[Lewenberg] Currently, they don’t appear to be shopping any of their core players, according to multiple league sources, but they do seem willing to listen to offers. “They’re keeping their options open,” as one source described their process, which means they also haven’t ruled out anything.
by Cheechers23
14 Comments
> So, naturally, interested teams are waiting and wondering what approach they might take. One month out from the deadline, nobody seems quite sure and there’s a reason for that. The Raptors still aren’t sure themselves.
> “[They’re] trying to figure s*** out,” said a source with knowledge of the situation in Toronto.
> By all accounts, the team’s decision makers – led by president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster – have yet to definitively commit to a path. It seems increasingly unlikely that they would be looking to buy, given how the first half of the season has gone, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll operate as aggressive sellers either.
> Currently, they don’t appear to be shopping any of their core players, according to multiple league sources, but they do seem willing to listen to offers.
> “They’re keeping their options open,” as one source described their process, which means they also haven’t ruled out anything.
> Assuming that’s the case, the coming weeks will be a crucial period of evaluation for an organization at a crossroads. Internally, they believe they’re better than their 17-23 record and there’s still hope that they can go on a run and turn their season around.
…
> Even in the midst of his uneven second season, the belief is that Barnes – the NBA’s reigning Rookie of the Year – remains the Raptors’ only true untouchable, though it would take a “king’s ransom,” as one source put it, for them to consider parting with Siakam or O.G. Anunoby. Fred VanVleet is having a down season and expected to opt into free agency over the summer, but the sense is that Toronto still values the soon to be 29-year-old point guard as a part of the core moving forward.
> Gary Trent Jr. would appear to be the team’s most available player and presumably its most likely to get traded given his contractual status. Assuming he opts out of his deal, the 23-year-old guard should be in line for a big raise this off-season. Whether they choose to buy, sell or hold at the deadline, testing the waters on Trent could be appealing if the Raptors don’t anticipate bringing him back at his projected cost, likely north of $100 million. He’s not a prefect player, but at his age and with his ability to shoot and score the ball, in addition to his strong play of late, there should be a market for him.
> One way or another, the Raptors aren’t likely to stand pat on Feb. 9. Change seems inevitable, in some form. It’s just a question of what they’ll do and how the league’s dominos will fall from there.
I feel like this shouldn’t need to be said but there isn’t gonna be a report that says something like the “Raptors plan to blow it up”. That just hurts our leverage. Part of our leverage in trade talks is that we could bring the guys back and don’t have to trade them. If we make our intentions known that we’re blowing it up then teams know we’ll be selling for whatever the best offer is by the deadline and won’t pony up the extra asset(s) Masai and Bobby are asking for.
I’m not saying it is happening, but this is exactly what the FO would say if they were shopping our core players.
Sounds about right, don’t sell right now for the sake of it and do your due diligence. They have a month and some team could get desparate by then or want to turn their season around before it’s sunk
I hate it but it’s got me rooting for losses even tho I don’t want to, I hate that feeling but I just don’t see the franchise going anywhere with this core and they will prolly keep it if they continue to win, just gotta trust the FO tho no matter what happens I guess
I believe Utah said the same thing last summer about Rudy and Donovan.
I would much rather pay Gary than Fred. I feel like Masai has his favourite players that he doesn’t want to part with.
It’s a smokescreen
Trading either Pascal or OG is going to hurt. The players and picks coming back may be enough to surround Scottie with the appropriate players for a quick rebuild. I trust the FO.
So basically no one knows what’s going to happen
I think all of the media hullabaloo about this is a little engineered by management being coy to really see what they have.
If the players know this thing can swing a couple of ways then what we see on the court will be the best indication of what to do. If they pull Tiguan’s rattle off some wins to climb back near the top 6 in the east then it’s clear they want to play together and can win so maybe you keep everyone and if not then it’s clearly time to make bigger changes.
Raps don’t leak
So basically, the same thing that’s been reported just re-worded.
And it’s all just speculation based on common sense:
-Fred’s contract and performance means he’s maybe on the block.
-Gary’s contract- means he’s maybe on the block
-Pascal and OG- highly valuable likely not touched
-Scottie- future franchise player, will not be touched
-Raptors suck right now
-Games before deadline are important
-No one knows anything
Locked in a really stupid game of chicken with the rest of the league. We aren’t the only smart and patient organization around. Orgs around the league know raps core is not good enough to win, so at some point they’ll have to make big moves or stay trash. And with our contract situation coming up for fred/gtj, they know we pretty much have to do something or slide even further down. Unfortunately for raps there are no win now teams that would be willing to return a haul for any of our core players, that would really be the only scenario where we’d have leverage again. And our FO only seems to want to “fleece” other teams or clutch onto our core. We are really not in a good situation.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwT5dAzkfK0
I think this video kind of highlights the FOs thinking. Don’t see us making major trades come deadline day