you are a Raptors fan, but need to be a bigger believer in the team.

I do believe in them. I firmly believe that Norm Powell, Fred VanVleet and Serg Ibaka are all highly talented yet highly inconsistent players. That's why they aren't starters.

This isn't negativity, this is reality.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Well, their inconsistency does not necessarily reflects on why they are not in a starting role.
To Be Continued...

Bucks clearly have a great team on paper... Top-tier superstar, excellent complementary roster pieces, good coaching, not just the best record in the league but one of the most statistically dominant seasons ever... and yet they have approximated zero playoff seasoning up to this point. There was that opening speed bump vs the Celts after getting lulled to sleep cruising past Detroit, but it proved to be merely a minor blip until now. Meanwhile, Raps are led by a former Finals MVP, have another guy (Green) w/ a ring and another Finals appearance, yet another guy (Ibaka) w/ Finals experience (after a shocking comeback from being down 0-2 to win 4 straight vs the same franchise as the first 2 guys on this list), and even Gasol has extensive playoff experience including being up 2-1 on the Warriors during their first championship run. They've simply shown more grit than the Bucks when it's counted the most.

If the Bucks manage to pull this series back out of the fire, then they'll have certainly earned those battle scars going forward to face GS and beyond (assuming they can keep this nucleus together in free agency, etc). But until then, those boys have yet to show enough hair on their nads to be worthy. Honestly as more of a GS fan (except when they play Portland), the Bucks are a scarier matchup if they do gain that level of grit in advancing from facing elimination now (especially if Kawhi continues to appear less than 100%, never mind that he's still dropping 30+ on a bum wheel), so for me it's less a question of talent/scheme than it is of mental fortitude at this point (plus of course health, particularly KD even though they obviously didn't miss him much vs Blazers). The Dubs have lived through it w/ the Finals comeback their first title year, suffering the Cleveland comeback the next year, and surviving the epic battles w/ Houston this year & last.

Either way, it's compelling theater. If it were the Rockets having made it out of the West, I'd definitely be rooting for the Bucks/Raptors winner the rest of the way.

Ok, I demonstrated some regrettable ignorance on the size of the city. Allow me to amend the 'small-market' mistake with 'large city not high on the list of destinations for elite free-agent talent'. Everything else was a compliment. Deep pockets is neither unique nor necessarily an advantage.

It’s ok it’s hard to know about sleepy towns like this all tucked away down there.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Might prove to be painfully true for the Raptors. Rumors are LeBron met with both Leonard and Jim Butler.

Maybe,

Having said that, from what I’ve read nobody really knows what KL is thinking. He truly is a bit of a mystery. Would he want to play with Lebron? Honestly I don’t know, is he at the point where he is considered to be better than LB? Ie likely the best player in the NBA?

Would he want to share the spotlight? Or be willing to exchange a bit of the spotlight for more championships etc?

Maurice

I agree that he is a unique individual and takes his time on and off the court. LB is working the league, as there are a lot of great players in free agency situation. I also think he is better than LB now and it wouldn't be smart for him to go to the Lakers. But who knows, maybe the Clippers.

Ok, I demonstrated some regrettable ignorance on the size of the city. Allow me to amend the 'small-market' mistake with 'large city not high on the list of destinations for elite free-agent talent'.


Toronto and the surrounding area is definitely a large market in terms of population but in reference to the popularity of basketball, you are probably right. It's a massive market for hockey. Basketball has grown leaps and bounds and if you look at recent NBA drafts, Canadians are certainly making their mark but unlike the Maple Leafs, the Raptors and to a lesser extent the Blue Jays have to have winning teams or the fans just aren't that interested.


It's not like the NFL in the U.S whose teams seem to draw fans no matter what (similar to the Leafs). Basketball is growing in terms of interest but I would put Toronto as a small market in terms of fan interest.

hypothetically, if they win the NBA championship, do you think that it grow their fan base drastically? I am not sure.

From what I’ve been reading, US viewership for these playoffs has been down18% due to the lebron factor. In Canada it is up 40% Almost to the point where for this game you will have close to equal numbers from US and Canada....comments are at about 4mil for each country. Which is shitty for the US but unheard of for basketball in Canada.

Maurice

I'm willing to bet it's the Drake factor. Get that fucking clown off the court and off my TV screen.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I think that the Raps are closer to the Jays in support here than you think. The Raptors have always sold out even when they sucked.

Yes, the Leafs own this town but the Raptors are pretty popular too. Winning helps, obviously.

Anyway, if all teams are winning I'd say its still Leafs, Jays, Raptors in that order for fan support. But it's getting closer by the day for 2nd place.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

we the north!

hypothetically, if they win the NBA championship, do you think that it grow their fan base drastically? I am not sure.


It would certainly grow their base now and in the near future but like many sports, it's what you did lately that counts. In hockey, there has been a sell out of tickets every year since the Leafs last won the cup a lifetime ago. n the U.S., NFL stadiums will sell out even if the teams don't win.


That wouldn't happen in basketball or baseball here. I'm a perfect example. I kind of follow the Raptors on the sports pages but may have watched 5 minutes of them on t.v and never been to a game. They've had a good team for a number of years now but the interest is going up because they are winning but they just won't keep the fans if they start losing again.

But as BLeP said "the Raptors have always sold out even when they sucked". Which I tend to believe is true. I think they have a fantastic fan base and if they win it may grow but not drastically, imo. In a twisted way kind of like the Knicks, they sick for years now but always sell out the Garden.

Two things:

1. The Raps are favoured to win (57%-43%) by the FiveThirtyEight.com statistical model. The same model that has been eerily accurate about the Raps-Bucks, and just about every series.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/...ions/?ex_cid=rrpromo


2. A win would do two things for the raptors base: a) solidify a huge casual base in Canada. A win will convert some of these folks to dedicated fans, Canada has 33 million people and only one NBA team - that's a potentially big fan base. California has a similar population but splits it across 4 teams.
b) Expand the international fan-base. Tons of NBA jerseys are sold in Europe, Asia, Africa and middle-east. Usually they are for the 'big name teams' - LA Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Knicks... but the Raps should grab a bit of that market particularly with the international roster they have.

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Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

As I said earlier the Raps have a pretty big fan base here and they are passionate.

For me (and probably many others) they are definitely #3 in the city.

I was watching game 6 and while I enjoyed it. I wasn't nearly as excited as I would be if it was the Jays or the Leafs going to the finals.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

(I'm on the west coast of BC)...

Went to Jersey City yesterday and there was very little Raptors merchandise left, and in the few mins I was there the employees answered several phone calls about the availability of certain Raptors items.

Folks are jumping on the bandwagon en mass, but I don't doubt that the majority will be off in a flash if the Raps lose in the finals.

That's one of the things that was/is also true of GS... Warriors stunk for years but still sold out Oracle consistently. My uncle was one of the season-ticket holders back then, only once they started winning and raising prices he couldn't afford to keep them. It's only gonna get worse when they move across the bay to SF next year ~ more suites and sellouts w/ lots of people who won't actually show up every game, while fewer long-time/hard-core fans can afford to go.

Adam Silver sounds like he couldn't be happier to have the Finals in Canada. He's huge on the global market thing and sees this as a huge win for the League.

He also had a talking-to with Drake. Told him to cool it this round or the League would take action.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Let’s pretend for a second that the Raptors won. I think that outside of the US they might become a very popular team. Mostly because the rest of the world hates the US.

I don’t know if it’s huge for the league maybe. But it’s definitely huge for the Raptors.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?