Toronto Raptors
 

Been about 2-3 years since someone created a Raptors thread on here, so hopefully there are still Raptors fans out there on this forum.


Season starts on Wednesday with a home game. And then after that, we'll be the first real visiting team to play at the new Brooklyn arena for a regular season game(the first game is Knicks-Nets,so Raptors would really be first real visiting team there for a regular season game)

One thing I noticed about Raptors home games...prices vary depending on opponent. A team like the lakers, cheapest seats are $99. Team like Heat, it's about $90,Rockets is around $40, Hornets is about $12.

So you can see just how much these prices vary depending on who we face at home. No wonder Raptors finished bottom 10 in attendance...MLSE is worst sports owner ever. Toronto won't ever win a championship if their owners care 99.9% about making money and .1% about winning

Re: Toronto Raptors
 

Article on the Bleacher Report. Should the Raptors have traded up for Damian Lillard an interesting read.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1...damian-lillard

Re: Toronto Raptors
 

Big win last night against the Pacers, especially after coming into the second half of a back to back (where we lost the first game in triple OT at home vs the Jazz).

Jose played great and posted a triple double. Jonas played nice and outplayed Hibbert for the second time this season (Hibbert was an all star last year by the way....)

The Raps only scored 5 points in the 4th quarter but still held on to win the game (thats a record for the least points scored in a 4th quarter by a team and STILL win the game in the modern shot clock era).

Yes it was a crazy night......hopefully they can build on this W and creep back to .500 or at least hold it down a bit better until Lowry is back from the ankle sprain (which is hopefully soon....more hopefully for the next game @ Boston on saturday).

Re: Toronto Raptors
 

Thread abandoned lol. What do people think of this idea for what we do in offseason:

Our roster(assuming we get Gay for Calderon and Bargnani or something)

C-JV,Johnson
PF-Davis,Acy
SF-Gay
SG-DeRozan,Ross
PG-Lowry

Those are the ONLY guys the Raptors keep.

Then in free agency, we sign a starting PF,a bench SF,3rd string SF/SG and hopefully out of one of the deals we make(where guys like Kleiza,Fields and the others leave), we get a late 1st round pick out of it and are able to draft a backup PG(Kabongo?Projected to go late 1st round,and is from Toronto)

So my 2013-2014 Raptors:

C-JV or Johnson
PF-Free Agent(someone like Josh Smith/David West)
SF-Gay
SG-DeRozan
PG-Lowry

Bench:
JV or Johnson
Davis
Free Agent(backup SF)
Ross
Draft Pick(backup PG)
Acy
Free Agent(3rd string SF/SG)

So basically, in a single offseason, all Raptors would need to do is make 3 FA signings and draft 1 guy and their 2013-2014 team could instantly look like strong playoff contender.

Raptors would have salary to do that. Among the 8 guys I listed the Raptors should keep,that's a combined 50M(NBA median is about 68M).

So about 15-18M Raptors would have to spend on a starting PF and 3 bench players. Seems like more than enough to do that.

Re: Toronto Raptors
 

Rudy Gay's debut last night was the most hyped I've been for a game since 2010 when the Raps/Bulls played in late April to determine the 8th seed.

Good times last night!

Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!

Re: Toronto Raptors
 

Personally I didn't like the timing of the rudy gay trade. Too many wing players playing too good for the raptors this year and not enough minutes to go around. I'd like to see DeRozan out hopefully he finishes good enough this year where he can draw some interest for a possible trade this summer or next season.

The starting five of:

C-Jonas
PF-Amir
SF-Rudy
SG-Anderson/Ross
PG-Lowry

Seems pretty formidable next year. I'd like for raps to keep Acy, Lucas, Fields and Kleiza as the bench. DeMar and Andrea maybe you can package for some lottery picks or a reliable Center or Power Forward. I smell playoffs next year.

Re: Toronto Raptors
 

Please, ffs, Amir/Valanciunas frontcourt. That would be deadly.

Re: Toronto Raptors
 

Still sticking with the lineup I said in January before Gay deal, except since Bargnani was kept and Davis traded, I edited it abit.


So my 2013-2014 Raptors:

C-JV or Johnson
PF-Free Agent(someone like Josh Smith/David West)
SF-Gay
SG-DeRozan
PG-Lowry

Bench:
JV or Johnson
Ross
Acy
Free Agent(backup C/PF)
Free Agent(backup SF)
Draft Pick(backup PG)
Free Agent(3rd string SF/SG)


Fields,Kleiza,Bargnani can all be traded or something.


There's so much potential for next years Raptors team, all that matters really is just what happens with the moves we make. If we can fix up the bench, Raptors could really be playoff team(especially seeing the record it took this year to finish 8th in east, and considering a team like Celtics will be declining even more unless some big changes are made)