I’d say the Powell trade, drafting Flynn/bruno, and Jakob/1st rd pick trade from last year are all way worse than the Carroll signing.
OguguasVeryOwn
Disagree. We got off of his contract without too much of a headache iirc.
Flynn over Bane was a tough one, and if you believe that Maxey was available for Lowry then not doing that deal was also pretty bad, but the biggest mistake in terms of overall strategic impact was not rebuilding around Scottie at the last trade deadline, and choosing to be buyers instead. We will probably be dealing with the fallout of that decision for a long time.
SpicyP43905
I’d say taking Malachi over Bane.
On that note, knowing that both New York’s and Orlando’s biggest catastrophes this decade were caused by us is quite satisfying.
thenewoldschool55
There have been bigger mistakes since Carroll.
Not trading Fred last year, trading a pick for Thad, and the jury is still out on trading a pick for Yak.
RealCanadianDragon
Say what you want about Demarre, but look how close we were in 2016 to the finals, and getting rid of him wasn’t entirely hard.
If our biggest mistake is a draft pick, that’s not a bad mistake. Every team has bad deals, signings, you name it.
But things like Bruno over Capela and Flynn over Bane are probably the big misses for us, and even then, you could say that for a number of teams not picking those guys either.
UjiriWatcher
Going all in for a play in instead of tanking hard for Wemby was way worse
Kriztof_09
Hawks biggest mistake is not keeping Luka for themselves imo.
Desertsprinter
I mean Carroll was serviceable in the regular season so claim has no merit
ttttyttt678
Suns has to be Ayton over Luka.
justaway2
Way too many of these revolve around Mitchell.
Raptorsthrowaway1
Disagree. Operating as buyers as opposed to sellers at the deadline last year when it was plainly obvious this team wasn’t good enough is our biggest mistake IMO. We could have potentially –
* Tanked and positioned for a top 3 – 6 pick
* Kept our 2024 pick and 2 x seconds we gave up for Yak (who I like, just bad timing and awkward fit)
* Received closer to full value for Siakam. If we trade him now it’s going to be for penny’s on the dollar
* Recieved something for Fred and Gary
FO was operating outside of reality thinking we were a Poeltl away from making some noise in the play offs.
SadInternal9977
What is far more interesting to me is that for two other teams (knicks and magic) their biggest mistakes on this list were trades with the Raptors so clearly FO has done a lot of things right as well. And Philly’s worst mistake was the fallout from their 2019 loss to Toronto especially failing to figure out that Butler was the guy to keep.
JeremPosterCollect0r
All I know is the Knicks’ biggest mistake is bringing a gentle smile to my face
jmgmd
Carroll cost the Raptors 30 million for 2 years of minimal production and then they paid a first round pick and second round pick to get rid of him.
If folks are frustrated trading a first and second to get Poeltl and unload Khem, imagine trading both just to get out of half of your commitment to the second biggest free agency signing in team history. Hard to disagree with this one.
big_nose_juicer
Be serious. The Yak trade is MUCH worse.
The last trade deadline itself had about 3 worse mistakes than demarre
midnightmunchiez
If signing Demarre was the worst mistake since 2013, I’ll happily take it. Some of these moves by the other teams are genuinely franchise altering
Scase15
Thad/Jak trade easily are worse.
willieb3
I’ll be the unpopular one who agrees with this. It’s unfair to call any team drafting player X over player Y as a mistake, otherwise this entire chart would be made up of exactly that.
Also factor in the butterfly effect of things, certain things led to the drafting of Scottie Barnes for example. I don’t think the Demarre signing was bad tbh, I just think that there weren’t many major mistakes that led up to our championship run. The Demarre thing was jsut a waste of money which didn’t really have an effect on anything.
One could argue that the Poeltl trade, and letting Fred walk for nothing are the biggest mistakes. However, it remains to be seen what this team will do in the next few years.
doncoolbeans
Not sure how I feel about that. I do however enjoy the one for the 76ers.
Thealk3mist
Not rebuilding after our chip, and not trading Lowry/Gasol/Ibaka at peak value
Then-Signature2528
Flynn instead of Bane for me
Potential-Ad8424
The raptors biggest mistake might become a hybrid between the Spurs/Wizards ones.. put two and two together, you know what I mean..
nohowow
Our actual biggest mistake was (assuming the rumours from the time were true), saying no to a Lowry for Maxey swap in 2021 because we wanted Philly to also throw in Mattis Thybulle
I like that MU is responsible for the Knicks biggest brick.
Shogun_Ro
No, that contract wasn’t even bad because our salaries were increasing the very next year. If we don’t spend that money on someone it was essentially going away the following season. Could we have spent that 16 million on someone better? No or else Masai would have done it. He also wasn’t a bad player, just was injured a lot and his playstyle relied on ball movement and we were not that kind of a team under Casey.
26 Comments
Carroll is still our biggest FA acquisition lol
I’d say the Powell trade, drafting Flynn/bruno, and Jakob/1st rd pick trade from last year are all way worse than the Carroll signing.
Disagree. We got off of his contract without too much of a headache iirc.
Flynn over Bane was a tough one, and if you believe that Maxey was available for Lowry then not doing that deal was also pretty bad, but the biggest mistake in terms of overall strategic impact was not rebuilding around Scottie at the last trade deadline, and choosing to be buyers instead. We will probably be dealing with the fallout of that decision for a long time.
I’d say taking Malachi over Bane.
On that note, knowing that both New York’s and Orlando’s biggest catastrophes this decade were caused by us is quite satisfying.
There have been bigger mistakes since Carroll.
Not trading Fred last year, trading a pick for Thad, and the jury is still out on trading a pick for Yak.
Say what you want about Demarre, but look how close we were in 2016 to the finals, and getting rid of him wasn’t entirely hard.
If our biggest mistake is a draft pick, that’s not a bad mistake. Every team has bad deals, signings, you name it.
But things like Bruno over Capela and Flynn over Bane are probably the big misses for us, and even then, you could say that for a number of teams not picking those guys either.
Going all in for a play in instead of tanking hard for Wemby was way worse
Hawks biggest mistake is not keeping Luka for themselves imo.
I mean Carroll was serviceable in the regular season so claim has no merit
Suns has to be Ayton over Luka.
Way too many of these revolve around Mitchell.
Disagree. Operating as buyers as opposed to sellers at the deadline last year when it was plainly obvious this team wasn’t good enough is our biggest mistake IMO. We could have potentially –
* Tanked and positioned for a top 3 – 6 pick
* Kept our 2024 pick and 2 x seconds we gave up for Yak (who I like, just bad timing and awkward fit)
* Received closer to full value for Siakam. If we trade him now it’s going to be for penny’s on the dollar
* Recieved something for Fred and Gary
FO was operating outside of reality thinking we were a Poeltl away from making some noise in the play offs.
What is far more interesting to me is that for two other teams (knicks and magic) their biggest mistakes on this list were trades with the Raptors so clearly FO has done a lot of things right as well. And Philly’s worst mistake was the fallout from their 2019 loss to Toronto especially failing to figure out that Butler was the guy to keep.
All I know is the Knicks’ biggest mistake is bringing a gentle smile to my face
Carroll cost the Raptors 30 million for 2 years of minimal production and then they paid a first round pick and second round pick to get rid of him.
If folks are frustrated trading a first and second to get Poeltl and unload Khem, imagine trading both just to get out of half of your commitment to the second biggest free agency signing in team history. Hard to disagree with this one.
Be serious. The Yak trade is MUCH worse.
The last trade deadline itself had about 3 worse mistakes than demarre
If signing Demarre was the worst mistake since 2013, I’ll happily take it. Some of these moves by the other teams are genuinely franchise altering
Thad/Jak trade easily are worse.
I’ll be the unpopular one who agrees with this. It’s unfair to call any team drafting player X over player Y as a mistake, otherwise this entire chart would be made up of exactly that.
Also factor in the butterfly effect of things, certain things led to the drafting of Scottie Barnes for example. I don’t think the Demarre signing was bad tbh, I just think that there weren’t many major mistakes that led up to our championship run. The Demarre thing was jsut a waste of money which didn’t really have an effect on anything.
One could argue that the Poeltl trade, and letting Fred walk for nothing are the biggest mistakes. However, it remains to be seen what this team will do in the next few years.
Not sure how I feel about that. I do however enjoy the one for the 76ers.
Not rebuilding after our chip, and not trading Lowry/Gasol/Ibaka at peak value
Flynn instead of Bane for me
The raptors biggest mistake might become a hybrid between the Spurs/Wizards ones.. put two and two together, you know what I mean..
Our actual biggest mistake was (assuming the rumours from the time were true), saying no to a Lowry for Maxey swap in 2021 because we wanted Philly to also throw in Mattis Thybulle
Nets biggest mistake wasn’t losing harden/durant/kyrie?
I like that MU is responsible for the Knicks biggest brick.
No, that contract wasn’t even bad because our salaries were increasing the very next year. If we don’t spend that money on someone it was essentially going away the following season. Could we have spent that 16 million on someone better? No or else Masai would have done it. He also wasn’t a bad player, just was injured a lot and his playstyle relied on ball movement and we were not that kind of a team under Casey.