown was a 13.3/5.3/3.7 56TS% per 36 guy

But somehow he went from super role player to "sucks".

He is completely expendable, and personally I would be shocked to see him be here all season long, but he is still valuable NBA player and is in 100% of NBA teams rotations.

[Thaddy]

The amount of people who think Brown “sucks” is ridiculous

It's propaganda you deal with as a Raptors fan. We have a player that was viewed as a "super role player" on the Nuggets but now he's a worthless scrub. These national narratives drive trade value because GMs don't want to be attacked by the media. The media plays a big role in trades, contracts players get and a lot more. In the past we've seen GMs like Joe Dumar purposely give some reporters scoops to get good coverage.

We will make Brown the starter instead of Gradey. We can't have a weak defensive link starting for us, that's something Gradey will likely be labelled as for the rest of his career. He will have to earn the starting position and show growth. I don't think he showed any improvement in the summer league. He gained a lot of weight but his handle looked the same and he didn't hit a single three.

The only way starting Brown goes bad would be if he does too much. We just need POA defense, off ball offense like cutting and hitting open shots, rebounding, and ball movement. The pluses would be if he can provide secondary ball handling if Barnes faces a press, although Scottie needs to be better at dealing with that.

Yeah Brown is just fine - he is not a stud but he certianly not "sucks" and it absolute insanity to suggest that the only reason he is going to play is because he is paid, and he is somehow going to "help" the tank. That is just ludicrous to suggest.

In DEN, Brown was a 14.6/5.2/4.2 57TS% per 36 guy
In IND, Brown was a 14.0/5.7/3.7 57TS% per 36 guy
In TOR, Brown was a 13.3/5.3/3.7 56TS% per 36 guy

But somehow he went from super role player to "sucks".

He is completely expendable, and personally I would be shocked to see him be here all season long, but he is still valuable NBA player and is in 100% of NBA teams rotations.

I would say he's a starting caliber player for us. There's sense behind making him a starter. Gradey Dick isn't a special talent he's a role player and he will always be a defensive liability. The Summer League doesn't mean much but he has issues guarding stocky and fast guards. On the other hand, Brown would be the best POA defender in the starting line up. That line up would have a reliance on Barnes and Barrett to be better shooters but that is a reasonable expectation from them. Barrett took some off the dribble threes on the Knicks but he's cleaned up his shot diet here. The best development move would be to gradually give Barrett those opportunities again. He's the highest pick we have on our roster (3rd overall) so developing him and giving him clear expectations is a good rebuilding decision.

Poeltl (28) / Olynyk (14) / Fernando (6)
Barnes (34) / Olynyk (14)
Brown (28) / Dick (14) / Agbaji (6)
Barrett (34) / Dick (14)
Quickely (34) / Mitchell (14)

I'd expect the minutes to be around there. If we split Dick's time with Barrett and Brown it would make all of them look a lot better on offense and defense. It makes it easier to hide him on defense and maximize the other two's strengths.

Based on past production I would expect ~ 10 / 2 / 2 in about 28 minutes on great percentages. I don't want to see Brown used as a creator on on-ball player in the slightest way.

[Asif16]

At the trade deadline most likely

[GreatWhiteStiff]

Masai's thinking better have been along these lines:

If we pick up Brown's option, then he'll be one of the highest paid players on the team, and we'll HAVE to make him a starter and give him HEAVY minutes, and since he sucks, it will greatly help with the tank.

Maybe Brown will be necessary to get a top 8 pick in the 2025 draft. And maybe we can flip him at the trade deadline for another pick. I can't see us landing a 2025 or 2026 FRP for him, unless an extra year of someone's crap $30M contract is attached to it.

If Brown sucks, and helps us rack up a pile of Ls for the first four months of the season, AND we flip him for a good pick, then I might forgive Masai for what I thought was sheer stupidity when they picked up his option.

Yeah this guy totally sucks and he will help us lose AND we're gonna flip him for a pick OH YEAH. I can see the sheer stupidity side. Who helps a team win more games: Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown or Isaih Hartenstein? We gave up assets for the former.