People need to calm down on the Raptors.

[Connor B]

First of all, the whole "Raptors are disrespected" thing is completely false. Everyone recognizes them as one of the top teams in the east with a deep line up and not really any glaring holes. Everyone knows they have the potential to be great.

So, with that being said, with my respect and my recognition being given, people need to chill. This team 8 months ago didn't get past round one against the Nets with home-court, they are all still quite young and have little playoff experience, and they are still in a weak eastern conference where there record is admittedly inflated.

I would not be shocked to see this team lose in the second round to either a much more experienced, (if healthy) Bulls team or a Cleveland team that figures it out (which they probably will in three months). Not saying they aren't in the conversation to come out of the east, but everyone needs to chill a little. No one disrespects the Raptors.

[Legends66NBA7]

This team is a second round ceiling, so what's the surprise there ? Anything more would be overachieving.

They are 9-2 against the West and will be facing the 2 best teams in the West in their next 2 games. We'll see what happens. They've been holding up well without DeRozan for the most part, but are better with him obviously.

[Real14]

OP keepin' it REAL:applause:

[bizil]

Yep the Raptors are NO THREAT in my opinion to come out of the East. When u line them up against the Bulls, Cavs, and Wizards in a series, I don't see how they can win. Even with the Hawks, I would favor the Hawks. They aren't quite ready to contend for the Eastern crown yet. But they have made huge strides over the last couple of years. Keeping Lowry there was HUGE!

[stalkerforlife]

They're pretenders.

Most people SHOULD know this.

You can be successful without winning a title, though.

[Legends66NBA7]

Yep the Raptors are NO THREAT in my opinion to come out of the East. When u line them up against the Bulls, Cavs, and Wizards in a series, I don't see how they can win. Even with the Hawks, I would favor the Hawks. They aren't quite ready to contend for the Eastern crown yet. But they have made huge strides over the last couple of years. Keeping Lowry there was HUGE!

You have to elaborate why Toronto can't beat Washington and Atlanta. What are the main reasons ?


They're pretenders.

Most people SHOULD know this.

You can be successful without winning a title, though.

Except you can't be a pretender if you aren't a contender to begin with. Toronto isn't either. They are just producing of their talent.

[Velocirap31]

Wizards and hawks have been fodder for the Raptors so far this year, so until they beat us, they ain't better than us, period.

[ralph_i_el]

Wizards fan here. If you can't respect the raptors as an elite team, its probably because you're stuck in the "superstar league" paradigm. I think we're moving towards a league where the players with the most impact aren't scoring 25 a game, and where team play and ball movement win the day.

Raptors are playing out of their minds and they have been ever since they ditched Rudy (ballstopper) Gay last season. They're deep, athletic, cohesive, and well coached. They have enough shooting to make them hard to exploit in the playoffs when teams are locked in.

They smoked my Wizards with with EASE earlier this season. I am NOT sleeping on them, and you shouldn't either.


Obviously the East is easy yadda yadda. They've been spanking teams from the West too. Kyle Lowry should be in the MVP conversation, but in this league you have to put up some insane stats to get recognized as a little man.

[Real14]

Raptors not making EAST finals tho. Maybe if they get 2 or 3 more nice pieces then maybe they could.

[Undisputed]

Wizards and hawks have been fodder for the Raptors so far this year, so until they beat us, they ain't better than us, period.
This logic is crap. Regular season series mean nothing at all in the play offs.

[Ariza4three]

OP keepin' it REAL:applause:
Shut the **** up you ghetto cretin.

[Real14]

Shut the **** up you ghetto cretin.
Shut your young ass up boy, go watch anime cartoons or something, grown folks are talking :coleman:

[n00bie]

Raptors not making EAST finals tho. Maybe if they get 2 or 3 more nice pieces then maybe they could.

If they make the eastern finals, will you make another retirement thread?

tupac would be ashamed of you. You can never man up. All you do is whine like a chick. :coleman:

[kamil]

They're pretenders.

Most people SHOULD know this.

You can be successful without winning a title, though.

Yeah, that wins to losses ratio they've got right now is just a mirage.. it aint real, right?

Dumbest fvcking comment ive ever heard... 'pretenders' LOL, wtf?

[Real14]

If they make the eastern finals, will you make another retirement thread?

tupac would be ashamed of you. You can never man up. All you do is whine like a chick. :coleman:

I do man up, remember that I had willds09 retired when they lost against the refs and the pacers in '13? I will man up again this season.

[stalkerforlife]

Yeah, that wins to losses ratio they've got right now is just a mirage.. it aint real, right?

Dumbest fvcking comment ive ever heard... 'pretenders' LOL, wtf?

They're not good enough to win a title and everyone knows it.

Regular season success is nothing to scoff at, though. A lot of teams can't even experience that. Good for the Raps and their fans.

[kamil]

First of all, the whole "Raptors are disrespected" thing is completely false.

Please know that you're wrong;

- Best franchise record to date in the teams HISTORY
- only canadian team
- 1st place in the Eastern conference
- significantly better record than LeBrons* colluding efforts
- way more impressive than the Toronto Maple Leafs (Toronto relevant only)

And yet... nobody talks about them but rather have idiots saying theyre 'pretenders' ?? The fvck does that mean? Try hearing about the Raptors IN Toronto... they still get little to no coverage because the fvcking shitty Toronto Maple Leafs are still deemed more relevant, despite being garbage.

The disrespect IS real... but since you bring up the playoffs, this is irrelevant as were still in the regular season.

[kamil]

They're not good enough to win a title and everyone knows it.

Regular season success is nothing to scoff at, though. A lot of teams can't even experience that. Good for the Raps and their fans.

I really want that crystal ball you've got. Until the finals are over, nobody is in any position to make any call of who will or will not win it all.

Remember 2011?

[Legends66NBA7]

This logic is crap. Regular season series mean nothing at all in the play offs.

That's a sound opinion to have, no doubt. Regular season success against teams doesn't necessarily translate into playoff victories/series against the same teams.

So I ask you, as I asked bizil, what are the reasons to have the Hawks and Wizards over the Raptors in a playoff series ? That's is off course if you have them over the Raptors.

[Legends66NBA7]

Please know that you're wrong;

- Best franchise record to date in the teams HISTORY
- only canadian team
- 1st place in the Eastern conference
- significantly better record than LeBrons* colluding efforts
- way more impressive than the Toronto Maple Leafs (Toronto relevant only)

And yet... nobody talks about them but rather have idiots saying theyre 'pretenders' ?? The fvck does that mean? Try hearing about the Raptors IN Toronto... they still get little to no coverage because the fvcking shitty Toronto Maple Leafs are still deemed more relevant, despite being garbage.

The disrespect IS real... but since you bring up the playoffs, this is irrelevant as were still in the regular season.

Damn, Kamil with the real talk.

I actually haven't brought up the Leafs because nobody outside of Toronto would understand that there is pretty noticeable division between the fanbases and media.

Ryan Wolstat, who covers the Sun, during off season tweeted this:

"I've gotten pretty nasty e-mails sent to me. One goes as far as to say "Real Canadians vs Raptors fans.""

It definitely goes beyond sports here. It's pretty sad when I heard about that tweet too.

[Undisputed]

That's a sound opinion to have, no doubt. Regular season success against teams doesn't necessarily translate into playoff victories/series against the same teams.

So I ask you, as I asked bizil, what are the reasons to have the Hawks and Wizards over the Raptors in a playoff series ? That's is off course if you have them over the Raptors.
I think the Raptors can take out the Hawks, but I can not see them beating the Wizards. Strong vet presense, well coached, and most importantly, they would have the best player in the series in John Wall. Not saying it is a lock that the Raps lose in a series with the Wizards, because anything could happen. The Raptors are surprising this season.

[Legends66NBA7]

I think the Raptors can take out the Hawks, but I can not see them beating the Wizards. Strong vet presense, well coached, and most importantly, they would have the best player in the series in John Wall. Not saying it is a lock that the Raps lose in a series with the Wizards, because anything could happen. The Raptors are surprising this season.

That's fine, I have it differently from you but it's not a wrong opinion to have either.

I do think your Bulls look like the favourite to come out of the East if healthy. Then it's the Raptors > Hawks > Wizards (all same tier, though). Cavaliers, I guess I'm underrating them at the moment because they still have LeBron James who can go off in the playoffs... but I don't think they are going anywhere deep without any rim protection.

[Undisputed]

That's fine, I have it differently from you but it's not a wrong opinion to have either.

I do think your Bulls look like the favourite to come out of the East if healthy. Then it's the Raptors > Hawks > Wizards (all same tier, though). Cavaliers, I guess I'm underrating them at the moment because they still have LeBron James who can go off in the playoffs... but I don't think they are going anywhere deep without any rim protection.
The way the Cavs are playing, underrating them is warranted. Unfortunately, I put no stock in the Bulls staying healthy. Hoping for the best, but expecting otherwise has let me down too many times with certain players on the roster. When it comes to the Raps, Hawks, and Wizards, its tough trying to decide who is better. The John Wall factor is the only reason I comfortably put the Wizards over both. But if one of those teams figures out how to contain him and Beal in the playoffs, its over for the Wizards. They can't beat you in many different ways.

[Legends66NBA7]

The way the Cavs are playing, underrating them is warranted. Unfortunately, I put no stock in the Bulls staying healthy. Hoping for the best, but expecting otherwise has let me down too many times with certain players on the roster. When it comes to the Raps, Hawks, and Wizards, its tough trying to decide who is better. The John Wall factor is the only reason I comfortably put the Wizards over both. But if one of those teams figures out how to contain him in the playoffs, its over for the Wizards. They can't beat you in many different ways.

Thing is... I don't think there's anything that really separates Wall and Lowry. They are on the same level. Only homers would say otherwise or people just don't watch enough of Lowry. You can more than make the case that Lowry has outproduced Wall this year and he's doing it without DeMar DeRozan. They have the best record in the conference for quiet some time now and nobody else in the East has taken over.

And during the Raptors meeting with the Wizards, they have contained either Wall or Beal pretty well. It's usually Beal they contain well. The Wizards haven't really effectively contained either Lowry or DeRozan. It comes down to what each front court does.

[Done_And_Done]

Damn, Kamil with the real talk.

I actually haven't brought up the Leafs because nobody outside of Toronto would understand that there is pretty noticeable division between the fanbases and media.

Ryan Wolstat, who covers the Sun, during off season tweeted this:

"I've gotten pretty nasty e-mails sent to me. One goes as far as to say "Real Canadians vs Raptors fans.""

It definitely goes beyond sports here. It's pretty sad when I heard about that tweet too.

That's extremely disheartening and quite frankly pathetic on all accounts. It's always sad when you see a social divide spill into the sports realm.

And in regards to Kamil's comments, I can't disagree with much of what you said because all of our media outlets drool buckets over the Leafs let alone the city in general. The Raptors are a formidable team in the East yet they still aren't fully respected in their own hometown. If I recall correctly, not one of our pre-season games were aired on television (maybe with the exception of one). Meanwhile Sportsnet has no problem airing the Leafs fricken rookie tournament in Kingston on multiple channels.

With that said, we have to acknowledge the sizable strides that we've made over the past few years. We have a legit fan base that grows in droves by the hour. I had friends watching the playoffs last year in excitement who hadn't followed the team since the Vince era. Beyond the fickle causal fans, we're attracting dedicated ones who will still be there if we plunge (heaven forbid)