Breaking Down the $15 Dream Team Meme

In an age where you can't even get a pair of drinks at most bars for as much, $15 suddenly can buy you a starting lineup of NBA legends.

If you're an NBA fan who spends anywhere beyond a moderate amount of time on the internet, then you've no doubt encountered this inquisitive meme (or one like it), imploring you to hatch a literal All-Time Dream Team - only under a pretty stringent salary cap.

I have mixed feelings about these things, but have been confronted with them enough, especially this week - in an NBA Facebook group I frequent, on the website I write for, all over Twitter - that I've succumbed to the exposure. While the result is ultimately just another blurb in an endless line of fruitless Internet debates, it's a new spin on an idea that every fan has toyed with from time to time. Only its execution leaves a lot to be desired:

Conceptually it's kind of vague. I tend to over-think things, but it's hard for me to look at something like this and not ponder; "Are we getting these guys at their peaks, or as aggregates of their careers?", "Is this for one game? A Playoff series? A whole Playoffs? A season? Longer?", "Are we playing under today's NBA rules?" (ex; West has a 3-point line, Hack-A-Wilt is deployed regularly, and Jordan can feast on defenses that can't hand-check him), and so on. Maybe its intent was intentionally open-ended in that regard, but as with the NBA's award voting, this mostly just leads people to misinterpretation.

Things are further muddled by the rankings, especially at the four-spot. Advanced apologies to whoever created this, but anyone who honestly believes Karl Malone is the best power forward ever is either grossly misinformed, or in the intermediate stages of mental decay.

That the consensus best all-timer (Duncan) is in the middle of the scale at $3, murders the whole position's equity, and makes it hard to give much benefit of doubt to the other questionable price rankings (Erving over Durant, Drexler over Wade, Kareem over Russell, and basically the entire PF position.)

Furthermore, this system works on the flawed assumption that the value margins at every position are similar; that, for example, the power forward and center positions carry equal weight - Duncan would likely be the only PF in the Top-5 if those two groups merged - or that Michael Jordan should have the same price as any other player.

Be that as it may, I'm giving it a shot nonetheless, assuming that I'm drafting the player during his prime, for a Playoff series vs. this theoretical Draft Pool's 'B' Team, under current NBA rules. I'm also proceeding with the Power Forward rankings hesitantly; if someone's offering me Garnett for 1/5th Malone's price, I'm mildly petrified that it's the 2014 version.

With such a talent pool, you'd have to try pretty hard to spend $15 and screw this Draft up; it's kind of like playing the CPU on easy in 2K14. There's arguments to be made for a number of selection strategies; really these are the All-Time Greats, not the 2013 NBA Entry Class, you could shoot blindfolded and still come out OK.

THE DRAFT:

The obvious first move is to take Jordan (= $10 left). He's not only the best payer available at a capped price, but a must-leader for this team as a legendary competitive maniac. Bill Russell is the only player in NBA history to register on his level in that regard; every favorable team from this Draft should have one of those two guys.

I wanted to ensure that strong-to-elite defenders lined every position. If these guys are taking on a similar squad, there's no hiding anyone on D, and far less room for lapses. Several players here are spotty defenders, making them instant scratches (sorry, Dirk). I also leaned towards athleticism, versatility and intangibles in close calls; it's the small things that count big when the margins are slim.

Next up, I'm filling the other backcourt slot with Walt Frazier (= $9 left), an immense value at just $1, as a versatile offensive threat and, by reputation, the best defender of the PGs here. In a perfect World, having John Stockton as uber-facilitator on a team this stacked would be ideal, but Frazier is the more athletic option, and saving on him will allow me to splurge later.

Durant at the 3-spot (= $7 left). Just too great of a value at $2, and a perfect fit for a team where Jordan/Frazier figure to be ball-dominant. Playing alongside Russell Westbrook for the past few years, KD's grown accustomed to working with fewer touches, yet still finds ways to score at mind-warping rates. He'll stretch the floor, can contain anyone he's matched up with, and is among the least egomaniacal guys you could put on a team like this.

As noted, I consider the Power Forward rankings are wildly unfair. I'd also see it as unfair if I walked into Best Buy and they offered me a 70" TV for $300, but I'd likely take them up on the offer. As such, I've gotta steal Tim Duncan (= $4 left), again the best defender - not to mention best player - at the position. Timmy can operate effectively in the low or high post, slide to center if needed, and won more titles in first two seasons than the guys frivolously valued higher than him did in their entire careers.

That leaves me with 4 bucks to drop on Bill Russell, who would team with Jordan to form a yin-yang of ultimate competitive fire. Both were pathological winners, and enabled that desire to permeate to their teammates, only Russell's was administered through brotherhood and sacrifice, as opposed to Jordan's respect and outright fear. I'm steadfastly convinced that no team with Jordan, Russell, and three other all-timers could lose here, especially under the assumption that  this isn't Street Fighter, and drafting them would prevent my team from facing them.

Russ was no slouch as a ballplayer either, though his brilliance has been distorted by the decades since his career, and the lack of extensive video from his era. I've seen painfully few of his games; most of my knowledge of him comes through stats, archives, and anecdotes. But the unanimous verdict (I've never heard a dissenting opinion from an analyst or former player) is that his skills and athleticism were years ahead of their time, and that Russell stood alone as a teammate and winner.


Picture a cross between Serge Ibaka, Joakim Noah and Dennis Rodman, giving him all of their best traits while supplanting none of the bad. On steroids. He was by all accounts the greatest defender who ever lived, and a heavily underrated offensive player, who valued involving teammates over scoring himself, in stark contrast to many big men of his era (as a result, he won 11 titles in 13 seasons, also in stark contrast to many big men of his era). His facilitator mentality from the post would be vital to a roster with so much firepower, and if you thought Duncan formed a strong post-passing corps with Diaw and Splitter, these guys would be levels beyond.

He rounds out a unit that features the (most likely) best defender available at four of five positions, and while you can't expect to shut a team down in an All-Time All-Star Game, this is a devastating lineup on D, and would make life tough on anyone at times. They'd be deadly both in the halfcourt, and an uptempo, transition-style game, and have formidable length across the entire front line. No Easy Buckets.

Again, this mostly boils down to Russell and Jordan though. In a debate as abstract and complex as this one, it's easy to over-complicate things, delve into convoluted hypothetical matchups and synergies, and forget the basics: That these two on their own had impermeable wills to win, and that even against the top-tier opposition from this Draft, many of whom were denied championships at their hands, they'd likely be just as unstoppable together.

How the West Was Saved, starring Serge Ibaka

I was kind of shook last week when the NBA suddenly scheduled a Three Days Grace in the middle of the Conference Finals.

The abnormally-long break was an annoying cliffhanger, but apparently was just long enough for Serge Ibaka to summon some Deer Antler Spray superhuman will, revert a season-ending injury, and save his team's Playoff lives.

Ibaka was the difference last night, playing a superb game on both ends of the floor while noticeably hobbling at times. He came out blazing like Tony in Scarface's final scene, nailing jumpers from several midrange spots, and forcing the Spurs out of the containment scheme that had worked so well for them over the first two games. Serge's displaced defenders created lanes that OKC's scorers exploited all night, allowing them to get easy buckets in a game where Kevin Durant was decidedly pedestrian by his standards -25 on 8-19 -and Russell Westbrook was a walking (running) lost possession in the first half.

On the other end, his presence was also invaluable; not only did he block four shots, but he did an absurd amount of disruption for someone whose season was ostensibly over last week. He dissuaded San Antonio's deadly pick 'n roll, making life miserable for Tony Parker, and most others who came near OKC's basket. It was evident in the number of jumpers the Spurs were forced into, after feasting on the Thunder's interior defense for the first two games (only in the first half, Manu Ginobili doused the 3-point line in gasoline and lit a match).

The Thunder seemed undoubtedly more mobile and confident as a defensive unit working around Ibaka. That added effectiveness - San Antonio shot 39% in Game 3 coming off 57 and 50% - was a team effort, but unquestionably sparked by Ibaka's deterrence against penetration, and OKC's facilitated movement around him. The Spurs had to call audibles they otherwise wouldn't have, and suddenly, somehow, Popovich had no answer for Scott Brooks' Random Lineup Machine.

That the Thunder have several lineups that give San Antonio problems has seemed lost on Brooks, who stubbornly insists on playing Kendrick Perkins about twice as much as he should. The bogus fouls that Perk was quickly racking up last night were basically the refs doing Brooks' job for him in a hilariously ironic way. And Brooks kept clicking buttons on the machine: Reggie Jackson started for some reason, we saw Jeremy Lamb for the first time in eons, Nick Collison and Thabo Sefolosha took confusing DNP-CDs. Some of this worked, but the Thunder's long, athletic talent causes fundamental problems for the Spurs in lots of spots, so he's bound to hit somewhere. It's like the 'broken clock is right twice a day' saying, only far more frequent.

(Brooks also gets demerit points for how long he left Ibaka in, during the late stages of a decided game. I know, I know, it's the Spurs, and it's the Playoffs, and anything can happen, and he's had a big night, and the fans are all fired up... But, yeah, anything can happen. This guy's attempting a miracle comeback on one leg; get him the fuck out of the game, preserve his energy, and ensure something like this doesn't happen).

San Antonio will no doubt bring a re-tooled arsenal to Chesapeake Energy Arena for Game 4; they're too smart, experienced, and versatile to let one deflating loss stick with them beyond last night. But even with their thorough depth, this is the one team San Antonio can't seem to figure out; the Thunder took four straight from them the last time they clashed in the Playoffs, and the momentum they're riding right now couldn't be stronger.

As a result, seemingly out of nowhere, we have a Western Conference Finals again; a fitting twist in a plot that deserved a better ending. The West was brutally competitive this year; a point that was made so many times, but could never be over-stated. The narrative was destined for a titanic showdown between two worthy foes to decide a Champ, and for two games it seemed like an illest-timed injury would be robbing us of that spectacle.

But then the Serge Protector delivered. Not only was his return a sudden rush of voltage to a team desperately in need of revival, but he knocked the Spurs out of their comfort zone, giving the Thunder at least a hope of escaping the grave his absence dug.

A Tale of Four Cities

So here we are, down to the NBA's version of the Final Four, left with the quartet of squads that figured to be here, both in terms of seeding, and most season-long projections.

What's unfortunate is that the heavyweight bouts we'd all hoped for might not go down according to plan, as the Thunder once again find themselves with a crippling injury at the worst of times, and the Pacers seemingly swoon in and out of coherent basketball by the quarter.

Trying to figure out these Pacers right now is a losing proposition; they've been the most mercurial top seed in recent memory (last year's Heat being the possible exception) and have had their collective chain rattled by inferior teams too often, both in the Playoffs and 2014 in general. Place your bets and hope for the best.

Paul George has been taken out of games entirely for stretches and utterly dominated others. Roy Hibbert's putting up donuts one night, and dancing all over the Wizards' once-feared front line the next. Lance Stephenson is, well, being Lance Stephenson, and their bench is all over the map; with CJ Watson as a beacon of consistency, and Luis Scola mostly in Walking Dead Mode.

Of course, Indiana matches up very well with the Heat, and have given them problems ever since Miami's Big 3 came together. The George/Hibbert combo is likely the best means on Earth of containing LeBron James, while The Pacers aren't exactly uncomfortable with Miami's style of play. That said, it's all contingent on which version of them will show up from night to night, when the Heat are playing at a much higher level more consistently.

At their best, Indiana could take this series to seven games easily, but when was the last time you saw them play anywhere near their best for anywhere near that long a stretch? January maybe? That they've survived this long is a slight miracle and testament to just how thin the East was this year. And keep in mind, they're facing the two-time champs, who are looking at the Pacers like wounded prey right now; they'll be far more of a test than a maligned Hawks roster or an inexperienced Wizards team could hope to be nightly.

The only thing these current Pacers really have going for them heading into this series is that they didn't cough the ball up much against Washington, but Miami's pestering defense will likely force plenty more turnovers (unleashing their lethal transition game) and be far less prone to the lapses that so often produced Pacers buckets in the East Semis.

One off game could be enough to blow this series for Bird's Boys, and at their current pace, they're likely due for at least two. As much as Miami has brought the best out of them - especially Hibbert - it's just too much to trust that the Pacers, right now, will be able to compete on their level consistently. They're certainly capable of proving me wrong, but the past few months suggest it's not going to happen. HEAT in 5. 

Meanwhile in the West, the potential for an epic clash may have been thwarted by the bummer announcement that Serge Ibaka's done for the season; a huge blow to OKC's title chase for the second straight year. Just when the refs had gifted-wrapped a series for them they'd started to get back to their winning style, they're dealt a potentially-crippling blow against an opponent that just took a semi-dangerous team like Portland and completely toyed with them.

Any kind of big injury is potentially a huge issue for Scott Brooks, who isn't exactly a genius with lineup adjustments, and is going to struggle to replace Power Serge against the Spurs' deep and diverse bench. Nick Collison is definitely one of the NBA's better backup bigs - a smart, deceptively athletic two-way player who's likely among the league's Top 5 best-passing big men - but he's nowhere near the interior protector Ibaka is. That will be apparent when Duncan's dissecting in the high post and Tony Parker (hamstring-pending) slices into the paint at will. We're likely to see heavy doses of the Collison/Steven Adams combo, which could be worse defensively, but the two of them together aren't even close to the athletic, floor-spacing threat Ibaka is on offense.

There might finally be somewhere near enough shots for both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, who are going to have to play out of their minds if the Thunder are to stand a chance. Good looks will be somewhat harder to come by with more attention on them defensively, which requires their optimal efficiency. This will probably mean deferring to KD in the clutch, which Russ has been infuriatingly hesitant to do. It's really not that complicated, Westbrook's one of the best scorers in the NBA today, Durant's one of the best scorers ever. The MVP is an absolute killer down the stretch of close games, the Spurs are infinitely less likely to make the kind of mistakes L.A. did. The margins will be slimmer, so the Thunder will have to grind every edge carefully, meaning the offense has to go through KD in tight spots. 

San Antonio just looked great in the second round, an amazingly thorough roster, with an answer for seemingly any matchup. They can deceptively mold into their surroundings, patiently forcing mistakes and delivering fatal blows. They're part chameleon, part Komodo dragon.

Their single biggest threat is that they don't have just one; it can come from literally anywhere. The Big Three are constantly liable for game-changing performances, and Sugar K Leonard has once again become his borderline-dominant Playoff self. Their supporting cast is probably deeper than any team since the Bad Boys went back-to-back, and stunningly consistent. Leonard will pose a particularly large hurdle to Durant, who, while far from being "Inconsistent", certainly let Tony Allen and Chris Paul take him out of games for stretches his team can't afford against the Spurs.

Again, I feel slightly cheated. This could easily have been a seven-game thriller with OKC at full strength and Popovich unleashing the product of his most calculated (and impressive) Playoff Resting Campaign ever. But with the Thunder already slim underdogs, and now missing Ibaka, it's tough to see them taking more than two games from The System. SPURS in 6. 

Blips and Clips: This Week in the NBA

The NBA Playoffs have been unusually hectic this year, not only cluttered with a litany of compelling on-court subplots, but significant re-tooling after a season in which only one coach was fired, and the ever-lingering Donald Sterling Saga.

I've avoided discussing Sterling for the most part - in this blog, across social media, and in person - because I'm against propagating the issue. This was hardly a revelation for anyone who's followed the NBA closely, and if anything was overdue in being dealt with. The man is senile, bigoted, and carries a prolonged history of racism; not only are his sad perspective and ideas unworthy of the attention they've garnered, but are callous distractions as "his" team fights for their Playoff lives.

The sad reality is that Sterling may continue to loom over the franchise, intent on challenging his forced sale of the team. While he's highly unlikely to win, the litigation could take far longer than the NBA would like to rid themselves of someone whose parasitic mentality has festered for years.

Every minute spent discussing Sterling is something that could, and should, be focused on what's going on with his team, and the rest of the Playoff survivors. So while The Donald digs himself deeper, let's not give him an audience.

Sunken Opportunity 
Speaking of the Clippers, their nebulous meltdown last night - after an incredible comeback in Game 4 - adds yet another layer to one onion of a season for this team. Needless to say a couple of pretty questionable calls went against them, but L.A. shot themselves in the foot repeatedly down the stretch, making it hard to lean on the officials.

The poor reffing comes as an unfortunate non-surprise, in a postseason where an abnormally high number of weird whistles and rampant reviews are hampering the NBA's entertainment value pretty noticeably. There have been blown calls benefiting teams both ways throughout every series; officiating, basketball in particular, is far from a perfect science. The Clippers' referee variance, while guilty of very, very, very bad timing, also directly resulted from their own mistakes.

Deliver Us From Otis
Mistakes are something Joe Dumars made plenty of in Detroit's front office, and just as he'd worn out his welcome, the Pistons may be opening their door to another notorious party-crasher.

Stan Van Gundy has been hired to run the show for the Bad Boys (as in 'their team is really bad'), named both Head Coach and President. They could've done far worse; SVG had a productive run with Orlando, before Dwight Howard's awkward coup d'etat cost both him and GM Otis Smith their jobs. What should terrify Pistons fans is that Van Gundy's considering handing Smith the keys to their team; great news for upcoming Free Agents seeking a bloated contract, or the fans of any team the Pistons might trade with down the road.

Why Stan would trust this guy again, after he butchered several moves and allowed the Howard fiasco to escalate to the point where it consumed the Magic for well over a year and got them both fired, is beyond me.

Everybody Loves Steve
While the Pistons tagged a reputable bench boss to turn their team around, he was more or less a second-tier hire right now. The coach-to-be with by far the hottest current stock is, for some reason, Steve Kerr; being fought over by several teams. Personally, I don't really get it.

I understand fully that Kerr's a knowledgeable, connected, experienced and respected figure in NBA circles, but I'm not sold that these qualities make him a good coaching candidate, or at least one every team with a vacancy should be clamoring to hire.



Kerr is an experienced player, and five-time champion, but was never more than an eighth-man shooting-specialist, and not really known as a leader. His time in Phoenix as GM was uninspiring; three years of mostly-backwards movement that saw him bow out before an inevitable rebuild. His analysis on TNT is usually strong, but his neglect of the 2014 awards ballot (including LeBron for DPOY and Tim Hardaway Jr for ROY) makes you wonder just how much basketball he watched this year.

The teams tug-of-warring for his services are both high-profile voids. The Knicks are looking to rebound from a disastrously stressful season, under the Zen Master's calm aura, while the Warriors need to rectify a controversial axing that most of their players were openly against. In both cases, there will be heavy expectations, perhaps too much for the shoulders of someone with no coaching experience. But hey, who needs a strong coach when your owner's James Dolan?

Everybody Hates Roy (and Russell) 
The narratives of two NBA stars continue to swing wildly, taking those of their teams with them as the internet's fickle masses chime in. Russell Westbrook and Roy Hibbert have been the targets for plenty of social media vitriol over the past few weeks; the former for his ostensible neglect of Kevin Durant, the latter for simply playing like garbage far too often.

Hibbert's case looks like a pretty clear mental disconnect, although it's difficult to call anything "clear" when discussing the often-misunderstood and largely-unexplored realms of the human mind. His sudden revival showed that he isn't completely broken, and Frank Vogel the Pacers need him to channel that level more if they're going to live up to expectations. Even then, through Indiana's disconnected play, with Hibbert in flux, Paul George randomly disappearing, Lance Stephenson being totally erratic, Luis Scola's uselessness, and the team having no idea how to even begin trying to score most nights, his best might not even be enough.

Westbrook is also a puzzling conundrum, but for different reasons. He is who he is; a highly-manic player who spends every possession hungrily attacking. Aside from insane athleticism and great skill, his game thrives on his primal, reckless instinct to take the ball from the other team and put it in their basket. It's a big part of what makes him arguably a Top-5 NBA player; a good thing an overwhelming majority of the time. . But a direct by-product of this mindset are his occasional defensive gambles and offensive tunnel-vision, segregating one of the best scorers ever.

The question's been posed many times if the Thunder would be better suited trading Westbrook; a risky proposition, due to both his top-tier value, and Sam Presti's track record on major trades. Dealing such an elite player in his prime is a tough concept for OKC to wrap their heads around, but the team seems stubbornly unwilling to break the luxury tax threshold (ask this guy) or amnesty Kendrick Perkins, and forking over the Max to a player whose absence they weathered very well this year might not be optimal. Any trade would hinge on this season's title chase and whether the franchise's lofty character arc can be fulfilled, but it wouldn't be totally illogical if the Thunder fall short.

Westbrook's Westbrookness is a smaller problem than some critics make it out to be, and one that virtually any team in the NBA would happily live with. But for the Thunder - who ran their offense almost entirely through Kevin Durant and Reggie Jackson this year, scoring 106 ppg - you can't help but wonder if giving Durant more shots and bolstering other positions would be a bad idea.

Of course, Scott Brooks' either unwillingness or inability to run any kind of coherent offense with these two dynamic talents is perhaps the bigger issue for the Thunder; that they can still maybe win a title in spite of his coaching is a testament to just how good Westbrook and Durant really are.

Started From the Bottom. Where To Next?

I've always had a bit of a conflicted relationship with the Toronto Raptors.

As a proud Canadian, I've wanted to see them succeed, but as a basketball purist who watched in dismay as their front office butchered move after move, year after year, GM after GM, I found them hard to stomach.

They quickly built themselves a decrepit legacy - if such a thing can manifest in 20 years - of losing. Losing young talent too early, losing large leads in the second halves of games, losing the interest of the rest of the NBA, and myself. I looked at my country's last link to the NBA kind of like Stan and Kyle do Butters on South Park; I kind of felt bad for them, and wanted the best for them, I just didn't wanna be seen hanging out with them (or mind making fun of them from time to time).

Things changed this season, after Masai Ujiri cleared up their roster with a couple simply miraculous blockbuster trades. In two fell swoops, he revitalized the Raptors' roster, by tossing two of the NBA's most egregious contracts at teams who happily forked over valuable assets. The Bargnani and Gay trades were straight pillages.

Suddenly, the Raptors were doing things like upsetting OKC on the road, and beating the Antetokounmpo out of pretty much every team in the East. Even as a somewhat-hastily-made roster of unproven youngsters, led by one of the NBA's most enigmatically challenged players, they looked like a legit team.

They rode this momentous wave of sudden success all the way to a Top-3 seed (albeit in the Leastern Conference), where I, and the rest of the NBA, were hit hard with its swell.

While it may have had something to do with the Leafs not making the Playoffs, the display put on by Toronto's fans was nothing short of incredible. The masses packing "Jurassic Park" for all seven games, and spilling into the neighboring streets to support their team, was unprecedented. Making regular appearances on US networks for the first time in over a decade, their energy was contagious, embodying a passionate credo that - even in poor grammar - our whole country could rally around.

Other arenas looked meek in comparison, Masai was out in Vince McMahon mode, Charles Barkley was loving us; for the first time in my life, I was proud to be an NBA fan in Canada. Even with Drizzy lint-rolling courtside.

Although their season's abruptly ended, the Raptors should still hang their heads high. Going up against a Playoff-tested roster who were better than their seed suggested, they fought tooth-and-claw til the very final possession. Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett - the former who blew kisses to the fans after Game 7's win, while the latter sneered, strutting over a still-flattened Kyle Lowry - praised the team and the city.

It appears as though, on several levels, the Toronto Raptors finally Made It this season; resonating enough League-wide to truly command respect. But although this team is in the hands of a competent GM for the first time perhaps ever, and at that a brilliant one, their offseason is far from straightforward.

It obviously all starts with Lowry, who up until this season had been a skilled but mercurial fringe starter for several teams that regarded his weight and attitude as mild liabilities. His contract was set to expire this year, so with a payday up for grabs, he magically shed 20 lbs and morphed into a force on both sides of the ball, has been the Raptors' de-facto Captain, and could very well end up on the All-NBA Third Team.

The Lowry Conundrum is two-fold; plenty of teams will want him this summer and are likely to drive his price up even more than his sudden career-year already has, plus there's no telling whether - with that much more money - he'll be as motivated, in shape, and cohesive as he's recently been. Lowry has always been a good player, but he wouldn't be the first - or second, or fiftieth - NBAer to conveniently blow up right before free agency, ink a fat deal, and revert to his old ways. He's going to command a deal healthily above the $10m/per range, and that's a lot of money to pay if Lowry isn't a lock to sustain this level of play.

The Raptors will also have to weather the Restricted Free Agency of Greivis Vasquez/Patrick Patterson, two vital cogs in their rotation who played up their value this year, and could be given a deal that Toronto's unwilling to match. Patterson in particular showed an aptitude for the kind of skilled, rangy power-forward play that's trending very hard in NBA circles right now.

Giving Lowry that kind of money will push them above the $50 million salary mark (Thanks, Landry Fields!) and severely handicap their ability to both upgrade other positions and re-sign Vasquez/Patterson, thus creating a void and almost-certain downgrade at two bench spots. It's definitely the riskier proposition to ink Lowry, but he's appeared to have a breakthrough in Toronto, and at this level, if it's sustainable, he's worth almost every penny.

Another question will be the impeding expiry of Amir Johnson's suddenly-bargain contract. After next season at $7million, he'll be due at least a slight raise, and is another promising piece that Ujiri could easily Jedi-trade instead of committing to long-term.



Jonas Valanciunas showed a somewhat-disappointing lack of growth this season after dominating Summer League, but it wasn't entirely shocking. Jonas is - very evidently - a player who thrives off of touches; when he gets the ball, he feels involved, and the confidence permeates to the other parts of his game. The Raps' surprise success this year with guard-heavy play forced their hand away from giving Valanciunas much of an offensive role, so his efforts suffered in other areas.

Throughout the Brooklyn series for exmaple, whenever he ran a pick-and-roll with Lowry, the Nets were able to break through his listless screen and double the ball, while Jonas - as aware as Brooklyn that he wasn't being passed to - jogged non-threateningly towards the net. After a Game 1 in which he punished BK's weak interior, he mostly vanished from the series in a disconnected fog. Encouragingly, Jonas will be working out with Hakeem Olajuwon this summer - the NBA Center's version of investment counseling from Warren Buffett or asshole lessons from Donald Sterling. Expect his sometimes-suspect footwork and fluidity (JV leads all big men in Forced Bad Shots-after-Hesitating On Open Looks) to be more polished next year, and for him to command more of a role, potentially reducing the need for as much scoring from the perimeter.

The Raptors could also have room to re-tool, with as much as $20+million in cap space, should Vasquez, Patterson, and Lowry be let go. Again, they were vital to this year's success, but they also played their market values up (tremendously in Lowry and Patterson's cases). One of the implications of keeping this team intact at the Trade Deadline was inevitable: break them up or likely overpay to retain them. Masai clearly calculated that risk, and may still be able to convert sign-and-trade assets out of any offer he doesn't feel like matching. Remember, this team wasn't supposed to be this good, and the current roster was assembled with future flexibility, not "Win Now", in mind.

A season where Toronto rose to the top of East's Shit-Heap (they'd have missed the Playoffs in the West) produced a massive ripple of enthusiasm for a team that tortured its fans with brutal management for most of two decades. The city, the country, hell most of the NBA loved this team, and the raucous standing ovation they exited to Sunday afternoon was justified, and a long time in the making.


The reality though, is that this roster that caught lightning in a bottle, could be a flash in the pan. The optimism brimming from the Raptors' exit pressers on Monday indicated a tightly-bound unity that was almost blissfully ignorant of the shakeups that are likely headed their way. The Raptors could look much different next season, with plenty of cards to play, and a living incarnation of ESPN's Trade Machine running their team.

But for Toronto fans who've grown used to shuddering at the changes they've made over the years, and might be hesitant to see maybe their best team ever attempt to evolve, remember just how quickly this all came to fruition, and trust the guy who made it all happen to help the Raptors go even further.