Masai and Bobby are Asleep at the Wheel

[Pooh_Jeter]

So they traded a 2nd for a 35 year old guard who hasn't been relevant in a while...your point?

Are you saying we should trade draft picks for aging vets on the last legs of their career to compete? Doesn't that go against your theory?

Are you saying that Ariza is Miami's missing piece to be a true contender?

He actually played quite well when Portland acquired him last year. It makes sense for the Heat because they are obviously competing and Harkless/Bradley have been misses.

The point is that the Raptors haven't been active addressing their needs nor selling assets and the trade market has started to move again.

Heat are 22-18. They have an abysmal record without Butler, who is 33 and injury prone.

You really think this is "addressing their needs."

Clearly they aren't a true contender, so according to your theory they should sell their assets for value.

You can't just apply one standard for us and one standard for Miami, lol.

The team who was just in the Finals and has won 11 out of 12 isn't a contender?

What standard for the Raptors? Masai and co. have to choose a direction. Whether that is upgrading the centre spot/bench depth if they think this team can make any sort of run or selling off assets and regrouping for next year.

[Slade3]

Powell hasn't really ever been streaky.

He performed well as a starter and then got replaced in the line up or forced to move to SF.

The Raptors cater for guys like Fred and DeMar when Powell has more tools and shows a higher degree of talent.

Powell is going to be an elite scorer for the next 5 years depending on where he finds the opportunity.

If in Powell I sign a 3 year deal and find a guaranteed starting role somewhere. If he's on a lottery team he'll output 25-29 points a game over a season.

I'm feeling confident about that.

How long have you been watching the Raptors? He was the poster boy for being inconsistent. Just because he's consistent now doesn't change what he was. Which is fine as some players take longer to figure things out.

[Danny1616]

He actually played quite well when Portland acquired him last year. It makes sense for the Heat because they are obviously competing and Harkless/Bradley have been misses.

The point is that the Raptors haven't been active addressing their needs nor selling assets and the trade market has started to move again.

Heat are 22-18. They have an abysmal record without Butler, who is 33 and injury prone.

You really think this is "addressing their needs."

Clearly they aren't a true contender, so according to your theory they should sell their assets for value.

You can't just apply one standard for us and one standard for Miami, lol.

The team who was just in the Finals and has won 11 out of 12 isn't a contender?

What standard for the Raptors? Masai and co. have to choose a direction. Whether that is upgrading the centre spot/bench depth if they think this team can make any sort of run or selling off assets and regrouping for next year.

Just in the finals? Don't delude yourself. You know that it could been us, Boston or Miami in the finals. Arguably the two best teams in the East last year, Milwaukee and Philly, flamed out do to the 4 month lay off or injuries. Before Covid hit us we were also in a big run and I believe we had the best record in the East during the month of February.

We saw in the bubble the Clippers with a stacked roster lose to Denver where Jamal Murray played like an MVP. Is Jamal doing that this year?

Miami was a 5th place team last year and they are about the same team this year. They are still heavily reliant on Jimmy, who as I said is 31 and has had injury issues throughout his career. They aren't a real threat.

You are such a hypocrite it's incredible to see. Is retooling grabbing a guy about to turn 36 on the last legs of his career? This deserves praise from you given how much you critique Masai and co on a daily basis?

[Pooh_Jeter]

Heat are 22-18. They have an abysmal record without Butler, who is 33 and injury prone.

You really think this is "addressing their needs."

Clearly they aren't a true contender, so according to your theory they should sell their assets for value.

You can't just apply one standard for us and one standard for Miami, lol.

The team who was just in the Finals and has won 11 out of 12 isn't a contender?

What standard for the Raptors? Masai and co. have to choose a direction. Whether that is upgrading the centre spot/bench depth if they think this team can make any sort of run or selling off assets and regrouping for next year.

Just in the finals? Don't delude yourself. You know that it could been us, Boston or Miami in the finals. Arguably the two best teams in the East last year, Milwaukee and Philly, flamed out do to the 4 month lay off or injuries. Before Covid hit us we were also in a big run and I believe we had the best record in the East during the month of February.

We saw in the bubble the Clippers with a stacked roster lose to Denver where Jamal Murray played like an MVP. Is Jamal doing that this year?

Miami was a 5th place team last year and they are about the same team this year. They are still heavily reliant on Jimmy, who as I said is 31. They aren't a real threat.

You are such a hypocrite it's incredible to see. Is retooling grabbing a guy about to turn 36 on the last legs of his career? This deserves praise from you given how much you critique Masai and co on a daily basis?

If you want to make a grand point about the Heat being frauds you should probably know that Jimmy Butler is 31, not 33.

Cool, continue with the personal shots because I noted that the Heat made a depth pickup that addresses a need for them.

[Danny1616]

The team who was just in the Finals and has won 11 out of 12 isn't a contender?

What standard for the Raptors? Masai and co. have to choose a direction. Whether that is upgrading the centre spot/bench depth if they think this team can make any sort of run or selling off assets and regrouping for next year.

Just in the finals? Don't delude yourself. You know that it could been us, Boston or Miami in the finals. Arguably the two best teams in the East last year, Milwaukee and Philly, flamed out do to the 4 month lay off or injuries. Before Covid hit us we were also in a big run and I believe we had the best record in the East during the month of February.

We saw in the bubble the Clippers with a stacked roster lose to Denver where Jamal Murray played like an MVP. Is Jamal doing that this year?

Miami was a 5th place team last year and they are about the same team this year. They are still heavily reliant on Jimmy, who as I said is 31. They aren't a real threat.

You are such a hypocrite it's incredible to see. Is retooling grabbing a guy about to turn 36 on the last legs of his career? This deserves praise from you given how much you critique Masai and co on a daily basis?

If you want to make a grand point about the Heat being frauds you should probably know that Jimmy Butler is 31, not 33.

Cool, continue with the personal shots because I noted that the Heat made a depth pickup that addresses a need for them.

Already corrected, but he is injury prone throughout his career and Heat are heavily reliant on him. They are 4-10 without him in the line-up.

A depth pick up? Does Ariza move the needle for them? He's almost 36 and hasn't even played this season.

I guarantee if Masai traded a 2nd for Ariza you would be condemning the move as a classic treadmill move for an aging vet past his prime who is about to retire. You wouldn't call it a "depth pick-up."

Again, you can't just apply one standard for us and then apply the opposite standard for the Heat.

[Steelo Green]

They are still heavily reliant on Jimmy, who as I said is 33

I didn't realize we were making up ages of people now. LA relies on Lebron heavily, LA Kawhi, Denver Jokic, Dallas Luka, Milwaukee Giannis, surprise surprise, one player is that important to NBA teams.

I didn't realize Jimmy was being blamed for COVID this year in terms of injury.

Jimmy has played 80% of games for the last three seasons minus this COVID one, with rest and end of the game sitting, that's fairly normal in today's NBA.

I wonder what the Lakers record without Lebron would be, or basically any team without their best player.

We are now making up how the NBA works in terms of the best player being the key factor to winning?

[Danny1616]

They are still heavily reliant on Jimmy, who as I said is 33

I didn't realize we were making up ages of people now. LA relies on Lebron heavily, LA Kawhi, Denver Jokic, Dallas Luka, Milwaukee Giannis, surprise surprise, one player is that important to NBA teams.

I didn't realize Jimmy was being blamed for COVID this year in terms of injury.

Jimmy has played 80% of games for the last three seasons minus this COVID one, with rest and end of the game sitting, that's fairly normal in today's NBA.

I wonder what the Lakers record without Lebron would be, or basically any team without their best player.

We are now making up how the NBA works in terms of the best player being the key factor to winning?

I literally corrected it 5 minutes ago, dude, lol, even before Pooh made his comment.

Are you saying that Miami is a true contender? Are they a team with a real legit shot at winning the championship.

Yeah they got hot in the bubble and were fortunate due to the circumstances, but last year they were a good, not great team that finished 5th in the East.

You like Pooh apply one standard to us and apply the opposite standard to Miami, revealing the utter hypocrisy of your unsubstantiated and erroneous theories.

And thanks for proving my point. Without Kawhi in 2019 we still finished 17-5. The Warriors would have still been elite even if KD or Curry was hurt. Even if Lebron got hurt, AD would still be able to lead the Lakers as a good team. The Nets without KD are still an elite team.

Butler isn't an MVP caliber player. He's a fringe top 10 player, but Miami is heavily reliant on him to be a solid team.

Conclusion: For Pooh to be praising the Miami deal for Ariza is pretty hilarious.

[pr0gr4m]

Powell hasn't really ever been streaky.

He performed well as a starter and then got replaced in the line up or forced to move to SF.

The Raptors cater for guys like Fred and DeMar when Powell has more tools and shows a higher degree of talent.

Powell is going to be an elite scorer for the next 5 years depending on where he finds the opportunity.

If in Powell I sign a 3 year deal and find a guaranteed starting role somewhere. If he's on a lottery team he'll output 25-29 points a game over a season.

I'm feeling confident about that.

How long have you been watching the Raptors? He was the poster boy for being inconsistent. Just because he's consistent now doesn't change what he was. Which is fine as some players take longer to figure things out.

He wasn't given a proper consistent role. When he was given a role it was him playing out of position or being jerked around.

[fbalmeida]

If there wasn't a shortsighted move the raptors could make that was available, they'd do it.

OP wants them to make a move for the sake of making a move.

This season is a wash regardless of what they do.

Fair points. I'm assuming of course that feasible
moves were available. I think it's a reasonable assumption but it may very well be that targeted players weren't available.

[fbalmeida]

The factors that led me to craft this thread are on full display tonight.

Baynes, constantly ball-watching, is almost always a defensive liability, except when he's bodying up a big down low.

We've known that since January.

We'd be better off either:

A. getting an actual 3 and D big for the 1st unit with a more significant, yet still simple move;
or B. getting a better dunker spot finisher than Baynes.

Since we've got none of that, we're delighted to have Boucher fail to finish against or box-out Plumlee, while Baynes basically stands around on defense.

[WaltFrazier]

The factors that led me to craft this thread are on full display tonight.

Baynes, constantly ball-watching, is almost always a defensive liability, except when he's bodying up a big down low.

We've known that since January.

We'd be better off either:

A. getting an actual 3 and D big for the 1st unit with a more significant, yet still simple move;
or B. getting a better dunker spot finisher than Baynes.

You forgot to mention how badly Boucher was playing until a last few minutes flurry

[fbalmeida]

The factors that led me to craft this thread are on full display tonight.

Baynes, constantly ball-watching, is almost always a defensive liability, except when he's bodying up a big down low.

We've known that since January.

We'd be better off either:

A. getting an actual 3 and D big for the 1st unit with a more significant, yet still simple move;
or B. getting a better dunker spot finisher than Baynes.

You forgot to mention how badly Boucher was playing until a last few minutes flurry

Caught me before the edit.

[fbalmeida]

Chris Boucher will get a rebound when Bargnani gets a rebound.

And there it i. So many of our problems, if not all of them, derive from a crippling imbalance at C.

[fbalmeida]

Leaving Aron Baynes this long on the team having to play such a prominent role, is sleeping at the wheel.

[Tor_Raps]

Leaving Aron Baynes this long on the team having to play such a prominent role, is sleeping at the wheel.

This past offseason was the definition of sleeping at the wheel. Someone might want to check on them to see if they're awake lol.

[Starr1]

Masai and Bobby on double Melatonin dose.

[Inevitable]

OP got some heat for this but he’s right. This hold pattern by the FO is inexcusable unless they wanted to see this team play it out and fail.

[Bruin]

Masai: Zzzzz
Bobby: Zzzz
Team Mediocre: Zzzzz

[7 Footer]

What if instead of being sleep at the wheel, both Masai and Bobby are in the lab working on something big. Either way, we'll find out March 25 what they have been upto.

[Ref_from_hell]

Management deserves a hell of a lot of criticism. Even the creativity of Nick nurse cannot make up for the obvious lack of talent at the center position. We just got exposed by the pistons of all teams tonight. We haven't even heard from management, all they did was pick up a G Leaguer and then call up that other scrub. Dwane Casey was throwing haymakers at Nurse all night. I hope Masai was watching.

Let's not assume just because they won the championship that they are free of criticism