With a disappointing postseason still fresh in the mind, rumors are circulating that Houston’s general manager has made practically the entire roster available. Does that mean the end of Chris Paul’s time in H-Town? Or could other Rockets be on the block?
A championship is the only thing that would justify a 36-year-old CP3 hobbling around in 2022 for 17 minutes a night, acting out his own version of the Dirk grace period. But the Rockets haven’t won a title with Paul. Or reached the Finals.
Because of his age and cost, Paul is the Rocket most likely to be shopped. For the same reasons, he’s not the easiest sell. Someone like Clint Capela makes for a much sexier investment; last July, he re-signed for five years and $90 million.
there is 0% that DD was "untouchable", no offense to the guy, but he's not THAT good to be untouchable.
do the rockets even have any assets (good ones) to trade? i think morey is dreaming if he thinks he can get anything worthwhile. capela may be their best asset, but for what he brings i think there should be cheaper options out there.
I mean they have Harden, but that defeats the purpose! A lot teams would take Tucker but I don't think that improves you. They always have picks to trade but high firsts don't get a lot.
On May 30 2019 09:47 JimmiC wrote: I mean they have Harden, but that defeats the purpose! A lot teams would take Tucker but I don't think that improves you. They always have picks to trade but high firsts don't get a lot.
i would honestly shit my pants if they traded harden lol. anyone who's worth anything on that roster (cp3, tucker, gordon) is too old to get anything good back
On May 28 2019 09:48 zev318 wrote: if toronto wins, its because a lot of things went wrong for the warriors and a lot of things went right for the raptors, which i cant see being the case. warriors have a lot of good defenders to throw at kawhi, more than any other team they have faced so far in the playoffs, so lets hope the bench continues to carry a big load and maybe someone will find danny green alive somewhere during the finals.
Let the boy dream.
They also have a lot of defenders to throw under Kawhi.
LOLOLOL. The good thing is Kawhi can have his redemption run against the Warriors now.
@zev, Ive seen the impossible happen. 2016, up 3-0 with possibly the best offensive scheme in NBA history and an elite defense as well, And yet the Warriors lost. But that's not even the worst case of WTFJUSTHAPPENED in NBA. I personally witnessed the almighty Lakers lose to a shit Pistons team in 2004. The narrative has changed now, but everyone expected it to go no further than game 5. And yet the opposite happened. People point to injuries and the feud and all the chaos within the 2004 Lakers now, but they were royal roading their way to the championship against Hakeem's Rockets, the semi-dynasty Spurs, and the strongish Garnett Wolves. It took me a full week to get out of bed and finally accept the reality that prime Kobe-Shaq plus Payton and Malone lost to a Y-level Detroit team, but after that, I knew anything is possible in basketball.
That said, I think you are underestimating modern NBA proprietary analytics. Without Durant and Cousins, these Raptors, especially Kawhi, have a fair chance to defeat the Warriors. Raptors win 4-2*
about redemption, people not remembering how competitive kawhi was with the spurs in that 2017 WCF game 1 vs warriors and then he goes down and the spurs get swept?
If Toronto wins (with Kawhi FMVP), we'll be talking about how the Warriors (again? :D) dodged a bullet in 2017. It's the first time in their playoff runs that they've been unlucky with injuries.
Shortly after getting swept by the Cavaliers two years in a row Masai Ujiri made this speech. "Put It On Me" ... Such a stark contrast from the Magic Johnson double talk. https://streamable.com/obmvv
Cut to a year later...If the Raptors win it all.... this speech will be remembered as an "Al Davis" level of speech. I'd say this is the best speech in Toronto Raptors history. #2 is the Glen Grunwald speech after the Raptors went 16-66.
This giant black and white photo covering the wall of the Raptors arena fits right in with all the black and white photos of the Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup.
Before 7 AM EST some 14+ hours before game time and people are lining up to enter Jurassic Park.
On May 30 2019 09:37 zev318 wrote: there is 0% that DD was "untouchable", no offense to the guy, but he's not THAT good to be untouchable.
I was being overdramatic with the untouchable thing, but it was in context with other equivalent superstars as an exchange, and in relation to lowry. It whats up were equal A level stars like Kemba, Kyrie, PG, WB, etc, then it would have been an easy pass. Kawhi was simply on a complete tier higher, and DD was who SAS wanted, not lowry.
On May 28 2019 09:48 zev318 wrote: if toronto wins, its because a lot of things went wrong for the warriors and a lot of things went right for the raptors, which i cant see being the case. warriors have a lot of good defenders to throw at kawhi, more than any other team they have faced so far in the playoffs, so lets hope the bench continues to carry a big load and maybe someone will find danny green alive somewhere during the finals.
Let the boy dream.
They also have a lot of defenders to throw under Kawhi.
LOLOLOL. The good thing is Kawhi can have his redemption run against the Warriors now.
@zev, Ive seen the impossible happen. 2016, up 3-0 with possibly the best offensive scheme in NBA history and an elite defense as well, And yet the Warriors lost. But that's not even the worst case of WTFJUSTHAPPENED in NBA. I personally witnessed the almighty Lakers lose to a shit Pistons team in 2004. The narrative has changed now, but everyone expected it to go no further than game 5. And yet the opposite happened. People point to injuries and the feud and all the chaos within the 2004 Lakers now, but they were royal roading their way to the championship against Hakeem's Rockets, the semi-dynasty Spurs, and the strongish Garnett Wolves. It took me a full week to get out of bed and finally accept the reality that prime Kobe-Shaq plus Payton and Malone lost to a Y-level Detroit team, but after that, I knew anything is possible in basketball.
That said, I think you are underestimating modern NBA proprietary analytics. Without Durant and Cousins, these Raptors, especially Kawhi, have a fair chance to defeat the Warriors. Raptors win 4-2*
about redemption, people not remembering how competitive kawhi was with the spurs in that 2017 WCF game 1 vs warriors and then he goes down and the spurs get swept?
Exactly.
On May 30 2019 09:47 JimmiC wrote: I mean they have Harden, but that defeats the purpose! A lot teams would take Tucker but I don't think that improves you. They always have picks to trade but high firsts don't get a lot.
I think this is a weaning moment for Daryl and the extreme sports analytics that they are applying. Capela is ok, and is lethal when connected to Harden, but HOU desperately needs a traditional 5 who can anchor then in the paint on both ends. They dont need the fancy stretch 4/5 as they are now since all their other players can bomb from the 3. They also need perimeter offense, not only for easier looks, but also because variety will make their 3/layup/ft philosophy more fluid. Most importantly, Paul has to go. One of his ex-teammates said it best, he acts like Kobe without Kobe's success. Dude is a dictator on offense, but his attitude is not commensurate to the value he brings to the team. Plus he is ancient and is a literal albatross on the Rockets finances. Harden should be safe, but I wont be surprised if he gets shipped. To NY maybe.
Demarcus Cousins is listed as "Active" for Game 1. He must've given Kerr a great speech.
There are going to be so many B-List celebrities at tonight's game... LOL.
The Raptors re-cut their 4 year old iconic "we the north" video. No more Dwane Casey or Demar Derozan. They went south. A year ago the Raptors tried to make a different version with a female narrator and different city shots and it sucked badly. I'm glad they chose to use the original narrator and the original city scenes. Its by far the best version.
nice to see all those ex-Raptors. Was Vince Carter around? i saw Stoudamire, McGrady, Curry, JYD, MoPete, Alvin Williams and Bosh are working the Canadian broadcast ...but ... no Vince?
as Gorilla Monsoon would say "Vince Carter is conspicuous by his absence here tonight".
There was a "Paul You Suck" chant where the ESPN booth had Paul Pierce doing some desk analysis. LOL
They 100% need to end flagrant reviews if the original call was not a flagrant. Takes a ton of time and I've never seen a flagrant added that was a call I thought was needed.
First game went about as expected. I didn't foresee that output by Pascal and that relative lack of output by Kawhi (I don't think he's at 100%, he doesn't have a lot of lift, limps after contact in the paint, is slow to come back in transition), but otherwise it's indicative to me of the teams' respective strength.
What I really like is that Kawhi makes the right play even when struggling, he can still draw smart fouls and make some tough 3 pointers. But if Durant comes back and Kawhi is still looking so slow, the Raptors are not winning this. Apparently Durant hasn't even practiced yet so they're safe for at least another game. It's a very real possibility that Durant doesn't play at all (in that case I would find it very funny for GSW to win ;D).