Windhorst: Raptors making noise around the league looking for a “big fish” // Giannis & Toronto "Mutual Interest"/KD too

[Tor_Raps]

Lol

Read on Twitter

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Was Masai's last contract year in 2019? Lol

[sidsid]

We are not in a position to be going after Durant. You're putting yourself in the "we gotta win it all in 2 years or bust" window.

There is 0 reason for a team coming off 2 tanking seasons in a row to be doing that. Hopefully thats just a smokescreen for the Bucks to not play around thinking its Giannis or bust for us lol.

Depends on acquisition cost. In a siakam esq deal (Dick/Ochai/Jakob instead of 3 1sts) it makes a lot of sense.

Acquisition cost should be used towards a player who can contribute to the team for multiple years unless the Raptors find a way to land both Giannis/Durant.

Durant alone shrinks our windows for no reason. We would have to spend more assets to find a Center good enough to play on an "all in" team with Durant too.

I think the deal, in terms of trying to meaningfully contend, does only make sense with a Giannis trade with it.

However, if the deal is just a consolidation of role players (RJ/Jak/Ochai/Dick as an example) and no future risk, then it's pretty damn useful regardless. You can have a nice run, and even if he leaves after, you've cleaned your cap nicely and options open up for you on next steps.

[TimeForChange]

Read on Twitter

[Tripod]

RJ+Poeltl makes a lot of sense as the outgoing salary to match KD in a trade if Masai still wants to pursue Giannis, should he become available.

Raptors tried to move RJ in the Ingram trade (because they know RJ's next contract won't fit their future salary structure well), and Poeltl wouldn't an ideal 5 to start alongside Giannis anyway. Plus the Suns would probably value him, as they're looking for a legit starting C to upgrade on Nick Richards, and seem to still want to build a competitive team around Booker.

And what do we do for a C given we don't even have a backup C?

[PushDaRock]

Trading Poeltl for KD makes our team worse. Makes zero sense to go back to the days when we have zero credible C

Obviously you would need to make another corresponding move if you trade Jak

[Godaddycurse]

Trading Poeltl for KD makes our team worse. Makes zero sense to go back to the days when we have zero credible C

Obviously you would need to make another corresponding move if you trade Jak

we have zero matching salary of signficance remaining if you dont want to move on from Ingram. Much easier to trade Ingram/RJ given our wealth of wings on the bench

[PushDaRock]

RJ+Poeltl makes a lot of sense as the outgoing salary to match KD in a trade if Masai still wants to pursue Giannis, should he become available.

Raptors tried to move RJ in the Ingram trade (because they know RJ's next contract won't fit their future salary structure well), and Poeltl wouldn't an ideal 5 to start alongside Giannis anyway. Plus the Suns would probably value him, as they're looking for a legit starting C to upgrade on Nick Richards, and seem to still want to build a competitive team around Booker.

And what do we do for a C given we don't even have a backup C?

Likely try and get someone like Gafford if they did get KD and trade away Jak.

[WuTang_CMB]

Lol

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=0YpMScWXY2zRUqR8fH-usg

Was Masai's last contract year in 2019? Lol

End of 20/21 season

[Tripod]

I must say, we certainly can consolidate...but I actually want to see how good we can be as we are, drafting #9 and adding a legit backup C thru trade.

[PushDaRock]

Trading Poeltl for KD makes our team worse. Makes zero sense to go back to the days when we have zero credible C

Obviously you would need to make another corresponding move if you trade Jak

we have zero matching salary of signficance remaining if you dont want to move on from Ingram. Much easier to trade Ingram/RJ given our wealth of wings on the bench

They can maybe try for someone like Gafford during the season if say they bring back Boucher or sign someone else to a MLE type contract that matches. Alternatively, you're trying to go bargain bin shopping or making the Gradey for Lively trade happen lol

An RJ + Ingram trade also doesn't work because they're at the 2nd apron

[sidsid]

RJ+Poeltl makes a lot of sense as the outgoing salary to match KD in a trade if Masai still wants to pursue Giannis, should he become available.

Raptors tried to move RJ in the Ingram trade (because they know RJ's next contract won't fit their future salary structure well), and Poeltl wouldn't an ideal 5 to start alongside Giannis anyway. Plus the Suns would probably value him, as they're looking for a legit starting C to upgrade on Nick Richards, and seem to still want to build a competitive team around Booker.

And what do we do for a C given we don't even have a backup C?

It depends what the move is, but Chicago had potential rumours of interest in RJ. They want to get rid of Vuc, but also not take on money past 2026. They also have Jalen Smith and too many pgs. If IQ was going in the Durant trade instead, this is where you get a spacing C and potentially another guard in Ayo or something.

[Godaddycurse]

RJ+Poeltl makes a lot of sense as the outgoing salary to match KD in a trade if Masai still wants to pursue Giannis, should he become available.

Raptors tried to move RJ in the Ingram trade (because they know RJ's next contract won't fit their future salary structure well), and Poeltl wouldn't an ideal 5 to start alongside Giannis anyway. Plus the Suns would probably value him, as they're looking for a legit starting C to upgrade on Nick Richards, and seem to still want to build a competitive team around Booker.

And what do we do for a C given we don't even have a backup C?

It depends what the move is, but Chicago had potential rumours of interest in RJ. They want to get rid of Vuc, but also not take on money past 2026. They also have Jalen Smith and too many pgs. If IQ was going in the Durant trade instead, this is where you get a spacing C and potentially another guard in Ayo or something.

We just saw what Phoenix did with a crappy defensive C and 2 all star wings. 27th in Def Rating. Ingram/Durant/crappy C is a terrible combination

[Tor_Raps]

Depends on acquisition cost. In a siakam esq deal (Dick/Ochai/Jakob instead of 3 1sts) it makes a lot of sense.

Acquisition cost should be used towards a player who can contribute to the team for multiple years unless the Raptors find a way to land both Giannis/Durant.

Durant alone shrinks our windows for no reason. We would have to spend more assets to find a Center good enough to play on an "all in" team with Durant too.

I think the deal, in terms of trying to meaningfully contend, does only make sense with a Giannis trade with it.

However, if the deal is just a consolidation of role players (RJ/Jak/Ochai/Dick as an example) and no future risk, then it's pretty damn useful regardless. You can have a nice run, and even if he leaves after, you've cleaned your cap nicely and options open up for you on next steps.

A lineup of IQ - Ingram - KD - Giannis - ?? doesn't make sense. We would have some of the worst perimeter defense in the NBA while also having no starting or backup Centers.

[Tripod]

And what do we do for a C given we don't even have a backup C?

It depends what the move is, but Chicago had potential rumours of interest in RJ. They want to get rid of Vuc, but also not take on money past 2026. They also have Jalen Smith and too many pgs. If IQ was going in the Durant trade instead, this is where you get a spacing C and potentially another guard in Ayo or something.

We just saw what Phoenix did with a crappy defensive C and 2 all star wings. 27th in Def Rating. Ingram/Durant/crappy C is a terrible combination

And we JUST established a team identity of defense 1st. I don't want to rip that apart. I want to add to it.

Drafting say Bryant then trading Gradey for good backup with similar upside, keeps that identity intact.

[ash_k]

IQ+RJ to ORL
KD+Black to Raps
Carter+Cole Anthony+Isaac to Suns (they get the young center)

We should just stay the course and watch that BI|Scottie |RJ |Yak new dynamic for at least 30 games

[sidsid]

It depends what the move is, but Chicago had potential rumours of interest in RJ. They want to get rid of Vuc, but also not take on money past 2026. They also have Jalen Smith and too many pgs. If IQ was going in the Durant trade instead, this is where you get a spacing C and potentially another guard in Ayo or something.

We just saw what Phoenix did with a crappy defensive C and 2 all star wings. 27th in Def Rating. Ingram/Durant/crappy C is a terrible combination

And we JUST established a team identity of defense 1st. I don't want to rip that apart. I want to add to it.

Drafting say Bryant then trading Gradey for good backup with similar upside, keeps that identity intact.

We have Barnes as a roamer/defender, skills he's developed since coming into the league, which the Suns never did. And we'll finally have a functional offense this way.

In these various trades, we're also moving some neutral to bad defenders in the backcourt. Not knowing exactly what's getting replaced with but a decent chance POA gets better, too.

[Tor_Raps]

I must say, we certainly can consolidate...but I actually want to see how good we can be as we are, drafting #9 and adding a legit backup C thru trade.

Totally agree. Raptors are in a position where we can wait for the perfect consolidation trade and not get desperate for a Durant trade that leaves other holes while shortening our window to a year or two. We'll start hearing more names available leading up to the draft.

[Godaddycurse]

We just saw what Phoenix did with a crappy defensive C and 2 all star wings. 27th in Def Rating. Ingram/Durant/crappy C is a terrible combination

And we JUST established a team identity of defense 1st. I don't want to rip that apart. I want to add to it.

Drafting say Bryant then trading Gradey for good backup with similar upside, keeps that identity intact.

We have Barnes as a roamer/defender, skills he's developed since coming into the league, which the Suns never did. And we'll finally have a functional offense this way.

In these various trades, we're also moving some neutral to bad defenders in the backcourt. Not knowing exactly what's getting replaced with but a decent chance POA gets better, too.

Suns had Ryan Dunn who was supposedly a good defender too.

Ship out Ingram/Barrett/pick(s) and a SL of Poeltl/Barnes/Durant/Agbaji/IQ is much more balanced

[Merit]

Depends on acquisition cost. In a siakam esq deal (Dick/Ochai/Jakob instead of 3 1sts) it makes a lot of sense.

Acquisition cost should be used towards a player who can contribute to the team for multiple years unless the Raptors find a way to land both Giannis/Durant.

Durant alone shrinks our windows for no reason. We would have to spend more assets to find a Center good enough to play on an "all in" team with Durant too.

I think the deal, in terms of trying to meaningfully contend, does only make sense with a Giannis trade with it.

However, if the deal is just a consolidation of role players (RJ/Jak/Ochai/Dick as an example) and no future risk, then it's pretty damn useful regardless. You can have a nice run, and even if he leaves after, you've cleaned your cap nicely and options open up for you on next steps.

I don’t consider Jak a role player. The rest, agreed.

[Merit]

IQ+RJ to ORL
KD+Black to Raps
Carter+Cole Anthony+Isaac to Suns (they get the young center)

We should just stay the course and watch that BI|Scottie |RJ |Yak new dynamic for at least 30 games

Yes to your second sentence if we aren’t getting Giannis.