Feschuk: Masai contemplating a step back next year, Lowry trade

[The Newsman]

On Casey being back

Its a good thing that Casey is back

Fans that are calling for Casey's head lack perspective

Just 17 months ago, Masai was about to blow up this roster and trade everyone

That's what he thought of the roster (not very good)

Casey has brought this franchise with franchise winning seasons with a roster that is incredibly flawed

Masai contemplating taking a step back

Masai told me he may have to take a step back (lottery) next season in order to get better long term

There aren't many other possibilities for the Raptors to get better unless its through draft picks

The rising cap space and free agent possibilities aren't easy. Lots of competition for them

Lowry has a history of this and he let down the organization and fan base

Lowry's is a huge issue. When things were going well with him, team was playing well.

The more I observed Lowry after the all star break, I realized that he didn't run out of gas, he took his foot off the gas

Lowry has not fought when things don't go well. He's a malcontent.

To me for a star player of this team to not to take ownership of his own performance and blame the coach instead is a huge problem

Franchise is asking themselves what do they do with Lowry and whether its time to move on

The organization fully backed Lowry, they promoted him as an all star, they gave him everything

If it wasn't for Toronto's crazy fanbase, he wouldn't have gotten in as an all star

Look at how he repaid the fanbase and the organization

Lowry needed to dig down and he just didn't do it

A lot of people in the league told me when we signed Lowry, how can you sign Lowry based off one good year?

He's had a history of this and people around the league aren't surprised by whats going on

http://www.tsn.ca/radio/toronto-1050/fe ... y-1.282044

Edit TD: title was more sensationalist than the text

[Potential]

"Fans that are calling for Casey's head lack prespective"

[RaptorsLife]

We won't know whats going to happan until a deal is made too much talk not enough action

[Raptorfan2012]

I don't mind trading Lowry if we can get fair value for him. PGs are one of the easiest positions to fill in the NBA.

[raptorstime]

Masai just wasted two years great

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Wow....I called all that stuff about how limited our options really were at the trade deadline. Ugh.... Round and round we go.

[C_Money]

We don't need to tank FFS. Just get a few bigs who can rebound, and get a legit SF to replace Ross and we're getting to the 2nd round next year.

[Hackett]

It was a great ride, I love the entire 17 months of it... I guess the entitled generation just wants a championship and nothing else will do.


In my opinion you can't get there by throwing tamper tantrums every time things don't go your way and changing the coaching staff. Coaching changes are the worst, those are the moves that often set a franchise back to the starting point. You can change players easier than you can change a coaching staff. (Yes I know there are exceptions, but there are few of them. We haven't been so lucky.)

[Truthrising]

Feschuk seems to be like the levelheaded type that calms everyone down

[choomag]

My hope is that the Raptors be relevant in my lifetime.

[Inevitable]

Warming up to the idea of seeing another evaluation year.

[Raptorfan2012]

Lowry's career has been alright. He had a great year last year, but he has also had some productive years in the past. Problem is Lowry's productivity comes in spurts, much like James Johnson actually. He can look like a complete All-Star for part of a season, then crap out for the rest. It's too late now, Masai signed him so we have to live with him or trade him for something of value. Just don't let his value tank too hard where he becomes both a useless player and asset.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

The stench of Feschuk confirms it for me: Lowry's gone.

[BoyzNTheHood]

Reset it. I understand why it was so hard for him to reset the roster last year because of the success, but this season it's painfully obvious that this team was fool's gold. This is Masai's first opportunity to reset things and build HIS team, so it will be interesting to see what he does. Is he actually that ballsy GM we hired, or just another joke?

[Hackett]

It's not a chance you want to take.... it takes a lot of hard work to get into the post season, everyone needs to trust each other. You can't have one ego sabotage the entire effort.

This is a horrible risk to have, I don't even know how Casey can go into next year trusting Lowry to lead the team, and then just pack it in when he feels like it. I would have a really hard time putting someone in a such a key role while I did not have complete confidence in that individual.

[Berserk_Raptor]

rather have a treadmill team than watch our team struggle again, tbh, that would hurt our reputation even more. I just dont agree with this. Tanking for what? we dont even know if Jonas will be a superstar, come on, if he had that ceiling, he would be already an allstar by now, like Damián Lillard. if we want to be make a drastic move, ok, lets trade Jonas, ross, and first round picks to land Marc Gasol, or at least, lets make our last resort, and sign Tristan Thompson. Nonetheless, if we are tanking next season, I wont watch NBA, wouldnt make sense.

[Big Shot]

The stench of Feschuk confirms it for me: Lowry's gone.

Once Masai decided to bring back Casey, you don't need anyone to confirm that Lowry's gone.

[RealRapsFan]

Masai told me he may have to take a step back (lottery) next season in order to get better long term

I'm all for taking steps backwards to move forward, but I sure as hell hope its not a one year step back with expectations to move forward the year following.... we saw those results already, and they haven't been pretty.....

If Masai is going to 'tank' it needs to come with a rebuild, not a one year 'tank' expecting to 'retool' with a draft pick - don't bother wasting the time. The tank in order to treadmill harder; also known as the Colangelo way.

[Hackett]

rather have a treadmill team than watch our team struggle again, tbh, that would hurt our reputation even more. I just dont agree with this. Tanking for what? we dont even know if Jonas will be a superstar, come on, if he had that ceiling, he would be already an allstar by now, like Damián Lillard. if we want to be make a drastic move, ok, lets trade Jonas, ross, and first round picks to land Marc Gasol, or at least, lets make our last resort, and sign Tristan Thompson. Nonetheless, if we are tanking next season, I wont watch NBA, wouldnt make sense.

I totally agree with you! I have not seen the "future allstar" in Jonas. He is not capable of taking the team on his back, in fact many times he actually hurts the group he is with. You expect that of a future star. A future star just lacks consistency, but is able to show moments of putting the team on his back.

That has never been the case with Jonas. Many people think that he will just suddenly shoot up to being a dominant player, but a lot of the big men below him have already caught up to his development stage. When Tyler Hansborough can have a bigger impact on the team than Jonas, you know you are in trouble.

Also, he has lost his humility, that was his most endearing trait when he first got into the league. He was a hard worker, and did anything you told him to. These days, the fans have gotten to his head and sadly I am not seeing that much progress in his game. He doesn't have the brains to really understand how to be the best in this league.

[omar36]

If we tanking, I'm okay with Casey staying.

Sad to see Lowry go, he was so damm good when healthy but imo he can't work with Casey so trade should happen.

Hopefully Masai pressures him to play jv/Bruno/Bebe more