The Raptors Are A DISASTER…

The Raptors Are A DISASTER…

The Toronto Raptors are in about as bad of a position as they’ve been as a franchise in a really really long time it’s a team with an uncertain future with a new coach with a roster that doesn’t make a ton of sense and a GM that potentially has kind of lost his

Magic in terms of team building and putting together a group that actually has a really bright future and what they do over these next two months is going to have a massive impact on what the future Raptor basketball looks like now as we start this conversation there’s team building stuff to talk about

There’s roster construction free agency trades all kinds of stuff but I think it’s actually important to begin the conversation talking about the GM of the team MSU jiri is someone that for the last handful of years has been regarded as one of the better GMS in the league

They win the 2019 title directly as a result of the Kawhi Leonard trade which was a risky but shrewd move that allowed them to win the title they wouldn’t have won the title that year without that and he deserves credit for that also deserves credit for how well they’ve

Drafted and founded some of these undrafted gems and develop guy Pascal seaka late first round pick ogn and Obi was someone that a lot of people thought was a risk as a first round pick van Fleet wasn’t drafted they’ve done an awesome job of finding guys that fit and

Work within their team and he as the GM as well as the entirety of the front office deserves a ton of credit for that however where they’ve gone since they won the title in 2019 is very very interesting because they were still good the year after Kawai left and every

Every team in the country every fan in the country would take trading for Kawai winning the 2019 title and him leaving in 2019 over not making the kawhai trade and not winning the title in 19 so I’m not counting it against him that kawhai

Left it was a risk that he took and it ended up you know winning them the 2019 title the year after that they were still pretty good ever since then from the year that they were like playing in Tampa because the league was shut down and then came back and they couldn’t be

You know traveling back and forth across the border ever since that moment there’s been zero indication that the Toronto Raptors have a championship future with the roster that they have constructed at no point beyond that one year after kawh left where they were still really good after that point zero

Indication that this is a group that needs to continue to be built around rather than shake things up and change things up and to me this feels like a front office that is still kind of holding on to this idea that they’re a player away or they’re two players away

From turning this into a group that is truly truly competitive and that mindset starts in my opinion with the GM and the reason that I say all that is because they have been constantly in rumors about possibly trading a handful of guys over the last couple of Seasons yet they

Haven’t traded any of them they’ve actually added guys like yaka Perle trading away a future first for someone like yaka Perle who’s good but they’ve actually added guys and to me this feels like a team that lacks a little bit of direction and that starts with the front

Office now when we kind of talk about a potential disaster scenario for a franchise you have to think about how are they managing the assets they have on their team right in this past off season losing Fred Van Fleet for nothing isn’t the absolute worst thing in the

World because he got a ton of money for Houston and Toronto just kind of got priced out of bringing back van Fleet that makes total sense especially considering what they might potentially do to their roster here coming up but they had opportunities to trade him in

The few years prior uh for a ton of different guys a ton of different assets and they didn’t do it and then they lost him in fre Agency for nothing which is something that like never happens anymore teams always get value out of the guy that they think might leave and

That was a huge Mis up for them and now this year they’re not very good and ogn and Obi and Pascal sakam are both free agents in 2024 this is their final year under contract OG has a player option but all reports are that he’s going to

Opt out because he’s going to get a ton of money however we still haven’t really gotten any indication that Toronto’s actually going to try and trade either these guys we also haven’t really gotten any indication that either of them are going to sign an extension or that

They’re ex you know excited and happy to stay in Toronto everything is just very very strange what we have gotten an indication of is that if you go and ask about OG and anobi if you ask about Pascal seaka Toronto’s asking for a lot and that’s been kind of a theme over the

Last couple of seasons is that if you talk to Toronto about trades you’re going to kind of get the darl Mory treatment you’re going to get the oh you want ogan and Obi okay cool four first round picks or hey you want Pascal sakam yeah we want Keegan Marie and for first

Like you’re going to kind of get a a guy that really really overvalues his own players especially when you consider the context of them being 2024 free agents and that to me is a bigger concern than anything else if I was a fan of the Raptors i’ obviously be concerned about

Van Fleet leaving for nothing the possibility of seakan OG leaving for nothing in free agency but more so the root of the problem and the concern that I would have is about if the GM has kind of lost his touch a little bit or if

He’s kind of stuck in the past in what that 2019 title meant I still think that Messiah is very very good but he has to in my opinion or the front office has to adjust their mindset and realize that this team is just not very good and if

You’re trading cakam or OG or whoever you have to do it with the understanding that you might not get maximum value for someone in either case that the team that’s trading for them doesn’t know if they’re going to sign longterm with them they’re going to give up significant

Stuff for someone in SE yakum that could sign elsewhere same thing with OG in a in you know a couple of months and that that mindset has to be adjusted and a big reason why is because they do have a future they do have the the means to

Become a really competitive team over the next couple of Seasons because Scotty Barnes is awesome he had a weird second year to begin this year he has been awesome he’s hitting like step back threes it’s crazy how much his confidence level has risen this year compared to where it was at certain

Points last year and you can’t screw that up right you had opportunities to improve the roster over the last couple Seasons you haven’t done it and now it’s time to get value out of at least SE yakum if you want to keep OG because you think that he’s a nice you know

Connected wing and you have a good idea of what you feel like you’re going to pay him in offseason even if you’re paying OG like $25 million a year there’s a theoretical universe and which that makes sense for a future Raptor team whether it be as an asset or

Otherwise but SE yakum makes no sense to me because if he’s actually going to leave they’re going to be he’s going to be the number one free agent the the the number one actually attainable free agent this offseason is Pascal seaka there are going to be teams that are

Going to throw a ton of money at him you could absolutely lose him for nothing when you could trade him now and get some stuff in exchange and if Toronto was was seven games over 500 if they look to be one of the better teams in the conference I would have no issue

With this I would have no issue with keeping SE yakum OG even though they are pending free agents and just trying to figure it out and seeing how good you can be this year but clearly they’re not very good and they need to adjust what their thought process is moving forward

Because you cannot there is a 0% chance it is a in my opinion firable offense as a as a GM of an NBA team if you go backto back offseason with Van Fleet leaving for nothing and SE yakum leaving for nothing when you had opportunities

To trade both guys that is in my opinion an on the spot firable offense if you let two guys that talented leaving back-to-back off Seasons getting nothing for them in return the OG thing is a little bit more complicated and confusing because he’s you know his

Value is hard to pinpoint it seems like they’re overvaluing him but I’m fine trying to keep him because it should be easier theoretically to match whatever money and bring him back SE yakum is the big one and when you add that to the context of losing Fant Fleet last off

Season this to me is a very tenuous situation in Toronto Scotty Barnes is going going to be very good he is in all likelihood going to be an all-nba cowo player at some point in his career and you need to start thinking now about how to build that version of your team and

The best way to do that would have been to get value for Van Fleet before he left in freeny but again Houston threw a ton of money at him that’s fine and trade Pascal seak it’s not like he’s 35 years old he’s got value he’s on an

Expiring contract which is going to be an issue for some teams but if you can find a team that se yakum wants to go to and resign with talk to that team get some stuff for him and figure it out moving forward there’s no reason to keep

Him as well as having lost Fred Van Fleet last off season it is to me one of the more concerning situations you can be in as a fan is sometimes general managers they make bad choices sometime team building is hard sometimes you don’t get everything correct sometimes

Guys get hurt players don’t play well but when you lack Direction as a franchise when it seems like the guy in charge has a different idea of the direction of the team than he should that is very very concerning and that’s what I think is possible is happening in

Toronto right now and that is fixable this can still be a great front office a team that has developed players really well over the years they can still get back to that but right now it’s definitely a concern

The Toronto Raptors Are A DISASTER…

#raptors #torontoraptors #nba