ATLTimekeeper wrote:aminiaturebuddha wrote:I'm just curious - how many people commenting on here actually listened to the CBC podcast where Masai made this comment?
It seems as though people are making a lot of inferences about what he might have meant from this one quote, but much of that is stuff that didn't come through for me at all based upon the full context of the conversation.
I listened to the interview and the question posed and I think the quote is being interpreted accurately here. Young teams tend to lose, and he's fielded a mostly young team. He's just stating the obvious.
But, this team is likely going to win in the 40s whether he wants them to finish last or not. And that will be a huge momentum boost for the franchise.
According to
https://en.hispanosnba.com/teams/comparison, Toronto rates as the 12 youngest team in the NBA just above Boston by a month. If we drop Dragic that number might swing a bit lower.
Lakers, Heat, Brooklyn and Jazz are some of the oldest teams and I would normally say that older teams tend to go the farthest, but injuries have been hitting the NBA hard the past two seasons, and I think the more miles you have on your body the more susceptible you are to injury - so let's see how this plays out.
The quote in question has been repeated by Masai twice. In this interview and the previous press conference when he signed his contract. It is a coached statement that allows himself to spin two scenarios at the end of the year: Toronto overacheiving with a less experienced team or, missing the playoffs and giving the youth NBA experience while getting a lotto pick. It is a good hedge.
Where I call it as BS, is earlier the sentiment was, the previous season was an aberration, "blame it on Tampa because Tampa ain't Toronto." We played "82 road games." Well now that we are back in Toronto minus Lowry, suddenly we are a young team that will have growing pains. Siakam, FVV and to some extent OG were all part of a championship team, but now we need to grow.
To me, Masai is using "youth" as a crutch. This team is not talented enough, and the front office has fallen way off since the Championship era in signings, trades, the draft, etc. In a league where shooting from 3 is a premium skill, we drafted non-shooters, signed Khem Birch, traded for Precious Achuiwa while only re-signing Gary Trent Jr., who is a flawed player.
Atlanta's turnaround happened in one year because they added premium shooting at every spot while having a defensive anchor in Capela. Toronto lacks a true creator, and it has doubled down on developing players without a strong track record shooting. These growing pains are self-inflicted.
you sound like you're too obsessed about being right than anything or something like that.
