In Episode 1376, Sean Woodley fields listener questions about the Toronto Raptors as they get set to duke it out in the NBA Play-in Tournament. Off the top, Sean digs into a pair of questions about Jeff Dowtin Jr. not getting his contract converted, why despite some understandable criticisms he’s not too broken about it, and the overall feeling of concern with the Raptors’ front office decision makers in Masai Ujiri and Bobby Webster. Next, Sean digs into off-season centric questions. Could a big trade happen in response to the outcome of the Play-in Tournament? What could the construction of next season’s bench look like and how is the board game Ticket to Ride somehow analagous to the Raptors’ current situation? And what the one move he’d make to bring out better results from the team next season might be. Lastly, Sean digs into questions about who the Raptors should target in the upcoming draft and why Cason Wallace is his very early favourite potential selection as well as how Precious Achiuwa and Scottie Barnes would fair on a pair of unhinged reality TV shows.
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14 Comments
Would you say the biggest off-season adds should be a guard who can shoot and play make, and either a healthy OtoomPorterjr, or the equivalent?
I think the Raptors should return Josh Jackson
Wait, what? What has the front office done that is even remotely worth criticism much less someone losing their job? Also, why would Nurse's job be on the line? Because rumours? Rumours like we were gonna trade our whole team at the deadline? Rumours like OG wanted a trade? I mean, I know that "fan" is short for "fanatic," so maybe sanity is an unrealistic expectation?
Are people just ignoring everything Webster, Ujiri, and Nurse have been saying over the last two years about this team being young and needing tome to develop and that, yes, ,things are going to look ugly at times? Are people ignoring the glaringly obvious place we are in the team's development? Like, expectations at the beginning of the year were what 5th place? So people are panicking over a difference of 7 games? Damn, that's taking "fanatic" a liiiiittle too seriously. There's literally NOTHING wrong with this team. They are exactly where we thought they would be (given the extent of the injuries this year) at this point in the team's development. They weren't contending this year. Not even the biggest homer was picking them at anywhere above 4th and a second round exit. And with even remotely better health, we would have probably been somewhere in that mix. We could EASILY have been as good as the Cavs, and at our best, we can compete with literally ANY team in the league, AS IS. And this team isn't in its final form. We KNOW this. There's a plan in place that the org literally told us about at the beginning of LAST YEAR!
Let's be serious for a second. The starting line up of VanVleet, Anunoby, Siakam, Barnes, and Poeltl can match any starting five in the league, with two of those players not even being in their prime yet, and a solid 5 years of prime left for the rest of them. Boucher and Trent Jr. are among the best bench players in the league, with Trent Jr. not in his prime yet, and a good 4-5 years left of Boucher's prime. VanVleet is on record saying that it takes about 10 players to contend these days, and the options to round out the last three are pretty solid. Flynn is running out of chances, but could still pop next year. He has the defense, handles, shooting, and game-management to be a solid back-up and bench leader. All that needs to come around is his consistency. I like Barton and Porter Jr. in one of those spots, and one of Achiuwa or Koloko fits as the tenth man. And that still leaves Young as that in-case-of-emergency-break-glass big. Who knows if Weiskamp or Banton are NBA players, or not? Likely one of those makes way for our first round pick, if not Flynn.
We're good. We don't need any big changes to front office, coaching, or roster. I mean, if Nurse wants to be done, I wish him well, thank him for delivering a championship and welcome the next guy, but his coaching isn't a "problem." The front office made all the right moves, including not trading away the whole team at the deadline, and not converting Dowtin Jr. In terms of the roster, at best, we have the tax-payer mid-level, so maybe a Torrey Craig to round out the bench, but I don't know that he's any better than either Barton or Porter Jr. I agree with your take on Cason Wallace, that's who I'm tracking and hoping for as well.
So basically, I agree with your take that no big moves need to be made, but disagree about Nurse, or the front office (the front office take that is out there is pure stupidity). It's pretty easy to see what happened this year. A good start got derailed but a fuck-ton of injuries, which slowed down both development and chemistry, and led to not being able to convert a lot (and I mean a lot) of really close games (If we had converted even half of them, which you could project would have happened with a fully healthy team, we WOULD be in 4th or 5th, like if we JUST converted half the games that we lost on the very last play of the game, we would be in 6th).
The panic is unfounded nonsense. Even being in 9th isn't the end of the world.. If we make the playoffs, the team gets a round of play-off experience, if we don't we get another lottery pick to pair with Scottie. Still a win-win for where we are in our development toward having at least a 3-year contention window with this group starting in 2025.
drops mic (pen? keyboard?)
Look, it's okay we will ride with this team even if they trade our best players away and we tank. I will still ride with this team in the comments section for the next ten years. We are good.
I do not think 🤔 the front office made mistakes. I do not agree with this making Nurse the fall guy.
I disagree with that.
This season has nothing to do with the trades or final decisions. Or Bobby Webster.
You used the word "fall guy ", I think 🤔 this is going in the wrong direction.
Are you saying the top 4 manager duo should be fired ? Cause that's a bunkers take. This is totally ridiculous.
Don't even go there.
Moves :
1. Bringing Jakob, Great move.
2. Bringing Gary Trent jr , Great move.
3. Keeping Fred Bad move
4. Keeping Pascal, Great Move
5. Keeping Scottie, awesome
6. Keeping OG, awesome
7. Encouraging Jeff Downtin Jr, Great decision
6. This was awesome overall.
Considering where we were at. All smart moves.
Your Jeff Dowtin take is garbage. complaining that a player who is a pg and that he doesn't "hunt" shots means you don't understand the difference between Shooting Guards and Point guards. Dowtin GET'S THE BALL TO TEAMATES, in a halfcourt offense you don't want Scottie walking the ball around the perimeter, that's a pg job. when the ball goes into the paint for a post up but the defense collapses it's the pg's job to get open for a pass out, that doesn't mean you chase the ball around demanding it from teammates who are in scoring positions so that you can shoot your own shot. Gary does his job as a SG because he does hunt shots and he usually tries to get to open spots buy if the pg isn't going to connect the ball to the sg on the perimeter or to a forward with advantage in the paint then they are playing selfish basketball. IF THERE IS 1 THING JEFF DOWTIN DOESN'T DO IS PLAY SELFISH BASKETBALL. fucking muggle man
Message to Edward Rogers & Larry Tennanbaum clean house 🏠…am okay with it
Raptors fans are a bunch of fucking whiners. We are always competing against the likes of Boston, Milwaukee and Philadelphia that are loaded with lottery picks. Despite all this, Golden State is the only team to have won more games than us over the last ten years.
Your Jeff Dowtin take is spot-on. Your Nurse take is delusional.
I still trust in masai. He should stay. I think Nick Nurse is more of a final product coach then a coach who develops and grows a franchise. It shows in the heavy minutes the starters play and the focus more on winning then developing. I love Nurse but I feel we need a coach who can come in an develop a system and develop the guys we got now along with the player we’re gonna pick this year. I also think if we do choose a to replace Nick I think we also need to move on from FVV and Siakam. Siakams return would be HUGE in rebuilding this team and righting this ship.
Love how he's already made the built in excuse for Fred to go 1 for 12 AGAIN from 3 against the bulls and for demar to be extra clutch and beat us and that's our how our super disappointing season will end. And Sean here will say pay Fred and be his toxic and not understanding his audience self.