Ja/AD ≠ BI. Much riskier and worse value

[anotherhomer]

I don’t like the Ja or AD ideas, and I think comparing them to the BI move misses key differences.

1) BI fixed an obvious problem
The Raptors badly needed half-court scoring. BI directly addressed that.

What clear need do Ja or AD solve?

AD helps rim protection but doesn’t want to play center.

Ja adds rim pressure, but he can’t shoot, is bad defensively, injury-prone, and needs the ball constantly.

2) BI was a legit buy-low
Brown + Olynyk + protected 2026 FRP is reasonable value (Indiana likely never tanks without getting their pick back).

Ja or AD costs two of IQ/RJ/Jakob plus multiple FRPs. That’s not buy-low — that’s overpaying.

3) Fit and risk
BI fits Scottie and the roster. He scales.

Ja requires the offense to be built around him and brings durability and off-court risk.
AD forces awkward positional choices and accelerates the timeline without real contention upside. Plus he wants a big contract too

BI was a calculated swing. Ja or AD is a high-risk bet that doesn’t clearly solve the team’s core issues.

[DreamTeam09]

Bobby is an idiot if he trades for any of these guys, oh how we miss Masai already smh

[Duffman100]

Bobby is an idiot if he trades for any of these guys, oh how we miss Masai already smh

He hasn't made the moves yet! haha.

[Clutch0z24]

We don't have a starting PG and we don't have a starting C with the skills AD has....

Both solve holes on the team if you can buy low....

AD Has some stretch big in him + one of the best rim protectors in the game thats something we would need badly.

Morant is a much better floor general than IQ is and just has a better ceiling if a change of teams brings out the old Morant.

Since both trades are for literally minimal assets to me its worth the risk....IQ/Yak and even RJs futures with the Raptors are not cemented....RJ might be hard to pay when hes a free agent, IQ/Yak are contracts you are looking to get off rather than keep....

Unless you are high on Dick or the potential FRPs that will end up being in the 20s most likely anyways i don't think people should be too upset if Bobby goes for it....If you are not a team getting a high draft pick, And you are not a team that is at least a contender or in the mix....What are you really doing? And if you can add a player that raises the ceiling of the team for a low cost why not take the gamble?

[tdotrep2]

i dont understand the risk... if he gets injured in the playoffs... ok, we don't win a chip. If we don't make the trade.. we don't win the chip anyways. Paying RJ means we are hard stuck, these are opportunities to not only reduce the years but also increase our ceiling, which is needed in order to actually win anything.

[Clutch0z24]

i dont understand the risk... if he gets injured in the playoffs... ok, we don't win a chip. If we don't make the trade.. we don't win the chip anyways. Paying RJ means we are hard stuck, these are opportunities to not only reduce the years but also increase our ceiling, which is needed in order to actually win anything.

Exactly....Its not really a risk if its for a low cost and you are getting said player for a bargin deal....

We are not winning anything with RJ/Yak/IQ ....RJ is a good player and he would be the guy out of all 3 i would keep long term.....But you are not winning in the league with a core of Barnes/Ingram/Barrett anyways...

AD more so than Morant raises the ceiling....With Morant you likely keep RJ in that scenario....So it also raises the Ceiling if he goes back to old Morant in a new system playing for Darko again....

There is not much risk when you look at it from birdseye view of how the team is constructed and how this team has a hard time to upgrade in the future anyway and is not good enough to compete for anything as is....

Trades were always inevitable with this core and Bobby prolly sees Barnes/Ingram as ready to compete now so go and get impact high upside guys and if it fails....Well you are back to where you prolly would of ended up being with RJ/IQ/Yak anyways....Back in the lottery...

[anotherhomer]

We don't have a starting PG and we don't have a starting C with the skills AD has....

Both solve holes on the team if you can buy low....

AD Has some stretch big in him + one of the best rim protectors in the game thats something we would need badly.

Morant is a much better floor general than IQ is and just has a better ceiling if a change of teams brings out the old Morant.

Since both trades are for literally minimal assets to me its worth the risk....IQ/Yak and even RJs futures with the Raptors are not cemented....RJ might be hard to pay when hes a free agent, IQ/Yak are contracts you are looking to get off rather than keep....

Unless you are high on Dick or the potential FRPs that will end up being in the 20s most likely anyways i don't think people should be too upset if Bobby goes for it....If you are not a team getting a high draft pick, And you are not a team that is at least a contender or in the mix....What are you really doing? And if you can add a player that raises the ceiling of the team for a low cost why not take the gamble?

biggest issue is i don't see AD wanting to play center

[Clutch0z24]

We don't have a starting PG and we don't have a starting C with the skills AD has....

Both solve holes on the team if you can buy low....

AD Has some stretch big in him + one of the best rim protectors in the game thats something we would need badly.

Morant is a much better floor general than IQ is and just has a better ceiling if a change of teams brings out the old Morant.

Since both trades are for literally minimal assets to me its worth the risk....IQ/Yak and even RJs futures with the Raptors are not cemented....RJ might be hard to pay when hes a free agent, IQ/Yak are contracts you are looking to get off rather than keep....

Unless you are high on Dick or the potential FRPs that will end up being in the 20s most likely anyways i don't think people should be too upset if Bobby goes for it....If you are not a team getting a high draft pick, And you are not a team that is at least a contender or in the mix....What are you really doing? And if you can add a player that raises the ceiling of the team for a low cost why not take the gamble?

biggest issue is i don't see AD wanting to play center

We have enough guys around him that do the dirty work for him like Barnes/CMB/Shead.....With Barnes on our team at PF he has no option but to play C....Most teams hes been on though have not had "dogs" on the team along side him like we have....The last time he had that he won the title with the Lakers.

[WuTang_CMB]

We don't have a starting PG and we don't have a starting C with the skills AD has....

Both solve holes on the team if you can buy low....

AD Has some stretch big in him + one of the best rim protectors in the game thats something we would need badly.

Morant is a much better floor general than IQ is and just has a better ceiling if a change of teams brings out the old Morant.

Since both trades are for literally minimal assets to me its worth the risk....IQ/Yak and even RJs futures with the Raptors are not cemented....RJ might be hard to pay when hes a free agent, IQ/Yak are contracts you are looking to get off rather than keep....

Unless you are high on Dick or the potential FRPs that will end up being in the 20s most likely anyways i don't think people should be too upset if Bobby goes for it....If you are not a team getting a high draft pick, And you are not a team that is at least a contender or in the mix....What are you really doing? And if you can add a player that raises the ceiling of the team for a low cost why not take the gamble?

I think if we are buying low on either AD or Morant, Bobby is pulling the trigger. Both have risks but that hasn't stopped the FO in the past to do deals like this. Just like BI last season. And yes, BI was less risky but the Raps Org. deserve a ton of credit for how the on court fit + strength program BI has been on.

At the end of the day, you are upgrading the talent while moving off of contracts/players you aren't in love with.

[Boselecta]

The same people talking down on the Ja/AD trades are the same ones who talked down on the BI trade. Once those guys get here and start balling out all will be good.

[LoveMyRaps]

Morant is a true PG minus the outside shooting.

He's exceptional at creating for others and we could use a PG like that.


Still I'm very hesitant to trade for him.

[MEDIC]

People were comparing these deals to BI type deals because at first people were thinking we could get these guys in a similar fashion as Washington got Trae Young.

Now we are seeing IQ + Yak + RJ + first round picks

This makes the trade absolutely nothing like the BI trade or the Trae trade. It's nothing like the Kawhi trade either.

The only thing this would point towards is an organization that is desperate to get money off the books.

I think it's all speculation & fake news for hits......but what do I know.

[JB7]

I don't see them getting AD. Cost would be too much, and the potential return could be devastating if AD gets hurt again.

Ja is a different story. The team is already top 5 in D. It is the offence that is struggling at 19. The Ja situation could be like the VC situation. He is purposely tanking his value to get moved. Concern is whether he only wants to go to one market (Miami), as he has already bought a house there.

Question is, if they dealt for Ja, would he need to perform regardless. Can't sulk for two teams and expect other teams to be interested.

But Ja could help transform the Raps offence, while probably not impacting the D all that much, if IQ is the main player going back in the deal. And the Raps only need to be invested in him for the rest of this season and probably next season, then they could look to move him before his contract expires.

IQ, Gradey, Ochai and a FRP for Ja and Londale works.

[pingpongrac]

i dont understand the risk... if he gets injured in the playoffs... ok, we don't win a chip. If we don't make the trade.. we don't win the chip anyways. Paying RJ means we are hard stuck, these are opportunities to not only reduce the years but also increase our ceiling, which is needed in order to actually win anything.

How much does your ceiling really increase when 3 of your top 4 players are injury prone and are pretty much a lock to miss 20+ games each season though? That doesn’t even consider the fact that our depth would be decimated as well as you’re likely talking about IQ, RJ, Poeltl and at least one of Gradey/JKW/Ochai going out with 2 players coming back. One injury-prone star player is fine. Three injury-prone star players (one of which also has serious off-court baggage as well) is extremely difficult to overcome over the course of an 82-game season then additionally praying for good health to all 3 throughout the playoffs.

I’d be hoping for the best and would love to be proven wrong if we were to somehow get both, but the odds of either of AD/Ja being an MVP calibre player again or hitting 65+ GP is very slim.

[Clutch0z24]

People were comparing these deals to BI type deals because at first people were thinking we could get these guys in a similar fashion as Washington got Trae Young.

Now we are seeing IQ + Yak + RJ + first round picks

This makes the trade absolutely nothing like the BI trade or the Trae trade. It's nothing like the Kawhi trade either.

The only thing this would point towards is an organization that is desperate to get money off the books.

I think it's all speculation & fake news for hits......but what do I know.

The FRPs are being talked about because thats what it will take for teams to take back IQ/Yaks contracts....If they were expiring it would be different...

We will see what AD costs but we are really only bidding against the Hawks right now so it might only take 1 FRP if they are unwilling to offer any...So in that case you are still getting him at a bargin price tag because that draft pick is most likely in the 20s.

[whitehops]

Bobby is an idiot if he trades for any of these guys, oh how we miss Masai already smh

He hasn't made the moves yet! haha.

if bobby even thinks about it he's an idiot and there's no way to disprove he hasn't!

[WuTang_CMB]

Bobby is an idiot if he trades for any of these guys, oh how we miss Masai already smh

He hasn't made the moves yet! haha.

if bobby even thinks about it he's an idiot and there's no way to disprove he hasn't!

get ready

[tsherkin]

I don't love the idea of trading for either of these guys. Lots of risk with them, and not likely a very significant window, either.

[Troubadour]

I disagree with the premise that Morant and Davis don't solve problems. Even in his worst season as a pro, Morant drives to the basket 50% more than any Raptor. That's a critical need. Davis is playing 89% of his minute at centre this season and would instantly upgrade the rebounding and shotblocking on this team.

They both have significant risk to miss time and their contracts limit future roster flexibility, but I don't hate the on-court fit.

[Clutch0z24]

Bobby is an idiot if he trades for any of these guys, oh how we miss Masai already smh

He hasn't made the moves yet! haha.

if bobby even thinks about it he's an idiot and there's no way to disprove he hasn't!

Why?....To hold onto IQ who is widely a bad contract and his play isn't exactly "steller" or to hold onto Yak? whos back might be cooked? Or RJ who might not even be here due to us not being able to afford him after free agency?....Holding onto these 3 players also has high risk involved...

At least trading for either AD/Morant puts us in one timeline and that is the compete timeline rather than the teeter totter juggling act we have been doing for 5 years now where we want to compete but not good enough because we lack talent....While also not going for high lottery odds...

Id much rather Bobby picks a lane and stays in it rather than trying to do both the rebuild timeline/compete timeline because that timeline ends in mediocrity majority of the time.

If you want to compete and you have bargin deals to raise the ceiling go for it. Especially if you don't have to trade away 4 FRPs like Magic did for Bane....