Lowry Thread (Woj: Mulling HOU/TOR offers; LAL/MIA want in)

[UneducatedFan86]

Change the perception of the league by overpaying one of our OWN players? That's not changing anything. That is the EXACT perception people have around the league. We can't keep our own players without overpaying them to stay. Anything over 11mil is an overpayment. Anything over 11mil and we are looking to be going into next season with basically the same core, and our team will still have the same major holes (starting PF, SF, and backup C).

A lot of teams in the East have got better via the draft and just by getting their players back from injuries. Also, I'm sure at least one or two teams in the East will make a splash in FA, too. Where we got two very RAW players (Bruno & Bebe) and a veteran player who has lost a step due to a knee injury (Williams). Now, we might be able to add a veteran big, but beyond that...we aren't getting anything else to sure up our lineup. Then, how will we even get team to develop to raw players, and trying to compete for a top playoff spot?

I'm sorry..I'm not excited about just making the playoffs. Being a treadmill team like the Jazz, Nuggets, Hawks, etc is not appealing to me. It doesn't make us more appealing than any of the other teams out there either. Like Lowry said, it's about being able to win a Championship and this core isn't that good or special.

[There There]

The path to competing "in the now" is paved with signing Lowry.

This.

It's cute to talk about not wanting to "overpay" for Lowry.

But if you don't re-sign him, then a change of direction is likely necessary. This team will, at best, be fighting for eight spot next season if Lowry is somewhere else.

It could easily be argued that he was as important to his team's success last season as just about anyone not named Lebron or Durant.

[UnderdogRaptors]

Change the perception of the league by overpaying one of our OWN players? That's not changing anything. That is the EXACT perception people have around the league. We can't keep our own players without overpaying them to stay. Anything over 11mil is an overpayment. Anything over 11mil and we are looking to be going into next season with basically the same core, and our team will still have the same major holes (starting PF, SF, and backup C).

A lot of teams in the East have got better via the draft and just by getting their players back from injuries. Also, I'm sure at least one or two teams in the East will make a splash in FA, too. Where we got two very RAW players (Bruno & Bebe) and a veteran player who has lost a step due to a knee injury (Williams). Now, we might be able to add a veteran big, but beyond that...we aren't getting anything else to sure up our lineup. Then, how will we even get team to develop to raw players, and trying to compete for a top playoff spot?

I'm sorry..I'm not excited about just making the playoffs. Being a treadmill team like the Jazz, Nuggets, Hawks, etc is not appealing to me. It doesn't make us more appealing than any of the other teams out there either. Like Lowry said, it's about being able to win a Championship and this core isn't that good or special.

just keep preaching man , id hate for us to lose in the first round again MU has to make some major moves.

[Geddy]

I have a bad feeling that $14.5 mil Lowry is incoming

[suntzuballin]

I have a bad feeling that $14.5 mil Lowry is incoming

[Rapsalot]

4 years $45 mill. 12, 12, 10.5, 10,5 as he gets older. His game is more physical and he will have less value in 2-3 years.

[EJaggit]

I think Lowry will be willing to listen to Toronto only thing is, he really wants to win. He needs to understand everyone here respects him as being the leader, fans, coaches, GM, players. He won't get that in any other place he goes to. If we re-sign him we'll be a great team next season. We could compete for second! And FA isn't even over- look at our lineup especially adding Lou Williams to the mix will only make us more better than what we were this season!

[Rapsalot]

I would sign KLow, GV and 2pat even for up against tax as we gain cap room next year and can get back under.

[RedX]

If he resigns with us I will be the happiest little boy in all the land.

[RedX]

I have a bad feeling that $14.5 mil Lowry is incoming

Honestly, that's better than losing Lowry. We simply can't afford it. Pun not intended.

[Double Helix]

Change the perception of the league by overpaying one of our OWN players? That's not changing anything. That is the EXACT perception people have around the league. We can't keep our own players without overpaying them to stay. Anything over 11mil is an overpayment. Anything over 11mil and we are looking to be going into next season with basically the same core, and our team will still have the same major holes (starting PF, SF, and backup C).

A lot of teams in the East have got better via the draft and just by getting their players back from injuries. Also, I'm sure at least one or two teams in the East will make a splash in FA, too. Where we got two very RAW players (Bruno & Bebe) and a veteran player who has lost a step due to a knee injury (Williams). Now, we might be able to add a veteran big, but beyond that...we aren't getting anything else to sure up our lineup. Then, how will we even get team to develop to raw players, and trying to compete for a top playoff spot?

I'm sorry..I'm not excited about just making the playoffs. Being a treadmill team like the Jazz, Nuggets, Hawks, etc is not appealing to me. It doesn't make us more appealing than any of the other teams out there either. Like Lowry said, it's about being able to win a Championship and this core isn't that good or special.

The NBA is dominated by Americans. We are the only team outside of their home country and we are also one of the coldest. You saw Zach LaVine's reaction to going to the cold in Minnesota? **** me, indeed. If given the choice to live in Miami or LA for the exact same money as what we're offering, who but a Canadian with ties here, would choose to stay up here? Few would. What LA currently lacks in championship likelihood it makes up for with its lifestyle, media market and prestige. Any time when Lebron James and company are begging you to come live down in beach country, Miami for millions of dollars you have to listen. Comparing our franchise history and weather to what they could offer during the months of November through May would be like comparing a job at the Source with one for Google or Apple. We have to overpay to keep good people. That's just how it works. These guys don't care what Toronto is like in the summer. The NBA season takes place in the dead of winter and it sucks.

We have committed to a compete window of a few years already. We would have tanked otherwise. Give it up with all the idealistic talk about how what we're doing is holding us back from gearing up to be NBA Champions. Our path toward NBA Champions is so utterly reliant on being lucky, and landing the right, humble superstar who wants to stay in the cold when all the other teams come calling, and building the perfect supporting cast, and doing all of this in a time period where there isn't 2-3 other, more dominant superstars out there better than our guy recruiting people to team up with him in more desirable climates. All that and hoping he isn't the next Oden, or Bynum, or Lopez, or Horford and injured in a way that limits us. There's a lot of luck along the way. I'm not saying we won't tank again and hope for the best. We will. We ALWAYS will. And it's probably going to happen again within the next 3-4 seasons but until then we're competing one way or another.

Pay Kyle Lowry. These are his prime years. We haven't had anybody decide to stay up here during their prime years that was better than Kyle Lowry in the history of this franchise. Bosh, VC and TMac all left as their prime years were getting started. I'm sick of us acting like an NCAA stepping stone for good players. The only Raptors who put forth better seasons in the ACC than Kyle this past year were Vince and Bosh. We need to keep guys like this one way or another and a couple extra million more than what's ideal is not gonna become some unmovable nightmare. If everybody is willing to pay him 11 than 13 is only an 18% raise above that. You guys are REALLY going to let the best player on the team walk over 18%? How else were you hoping the team might spend that 2 million per year? Even at 13 per year we'd have Demar, Kyle and JV all combining for less than 30 million combined. That's nothing to be embarrassed about.

We need to come out of the gate strong tonight with an offer that makes Miami and LA back off. I don't care if it's 13 or 14. It has to happen. I'm sick of watching players rise up and leave. Let's make this situation different. Let's actually sign a two-way player that's top 8 at his position IN HIS PRIME FOR ONCE. Let's not be a stepping stone for something greater. Let's watch the best Raptors core in franchise history do something better than what Vince Carter's team did 12 years ago. Then, we can rebuild afterward and start dreaming of championships. One step at a time. We're one of the most futile franchises in terms of winning % in the entire NBA. We can't even joke about treadmilling playoffs because we've been treadmilling mid-to-late lottos.

I also like how you downplay the significance of us adding the reigning Defensive Player of the Year from one of the better leagues outside of the NBA while simultaneously acting jealous of all the teams who got better this draft. Our guy, even as a backup, is probably more ready to contribute off the bench than any big drafted outside of the top 10. And most of the teams picking in the top 10 are years away as it stands anyway.

[DJ_RnC]

A lot of people are being stingy here, $12 million/year is as high as we should go, anything higher is ridiculous. Now if Miami is able to offer Lowry $10 million/year, he's as good as gone, a $2 million paycut to play for a championship is the best situation for Lowry.

[Double Helix]

4 years.
Somewhere between 50-55 million.

That's the sweet spot where he sees the value for him and his family more than the non-financial aspects that LA and Miami will tempt him with.

He's married with a kid. Most guys in their prime years are. When you negotiate with an in-prime player you're not just selling them on why it's best for them. You're selling their wives on why it's best for their husband to live here over nicer places for her to be which are in some cases closer to her home and friends.

That's why we will almost always have to pay more than some of the top markets for talents. There's a reason why any job in the Yukon or North West Territories pays way more than more desirable places. It's because less people want to go.

[EJaggit]

Change the perception of the league by overpaying one of our OWN players? That's not changing anything. That is the EXACT perception people have around the league. We can't keep our own players without overpaying them to stay. Anything over 11mil is an overpayment. Anything over 11mil and we are looking to be going into next season with basically the same core, and our team will still have the same major holes (starting PF, SF, and backup C).

A lot of teams in the East have got better via the draft and just by getting their players back from injuries. Also, I'm sure at least one or two teams in the East will make a splash in FA, too. Where we got two very RAW players (Bruno & Bebe) and a veteran player who has lost a step due to a knee injury (Williams). Now, we might be able to add a veteran big, but beyond that...we aren't getting anything else to sure up our lineup. Then, how will we even get team to develop to raw players, and trying to compete for a top playoff spot?

I'm sorry..I'm not excited about just making the playoffs. Being a treadmill team like the Jazz, Nuggets, Hawks, etc is not appealing to me. It doesn't make us more appealing than any of the other teams out there either. Like Lowry said, it's about being able to win a Championship and this core isn't that good or special.

The NBA is dominated by Americans. We are the only team outside of their home country and we are also one of the coldest. You saw Zach LaVine's reaction to going to the cold in Minnesota? **** me, indeed. If given the choice to live in Miami or LA for the exact same money as what we're offering, who but a Canadian with ties here, would choose to stay up here? Few would. What LA currently lacks in championship likelihood it makes up for with its lifestyle, media market and prestige. Any time when Lebron James and company are begging you to come live down in beach country, Miami for millions of dollars you have to listen. Comparing our franchise history and weather to what they could offer during the months of November through May would be like comparing a job at the Source with one for Google or Apple. We have to overpay to keep good people. That's just how it works. These guys don't care what Toronto is like in the summer. The NBA season takes place in the dead of winter and it sucks.

We have committed to a compete window of a few years already. We would have tanked otherwise. Give it up with all the idealistic talk about how what we're doing is holding us back from gearing up to be NBA Champions. Our path toward NBA Champions is so utterly reliant on being lucky, and landing the right, humble superstar who wants to stay in the cold when all the other teams come calling, and building the perfect supporting cast, and doing all of this in a time period where there isn't 2-3 other, more dominant superstars out there better than our guy recruiting people to team up with him in more desirable climates. All that and hoping he isn't the next Oden, or Bynum, or Lopez, or Horford and injured in a way that limits us. There's a lot of luck along the way. I'm not saying we won't tank again and hope for the best. We will. We ALWAYS will. And it's probably going to happen again within the next 3-4 seasons but until then we're competing one way or another.

Pay Kyle Lowry. These are his prime years. We haven't had anybody decide to stay up here during their prime years that was better than Kyle Lowry in the history of this franchise. Bosh, VC and TMac all left as their prime years were getting started. I'm sick of us acting like an NCAA stepping stone for good players. The only Raptors who put forth better seasons in the ACC than Kyle this past year were Vince and Bosh. We need to keep guys like this one way or another and a couple extra million more than what's ideal is not gonna become some unmovable nightmare. If everybody is willing to pay him 11 than 13 is only an 18% raise above that. You guys are REALLY going to let the best player on the team walk over 18%? How else were you hoping the team might spend that 2 million per year? Even at 13 per year we'd have Demar, Kyle and JV all combining for less than 30 million combined. That's nothing to be embarrassed about.

We need to come out of the gate strong tonight with an offer that makes Miami and LA back off. I don't care if it's 13 or 14. It has to happen. I'm sick of watching players rise up and leave. Let's make this situation different. Let's actually sign a two-way player that's top 8 at his position IN HIS PRIME FOR ONCE. Let's not be a stepping stone for something greater. Let's watch the best Raptors core in franchise history do something better than what Vince Carter's team did 12 years ago. Then, we can rebuild afterward and start dreaming of championships. One step at a time. We're one of the most futile franchises in terms of winning % in the entire NBA. We can't even joke about treadmilling playoffs because we've been treadmilling mid-to-late lottos.

I also like how you downplay the significance of us adding the reigning Defensive Player of the Year from one of the better leagues outside of the NBA while simultaneously acting jealous of all the teams who got better this draft. Our guy, even as a backup, is probably more ready to contribute off the bench than any big drafted outside of the top 10. And most of the teams picking in the top 10 are years away as it stands anyway.

Well said, pay the man his money, let's compete until we HAVE TO REBUILD!

[aligator]

I have a bad feeling that $14.5 mil Lowry is incoming

Honestly, that's better than losing Lowry. We simply can't afford it. Pun not intended.

How do u get to this when his camp has reportedly only asked for 12.5

he'll sign for 12 x3 or maybe 11.5x4

[Inevitable]

Anything like 13-14 million is ridiculous.

Stephen Curry, Ty Lawson, and Mike Conley don't even get paid over 12 mill iirc.

If that's what Lowry is demanding you tell him to kick rocks.

[UneducatedFan86]

The NBA is dominated by Americans. We are the only team outside of their home country and we are also one of the coldest. You saw Zach LaVine's reaction to going to the cold in Minnesota? **** me, indeed. If given the choice to live in Miami or LA for the exact same money as what we're offering, who but a Canadian with ties here, would choose to stay up here? Few would. What LA currently lacks in championship likelihood it makes up for with its lifestyle, media market and prestige. Any time when Lebron James and company are begging you to come live down in beach country, Miami for millions of dollars you have to listen. Comparing our franchise history and weather to what they could offer would be like comparing a job at the Source with one for Google or Apple. We have to overpay to keep good people. That's just how it works.

We have committed to a compete window of a few years already. We would have tanked otherwise. Give it up with all the idealistic talk about how what we're doing is holding us back from gearing up to be NBA Champions. Our path toward NBA Champions is so utterly reliant on being lucky, and landing the right, humble superstar who wants to stay in the cold when all the other teams come calling, and building the perfect supporting cast, and doing all of this in a time period where there isn't 2-3 other, more dominant superstars out there better than our guy recruiting people to team up with him in more desirable climates. I'm not saying we won't tank again and hope for the best. We will. We ALWAYS will. And it's probably going to happen again within the next 3-4 seasons but until then we're competing one way or another.

Pay Kyle Lowry. These are his prime years. We haven't had anybody decide to stay up here during their prime years that was better than Kyle Lowry in the history of this franchise. Bosh, VC and TMac all left as their prime years were getting started. I'm sick of us acting like an NCAA stepping stone for good players. The only Raptors who put forth better seasons in the ACC than Kyle this past year were Vince and Bosh. We need to keep guys like this one way or another and a couple extra million more than what's ideal is not gonna become some unmovable nightmare. If everybody is willing to pay him 11 than 13 is only an 18% raise above that. You guys are REALLY going to let the best player on the team walk over 18%? How else were you hoping the team might spend that 2 million per year? Even at 13 per year we'd have Demar, Kyle and JV all combining for less than 30 million combined. That's nothing to be embarrassed about.

We need to come out of the gate strong tonight with an offer that makes Miami and LA back off. I don't care if it's 13 or 14. It has to happen. I'm sick of watching players rise up and leave. Let's make this situation different. Let's actually sign a two-way player that's top 8 at his position IN HIS PRIME FOR ONCE. Let's not be a stepping stone for something greater. Let's watch the best Raptors core in franchise history do something better than what Vince Carter's team did 12 years ago. Then, we can rebuild afterward and start dreaming of championships. One step at a time. We're one of the most futile franchises in terms of winning % in the entire NBA. We can't even joke about treadmilling playoffs because we've been treadmilling mid-to-late lottos.

Our window is basically this year and next. That isn't much of a window.

People on here are making it sound like Lowry was born and raised here, and has been our savour for the past 5 years. He's played here for TWO seasons. One season was a complete wash and the other he played above anything he's ever done before. So, let's not starting giving the guy the keys to the city already. Teams take risks all the time on overpaying their "guys" and a good 80% of the time it doesn't work out. Especially when you have a guy who has never played at that type of level before the contract year. You have to compare the contracts around the league to other PGs at or above Lowry's level and go from there. I'd put him in the 9-10mil range and 11mil would be the top. Anything over that and he's basically getting overpaid by a lot of standards.

I do believe Lowry was our best player last year, but there has to be a limit to how much we are going to give a guy who isn't going to put us over the hump. Everything went right for us last year and we were still a first round exit. Think about that for a second..EVERYTHING went right....and we still weren't even close to contending. So, without some major moves elsewhere, you'd have to think that we might be a second round exit AT BEST with just retaining our FAs and staying the course.

Sometimes you have to take a step back to really move forward. Losing Lowry isn't going to be the worst thing to happen to this franchise. Overpaying Lowry to just fall flat next year would probably be worse than losing him because I'm sure we could workout a S&T if he does decide to leave. Him leaving opens up a lot of other options for this team and gives us a lot more flexibility going forward(trades, FAs, draft, etc).

[Zeno]

I'm at peace with 4 years 50 million. I actually think what Lowry is asking is very reasonable.

[junot111]

This is critical in that it has more to do than just Lowry. If Lowry resigns it will present to the NBA that times ARE changing with this organization and that the Raptors can keep guys and they want to stay here. Keeping the Starting Lineup together for a couple more years is also essential in growth and stability.

Lol dude he's not even an all star. If he stays it just means we offered the most money, retaining lowry won't change the organization's reputation just like that

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[dballislife]

if lowry really cares about the team and winning, he will take 11 or 12mill max over 4...demar took 9.5...he coulda gotten 13m easily if he waited and didnt resign early, heck i wouldn't be shocked if teams with cap offered him 14-15 this summer