Bobby Webster Press Conference Today (First as the Boss)

[Jerry Lucas]

My 4 take aways from this.

RJ is a goner.
They 100% know that Scottie doesn’t have the ability to be a #1.
A big trade will happen this season.
A lot of pressure on Shead and Gradey to provide real nba positive minutes.

100% agree with all of your points.

Bobby did not deny the RJ trade rumours and highlighted his lack of efficiency and lack of ability on the defensive end. Those are 2 things that will be difficult to change. I think he's gone before the end of the year.

Masai was a little too high on Scotties overall game. We can all agree his defense, passing and IQ is dominant but he does lack in scoring. That is where playing with Brandon should help the most.

The fact that he said we shouldn’t put pressure on Scottie to score tells me all I need to know on how they feel about him.

I’m glad Bobby acknowledged that.

Yeah I heavily agree with this, it seems there's been a pretty big shift in organizational messaging about Scottie.

The RJ stuff has been extremely obvious for a while now. It's only his most staunch defenders who still haven't been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel (inevitable trade).

[Tacoma]

It's a different presser than what we're used to from Masai with his usual catchword phrases like constant evaluation, being patient and the goal to win, etc. Bobby's style is much more straightforward. Like what I found interesting was when he said: "The likelihood that this team is exactly the same team at the end of the year is probably zero."

Part of it is CBA driven of course but it does say to me that his evaluation will be quick and decisive rather than a drawn out evaluations under Masai. If this comes to fruition, it'll be a good change.

[PushDaRock]

100% agree with all of your points.

Bobby did not deny the RJ trade rumours and highlighted his lack of efficiency and lack of ability on the defensive end. Those are 2 things that will be difficult to change. I think he's gone before the end of the year.

Masai was a little too high on Scotties overall game. We can all agree his defense, passing and IQ is dominant but he does lack in scoring. That is where playing with Brandon should help the most.

The fact that he said we shouldn’t put pressure on Scottie to score tells me all I need to know on how they feel about him.

I’m glad Bobby acknowledged that.

Yeah I heavily agree with this, it seems there's been a pretty big shift in organizational messaging about Scottie.

The RJ stuff has been extremely obvious for a while now. It's only his most staunch defenders who still haven't been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel (inevitable trade).

The people opposed to trading RJ are in that camp mostly because we aren't getting an upgrade or meaningful assets for him. Dumping him in return for filler and SRP's/protected FRP if we are lucky is not appealing for a team still very deficient in talent.

[Tor_Raps]

Most of the RJ trade rumours were us hoping to land a star upgrade. IQ and/or RJ + one of Dock/Walter/Ochai + draft assets seemed like the rumored package but sadly there there wasn't enough big star movement that fit this team.

This doesnt mean we want to trade any of them for nothing, a consolidation trade was what many were hoping for.

[PushDaRock]

Most of the RJ trade rumours were us hoping to land a star upgrade. IQ and/or RJ + one of Dock/Walter/Ochai + draft assets seemed like the rumored package but sadly there there wasn't enough big star movement that fit this team.

This doesnt mean we want to trade any of them for nothing, a consolidation trade was what many were hoping for.

yet somehow that morphed into us dumping him for nothing just to duck the tax

[JB7]

Trading RJ to trim salary should be malpractice. RJs salary isn't the reason why we are slightly over the tax, trading RJ for anything other than an upgrade is just dumb salary management & roster construction. His money needs to be allocated somewhere, and it shouldn't be internally because he doesn't need to be paid for another 2yrs

RJ already has the cheapest contract of the top 4, and it will probably get cheaper through the negotiations on his next deal, as no teams are paying big dollars for primarily scoring guards, that are not high volume 3pt shooters.

[djsunyc]

still has to mature with his focus

how so?

[DreamTeam09]

only players to avg at least 15 5 5 1 n 1 first 4 seasons

MJ

Scottie Barnes

that is it, that's the list

[DreamTeam09]

100% agree with all of your points.

Bobby did not deny the RJ trade rumours and highlighted his lack of efficiency and lack of ability on the defensive end. Those are 2 things that will be difficult to change. I think he's gone before the end of the year.

Masai was a little too high on Scotties overall game. We can all agree his defense, passing and IQ is dominant but he does lack in scoring. That is where playing with Brandon should help the most.

The fact that he said we shouldn’t put pressure on Scottie to score tells me all I need to know on how they feel about him.

I’m glad Bobby acknowledged that.

Yeah I heavily agree with this, it seems there's been a pretty big shift in organizational messaging about Scottie.

The RJ stuff has been extremely obvious for a while now. It's only his most staunch defenders who still haven't been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel (inevitable trade).

Barnes never came into the league as the #1 option, he was the #1 scoring option for 1 season in a transition year where we ended up trading for a #1 scoring type. The organization never lamented Scottie as a scorer, that was the fan base who thinks every #1 option should be tween tween behind the back into a step back 3 type of scorer

[Pointgod]

100% agree with all of your points.

Bobby did not deny the RJ trade rumours and highlighted his lack of efficiency and lack of ability on the defensive end. Those are 2 things that will be difficult to change. I think he's gone before the end of the year.

Masai was a little too high on Scotties overall game. We can all agree his defense, passing and IQ is dominant but he does lack in scoring. That is where playing with Brandon should help the most.

The fact that he said we shouldn’t put pressure on Scottie to score tells me all I need to know on how they feel about him.

I’m glad Bobby acknowledged that.

Yeah I heavily agree with this, it seems there's been a pretty big shift in organizational messaging about Scottie.

The RJ stuff has been extremely obvious for a while now. It's only his most staunch defenders who still haven't been able to see the light at the end of the tunnel (inevitable trade).

Let’s just hope we don’t have to attach a first to move off him.

[Tor_Raps]

only players to avg at least 15 5 5 1 n 1 first 4 seasons

MJ

Scottie Barnes

that is it, that's the list

Someone post the Thad Young graphic haha

[sule]

My 4 take aways from this.

They 100% know that Scottie doesn’t have the ability to be a #1.

Ingram might here for that specific reason. I think they are having trouble truly evaluating Scottie's ability to make a leap.

Might be that they traded for Ingram specifically to evaluate if Scottie is better than him. Ingram teetered on being a #1 at times, so if Scottie is definitively better or not better than Ingram, then they'll know whether they need to move on from Scottie, or not.

If Scottie proves better than Ingram, then they use Ingram's value to trade for pieces they think can help elevate Scottie's game. If Scottie isn't, then you have Ingram and Scottie plus every other moveable player, to be used for trades in a rebuild.

Scottie's extension kicked in, and if he's not the guy, then it's a lot easier to trade a $40 million/year player than it is a $50 million/year player.

[billy_hoyle]

I'm not sure why people are inferring we are moving RJ.

He said it'll be easy to duck the tax.

He said RJ will likely bounce back from an efficiency perspective with a healthy roster and Ingram.

If he's an efficient downhill scorer. That's valuable. Hence, why he said it would increase his value... to the team.

He's also not tipping his hand either way and stating that some players will need to take value contracts (from a team perspective) to help build sufficient depth around max players. RJ, Jacob, Ochai, Dick... These guys need to take value contracts. Quickly needs to earn his money or take a lower rate next contract.

[CPT]

only players to avg at least 15 5 5 1 n 1 first 4 seasons

MJ

Scottie Barnes

that is it, that's the list

Are we sure Thad Young didn't do this?

[Potential]

What did the bloke say? He's trading RJ?

[CPT]

The RJ as a toxic asset thing has been a real rollercoaster ride, but it seems like it was and still is fairly accurate.

Assuming we don't extend him, I'm curious what his next contract will be. I could easily see him being frozen out of the market.

[HumbleRen]

I'm not sure why people are inferring we are moving RJ.

He said it'll be easy to duck the tax.

He said RJ will likely bounce back from an efficiency perspective with a healthy roster and Ingram.

If he's an efficient downhill scorer. That's valuable. Hence, why he said it would increase his value... to the team.

He's also not tipping his hand either way and stating that some players will need to take value contracts (from a team perspective) to help build sufficient depth around max players. RJ, Jacob, Ochai, Dick... These guys need to take value contracts. Quickly needs to earn his money or take a lower rate next contract.

You’re missing the most important part about what Bobby said which is probably an indictment on how you truly feel about it.

His defence. They’re asking him to be good at something he’s never been good at, at any point in his career.

That’s a classic corporate move. Ask an employee to do something you clearly know they can’t do lol.

[billy_hoyle]

I'm not sure why people are inferring we are moving RJ.

He said it'll be easy to duck the tax.

He said RJ will likely bounce back from an efficiency perspective with a healthy roster and Ingram.

If he's an efficient downhill scorer. That's valuable. Hence, why he said it would increase his value... to the team.

He's also not tipping his hand either way and stating that some players will need to take value contracts (from a team perspective) to help build sufficient depth around max players. RJ, Jacob, Ochai, Dick... These guys need to take value contracts. Quickly needs to earn his money or take a lower rate next contract.

You’re missing the most important part about what Bobby said which is probably an indictment on how you truly feel about it.

His defence. They’re asking him to be good at something he’s never been good at, at any point in his career.

That’s a classic corporate move. Ask an employee to do something you clearly know they can’t do lol.

That's how you publically set expectations for contract negotiations. Where he's going to get the Kuminga/Giddey treatment. Still good players, not max or near max players like Barnes and Ingram.

We need alot of good tertiary scorers if Barnes is on a max.

[Thaddy]

I think RJ is in a serious make or break year and it's bad. He could not have a NBA career if he screws up. He is projecting upwards though and that should be noted. If he puts together some decent defense and elite effiency like he did in his first run on the Raptors that would be all star level. I think he's the best 3rd option scorer in the league if he can do what he did over those 30 games. An uptick in FT shooting and defense is all he really realistically needs though.

[Jerry Lucas]

I'm not sure why people are inferring we are moving RJ.

He said it'll be easy to duck the tax.

He said RJ will likely bounce back from an efficiency perspective with a healthy roster and Ingram.

If he's an efficient downhill scorer. That's valuable. Hence, why he said it would increase his value... to the team.

He's also not tipping his hand either way and stating that some players will need to take value contracts (from a team perspective) to help build sufficient depth around max players. RJ, Jacob, Ochai, Dick... These guys need to take value contracts. Quickly needs to earn his money or take a lower rate next contract.

You’re missing the most important part about what Bobby said which is probably an indictment on how you truly feel about it.

His defence. They’re asking him to be good at something he’s never been good at, at any point in his career.

That’s a classic corporate move. Ask an employee to do something you clearly know they can’t do lol.

With him admitting how easy it will be for the Raptors to duck the tax with 1 move though, that basically implies that they have another Plan B if they can't find a trade they like for RJ.

Like last year when Plan A was for RJ to be the primary salary filler in the Ingram trade instead of Bruce Brown. Pelican's said no because they preferred taking back more expiring salary, then they pivoted to including Davion (who at that point they weren't going to be able to re-sign with RJ stuck on the books heading into 25-26) to the Heat when the 5-team Butler trade was finalized.

This season I think the easy Plan B pivot for Bobby is extracting value (likely a FRP) out of the last year of Ochai's cheap rookie scale, which a lot of apron-strapped contenders can easily fit in at 6.3M.