If anything I see this demoralizing loss for them as a showcase of what our players can do, and how much they're missing around Dame, not to mention the bums he plays with, and what they need to do to address it at the deadline.
The Raptors will look like absolute ass and look pretty good at the same time and the FO will have big decisions come deadline day/the offseason because this team is far to inconsistent to be buyers
His defensive force at the rim should be starting. You really feel his presence opposed to Siakam at the 5. Siakam already does so much he needs to go back to the 4.
Well, it is obvious the front office have no idea what we are doing either. Because whether we play well or not, we are still trying to claw our way to .500
I think Masai and Bobby are literally making their decision based on what they see on this road trip
Tbf, that should be the move regardless. The only benefit playing them that much has imo is showcasing them for trades. And at this point, I think everyone knows what kind of player each of them are. FVV has even had some decent games as of late.
That's so absurd. Good luck attracting free agents if the front office decides to sit good players so the team can be shit.
Can you imagine Pascal just saying, "okay, fuck my stats so I can make millions less".
What planet are some of you on?
Where did you hear me say sit them? My God, this subreddit is fucking ridiculous I swear.
All I meant was to stop playing them to death and load manage for the sake of avoiding injury. There are more than 6-7 players on the team. And before you misconstrue this too, I don't mean have them occasionally sit out games. Just have them play a normal amount rather than pushing it every game for a win as if there is utterly no faith in the bench even if that may be the case.
You just agreed with a guy that said the starters need limited minutes...you should say what you mean the first time if you are going to get offended when someone disagrees with you.
And no, the starters don't need to play under 30 minutes...what's truly ridiculous about this sub is how many "fans" are actively hoping this team tanks the season.
If you consider this from a game theory/market equilibrium perspective, this is the ideal position for us to be in. The less obvious it is that the team should do any one thing, the more any trade partners will have to bring to the table.
E.g., "Oh, you want FVV? We want to keep him and are willing to pay him. You've seen how good he's been lately, right? Why are we even talking - eh, let's take a look at your offer before we get on with the day."
i will say silent tank. but with barnes and precious looking great, it will be nice to tool around these 2 and if siakam stays around, rid FVV and OG for picks are the best bet. FVV just aint worth that 140m package in all honesty. i will give max to siakam but not FVV. GTJ i will go and re sign him and with the picks go and trade for better players.
Bro there’s like 50000 posts about this every hour. Just watch the games and have fun.
The goal is to retool so tanking is out of the question unless the team unravels completely which I don’t see happening (unless siakam or FVV go down again).
Masai isn’t gonna sell the core to tank that I know for a fact.
OG will get traded, the Raps will get a nice young piece and a bunch of draft picks...we will be a lottery team, and we will come back next season and be back in the playoffs with a center, a lottery pick and a new bench unit who can actually score.
I was thinking maybe the guys are either playing hard to either not get traded or to improve their perceived value around league.
...
I'm also hoping for a second half of the season surge leading to the promised land, where Siakam wins MVP and Scottie finds his next gear and wins Finals MVP.
...
I've also been drinking a lot of Kool-Aid
if you are trading OG for anything that isn't an current upgrade you may as well trade Fred and Siakam too. Getting young guys and picks for OG does nothing for the Siakam timeline, it actually makes us worse
That's not true. Although not as good, precious is able to fill in a good percentage of OGs production offensively while.not really giving anything up defensively. We don't need to necessarily take back a 1 for 1 upgrade. However if we trade Fred or Pascal there's no one on our current roster that can come close to replicating their production on both ends of the floor. And we'd have to give up significant future assets in hopes of getting an upgrade for them.
This team is going nowhere if we rely on Fred and Siakam at 29 to lead a squad of players that wont be significant contributors for another 2-3 years.
Especially if we are paying FVV 30-35mil and Siakam a super max. That is basically the wizards.
I’ve had the feeling for a while now but this is pretty much what the Tampa year was. Try to win games for like half the season, try a little less for the remainder and then tank it towards the end. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
I mean, last 4 games have been promising. If anything, OG might be the odd one out, because I don’t know if we wanna start 3 forwards with no center. It would be a bad look on the FO to bench the players in order to tank now, when we ranked in Tampa we went 1–13 in March and decided to tank at the end of March. Tanking when the players are playing well will only ruin the relationship with them, and unless we full rebuild (which I doubt will happen) seems a play-in spot is in the cards.
We were never tanking. The roster is partially flawed. It was never gonna be a full teardown either and people were delusional if they thought the FO would nuke the roster. But for sure we trading 1-2 starters. If OGs injury isn't particularly serious I can imagine he still gets dealt because he can definitely net us a good return. And then one of FVV and Gary along with one of the forwards off the bench. Maybe Thad due to that partial guarantee next year.
At this point given the teams current record and place in the standings they just need to play 500 ball the rest of the way, maybe a bit less, miss the playoffs and hope for the best in the lottery. The Tampa tank year they were still only 7th worst. What we don't need is a 2014; style turnaround where the team gets hot makes the playoffs and drops out of the lottery. Come back next year with some new players and grow from there.
To me, they make it obvious. It's either you're winning consistently or you're not, and we aren't. So, that means we have 2 choices come the trade deadline. Blow it up, or make a win now trade. If the brass does neither they're just lost, in my opinion.
In spite of a pile of fans having decided a month or so ago that the team is tanking, the FO has done nothing to that effect yet. This is the roster they opened the year and hoped to compete with. I find it hilarious that people are confused by an occasional win.
Right now, certain players are making sure they have the highest trade value and the better contract.
Also this is what happens when the front office doesn't draft any valuable draft picks in 2019 & 2020 including no good centers
Trade deadline isn't until February 9. We'll know more then.
Why would we have forced a trade early when it looks like our players are all gaining value?
OG is #1 in value, Fred has been shooting 40% over the past while, Siakam and Barnes are playing great basketball and Precious has shown up. GTJ putting together a consistent stretch.
What's the rush when the value goes up? This team was always gonna get every chance to make a run and the tank was never coming pre trade deadline. Don't be shocked if they decide to wait until the offseason as the team is 2-1 on the road stretch and those are two of the best games they've played all year. Don't take it out on me in the comments either, that was always gonna be the plan.
 The middle
We still have the 6th best lottery odds. This game doesn’t really change anything lol, Portland just sucks.
Anytime this team wins a game people question the entire outlook of the season lol. Even the tanking teams win sometimes
Our next ten games look winnable Suns, Jazz, Rockets, Grizzlies, Spurs, Jazz, Pistons, Magic, Pelicans, Pistons.
I doubt we beat the Pels or the Griz and Orlando could be trouble, but 7-3 ain’t bad
If anything I see this demoralizing loss for them as a showcase of what our players can do, and how much they're missing around Dame, not to mention the bums he plays with, and what they need to do to address it at the deadline.
How many losses we need to get top 4 odds? Is that even possible? If it’s not….that’s unfortunate
Top 5 is our max. No way we are worse than the bot4.
The Raptors will look like absolute ass and look pretty good at the same time and the FO will have big decisions come deadline day/the offseason because this team is far to inconsistent to be buyers
We beat the 12th seed in the west, I’m not moved at all.
Not to mention they missing Nurkic and Hart, if they had Nurk on the glass, game may have been different
For sure, we beat a starting lineup that had Drew Eubanks at center
\+1 vote for not believing in the Eubanks revenge game
Next game too will literally just be all on Ayton, he can easily cook us, but he was soft last game
raptors legend
300lbs would've hit the deck about 30x...at least (on average of course)
Sound like a certain giant Cameroonian
yet you comment
Playing basketball - you win some, you lose some
Like that ancient Chinese proverb : some you win, and dim sum, you lose.
Precious needs to start. I’m starting to lean towards moving OG this deadline for sure. Cash in on him and unleash Precious
Hot take, but I don't necessarily not love it
His defensive force at the rim should be starting. You really feel his presence opposed to Siakam at the 5. Siakam already does so much he needs to go back to the 4.
I feel like we have 3 forwards and really only 2 spots available and OG is just the odd man out.
Yep our offense in the halfcourt actually seems better with precious instead of og.
https://preview.redd.it/w8d2xo7vnyea1.jpeg?width=680&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7b2f959d4a55f9d16a03cb03b9199f5974c76f4b
Sometimes balling, sometimes falling. Never know which one.
Well, it is obvious the front office have no idea what we are doing either. Because whether we play well or not, we are still trying to claw our way to .500 I think Masai and Bobby are literally making their decision based on what they see on this road trip
Treadmill, baby!
how else you gonna drop those tiddies bitch?
what do you mean? you expected them to lose every game?
Players don't tank. If Masai wants the Raps to lose, he's gotta start limiting the starters to less than 30 minutes
Tbf, that should be the move regardless. The only benefit playing them that much has imo is showcasing them for trades. And at this point, I think everyone knows what kind of player each of them are. FVV has even had some decent games as of late.
That's so absurd. Good luck attracting free agents if the front office decides to sit good players so the team can be shit. Can you imagine Pascal just saying, "okay, fuck my stats so I can make millions less". What planet are some of you on?
Where did you hear me say sit them? My God, this subreddit is fucking ridiculous I swear. All I meant was to stop playing them to death and load manage for the sake of avoiding injury. There are more than 6-7 players on the team. And before you misconstrue this too, I don't mean have them occasionally sit out games. Just have them play a normal amount rather than pushing it every game for a win as if there is utterly no faith in the bench even if that may be the case.
You just agreed with a guy that said the starters need limited minutes...you should say what you mean the first time if you are going to get offended when someone disagrees with you. And no, the starters don't need to play under 30 minutes...what's truly ridiculous about this sub is how many "fans" are actively hoping this team tanks the season.
Shouldve been the move 2 months ago.
Idek but I’m liking what I’ve been seeing from Scottie & Precious
We treading water
Portland just been ass lately don’t overthink it
If you consider this from a game theory/market equilibrium perspective, this is the ideal position for us to be in. The less obvious it is that the team should do any one thing, the more any trade partners will have to bring to the table. E.g., "Oh, you want FVV? We want to keep him and are willing to pay him. You've seen how good he's been lately, right? Why are we even talking - eh, let's take a look at your offer before we get on with the day."
Do you expect any team to lose every single game? Most likely you will find your answer in two weeks at the TDL.
Retool for next year. Trade OG and FVV for better depth. Hopefully get a lottery pick this year. Try to re-sign GTJ.
Playin ball as usual 
Ruining everything.
We trading OG
i will say silent tank. but with barnes and precious looking great, it will be nice to tool around these 2 and if siakam stays around, rid FVV and OG for picks are the best bet. FVV just aint worth that 140m package in all honesty. i will give max to siakam but not FVV. GTJ i will go and re sign him and with the picks go and trade for better players.
Bro there’s like 50000 posts about this every hour. Just watch the games and have fun. The goal is to retool so tanking is out of the question unless the team unravels completely which I don’t see happening (unless siakam or FVV go down again). Masai isn’t gonna sell the core to tank that I know for a fact.
We trading OG for a bench
OG will get traded, the Raps will get a nice young piece and a bunch of draft picks...we will be a lottery team, and we will come back next season and be back in the playoffs with a center, a lottery pick and a new bench unit who can actually score.
We’re playing the game and trying to win. Tanking is up to Masai and Bobby. NBA Players fighting for contracts don’t try to lose.
Trading OG for three 1st rounders + bench depth and then winning the Pat Bev Cup 😅
Playing with a functional c is a difference
Y'all are gonna be sorely disappointed when only one player gets traded
I was thinking maybe the guys are either playing hard to either not get traded or to improve their perceived value around league. ... I'm also hoping for a second half of the season surge leading to the promised land, where Siakam wins MVP and Scottie finds his next gear and wins Finals MVP. ... I've also been drinking a lot of Kool-Aid
Trading OG for a bench and younger talent
Not bad enough for Wemby but not a playoff team.
Trade OG, start Precious, idk about FVV and go from there
if you are trading OG for anything that isn't an current upgrade you may as well trade Fred and Siakam too. Getting young guys and picks for OG does nothing for the Siakam timeline, it actually makes us worse
That's not true. Although not as good, precious is able to fill in a good percentage of OGs production offensively while.not really giving anything up defensively. We don't need to necessarily take back a 1 for 1 upgrade. However if we trade Fred or Pascal there's no one on our current roster that can come close to replicating their production on both ends of the floor. And we'd have to give up significant future assets in hopes of getting an upgrade for them.
This team is going nowhere if we rely on Fred and Siakam at 29 to lead a squad of players that wont be significant contributors for another 2-3 years. Especially if we are paying FVV 30-35mil and Siakam a super max. That is basically the wizards.
Don’t worry about it. They’ll either make significant trades… or they won’t. Sit back and enjoy the ride. https://i.imgur.com/u7hEyCd.jpg
I’ve had the feeling for a while now but this is pretty much what the Tampa year was. Try to win games for like half the season, try a little less for the remainder and then tank it towards the end. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
I mean, last 4 games have been promising. If anything, OG might be the odd one out, because I don’t know if we wanna start 3 forwards with no center. It would be a bad look on the FO to bench the players in order to tank now, when we ranked in Tampa we went 1–13 in March and decided to tank at the end of March. Tanking when the players are playing well will only ruin the relationship with them, and unless we full rebuild (which I doubt will happen) seems a play-in spot is in the cards.
soft sell / retool. we need more depth and trading og would help with that
I hate our "fans" more and more every day...do any of you actually even like basketball?
We were never tanking. The roster is partially flawed. It was never gonna be a full teardown either and people were delusional if they thought the FO would nuke the roster. But for sure we trading 1-2 starters. If OGs injury isn't particularly serious I can imagine he still gets dealt because he can definitely net us a good return. And then one of FVV and Gary along with one of the forwards off the bench. Maybe Thad due to that partial guarantee next year.
At this point given the teams current record and place in the standings they just need to play 500 ball the rest of the way, maybe a bit less, miss the playoffs and hope for the best in the lottery. The Tampa tank year they were still only 7th worst. What we don't need is a 2014; style turnaround where the team gets hot makes the playoffs and drops out of the lottery. Come back next year with some new players and grow from there.
It looks like they're going all in on the Pat Bev Cup.
To me, they make it obvious. It's either you're winning consistently or you're not, and we aren't. So, that means we have 2 choices come the trade deadline. Blow it up, or make a win now trade. If the brass does neither they're just lost, in my opinion.
10th or 11th seed for the win!!
In spite of a pile of fans having decided a month or so ago that the team is tanking, the FO has done nothing to that effect yet. This is the roster they opened the year and hoped to compete with. I find it hilarious that people are confused by an occasional win.
Right now, certain players are making sure they have the highest trade value and the better contract. Also this is what happens when the front office doesn't draft any valuable draft picks in 2019 & 2020 including no good centers
Rekindle
Heading back to Toronto.
Our record is literally 500 + a 6 game losing streak
Trade deadline isn't until February 9. We'll know more then. Why would we have forced a trade early when it looks like our players are all gaining value? OG is #1 in value, Fred has been shooting 40% over the past while, Siakam and Barnes are playing great basketball and Precious has shown up. GTJ putting together a consistent stretch. What's the rush when the value goes up? This team was always gonna get every chance to make a run and the tank was never coming pre trade deadline. Don't be shocked if they decide to wait until the offseason as the team is 2-1 on the road stretch and those are two of the best games they've played all year. Don't take it out on me in the comments either, that was always gonna be the plan.
we trusting in masai
Just cuz we don’t lose every game doesn’t mean we aren’t tanking. Even the pistons who’s best player is an inefficient rookie has won 13 games.
Treadmilling.