Morning Coffee - Dec. 19, 2024
Poeltl not being traded; maybe... | Raptors bad at shooting | 10th most valuable franchise
Report: Raptors plan to keep Jakob Poeltl - Raptors Republic
The intent to keep him likely means they’re riding with the current roster that’s being developed. There’s a good chance the Raptors could receive an up-and-coming player or first-round pick. But keeping an interior force like Jakob makes the most sense with a perimeter-heavy roster. The Raptors are in no rush or urgency to make a move so unless they get a great offer the main roster will likely stay as is.
That doesn’t leave veterans Chris Boucher, Kelly Olynyk, and Bruce Brown out of question. All three are capable and impactful players that contending teams could use off their bench.
The Raptors are one of the most compelling young teams in the NBA. If they make the correct moves by next season and protect themselves from the injury bug, they can be a contender again in a shaky Eastern Conference.
For the organization to get a return on its investment, those four minutes the core played together have to turn into four seasons of success. Otherwise, it will be a ‘what-if’ period for the Raptors and a wasted attempt at a rebuild.
NBA Team Values 2024: Warriors, Knicks Lead as Average Hits $4.6B - Sportico
Golden State ($9.14 billion) has topped all five iterations of Sportico’s NBA valuations, with only the Dallas Cowboys ($10.3 billion) worth more among all sports teams. The Warriors, New York Knicks ($8.3 billion) and Los Angeles Lakers ($8.07 billion) are in a class by themselves in the NBA, with the Lakers worth 42% more than the fourth-ranked Brooklyn Nets ($5.7 billion).
Our enterprise valuation estimates measure a control sale price, instead of a limited partnership transaction. Collectively, the NBA’s 30 teams are worth $138 billion, including real estate held by owners and team-related businesses, such as WNBA franchises.
The 30 NBA teams generated an estimated $11.6 billion last year, or $387 million per club. Team sponsorship rose roughly 15%, and non-NBA events boosted club revenues at arenas owned or operated by the NBA franchise.
The concert business has boomed coming out of COVID-19 and can add more than $25 million to the bottom line of teams at top arenas. NBA owners operated 10 of the world’s 20 highest-grossing concert venues in 2024, according to Billboard.
The value of owning an arena was on display in the recent investment by Julia Koch and her family to buy 15% of BSE Global at a $6 billion valuation. BSE is the parent company of the Nets, New York Liberty and Barclays Center. In April, the Barclays Center was the highest-grossing arena in the world, according to Billboard, and it finished the year ranked sixth overall. The value of the Nets is up an NBA-high of 43%.
From Knicks to Sixers, how does your favorite NBA team’s shooting stack up? - The Athletic
29. Toronto Raptors | Average rank: 23.4
2023 rank: 27th
2022 rank: 27th
Greatest strength: 18th in midrange field goals per game
Greatest weakness: 29th in 3s made per game
Analysis: The Raptors are always low in these rankings, and this year, they’re at their lowest point yet. Second-year shooting guard Gradey Dick is making 1.3 midrange field goals per game at a 47.5 percent clip, one of the most impressive marks in the league. Injuries to All-Star Scottie Barnes and point guard Immanuel Quickley have kept what little firepower the Raptors have from establishing a consistent perimeter attack.
Ranking the 25 Biggest Sports Trades of the Last Quarter Century - Bleacher Report
Date: July 18, 2018
Raptors Received: F Kawhi Leonard, G Danny Green
Spurs Received: F DeMar DeRozan, C Jakob Poeltl, 2019 1st-round pick, $5 million
The ultimate goal when a contender pulls the trigger on a blockbuster trade is for the player they acquire to be the missing piece in a championship run.
That's exactly what Kawhi Leonard was for the Toronto Raptors.
In his lone season with the Raptors, he averaged 26.6 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists while finishing in the top 10 in the voting for both Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year.
He then took things up a notch in the postseason, averaging 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists while playing 39.1 minutes per game, and he delivered one of the most memorable buzzer-beaters in recent memory in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Philadelphia 76ers.
He departed in free agency that offseason and signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, but he goes down as one of the best hired guns for a title run in the history of professional sports.
To their credit, the Spurs ended up with a decent return package for a player they were going to lose in free agency anyway, with DeMar DeRozan averaging 21.6 points per game in three years with the team before he was traded to the Chicago Bulls.
Reports: Barnes upgraded to questionable, Poeltl out against Brooklyn - Raptors Republic
It seems like the Raptors are starting to round into health heading into the new year. But Barnes and Poeltl both seem to be day-to-day, Quickley is improving even if he hasn’t yet returned to contact in practice, and Bruce Brown is (still) in return-to-play conditioning. It’s possible that within a few weeks, the Raptors could have every player available. Of course, we’ve said that several times before already this season. So who knows.
Without Barnes, the Raptors have turned much more to Jonathan Mogbo for minutes, and despite being incredibly promising on defence, he doesn’t take on much opportunity on offence. RJ Barrett has picked up much of the initiating slack, and touches and shots have funneled down to Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter as well.
Of course, without Poeltl and his enormous screens, the Raptors have been able to open up much less space for off-ball movers like Dick and Walter. Barrett’s picks seems less impactful. Missing the pair of Barnes and Poeltl both means that younger players will carry more opportunity and that they will be less equipped for success. That’s life when some of your best players are on the bench. For now, fingers crossed, the absences should be brief.
Scottie Barnes likely back for the Raptors while Jakob Poeltl sits out as injury parade continues - Toronto Star
Barnes is officially listed as “questionable” for Thursday’s game but unless there’s a drastic regression before tip-off, he should be in his usual spot in the starting lineup after missing only two games because of the sprained right ankle.
It will be a huge boost for the Raptors because it will not only give them back their most dynamic player but it will make the absence of starting centre Jakob Poeltl a bit easier to deal with.
Poeltl, with sprains to both his left and right groin muscles, has already been ruled out of Thursday’s game and it might end up being an extended stint on the sideline for the veteran.
That means the Raptors will need Barnes’ scoring and ball-moving, along with his rebounding to make up some of the deficiency that Poeltl’s absence will create.
It’ll be him and everyone else.
“It has to be collective effort,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said. “It’s very hard to replace (Poeltl’s) offensive and defensive rebounding and his size and the disruptiveness he has on the defensive end. So everybody else has to do a little bit more.”
It’s unclear which of three different options Rajakovic will go with to replace Poeltl.
The coach could ask rookie Jonathan Mogbo to become a starting centre, he could elevate the bigger and more experienced Bruno Fernando, or he could turn to Kelly Olynyk, who is still working his way back after missing 23 games with back woes. None of them has the all-around skills that Poeltl does but each has a bit that the Raptors can use.
What it won’t do is force Rajakovic into a wholesale remake of the team’s offence.
“Not necessarily,” the coach said. “We have Kelly, we can play through him, and we have (Mogbo) as well, he can cover that position.
