Shakril wrote:Los_29 wrote:Nature wrote:
Those two moves in particular set the team back 10-15 years. It sounds ridiculous, I know, but I believe it's that bad.
The worst part is that I think both were orchestrated by our current and recently extended GM.
I say 100 years.
Not getting situational big Walker Kessler is demoralizing for this franchise. We might never recover.
Sorry, but thats just BS. We have seen franchises recover within two years and they were in worse situations.
Our problem right now is not the players we have, but the way we are playing. Against the Cavs it was a step forward, but all in all, we are bad because we play stupid. Its honestly the first time i think its Darko's fault.
It's going to be hard for us to have a conversation because we'd first have to agree to a definition of
recovery and neither of us have that time on our hands. Of course, we'll have to right some of our wrongs, but that's not what I mean when I say we were set back a decade.
Here's where I'm coming from. We were in an incredible position to rebuild entering the 2022/23 season. A core of Siakam/OG/Fred clearly wasn't talented enough to build around, we had the reigning ROY on our squad (who played the same position as our best player), and our core was signed to decent enough contracts.
As the year progressed, the cracks in the foundation quickly widened. There were rumoured spats between Fred and Barnes, publicized struggles between Siakam and our front office, and Scottie was relegated to shooting corner 3s by a COTY coach who struggled to make the roster work. Point is, we had good players, but for a slew of reasons it just wasn't working and, contract decisions would have to be made soon.
The front office responded by first doing absolutely nothing for way, way too long. Then, they performed a series of what can only be surmised as panic (panac?) moves due mainly to contract mismanagement and their unwillingness to see the writing on the wall.
We traded a first for Thad Young in early 2022. Traded another first in Feb of 2023 for Poeltl. Lost reigning All-Star Fred for nothing in 2023. Traded DPOY candidate OG for pennies on the dollar in late 2023. A few months later, we traded All-NBA Siakam for an even worse return in 2024.
Imagine how different the roster would look if we'd handled that era even semi-competently?
I could keep going but I've ranted long enough. Let's get to the point.
The Toronto Raptors have to draft and develop their way to contention - all while being extremely diligent with player contracts. The
entire operation revolves around drafting well, developing well, and managing contracts.
How long does it take, on average, for a player to hit their prime? Seven years?
We
should be in year 2-4 of developing a few great prospects. We had enough assets to fuel an incredible and unavoidable rebuild.
Instead, we're developing D-level talent, have no blue chip prospects, are riddled with untradeable contracts, and we're headed towards the play-in.
Not all hope is lost. Maybe Bobby becomes competent, maybe we draft Jokic in the 2nd round, maybe we win the lottery this year... Stuff can happen! But it doesn't negate the fact that we should be years further along than we are. Instead, we're still in free-fall.
