Raptors mailbag: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Steve Nash and the case to trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo

Toronto Star

2 days ago

Here we go again: Not many submissions, an awful lot of questions.
Have fun and maybe Ye Olde Mailbag will grow next week once the Finals are set, the draft's a week closer and the rest of the sports world goes on.
I see they're well into the WNBA season and it's got to be more interesting in Toronto given the Tempo debut next year.
If fans are watching, what's the Tempo watching and what should fans be paying attention to?
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-Evelyn W., Mississauga
I saw this week that the Tempo added to the front office, poaching Eli Horowitz from the L.A. Sparks to be the team's assistant general manager. So there's stuff going on behind the scenes, for sure.
Doug Smith's Sports Blog
Opinion
Doug Smith: Raptors mailbag: More Jakob Poeltl trade rumours, a Canadian MVP and comparisons to Maple Leafs fans
In this week's mailbag, Doug Smith takes questions on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, the NBA playoffs, the Leafs, the NBA draft and more.
Doug Smith's Sports Blog
Opinion
Doug Smith: Raptors mailbag: More Jakob Poeltl trade rumours, a Canadian MVP and comparisons to Maple Leafs fans
In this week's mailbag, Doug Smith takes questions on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic, the NBA playoffs, the Leafs, the NBA draft and more.
But other than that, as I wrote in a story about Monica Wright Rogers before the season, there's not a lot of tangible work to do until there's more guidance on the process of stocking the team comes from the league and a new CBA is in place.
One thing I'm watching on the court is how stacked the Liberty is and can they repeat or if the usually-dynastic Lynx can get revenge.
Hi Doug,
Thanks for the series on potential picks. Looking at past drafts in Wikipedia shows you how hard it is to find rotation players, let alone stars, among a sea of quite often overhyped kids. Finding Pascal siakam, Jakob Poeltl, and undrafted Fred VanVleet was just shy of miraculous work by the Raptors.
Some questions:
1) Tyrese Haliburton, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Pascal Siakam. Three players leading their teammates to the conference finals … none drafted in the top 10!
Is the real hard part of the draft identifying these less hyped future stars? To be fair, the 2018 draft year features Trae Young, Luka Doncic, SGA, and a second-rounder Jalen Brunson!
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2) Sticking with the draft, typically the first picks are big forwards, is guard play undervalued?
3) Masai Ujiri mentioned earlier in the year how the Celtics had Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown for several years, each year almost expected to win a championship, but it took several years of finding the right teammates to actually win.
Do the Celtics need to do much besides get healthy in the future?
4) When reading about potential draft picks, many writers talk about a player's ceiling or floor. If I understand correctly, a guy with a 'high ceiling' is a player believed to have untapped potential and likely to improve significantly. On the flip side, players with a 'high floor' are ones who are currently good enough as is. Giannis Antetokounmpo and Pascal Siakam were drafted as high ceiling guys while Shaquille O'Neal, Rudy Gobert, and Zion Williamson were picked as high floor guys. Do I have it right? So, a high floor guy pretty much means low ceiling? (Not an insult, but comment on current skills. No one expected Shaq to become Steph Curry!)
Raptors Insider
Raptors NBA draft: Collin Murray-Boyles drawing comparisons to Draymond Green but is a risk for Toronto
South Carolina product is a 3-and-D specialist without the '3' right now. Scouts are drawn to his defensive skills and a top-notch competitive nature.
Raptors Insider
Raptors NBA draft: Collin Murray-Boyles drawing comparisons to Draymond Green but is a risk for Toronto
South Carolina product is a 3-and-D specialist without the '3' right now. Scouts are drawn to his defensive skills and a top-notch competitive nature.
Bonus qu estions: I remember the gasps on draft night when Scottie Barnes was selected.
Were you surprised at the time and how likely are Bobby Webster and Masai Ujiri to shock the world again?
-Bernie M.
The items on the draft possibilities is as much about educating me as you, to be honest.
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If there's one thing I've come to know it's with the exception of one or two or maybe three players who are set up for greatness every year or two, the entire process is a crapshoot and the results are as much to do with how franchises grow and teach young players than it does the players themselves. And I think it's so hard to master guard play at the NBA level, the tendency is to think of wings and bigs as more immediate contributors. So maybe not undervalued as much as needed more patience.
The Celtics are screwed. They have to get younger and bigger and — most important — less expensive and I don't know how they will.
I pay zero attention to 'floor' and 'ceiling' because they mean nothing. So I'd suggest reading right past them.
The afternoon of that draft, I think I was the only guy suggesting Barnes was their guy and not Jalen Suggs if they couldn't move up to get Evan Mobley because Barnes was exactly the kind of player they love. I'm pretty proud of that.
Basketball
From Steve Nash to SGA, there's a Canadian secret recipe for NBA greatness
It's not a stretch to think Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will sound precisely like Steve Nash should a third NBA MVP from Canada ever materialize.
Basketball
From Steve Nash to SGA, there's a Canadian secret recipe for NBA greatness
It's not a stretch to think Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will sound precisely like Steve Nash should a third NBA MVP from Canada ever materialize.
Has SGA surpassed Steve Nash as the best Canadian NBAer ever? Or does he have more to do?
-Kyle, Niagara Falls
You're not going to find a bigger Nash fan than I was/am but, at 26 years old, I'm giving the edge to Shai right now. It might revert over the next decade because Nash was utterly brilliant in his 30s but we'll have to see.
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The Giannis Antetokounmpo rumours continue in these parts. Given recent history, here, hard to take them seriously. At least there haven't been any reports about private jets on their way from Milwaukee yet.
So allegedly, Giannis has let it be known he wants to stay in the East and Toronto would be an acceptable destination. I'm a bit skeptical of this allegation, but let's take the rumour as just that — a rumour. Now we've seen cases in the NBA where a player under contract wants to be traded and kind of/sort of gets serious input into his trade destination. Would Antetokounmpo pretty much get a destination of his choice? Or would it be like Kawhi Leonard — who ended up in Toronto — which was fairly apparently not his first choice?
Raptors
Raptors big man Jakob Poeltl changed basketball in Austria. But the game never changed him
It's hard to quantify how being Austria's only NBA player changed the sport back home.
Raptors
Raptors big man Jakob Poeltl changed basketball in Austria. But the game never changed him
It's hard to quantify how being Austria's only NBA player changed the sport back home.
I'm assuming that we'd be not the only team wanting to add Giannis — so it would be a competitive situation. At the same time, similarly to how Kawhi was perceived, back then, Antetokounmpo isn't perceived as quite the value proposition he was a few years ago. Kawhi was coming from a season of injury. Giannis is also considered by some to be a bit broken down and not the player he recently was. Kawhi clearly wanted out of San Antonio. Giannis only maybe wants out of Milwaukee.
The biggest difference between then and now is that the Raptors, deeper than they've been the last few years, are still not deep. Whereas the Raptors that won the Kawhi sweepstakes were infinitely deep. Almost all of our second unit are stars now with other teams. I don't see how it makes sense to take on Giannis but lose depth.
I would never have traded DeMar DeRozan. But its clear the trade was crucial in winning us a championship. It's clear we 'won' the trade (taking into account Danny Green and Jakob Poeltl too). But I just can't help but feel that it will be nearly impossible to pull off a trade like that again to get Antetokounmpo. I've got to assume to make this happen, we'd have to sacrifice some of the depth the Raptors now have. And depth wins championships almost all the time.
This is my roundabout way of saying I don't think its going to happen. Agree?
Jeffrey V
I don't know if it will happen but I do know there is mutual interest between Antetokounmpo and the Raptors. The wild card is the cost.
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But I also think the Raptors are uniquely placed to make an attractive offer that won't ruin their franchise or roster. I would make the case that a logjam at the wings makes them deep enough that if they had to pay even two out of Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji, Ja'Kobe Walter, RJ Barrett, Jonathan Mogbo would still leave enough to fill out a pretty good team with promising young players still developing. Plus, they have all their picks, so giving a first-rounder every year for, say, four years, leaves enough.
The question is if you think the remaining players will develop, just as that group of Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Jakob Poeltl did. Not to that level — that's a historic young group no one's come close to matching — but if it can come close, that's pretty darn good.
Again, the odds of doing a Giannis deal are long but the remnants of paying a steep price isn't too bad.
30 somethings
Pizza! Pizza! Some loved the Raptors' promotion. Others hated it. But the chants were undeniably a part of the franchise's lore
From merchandise giveaways to jackpots, no Raptors promotion has been more popular — and divisive — than Pizza Pizza's Score a Slice.
30 somethings
Pizza! Pizza! Some loved the Raptors' promotion. Others hated it. But the chants were undeniably a part of the franchise's lore
From merchandise giveaways to jackpots, no Raptors promotion has been more popular — and divisive — than Pizza Pizza's Score a Slice.
Sir: Could Sportsnet have switched away any quicker from Oklahoma City's conference clinching win? I blinked and there was pre-recorded UFC stuff on. Bush league.
Do you think the playoffs have changed the perception of the West being a vastly superior conference to the East? A lot of the West teams seemed to display various weaknesses in their squads.
-Paul M.
I was actually in Our Nation's Capital watching my sister-in-law and brother-in-law inducted into the city's sports Hall of Fame and only glanced at the score on the phone. But I have heard from a handful of friends expressing dismay at the post-game Canadian TV shenanigans and must say I was shocked at how it was handled. Bush league, disrespectful, cheating viewers all come to mind. We can only hope that NBA Finals coverage includes post-game analysis but at least there's a chance the Buffalo ABC affiliate will show some of it.
Not sure if there's any change in perception, I am absolutely convinced the West is the most powerful conference by a wide margin because of the number of good teams and it's going to stay that way when the top two draft picks go West next season.