Official Play-in Thread - Our Play-in Destiny is in our Hands

[tsherkin]

We developed value in our team by being a perennial playoff team, not by acquiring highly touted talent via the draft. The simple fact is the draft talent we started our playoff push with was very middling. Derozan, JV, Poeltl, Ross and Wright.

Now you're playing games of semantics.

DeRozan was a 4-time All-Star who had peaked on the All-NBA 2nd TEam after we drafted him 9th overall.

If we had our 2013 roster right now, would you advocate for exiting the lottery and trying to make pushes for the playoffs? And remember, Lowry in 2013 was not the player he would go on to become.

As a general rule? Yes. The Kawhi trade was a one-in-a-million opportunity we could never count on cropping up. And a whole slew of things had to go right for us for that team to improve as it did.

So the point is, we are not cooked if we don't tank for another 2 to 3 seasons. There are lots of ways to be successful, and this narrative that there are limited paths forward is proven false through our own franchises history.

With the talent in the upcoming draft, I can't agree with you at all. It's now, or MAYBE another season when an appropriate talent comes up, which also isn't a guarantee.

[CPT]

thread created to talk about going for play-in

nope

let's hijack it to talk about the same tank/dont tank sh t again.

are some of you unable to talk about anything else?

It's almost as if there's some relationship between the two topics.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

thread created to talk about going for play-in

nope

let's hijack it to talk about the same tank/dont tank sh t again.

are some of you unable to talk about anything else?

That's okay, at least there are a lot of non-tankers coming into the thread.

I think the biggest development over the past 12 hours is the injury to Paul George. We have 3 games left with Philly, and are just 4.5 games back - so another reason why we pretty much control our destiny.

[tsherkin]

thread created to talk about going for play-in

nope

let's hijack it to talk about the same tank/dont tank sh t again.

are some of you unable to talk about anything else?

This is an odd remark.

The very idea of going for the play-in dwells in the heart of the decision to go for it or to tank. How could you ever believe that such conversation WOULDN'T emerge?

[MEDIC]

How many wins do you think this roster would get if you kept it the same, but replace Dick, Walter & Ochai with three Josh Hart level players?

[djsunyc]

thread created to talk about going for play-in

nope

let's hijack it to talk about the same tank/dont tank sh t again.

are some of you unable to talk about anything else?

This is an odd remark.

The very idea of going for the play-in dwells in the heart of the decision to go for it or to tank. How could you ever believe that such conversation WOULDN'T emerge?

my take was that this thread wasn't about discussing IF we should go to the playin and the merits of that but what we need to do to make the play in. which involves discussing schedule and team improvements/rotations etc to achieve it.

[C_Money]

Realistically the last play-in spot is going to the 76ers.

[YogurtProducer]

I see thid again with the misconceptions of tanking and the posters that want to tank. It's because it has a negative connotation to it. Most of not all tankers look at it as the first steps in a rebuild to get talent in the draft. You can discuss the merits because of lottery luck, but foundationally it's about getting more young talent on the roster that you can build with. Those young players grow and either are kept or can be used to add other talented players in trades. You then add good vets around them to show them how to win. Once they get that taste of playoffs then the hardest part comes, building at championship team. But you still need those foundational blocks first. Toronto isn't a free agent destination let's be real here. Unless you're a team in New York, South Beach, Arizona, Texas or California you ain't getting a top tier free agent. So our best bet is using the draft. The higher the pick the higher the odds of getting the best talent.

All true, but then the irony is that a lot of the best Raptors of all time were acquired outside of the top of the draft., and the ones that were picked high in the draft we were unable to surround them with other "stuff".

I am really not going to lose sleep over having the 3rd best or 5th best or 7th best odds. If we actually make a big run here in the second half it means we are improving. Now, eventually you hope to see some "tanking" moves where guys are "hurt" or whatever (and trade the old guard), but again the lottery is still a lottery.

Is it better to gut the roster with the 3rd best odds or keep most of it intact and have the 8th? IDK. Better odds = more work to be done in the future. It is an interesting conundrum.

If I throw a coin 6x and it comes up heads each time it's not an irony because it wasn't a 50/50 split. Drafting the best available player requires an element of luck. Having outliers doesn't mean the odds were wrong or make it ironic. If Masai is great at the draft, we want the pool of players available to him to select from to be as great as possible. That's all it is.

Ok, but again, there is a bigger element than “get good player and compete”. Today more than ever it’s a team game

[Zeno]

Realistically the last play-in spot is going to the 76ers.

You’re right but 11th is still on the table.

[Syd-TK3]

Is this a serious thread or not?
Genuinely interested in knowing how many people would actually want us to make the play in

[MEDIC]

Is this a serious thread or not?
Genuinely interested in knowing how many people would actually want us to make the play in

I think it's probably more-so a space where you can talk about the positive aspects of the Raptors improved on court performance & not be mad about it.

It's a thread about basketball.........and not about ping pong balls or college prospects that most likely will never wear a Raptors uniform.

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Is this a serious thread or not?
Genuinely interested in knowing how many people would actually want us to make the play in

If you read through there are a number of people who want them to go for it. So yes absolutely serious.

[ItsDanger]

Is this a serious thread or not?
Genuinely interested in knowing how many people would actually want us to make the play in

Initially, I thought it was an old thread that was bumped. To my disappointment, it wasn't.

[Raps in 4]

Realistically the last play-in spot is going to the 76ers.

Chicago is terrible and could drop out. Atlanta isn't great either, but I think they have a big enough lead that they'll be able to hold on.

[Syd-TK3]

Is this a serious thread or not?
Genuinely interested in knowing how many people would actually want us to make the play in

I think it's probably more-so a space where you can talk about the positive aspects of the Raptors improved on court performance & not be mad about it.

It's a thread about basketball.........and not about ping pong balls or college prospects that most likely will never wear a Raptors uniform.

Ok makes sense

[vado]

Come on guys! We got this! We'll show the rest of the league who the 20th best team is!

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Winter is here

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Update 730 PST January 27

Now in 12th spot and moving up the charts!

We've got 3 left vs. Chicago and are currently 5.5 games behind them for tenth and the final play-in spot. We've got 38 left to play. Zach Lavine has been reported to be taking "a few games" off for personal reasons.

We've got 4 to games left with the wizards and the easiest remaining schedule in the entire league.

The only wild card is what philly does. We are 4 games back, and also play them 3 times. Update: Paul George left the game against the Bulls on Jan.25 with a finger injury, waiting for results from MRI. Will not play vs. Lakers

[DelAbbot]

.

.

I'm actually relieved to see couple of retired mods dispensing rational thought in here, instead of some of the active mods, behaving like children / trolling the faction of posters reasonably wanting a high draft pick in 2025 to pair with Scottie.

[MEDIC]

POO............I mean "pWo" is gaining momentum!