The Raptors MUST Keep This New Years Resolution For 2024

The Raptors MUST Keep This New Years Resolution For 2024

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That talk about the NFL and NHL if you were interested in those as well now for the topic at hand happy holidays everybody hope you guys had a great holiday season merry Christmas if you do in fact celebrate and if you’re listening to this after the New Year’s I

Hope you had a great New Year’s hope 2024 is going to be the best year possible for you if you’re listening to this before the new year then I hope you have a a great New Year’s Eve I hope you celebrate responsibly and yes of course

I hope you have a great 2024 I hope all of us do have a great 2024 I hope one of the players on the Toronto Raptors ends up being an Allstar maybe we’ll get into that in a little bit um since it is the New Year it’s sort of a good time for

Reflection uh and I think since we’re about a third of the way through the NBA season it’d be a good time to talk about Reflection from the Toronto Raptors and sort of zoom out and look at their year in entirety not just the start of this season but the summer even the year

Beforehand kind of see where they’re at and see what they must do in 2024 their New Year’s resolution how they must be able to change and evolve in the new year one thing that they have to keep in mind and the one thing I would say for the Toronto Raptors their New Year’s

Resolution has to be not to pick a direction because there is no direction to pick to subside to the direction that is being forced on to them that is what the Toronto Raptors must do and the reason I say that is because a lot of

The times when we look at this like sunk cost fallacy right if you’ve dug in to a certain thing you have to dig down on it and dig yourself a deeper and deeper hole well the sunk cost fallacy is the idea that you don’t have to actually

Keep digging yourself into this hole you can give up that strategy Go a different direction and then hopefully that will find you know kind of a new solution a new pathway you you you build a different Road for yourself uh by by kind of giving up the initial strategy

That you had and so I think the Toronto Raptors are in a position where they have to look at themselves over this last year uh and really over the last 10 year of the Pascal cakam era uh Pascal for all his intents and purposes is

Going to go down as an all-time Raptor I tweeted this before I think Pascal is a top five Raptor all time joining Kyle Lowry demard Rosen kawh Leonard and Vince Carter I think it’s those guys as the pantheon if you will Mount Rushmore whatever of raptor Legends of raptor

Great that is Pascal no question in my mind about that you know he just passed the 500 game Mark uh for Raptors all of those obviously with the franchise he is only him and Kyle Lowry are the only guys in points rebounds and assists in terms of top five for the franchise he

Is going to have his name etched in stone in stone for literally most of the awards most of the categories that the Raptors are going to try to prop up for being one of the greatest Raptors ever two time NBA two-time All-Star one of the greatest development stories uh in

In recent history for the NBA um genuinely one of the best stories developmentally that we’ve probably seen ever in the NBA up there with the likes of Giannis and Kawai and other guys that you might mention in NBA history as well so Pascal Story the way he’s grown into

A superstar a star if you will I don’t want to jump ahead of myself in the NBA is a great great sign for the Toronto Raptors a great sign of how they developed a guy like that you know from the 2016 16 draft his era though uh can

Be marked unfortunately by the failures of building around a guy like Pascal seak you look at his posi positives as a player a guy who can create for himself he’s grown into uh some sort of an offensive engine his great mid-range pull-up game his ability to drive to the

Basket his ability to create shots for others his postup game all of these are potent areas of what Pascal can do on a night toight basis but unfortunately some of the other areas of his game in order to accentuate his strengths has not been doubled down the shooting is a

Clear indication of this the Raptors have been bottom 10 in three-point percentage for the last three seasons uh they just haven’t been able to find enough spacing and Pascal for a lot of reasons has had to operate in a phone booth of space over his tenure with the

Raptors which makes what he’s done so far that much more impressive the fact that he has been a two-time all NBA player fact that he’s been a two-time Allstar despite the pretty awkward fit for him on this roster goes to show you just how incredible he is as a

Basketball player and what he might look like when given that opportunity when given that space Caitlyn Cooper on the objective basketball podcast she brought up a really good point she she liken cakam to a sliding a sheet of paper through the bottom of a door which is

Just like that’s how he operates that’s exactly the type of spacing that he has to work with and it’s been been unfortunate because it hasn’t LED to a lot of success in the Pascal cakam era for the Toronto Raptors if you look at that era as a whole and I guess you can

C you can really count the the uh bubble season as part of the Pascal seak era although that obviously is also still part of the Kyle Lowry era if you will but if we were to count that the Raptors have been in three playoff series in the

Pascal era the Brooklyn Nets won in the bubble the Boston Celtics won in the bubble and the Philadelphia 76ers won just a couple of years ago we can count the playin game against the Chicago Bulls as well but I don’t think either me or you want to really count that game

Um that being said it hasn’t been a successful era for the Raptors as a hole under Pascal cakam and it’s unfortunate because you know revisionist history maybe 101 15 years from now people will look at this era and say oh well he wasn’t good enough or oh well he wasn’t

Good enough to take them over the hump and it really it really that hasn’t been the case this team just hasn’t suited him much in this 10 year uh Fred Van vet who was you know became an All-Star himself obviously one of the greater developmental stories as well in the NBA

Recently you know has become a really really good starting point guard in the NBA now um I think he was a really really good example of what fit could be around Pascal a guy who can be a good pull-up shooter a good catch and shoot shooter a good point of attack Defender

Etc etc now Fred’s body started to break down towards the end of his Raptor’s tenure he’s playing a little bit lesser of a role uh in Houston and he’s doing so successfully like he’s doing a great job in Houston right now showing off kind of get getting the other guys

Involved in shenon turning him into All-Star Jabari Smith Jor has played really well as well so ultimately like there was a fit there and the Raptors decided not to do that now we’ll get into that in a bit I actually don’t think that was that big of a mistake but

Ultimately when you look at the Raptors in the Kyle Lowry era which is the most successful era of Raptors basketball ever right so it’s about 2014 to 2020 they’re obviously near the top of the league when it comes to win percentage among all franchises in that era they

Won themselves an NBA championship shout out to Kawhi Leonard as well that is the most successful era of Raptors basketball ever by a wide margin right and I think the reason that happened was because the Raptors consistently won around the margins you think of the Rudy Gay trade that turned into Grievous

Vasquez Patrick Patterson Chuck Hayes and John Selmons right they later turn Grievous Vasquez into ogan anobi and Norm po those guys OJ anobi 20th overall pick Norm po second round pick hitting on those later draft picks they turned Terrence Ross which was one of their High lottery picks I believe ninth pick

Into sergy Baka played an integral role in the Raptors Championship one of the most liked Raptors of all time the Raptors used to be very active and now they’re reactive in the sense that they are consistently reacting to the way that this league is going versus before

They were Mo making moves moves pretty much every single deadline or every single offseason they were aggressive in adding or taking away from the roster making tweaks in order to improve it so far it seems like they have failed in that category their recent you know

Draft margin error things if you want to call them just the kind of failing around the margins drafting Malachi Flynn 29th overall David Johnson Delano Banton Jaylen Harris Dewan Hernandez just in terms of second round picks the Raptors haven’t been nailing the marginal picks around the team which

Makes it that much harder when the team is deplete of talent so when you think of letting Fred vanet walk when you think of waiting until the summer in order to do a sign and trade for Kyle Lowry versus trading him at the deadline you’re essentially saying we are okay in

Terms of the talent that we have but they haven’t hit on the talent that they’ve drafted uh and that’s a really really important thing to note because they haven’t been able to recoup their asset pool recoup their talent pool while also losing all of this Talent so

That has hurt them tremendously in this era and not to mention the picks that they couldn’t even make right because they traded those picks you think of the the Thad young deal which would have technically been Malachi brandom instead of uh Christian Koko now we’ll see what happens with Christian and his future

Obviously it’s up in the air right now but for the most part you a higher lottery pick is obviously going to be better you look at that Thad Young trade and say ah maybe that wasn’t the right move to to do at the time to go and win

Now in that moment you look at last year’s trade which is the yaka purle trade and I kind of want to contextualize that for people so February 7th the day before the trade deadline last year and this is where we get into our year review of the 2023

Season 2023 year for the Toronto Raptors they were 25 and 30 at the deadline they were I believe it was the Spurs the Lakers and one other team that were under them in terms of record that year that means that they had a pretty good shot at

Maybe let letting go of the Rope a little bit and getting themselves in the room for a top five top six top seven pick that didn’t happen obviously they traded for yakob purle they got their center of the future they traded away a first round pick top six protected and

That also plays a part into their future we’ll get get into that in a second they did so and they decided not to tank they got to a playing spot lost to the Chicago Bulls ended up with the 13th overall pick drafted Grady dick now we

Don’t know how those things are going to work out yet right we don’t know if Grady is going to turn into a whatever player if he’s not going to be a good player whatever we actually don’t know that and I’m not going to get into that conversation right now I saw that

Conversation on Twitter the other day it’s a ridiculous conversation to have 20 games into a person’s rookie year let’s just scrap that in let’s just let’s just ignore that for a second because we really don’t know with Grady dick yes there are other rookies that are outperforming him but I’m going to

Give him the time to figure things out in his career um when you look at that move buying instead of selling or instead of just kind of staying put it really hurt the Toronto Raptors and I don’t mean in terms of acquiring yaka purle I think yaka purle was important

For this team I think getting a center is ultimately a really important thing to do getting a starting center is a really important thing to do but when that starting center doesn’t necessarily fit your front Court players in a pascal in a Scotty Barnes you leave yourself open to

Vulnerability and flaws offensively and I think there’s just a level of flexibility that you can’t get to when all three of your forwards are laxidasical Shooters now I know Scotty Barnes has turned himself into a really good catch and shoot player 39% on over five attempts a game really really good

Sign really good indication that like in the future he’ll end up being a really good SHO uh and maybe this season you know this number stays at 39% which would be incredible not not to take away from that at all but teams are still not respecting Scotty’s shot and the spacing

Is still very very cramped together because of that three-man front court that has no shooting and I think ultimately you look at that and you say well maybe if there was a player that fit the mold of what Scotty could look like in the future Maybe maybe a team a

Player that could match what Pascal and and Scotty Barnes could be and kind of compliment those guys as a center you know I think of like kristofh porzingis I think of Miles Turner guys who can stretch the floor block shots Etc if it was that type of player you can maybe

Sell yourself on the idea but with yakob because of his limitations because of his limitations offensively and how he works next to Pascal and Scotty it’s tougher to sell yourself on the idea of giving up a first round pick let alone a first round pick that limits you for

Four for three drafts 2024 2025 and 2026 they want this draft they want this pick to convert that should be the goal for the Toronto Raptors and so in terms of New Year’s resolutions you look at what’s happening what’s NE what’s left for this team they’re 11 and 18 right

Now 16 of their next 22 games before the deadline are on the road they have two massive West Coast Road Trips which are always tough and they are three and nine on the road so they have struggled as a whole on the road and if we look back at

Last year where they were 25 and 30 five games under 500 and they bought instead of sold I’m saying I’m looking into the new year the New Year’s resolution that I have for this team is to subside is to not buy and I think in general you’re

Looking at the Raptors who looked at 2023 their 2022 2023 season and said well we have to buy we have to be in a position to win I think there’s a way that they can still be competitive this year despite moving one of their two players the two guys are obviously

Pascal and OG both guys who are going to be unrestricted fore agents this year there’s going to be a lot of conversation about both of those guys and which way they go in that sense they do have a Direction they have to pick because they can’t keep both of them

It’s just unfortunate because the sad reality is they don’t have a margin in order to tweak around those guys between Pascal Scotty and OG and with Scotty’s extension gonna be kicking in soon they’re going to probably sign him to a Max extension this summer precious sucha is extension eligible the money is going

To get even more tight for this team and they are not going to dip into the luxury tax for a team that is 11 and 18 or 25 and 30 regardless they’re just not going to do that and that was a main reason why they didn’t extend Fred vble

This summer to $44 million because they knew that money was going to be really really tight moving forward for this team so they do have to pick between Pascal and OG in that sense there is a direction that they have to choose and in my opinion I think the clear answer

Uh has to be that they have to pick OG I can hear the arguments for keeping one or the other because I’m a sensible human being and I can understand both sides in my opinion though I think I would rather keep OG in this scenario just because of his age the proximity to

Scotty Barnes his ability to play off of Scotty Barnes as a three-point shooter as a perimeter Defender and I think given where this team is headed you’re going to have the extra on ball reps the extra usage available to give to OG to make him happier with his role uh have

Those reps gone successfully for the most part not really to be honest with you but I think this year he has improved as a driver he has improved as a playmaker and I think I would like to see him more in a secondary role as well ultimately Pascal is not going to net

You as much as OG this trade deadline that’s just the matter of fact OG is a younger player he’s a more sought after player he’s a more sought-after asset I hate using that word but that’s just the matter of fact here more teams will want a player like ogan anobi and so that’s

Why I understand the other side of the argument which is like hey just keep Scotty and Pascal together those two play very very well next to each other regardless of the shooting and spacing fit issues and go and trade OG for guys that compliment those guys even better

Go trade him for a bunch of Shooters and guards that can complement these guys go trade them for a big man that can stretch the floor I understand that argument and I think that’s a fair case to pay I’m not sure which way the Raptors go in that scenario I would

Imagine they prefer to trade cakam over OG just because how much they’ve touted OG over the last couple of years and also just from me hearing different rumors and things like that just how much they’ve tried to move cakam over the summer there were multiple deals in place that fell through either because

Of siakam’s unwillingness to resign with that team or the team’s unwillingness to give up the assets for an expiring Pascal cakam I imagine that’s something that’s a hurdle that they’re going to run around and kind of come to at this deadline as well as teams try to assess

Siakam’s willingness to resign with them and that’s something that they’re going to have to come across like that’s something that they’re going to have to do with but that’s also the position that they’ve put themselves in and so back to the sunk cost fallacy you can’t keep

Digging yourself a ho and I just for me this New Year’s resolution for this team is to let it be bad let let let this thing go the way it is clearly headed in the sense that they’re 11 and 18 they have 16 of the next 22 games on the road

Buying going after this and dou down on this would be mismanagement in the highest regard but doubling down on this and saying we’re not going to do anything might just be as bad in the sense that you’re you’re you’re going to let go of two of your main assets here

In a pascal and potentially an OG it’s a dangerous game to play going into the free agency and I I honestly I do think that Messiah jery and Bobby Webster understand this I think they know what’s at stake here here given the fact that they have two of their three best

Players potentially walking away this summer that’s just something that they can’t do and so ladies and gentlemen the New Year’s resolution for the Toronto Raptors needs to be not to pick a direction because that direction has already been written for them it’s just to let that direction happen um that’s

Essentially it folks they got to just pick something and it’s weird because I keep saying the word pick because they don’t really have an option here they have to inevitably trade one of these guys it just de it just matters on who and why and which way they’re going to

Go the one silver lining ladies and gentlemen heading into 2024 and this is a New Year’s resolution maybe something to to keep an eye on for 2025 is to not make the same mistakes that they made with the Pascal seaka understand the qualities and the traits and the strengths of a player

Like Scotty Barnes who will actually sign with you for that Max free agent rookie rookie Max extension he’ll be on this roster for another 5 years how are you going to maximize Scotty Barnes in the next five seasons that is the question you have to keep in mind it you

Know heading into the summer Scotty Barnes is a player this playmaking big man you know forward type point forward type uh has grown as a shooter obviously grown as a scorer I believe he can tap into the free throw game a little bit more growing as a score I I mean I I

Think in general Allstar is a fair assessment for what Scotty barns has turned himself into that is the major Silver Lining with this team this season regardless of their record regardless of the struggles and you don’t want to make those same mistakes that you did with

Pascal that’s all it is so maybe that’s 202’s New Year’s resolution but for 2024 the thing is pick a direction ladies and gentlemen that’s where the Toronto Raptors are at and that is is the New Year’s resolution thank you so much for tapping in as always if you’d like to listen to The

Objective basketball podcast um it is pretty cool we we talk about a lot of NBA things outside of the Toronto Raptors and if you’d like to please subscribe to S dpn’s YouTube channel we talk about all things NBA All Things NFL all things NHL all right take care guys

A new year is upon us! The Raptors need to keep this new years resolution in mind for 2024 as they head into a new era built around Scottie Barnes. Don’t make the same mistakes of the Pascal Siakam era.

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