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Rapture for The Raptors...

WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
edited June 2019 in Basketball

Congrates to Toronto. There's a new sheriff in town. Even if Kawhi Leonard signs elsewhere, this was a great short term rental for The Raptors.

Comments

  • scooterdawgscooterdawg Posts: 3,066 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Good for them.

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    scooter. New blood is good for life and sports..which is pretty much the same thing. This shows us there's hope for The Hawks. Add a couple of solid pieces thru the draft and try to land a difference maker by trade or free agency.

  • scooterdawgscooterdawg Posts: 3,066 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Yeah, that's the optimistic way to look at it. Though if the Raptors hadn't won it this year and Kahwi left that would have been like an Atlanta team.

  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Obviously winning an NBA title is very difficult unless you're a destination team like The Lakers or manage to draft a superstar or 2. This does show it's possible to combine drafting well with a shrewd acquisition or 2 and compete with the elites though. My guarded optimism comes from already having 2 young stars and a truck load of draft picks. Really Atlanta should be very attractive for a young rich black man. The team has tried to tap into the hip-hop scene's vibe but so far it hasn't sold. Trae Young has a bit of a following and hip hop friends, maybe he can sell a top free agent on joining him.

  • scooterdawgscooterdawg Posts: 3,066 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    That is TRULY something I've never understood. Why Atlanta isn't a destination city. I used to listen to a podcast with Jalen Rose and he and his cohost(a non player) would talk about his time in the NBA and in the life. EVERY time the favorite cities that players liked to go to on road trips were brought up, Atlanta was #1 over Miami and others.

    Maybe therein lies the problem: you don't want the wife and kids living in your favorite city to party in.

  • KaseyKasey Posts: 28,881 mod
    So happy the warriors lost. But in the end all of their luck ran out. Sucks Klat tore his ACL too. Changing the shape of free agency this offseason
  • donmdonm Posts: 10,241 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    Being a Bay Area born guy, I'm sorry the Warriors lost. But look who they had on the floor the last 5'. No way they could have won, yet....had a shot at it.

  • judasdurantjudasdurant Posts: 1,363 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    You gotta love klay Thompson 
  • CTDawgCTDawg Posts: 2,107 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    I’ve come to grow very tired of the Warriors, especially once they got Durant. This Finals changed a lot of that for me. They looked like the team that changed basketball 5 years ago; Steph and Klay just drilling everything, Draymond making plays, etc. It’s beautiful basketball.

    I’m not particularly fond of Klay, but dammit, his shooting transcends opinions. They just play so hard and they’re so tough to beat. I have to give some respect for their performance, because by the end they had a couple guys out there that had no business playing big Finals minutes.

    I fear that this Toronto team will always have an asterisk next to their name because of the injuries, and that might be justified. But they were a great team from start to finish this year, and they earned this one.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    Guys not wanting to relocate to Atlanta in Free Agency has nothing to do with Atlanta being a party city with some of the most beautiful women in the world and how that could affect a players family. In MOST cases, these ballers wives could care less what their "SPONSORS😂😂😂" r doing at home or on the road or with whom as long as she secures that "BAG" after she's served her time. 😂😂😂  Ask the likes of Kenny "Jet" Smith, Kevin Garnett  and others about this. No, the real reason that players r not attracted to Atlanta as a destination has to due with the lack of a Championship to point to to convince TRULY elite guys that it can be done here and for him to convince others to join him. It's all about that ring baby and "AS OF NOW" Players would have to see it to believe it and the good news is Atlanta is about to become a destination team based on the trajectory of the young core in place and the exciting brand of play but ESPECIALLY, ESPECIALLY Trae Young. There is your FA magnet right there. Travis Schlenk is doing an exceptional job.
  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    GS makes their style work because they have elite players who fit what they do. GS's influence on the game seems very negative at this point though. Many teams have tried to emulate their methods and it's led to horrible defensive numbers across the league.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    A team that for the majority of the regular season looked like the best or 2nd best team in the entire league, and that went on to dispatch Philadelphia, Milwaukee, AND the Warriors in succession doesn't deserve an asterisk, they deserve a Championship Trophy.
  • donmdonm Posts: 10,241 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    yeah, but....I don't know many who would, even now, take them over a healthy GS squad.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    They beat the best Golden State had to offer which is all that was required.
  • WCDawgWCDawg Posts: 17,293 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate

    There are no asterisks with Toronto's win. Injuries are a part of any sporting event.

  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    And man, Khawi Leonard is the perfected futuristic version of 1 Julius Erving. Same size, same build, hands like catchers mitts, graceful, elegant, classy and unstoppable. The difference Khawi's refined jump shooting ability from all areas of the floor and his All-World Defense.
  • KaseyKasey Posts: 28,881 mod
    And the warriors benefited from their own injury luck along the way
  • MeR3htidMeR3htid Posts: 2,525 ✭✭✭✭✭ Graduate
    Yes sir. If Kevin Love and Kyrie had played  in the 2015 finals, LeBron sends them (The Warriors) packing in 6 so again, no asterisks.
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