| Author | Message | ||
     Saarang Pilla Bewarse Username: Saarang Post Number: 46 Registered: 04-2015 Posted From: 97.113.94.59 Rating: N/A |
Everything starts with Lowry, Toronto's best player, and one of the most important in franchise history. Toronto can offer Lowry a five-year, $200 million-plus deal; rivals can offer only four-year deals starting at the same maximum annual salary of around $35 million. Ujiri has always erred on the side of retaining players, even if it's just to trade them later -- as he famously did with Nene Hilario in Denver. Say goodbye to Lowry, and there is little reason to pay Ibaka. Barring a major salary dump, the Raptors would not have enough cap room even with Lowry gone to add shooting around the DeRozan-Ibaka core. Ibaka is trending the wrong way. He's a good spot-up shooter, but opponents still mostly leave him open. He doesn't have the sort of gravitational pull that changes the geometry of the floor. His defense has fallen off. He can't post up, and he still has zero playmaking skills. Pass him the ball in open space, and the music stops. He holds the ball, the scrambled defense resets itself, and every window closes. If Lowry leaves, the rational move, as painful as it would be after this era of good feelings, is a full teardown. LeBron isn't going anywhere. Boston, Washington, and Milwaukee are rising. Toronto has collected a bunch of interesting young players in Norman Powell, Jakob Poeltl, Pascal Siakam and Delon Wright. Unleash the kids, lose a lot of games, and play the high lottery again. |