At the 26 minute mark, Will and Alex have a discussion over whether the Raptors should tank next season.
Some of the discussion includes:
>Mentions the age gap with a potential pick next year and the core and Alex weirdly saying trade Scottie if you want to tank, and it can’t be one season only tanking.
>Banking on getting that star or co-star via trade or development instead of tanking or drafting.
Klaytheist
i don’t think the raptors are going to have a choice. This roster is worse than what we had to start last season and that team was no where close to the play-in. I’m guessing Poeltl has another “injury” in March and we are hovering around 5-8th worst record. I don’t think we can compete with the truly terrible teams like the Wizards or Pistons but we can definitely be in that next tier.
jjkiller26
They won’t tank from the start.
They’re gonna play it out with the roster they have until the deadline and then either fully commit to a tank (possibly sell off some players) or just let things rock if they’re in a playoff spot.
Whatever direction is more likelier depends on your view on the roster. I can see both sides of it
AssyrianRhapsody
The discussion made it sound like “tanking” means tearing it down and finishing last which we are obviously not going to do.
I say we should trade Bruce, integrate some rookies and see how the chips fall. We will get some positive development this way and frankly probably a decent draft pick. We aren’t out tanking the Wizards no matter what.
GuessableSevens
Will Lou is totally right here.
If you actually listen, Alex and Will talk about this because [Louis Zatzman wrote about this at Raptors Republic](https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2024/06/11/the-raptors-probably-want-to-be-bad-next-year-too/). He explained that our starting 5 has some offensive upside, but not enough to do anything meaningful beyond a fringe playoff seed, but also too much to be a bottom tier team. He softly implies that the best course of action is to continue to develop the offense, while being a terrible defense in order to lose as many games as possible. He implies that Scottie and Poeltl aggressively sitting out games for bumps and bruises would do the trick down the stretch, but stops short of actually recommending trading Poeltl.
Will says exactly the same thing, but takes that extra step and says the best way for this team to get a good pick but keep their core rebuild going is to trade Poeltl to kill the defense. He also correctly adds that Poeltl has first round trade value for a very limited time right now, so the assets he (and Bruce Brown) bring in could be used for a win-now trade once we add more talent via the draft.
For some reason, multiple obsessive posters on this sub believe Poeltl is the second coming of Jesus and would rather keep him and our 20-24th ranked defense so that we win 38 games, safely away from achieving anything meaningful or getting a high pick.
I appreciate Poeltl, but the best decision for this franchise is to trade him and replace him with a garbage defensive C who can function well in the offense. These players are very easy to find and will help us get a good pick. There is absolutely no world where Poeltl is a part of the next great Raptors team anyway, but trading him can play a massive part in brightening the franchise’s future.
Do the right thing for the team, Masai.
raptorsthrowaway4
I agree with the premise of a multi-year tank or compete.
We are now entering an era where the average tanking team (Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Portland, San Antonio) is more shameless than the process Sixer era team. The only way for the Raptors to tank at that level would be to move off BBQ. It would not be worth it for a <50% chance at a top 4 pick anyways.
n3moh0es
they have a great point. this doesn’t feel like a “real rebuild” yet
7 Comments
At the 26 minute mark, Will and Alex have a discussion over whether the Raptors should tank next season.
Some of the discussion includes:
>Mentions the age gap with a potential pick next year and the core and Alex weirdly saying trade Scottie if you want to tank, and it can’t be one season only tanking.
>Banking on getting that star or co-star via trade or development instead of tanking or drafting.
i don’t think the raptors are going to have a choice. This roster is worse than what we had to start last season and that team was no where close to the play-in. I’m guessing Poeltl has another “injury” in March and we are hovering around 5-8th worst record. I don’t think we can compete with the truly terrible teams like the Wizards or Pistons but we can definitely be in that next tier.
They won’t tank from the start.
They’re gonna play it out with the roster they have until the deadline and then either fully commit to a tank (possibly sell off some players) or just let things rock if they’re in a playoff spot.
Whatever direction is more likelier depends on your view on the roster. I can see both sides of it
The discussion made it sound like “tanking” means tearing it down and finishing last which we are obviously not going to do.
I say we should trade Bruce, integrate some rookies and see how the chips fall. We will get some positive development this way and frankly probably a decent draft pick. We aren’t out tanking the Wizards no matter what.
Will Lou is totally right here.
If you actually listen, Alex and Will talk about this because [Louis Zatzman wrote about this at Raptors Republic](https://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2024/06/11/the-raptors-probably-want-to-be-bad-next-year-too/). He explained that our starting 5 has some offensive upside, but not enough to do anything meaningful beyond a fringe playoff seed, but also too much to be a bottom tier team. He softly implies that the best course of action is to continue to develop the offense, while being a terrible defense in order to lose as many games as possible. He implies that Scottie and Poeltl aggressively sitting out games for bumps and bruises would do the trick down the stretch, but stops short of actually recommending trading Poeltl.
Will says exactly the same thing, but takes that extra step and says the best way for this team to get a good pick but keep their core rebuild going is to trade Poeltl to kill the defense. He also correctly adds that Poeltl has first round trade value for a very limited time right now, so the assets he (and Bruce Brown) bring in could be used for a win-now trade once we add more talent via the draft.
For some reason, multiple obsessive posters on this sub believe Poeltl is the second coming of Jesus and would rather keep him and our 20-24th ranked defense so that we win 38 games, safely away from achieving anything meaningful or getting a high pick.
I appreciate Poeltl, but the best decision for this franchise is to trade him and replace him with a garbage defensive C who can function well in the offense. These players are very easy to find and will help us get a good pick. There is absolutely no world where Poeltl is a part of the next great Raptors team anyway, but trading him can play a massive part in brightening the franchise’s future.
Do the right thing for the team, Masai.
I agree with the premise of a multi-year tank or compete.
We are now entering an era where the average tanking team (Detroit, Washington, Charlotte, Portland, San Antonio) is more shameless than the process Sixer era team. The only way for the Raptors to tank at that level would be to move off BBQ. It would not be worth it for a <50% chance at a top 4 pick anyways.
they have a great point. this doesn’t feel like a “real rebuild” yet