The start of NBA free agency is just two days away but there are still some major questions that remain unanswered for the future of the Toronto Raptors. Fred VanVleet is an unrestricted free agent who is now garnering serious consideration from the Houston Rockets to receive a 2-year $70 or $80 million dollar contract which would ultimately see another key piece of the Raptors 2019 championship depart for no return. Jakob Poeltl is also on the verge of becoming a free agent and though it seems like he wants to remain a Toronto Raptor, the player is not interested in playing for an uncompetitive e team.
The major decisions and problems stem from a mistake that occurred in the 2022-2023 season, which forced Masai Ujiri’s management team into reinvesting and committing to this core seemingly for at least another season while fans feel as though a retool was in order and was the better decision going forward.
What is the likeliest outcome when free agency gets started on June 30th? Jacob Gramegna tries to answer that today on Amateur Hour Sports.
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0:00 – Overview
0:46 – Choosing a Direction
2:19 – The Jakob Poeltl Trade
3:41 – What are we planning?
5:49 – The front office POV
6:38 –Poeltl and VanVleet’s Future
8:37 – Is there enough cap space for both?
9:30 – Letting Fred Vanvleet Walk
10:26 – Running it back
This is Amateur Hour Sports. On this channel, Jacob Gramegna analyzes and breaks down the latest on the Toronto Raptors NBA team from trade rumors to post-game reactions, analysis, and much more. By subscribing to this channel you will be there first to watch and enjoy 3-4 videos a week all focused on this team and on game days Jacob goes live on the channel for a watch party where he interacts with chat, answers your questions, and analyses the game as it happens with play by play and commentary. Join the Amateur Hour Army today by subscribing and consider becoming a member to give extra support to the channel and help create better content more often.
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23 Comments
We’re all in on nothing to quote ESPN’s Brian Windhorst
He might be signing for 42 million.
Thats why you called yourself amateur, its like the same as your analysis which is grade 5 student?.
The plan comes from the front office actions, not their press clippings. Traded for Poeltl and he performed well and likely discussed signing him long term at the time. Notice there is radio silence regarding him since the season ended. GTJ was all quiet then he opted back in. Siakam likely informed FO that he wants to stay and would not sign long term with another team. O.G. quiet as usual, chatter from Twitter gossip only. FVV has noise all over social media and he made it clear long ago he wants the bag. He appears to be gone. Only thing left then is for Masai to sign a dependable point guard. Seems to me that there is a clear direction and lots of fans don't like it .
Trading for Jakob Poeltl was clearly a mistake. It was.
But I actually get it, clearly they could've made playoffs. He improved them massively.
They played so bad, so far under their abilities, Nurse checked out and stopped coaching.
It seems like they didn't communicate this with Masai that they were giving up. Which sucks.
I still am getting sick of the leftover bandwagon fans and their determination to run great players out of town at all costs who just won a title 4 years ago.
If they don't show out this year we screwed
If we don't come swinging out of the gate with same team essentially I won't be able to watch
I personally don't see the hype behind Scottie Barnes. He needs to spend more time with the bench and practice some explosive moves.
OG,Boucher, Thad, & picks for Garland
Cavs get all-nba defender, back up 4, and filler
We get a long-term all star PG
You have to run this team back. Last year was a disaster due to coaching and team vibes. We are way better than a 500 team and honestly no matter what we do this year we will not be able to stand up to the current Champs. Btw not paying or developed players looks bad on the organization and for free agents coming in.
60%Wpct: Barnes/trent backcourt w siakam at the 4( and mostlyOG at 3). 2 seasons (20-25gm)….poeltl at C should keep that balanced
I wish people were to think before they just spouted off other people's thoughts. Nick Nurse has been a cancer on this organization since the bubble. Poor player development, poor starting lineups, not using the bench, poor game management and on and on. Good luck 76rs you will need it. Run it back with all except Van Vleet. He has been a good Raptor but he is not great at making the other players better. Between Malachi Flynn, Banton, perhaps the new guy Markquis Nowell or how about bring back Matt Thomas. Look at his Euro highlights. Gary Trent will only get better, OG is a star waiting to break out just like Kwai perhaps. Siakim is a number 1, but needs help. Both he and OG would star wherever they go. Bring back Poetl for sure. Scotty Barnes is not there yet people. He needs work. He is a little overrated in Raptors minds. He has done nothing yet and needs to get more consistent. Bring back the bench. This team can easily win 50 next year if this new coach is even a little better than Nurse. If he is really good how about 60 the following year. There is enough talent, so blowing it up will be stupid.
Overpaying Fred could set the Raptors back years. 30 million is insane.
Were you privy to whether the 3rd pick from the Blazers was available? How can you say the Raptors should have taken that deal. C’mon man, I expect better from you. Why would the Blazers do that deal? That deal would only make the Blazers marginally better. The Blazers need a player just as impactful as Dame to move up substantially in the west. Pascal is not the guy.
@jakob gramegna freds gone if houston is offering 35-42 million a year to get him for 2 years. i dont see raptors matching that to retain him. wont be worth it as too many contracts up next season. better to let fred walk than damage long term financial stability. siakam, og, barnes early extension, gary trent jr contract year. precious up for a new contract, malachi flynn up for a new contract. cant bring fred back, thats a reality.
Glad someone calling out obvious mistakes, especially those over the past 2 years. Masai's refusal to accept the weaknesses of this core
I care more about getting FA over with more than what actually happens. I'm so done with my feeds being blown up with rumors and speculations and takes and the same content every day on ever channel. I just want to stop talking about it and move the fuck on. I watch people's vids and give the likes because I'll support the independent fan channels, but I'm not really tuned in to any of these topics anymore. Man, off-season fkn suuuucks. I'm so desperate for even just Summer League…
How is Fred not replaceable? He's not a PG.
Tell me; who, by commitee, can't dribble dribble dribble, make a pass to Pascal or dribble more and make a late, pressured clock pass for someone to brick? Anyone one the roster could bring up the ball and do that. We do not need Fred. We ideally do need an actual PG, but it's not hard to replace what Fred was doing. Addition by subtraction, we can only do better. Let's at least see what Dowtin, Flynn and Dalano can do. At worst, it's more conducive to team play and ball movement.
Definitely should have traded Vanvleet…
Love this channel, no emotion just pure facts
The only mistake I see was not letting Fred go. We could've gotten a lot for Fred.
I'm not an expert but i hardly disagree with opinion abou FVV. This team will suffer a lot more if FVV would stay. Barnes, Dick, Gary, they all need someone who can create space for others and deliver pass to open position, someone who would feed them and get them hot. I don't belive that Fred is able to do this consistently. How many times we've seen Fred taking ball, just to make dribble to 3pt line and brick it? Whenever he is cought in a position that requiers vision he looks like he lacks decision making needed to make smart play. If he's cought by defender, he'll shoot it instead of laying pass to restart positional play. This team needs true PG, someone with drive to deliver assist, disrupt defense with dribble and then pass it to perimeter ot throw alley oop. Imho one of key problems for this team was a fact that FVV and Pascal were playing to much on ball. First 3 quartes FVV did his thing, then in 4th Pascal started to act like every play was designed to let him take ball for 20 sec. If we want our shooters to be efficenet, then we need PG who will speed up play and force movement in attack. I think Barnes would also thrive from it, since it would create more opportunities for him to cut and use his strenght to finish under rim instead of fighting for shooting positions in post. Imho his potential as aggresive SF is much higher than as post up PF. He is just too mobile to waste it by playing him 90% of time as post player.
Let them do their job.