Examining the Raptors' Offseason

Raptors Report is BACK and ready to talk about the offseason so far! Ja'Kobe Walter! Jonathan Mogbo! Jamal Shead! Ulrich Chomche! Bruce Brown!
Oh gosh, there's so much to talk about, so let's get to it!
"Sappheiros - Escape" is under a Creative Commons (BY 3.0) license:
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[@Ednanadine]

Enjoyed your “vacation video”…relaxed and informative from your mother’s closet. Keep shining the light on Raptors behaviour. Extinction is off the table.

[@bobopanget]

even if vezenkov doesnt stay, that trade is still A-. getting rid of mcdaniels and 2 second round picks for absolutely nothing except salary dump is still amazing. a possible backup pg in davion and honestly, it's not like we're trying to win (i hope not) so we can possibly draft lottery for 2025. and him leaving means a partial or complete buyout where he takes zero money if he's that desperate to leave. which frees up salary and possibly a roster spot and more minutes for players that need minutes to develop. win-win-win

[@RaptorsReport]

Yes, perhaps I was a bit too harsh on the non-Vezenkov trade possibility. Thanks for the comment.

[@palidanek74]

atleast a B+ for sure

[@JBRitchie8]

I give the offseason a B, I think they did as much as they could. I like the draft additions and the rationale behind them, getting more shooting to fit around Scottie Barnes in Ja'Kobe Walter as well as some more seasoned defensive minded players like Mogbo and Shead. So I give the draft grade an A. As far as the free agency/trade part, I give them a C. I would have hoped to see Bruce Brown somewhere else by then for maybe some draft capital but that didn't happen. Great video by the way!

[@416nameless]

You’re a good guy bro.

[@shawn497]

Great video, loving the content!

[@DanGolag]

Moreso than Draymond, who is a defensive savant, Mogbo makes me think of a younger, longer, more athletic Thad Young, and that's an awesome player to have on the bench.

[@aj17pearce]

Thad was pretty damn athletic when he came in

[@DanGolag]

@@aj17pearce No shade towards Thad, dude was still hammering it down as late as 2023, IIRC, but afaik Mogbo has even better measurables.

[@SeaBeast902]

Great breakdown. Let's go Rebuild Raps 🔥

[@LegPressWhizzer]

I think you're one of the few ppl who say that Mogbo as 6'7. For some reason, his barefoot height of 6'6 kept getting said over and over, making him sound much smaller than he is. Obviously still not huge but not as short as others were making him sound. Also, apparently the G in his name is silent so it's more like mobo, as in the short form of motherboard Great vid! Enjoy your vacation

[@RaptorsReport]

@@LegPressWhizzer I’ve seen the post about Mogbo’s name with the silent ‘G’, but I think it might be one of those names where you like very, very lightly tap the consonant rather than omitting the sound entirely. But I will obviously change my pronunciation if I’m wrong! And I got my height info from the Tankathon website, which has all of the combine measurements (like wingspan/standing reach, etc.). The 9 foot standing reach that Mogbo has is actually higher than other C prospects like Filipowski for instance. Thank you for the comment!

[@mikesweeney7778]

"And he also can't shoot" Masai: 'I'LL TAKE HIM!"

[@RaptorsReport]

Haha

[@carlinjames9475]

I MOSTLY agree - Bobby & Masai did say this isnt going to be a few pieces and then we're back to contention. It's going to be 7-8 moves. And we also got THREE first round picks for Pascal the other is a 2026 pick. Not bad value for someone you weren't going to extend anyway. Of courese we could have traded him sooner - but you know Masai loves his home grown players

[@OctoMatoe]

it sounds good enough haha

[@FillGaps]

Draft B+ could be better or worse with time, contracts slight over pay on IQ, trade A to incomplete need to get $1.5 mil or less buyout of SV. BB d- to incomplete. Showing Bruce in season will slow development. Need to figure this out to move into the future!

[@dunnowy123]

Buckle up Raptors fans, I expect us to be a subpar/first round exit playoff team for at least the next 4-5 seasons. Happy to be wrong though.

[@crazyand2099]

The fact we didn't get Jalen Smith for Siakam is what makes the Siakam trade horrible. He has potential and left the Pacers for nothing so they clearly weren't rushing to keep him.

[@canadianchungus701]

I disagree - Regardless of whether Vezenkov stays, the deal's an A plus. McDaniels was never gonna amount to anything for us - to get a lottery player, another one similar to him, a 2025 2nd round pick (likely on the top end of 2nd round) is a great deal for some flexibility in future.

[@RaptorsReport]

@@canadianchungus701 the lottery player being Davion Mitchell? Listen, I think the trade is good. Second round picks rarely pan out, and Davion Mitchell has not been very good thus far. The Raptors get to take a look at all of them, which is certainly better than Jalen McDaniels, but I’m not very confident that they are going to pan out. I appreciate the comment!

[@canadianchungus701]

@@RaptorsReport I’d have taken back an Andrea Bargnani’s autographed Primo pasta and sauce package for McDaniels - so, to get actual players that can do something is huge

[@RaptorsReport]

I hear you. McDaniels did not work out at all. Hopefully Vezenkov suits up, Mitchell revives his career and Shead/next year’s second get a chance to prove themselves!

[@canadianchungus701]

@@RaptorsReport I hope so too. Please enjoy your vacation in BC (I am here also) - weather’s too beautiful to spend time in a closet 🫡

[@FillGaps]

Good job but enjoy Vac

[@donle421]

The raptors should win nba championship again but idk how long will it take

[@infamous1ao]

Mogbo can't shoot means nothing Scottie could shoot when drafted. I think he will be a lighter version of Scottie.

[@crazyand2099]

Total homer take, Scottie took 3 years to develop a jumpshot while already having a great mid range jumpshot. Mogbo has nothing outside of the paint.

[@aquamarine99911]

Listening to the backdrop music. Sort of not-scary Halloween soundtrack-y. Your use of the word "chops" suggest you are a (fellow) musician. Did you do it yourself? I really wouldn't have minded letting Brown walk, given the toxicity of his contract and the fact that we're rebuilding. We could have let Gary and Brown walk, and use the cap space to help other teams out in return for draft capital. Basically what they did in the Kings trade, but on a bigger scale. But maybe that type of deal wasn't presenting itself before we had to sign IQ, so they opted to retain the asset. Interesting that Gary was apparently seeking ~25 mill, and turned down our 15 mill offer. His agent must be pretty stupid. Not as bothered as you by the non-shooting draftees. Walter started off his freshman year shooting well, but then apparently got a knee injury that hobbled him (details are murky). But he could be another OG-esque find outside the lottery. As for Shead, Norm didn't shoot at all coming out of his four years at UCLA. People change. Meanwhile Davion's outside shooting really improved in the last half of last season. Seeing the value of Jrue guarding the point of attack may increase his trade value by the next trade deadline. If Jrue gets hurt, perhaps the Cs give us a good offer.

[@RaptorsReport]

Re: the music, I'm working off a laptop, but I am a musician! This is royalty-free music, but I made the looped music on my past few videos. I also do mashups under the name "Wave Sunray" on KZbin if you're interested in that kind of stuff. About the non-shootingness of our draftees, I do project Ja'Kobe to be able to shoot the 3 in the NBA. Shead less so, but good pull re: Norm Powell. Davion Mitchell is an interesting case. The Kings are a bit of a disaster when it comes to development, so maybe they didn't do a good job there and the Raptors could pick up the slack. I'm interested to see what he can bring, but you're right he's improved his shooting (mostly off-ball, spot-up, but a pleasant development nonetheless).

[@destinduckworth5484]

You’re being too negative for no reason, the off-season is a B at worst, we did amazing at the draft you were too on some of the players we drafted, we kept Scottie and IQ, we did what we were supposed to do, the whole Bruce brown situation maybe waiting to during the summer league to discuss some trades, and whether we keep vezenkov or not, we still aced the trade because we got two second round picks for Jalen McDaniels, so yeah of course like I said, you’re too negative because you set your expectations too high for no reason, when we’re clearly just focusing on developing our young guys and building around our core, so yeah stop being negative and be optimistic for once, it’s getting sad

[@RaptorsReport]

Sorry to disappoint you. C is a passing grade, because I think they're moving in the correct direction, but did not do anything to wow me. I don't think I'm too negative, and gave them a fair shake when it comes to the moves they made, but I suppose I'm a bit biased when it comes to my own opinion, haha. Thanks for the comment!