Basketball in Canada - Page 29

MonctonRad · #**561** Posted **May 4, 2018, 8:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by elly63

I misread what you wrote, I first thought you meant the Washington Generals

Them too........

Go Globetrotters!!!

shappy · #**562** Posted **May 4, 2018, 8:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by rousseau

If they get two wins in Cleveland then I expect to see a cure-all for cancer, the end of the Trump presidency, an end to all war, and the second coming of our Lord and Saviour as prophesied in the Book of Revelation.

But even so, if by some miraculous turn of events they get two wins in Cleveland, I would fully expect them to be the last two wins of the season.

To say this has been a disappointment, a meltdown of epic proportions, is to understate what it means to be a fan invested in a team that you've grown to love. Sure, it's just a game, and they're just millionaires bouncing a ball, but even millionaires have feelings.

The arc of the narrative these past few years has been ever upward toward greater things, each year an improvement over the last. In a city and province starved for sporting success, the Raptors represented boundless hope and enthusiasm for a greater day to come. Then FC won the footie championship last year, and the Leafs got good this year, and all of a sudden it seemed like great things were on the horizon.

So this hurts. Does it salve the wound that it has been the second-best player of all time who has stymied this team the past few years? In retrospect, it might. Still, this playoff performance anxiety is like a nightmare you can't wake up from. Like an addiction you can't shake.

Probably the only thing to do is to lance the wound. Blow the damn thing up, as much as for the catharsis as for anything else. DeRozan and Lowry, gone. Try to get a veteran upper tier player (Paul George?) who won't melt in the postseason, and focus on maturing this terrific cast of younger players.

Or just wait until LeBron retires...

elly63 · #**563** Posted **May 5, 2018, 12:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Go Globetrotters!

After 63 years, Globetrotters drop rival Generals as primary opponent
Darren Rovell ESPN Senior Writer Aug 14, 2015

suburbanite · #**564** Posted **May 6, 2018, 7:58 AM**

This is literally destroying my soul, worse than anything the Leafs have done over the past 15 years.

Denscity · #**565** Posted **May 6, 2018, 8:40 AM**

Wow Drake needs a hug.

mistercorporate · #**566** Posted **May 6, 2018, 9:53 AM**

That's insane, they lose in Cleveland by just 2 points right at the buzzer. The Raptors are a really good team but there seems to be a playoffs curse when facing LeBron??

TownGuy · #**567** Posted **May 6, 2018, 10:02 AM**

They have a curse when they face anyone in the playoffs. They were lucky to beat #8 Washington.

You need your best players to be your best players. If your best player sits on the bench for the 4th quarter you have major issues. You're now asking a rag-tag bunch of guys to win playoff games. The NBA is a stars based league, without them you're nothing. Unfortunately the Raptors star is a perennial choker.

mistercorporate · #**568** Posted **May 6, 2018, 11:06 AM**

So they'll just have to replace a star or two for next season, or do they have to blow up the whole roster?

Berklon · #**569** Posted **May 6, 2018, 1:24 PM**

So that's 9 straight games they've lost to the Cavs in the playoffs. Yikes.

They need to sign a big name star player. In the NBA, that makes all the difference.

Lebron has a chance at playing in the NBA finals for the 9th straight year. That's insane.

Denscity · #**570** Posted **May 6, 2018, 2:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistercorporate

So they'll just have to replace a star or two for next season, or do they have to blow up the whole roster?

I would say a star or two no?

rousseau · #**571** Posted **May 6, 2018, 5:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TownGuy

They have a curse when they face anyone in the playoffs. They were lucky to beat #8 Washington.

You need your best players to be your best players. If your best player sits on the bench for the 4th quarter you have major issues. You're now asking a rag-tag bunch of guys to win playoff games. The NBA is a stars based league, without them you're nothing. Unfortunately the Raptors star is a perennial choker.

A sportswriter somewhere said this: Lowry and DeRozan aren't good enough to be the best players on a championship team.

I've previously never wanted to believe that, but there's no denying it anymore. This iteration of the team is over.

MonkeyRonin · #**572** Posted **May 8, 2018, 2:51 AM**

Ugh, this game. I can't watch anymore.

Denscity · #**573** Posted **May 8, 2018, 2:58 AM**

Incredible disappointment in Toronto right now not even one win in the second round wow!

Berklon · #**574** Posted **May 8, 2018, 3:29 AM**

10 straight playoff losses to the Cavs. Brutal.

Time to sign a superstar.

shappy · #**575** Posted **May 8, 2018, 3:37 AM**

There is clearly some mental block. They really need to blow this mother up.

porkmedallions · #**576** Posted **May 8, 2018, 3:51 AM**

Lebron James is a beast. That series would have been a lot different if he wasn't playing.

rousseau · #**577** Posted **May 8, 2018, 6:13 AM**

I had to turn it off after three quarters. Lowry and DeRozan were just totally spooked by LeBron. Seems like the rest of the team were infected by the fear in their leaders and it put them under a spell. What on earth happened to Serge Ibaka?

No shame in a hard-fought, competitive loss, but these last two sweeps at the hands of the Cavs have been humiliating and demoralizing because the two All-Stars tasked with leading the team sucked so hard. The playoff loss to the Cavs in 2016 was at least competitive, if not predictable. Plus it was the conference finals. There was great cause for optimism two years ago.

Not now. Casey's definitely gone, and it will be interesting to see who gets traded. The problem with Lowry and DeRozan is that they have such massive contracts, so there may not be any takers.

suburbanite · #**578** Posted **May 8, 2018, 2:14 PM**

You don't just "sign a superstar" if you're the Raptors. The biggest free agent we've ever signed is goddamn Demarre Carroll. Big names don't want to play in Canada. It hurts their brand and they make more money off of sponsors who need them Stateside. Unless a true superstar is born in Toronto chances our we're never signing a Lebron, Durant, or Harden type of player

We need to draft well, and we have had success with young players falling in love with the city and breaking perceptions. Masai is on the right path with turning the G league team into a true farm system that can grow and develop our own drafted talent. I can't really see any other way to becoming a long-term contender.

Mrs Sauga · #**579** Posted **May 8, 2018, 2:47 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by suburbanite

You don't just "sign a superstar" if you're the Raptors. The biggest free agent we've ever signed is goddamn Demarre Carroll. Big names don't want to play in Canada. It hurts their brand and they make more money off of sponsors who need them Stateside. Unless a true superstar is born in Toronto chances our we're never signing a Lebron, Durant, or Harden type of player

We need to draft well, and we have had success with young players falling in love with the city and breaking perceptions. Masai is on the right path with turning the G league team into a true farm system that can grow and develop our own drafted talent. I can't really see any other way to becoming a long-term contender.

Agreed. They spent a good 4-5 years out of the playoffs before Masai got here I believe and JV and DD is all they have from those non playoffs draft picks. JV is fine. DD is as good as you get for 9th overall. But you don't build a team around him. Of course, that Bargnani pick really set them back.

MonkeyRonin · #**580** Posted **May 8, 2018, 4:41 PM**

A thought occurred to me the other day - which is that perhaps the biggest struggle with attracting talent to the Raptors might just come down to income tax. Taxes on ultra-high income earners are already higher here than they are in States (as they should be), but there's also the fact that American citizens working abroad have to pay US income taxes in addition to the Canadian ones. That means that the Raptors have to offer up comparatively bigger salaries to American talent to make up for the financial loss they'd incur by playing in Canada - forcing them to overpay for guys like Lowry and DeRozan and leaving them less salary room for the rest of their roster.

This is less a problem for Toronto's other teams, since so many hockey, soccer, and baseball players are non-American anyway, but in a sport as American-dominated as basketball, it presents more of an issue. This is no doubt a big part of why the Raptors are already the most international team in the NBA, but right now there just aren't too many top-tier players from the rest of the world.

I think their best strategy for future growth would be to try to bring in as many solid international players as possible (where they're at less of a competitive disadvantage compared to American teams), and then spend that little bit extra on a veteran all-star player to lead the team (I've seen the idea of Paul George floated around, which is exactly the kind of guy we need).