TORaptor4Ever

Just having a look at our record to start the season WITH Gay up until he was dealt and I'm really starting to wonder what this team's record could have been had we started the season with our current roster.

We went 6-12 with Rudy.

Here were our opponents....

ATL - L
MIL - W
MIA - L
CHA - L
IND - L
UTH - W
HOU - L
MEM - W
CHI - L
POR - L
PHI - W
WAS - W
BKN - L
MIA - L
DEN - L
GSW - L
PHX - L

Any thoughts/opinions?

Seems crazy to think about it now but I think that we'd probably have at least 5 more wins.... heck, if we'd have gone 8-8 over those first 16 we'd be sitting at 17-11 right now.

That would have put us pretty much on par with PHX and sitting third in the East over ATL. I suppose that the amazing thing is that even with that brutal start the East has been so bad that the 3rd seed may STILL not be out of reach.

Thanks Masai!

moremilk

would have made no difference, our ceiling is still 3rd seed and that is very much attainable, without horford, atlanta is very beatable.

creative1mm

well.. our current roster includes new auditions we acquired from moving Rudy... it's working out though.. if we had BC Rudy would still be here, and we would probably be 8-22 instead of 15-15 lol, big difference..

it's good to be .500 again though, the crazy thing is.. Matt Devlin was saying last time we had .500 record 30 games in was back in 2010

we didn't even make playoffs that year.. shows how bad east is now

Bill Haverchuck

We probably would have won at least a couple of extra games. You can't dwell on it too much, though, because we needed a trade partner. And that was one monster contract to try and unload. I'm actually kinda surprised Ujiri was able to move Rudy that soon, without taking back nothing of value but maybe an expiring.

I prefer to look at it as being thankful that we had Ujiri, who was looking to make the move. Colangelo might never have struck that deal, or ditched Bargnani for a pick.

It's looking like a new era, at least for now. Enjoy.

just4_raps

at most we should have won 3 or 4 of those games (ATL, CHA, HOU, BKN).

not much of a difference

LET'S GO RAPTORS!!!!!

Where have you been?

moremilk

we didn't finish .500 and missed by one game. The east was better, but not dramatically so. Even this year, for all the talk, I'd be shocked if more than one under .500 team makes the playoffs, in the second half a lot of teams will throw in the towel and there will be more easy wins to be had - it's always like that and this year will be even more so given the strength of the draft ...

MBailey85

Well,they're 9-3 by doing this with new players on the fly so coming into the season with a training camp consisting of these players,they'd probably do better than 6-12. One thing,the short staffed team on the day of the trade allowed Ross to get the start and that has been the x-factor. Coming into the season with this roster let's say,I think Casey probably would start Salmons instead. Who knows,I'm enjoying the games now. The Raps have been fortunate to stay healthy thus far,they need some big man depth in case JV gets hurt.

LX

There are a good three or four games where it would have made a difference. I'm just happy that Rudy didn't drag the team's morale down too far to be able to recover. They looked like a new team instantly. Casey looked utterly relieved, all the players suddenly looked confident and loose. And then when the parts that came back in the trade fit in so nicely it was just gravy.

I think more in terms of what could have been in the sense that they could have really sunk into a morass that would have taken a long time to recover from. I still can't quite believe any deal, let alone such a sensible and functional deal was made. I was very close to resigning myself to only being able to hope for the right draft pick, and even then i thought any hope a pick might bring would be clouded over by another year of Rudy.

Carlito

Guys ... I love what's going on, but looking back and extrapolating is a waste of time. The team is jelling now and who knows what we will look like in a month.
As long as the effort is there and team first ball continues, I will be happy that we are on a path of developing a winning culture.
The continued development of JV and Ross will be the critical factor on whether we continue to have positive momentum. We also need Lowry to continue to play like an All Star ... No reason to believe he can't continue this if he stays healthy.
Fingers crossed on our continued positive momentum ... but lets not get too far ahead of ourselves ..

Raptorman

OMG!! WE COULD HAVE HAD IGGY INSTEAD OF HOFFA!!!

etc...etc...

Looking back and being a Raps fan is a bad combination.

halphbreedballer

What could have been? had BC drafted properly?

2006 draft:
BC drafted: #1AB, #35PJ Tucker - Could have drafted #2LaMarcus Aldridge, #47Paul Millsap

2007 no draft picks...

2008 draft: BC traded our 17th pick Hibbert to Indiana & drafted #41Nathan Jawai??
- Could have drafted #24Serge Ibaka or #25Nicolas Batum & #45Goran Dragic

2009 draft: #9DeRozan solid pick but BC could have had #17Jrue Holiday

2010 draft: BC took #13Ed Davis he could have had #18Eric Bledsoe or #15Larry Sanders

2011 draft: #5Jonas Valanciunas solid pick

2012 draft: #8Terrence Ross, #37Quincy Acy & #56Tomislav Zubcic he could have had Andre Drummond

This is what I would have done if we could turn back time?

PG Eric Bledsoe, Lowry, GV
SG DeRozan, Dragic
SF Batum, Millsap, Salmons
PF Aldridge, Patterson, hansbrough
C Valanciunas, Drummond, Amir

The lineup possibilities are ridiculous!!! Sigh...

fantapoppa

losing those games and hitting rock bottom gave the team a chance to develop that me vs the world attitude.
season would not be the same if they won from the very beginning or just stayed mediocre .500 ball club throughout

Raptorman

Y'all need to watch a bit of Back to the Future.

If we draft Aldridge instead of AB, then we are not in the lottery for the rest of those picks.

Again...why torture yourself. A hot chick on FB just told me she would have banged me 20yrs ago..I was blind to her advances...now thats regret.

ZanTheMan

This thread is everything that's wrong with our fanbase.
Just move on already....

halphbreedballer

Good one lol! When someone invents a time machine it will be crazy though...

JoeyJoJo Shabbadu

Regrets... I've had a few...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kPz6iPkLz2I

LET'S GO RAPTORS!!!!!

Is she still single? jokes.

BballWatcher

Well, if nothing else that was a learning experience - playing with Rudy. It will always stick in the players' mind the difference between playing selfishly, or selflessly. I think, in a sense, the shitty losing experience of the pre-trade part of the season helped toughen guys up and also gave them the steely, metallic taste of losing in their mouth.

We have guys who really care about winning on our roster now, and it shows - Valanciunas, Lowry, etc. are guys who are clearly bothered by losing. They're not soulless "professionals" - automatons like Bargnani and to a lesser extent guys like Gay who put up their numbers but aren't really perturbed by losses too much.

It really makes a difference having players who are not only talented, but have the mentality that they absolutely hate losing. I would argue that without a doubt Vince Carter was a more talented and special physical specimen than Kobe Bryant. However, which was a better player for their career? Unquestionably Kobe, and a big part of that is the obsessive personality and allergy to losing.

The Diamond Scorpion

Agree with this