Post#149 » by Skeezo » Wed Dec 1, 2021 3:41 am
Without making a significant trade that moves out talent for draft stock, I think it's already becoming clear we will be in the same position as last year fighting between the 7 through 9 seeds... I think we were super lucky to hit on 7.5% odds. The chance of lightning striking twice in that lottery position or worse is unlikely. As a result, I think the draft team is going to be faced with a little tougher challenge getting another elite talent in the later part of the lottery.
Since the beginning of last year, I held my stance of holding on to FVV/Siakim/OG as the core championship holdovers and get whatever assets we could for the remaining to move into an "asset acquiring" mode. My opinion hasn't changed on what we have done with our remaining assets thus far. The Lowry trade was underwhelming. Precious is okay, but 20m in cap space + Lowry is a lot to pay for a #20 pick. GTJ for Powell made sense as a plan to go younger and cheaper than Norm. However, giving a 3rd year Player Option at the same AAV as Norm highlights a poor understanding of the Free Agent marketplace
I do think it's time to start fielding calls on Siakim to see what interest is out there. Pascal is a great 3rd fiddle on a championship team, and for a team that is knocking on the door, paying his max contract makes sense. For us, not so much. I also think we should start to look what value can be had for GTJ. Good player, but he is going to want a raise on an already pricey salary, and I'm not sure that is in the Raptors best interests.
FVV is our unequivical leader, and I think you need to slot out money to keep him in the fold past this contract. The same can be said for OG. We will be lucky to have Barnes and next year's rookie under cost-effective control for another 3-4 years, but I'm not sure this team is really going to be a possible contender until Barnes' 4th year. Next year playoffs, 3rd year win a round or two, after that, we will be ready to go.
