NBA 2019, Finals & Beyond

[DaveC]

this likely tips the scales a bit for kawhi staying in toronto.

 

[BoMac]

I think Kawhi does stay in Toronto, at least on a 1-plus-1 deal. This gets him to 10 years in the league and increases the ceiling on a max contract.

 

[Hewson]

Kawhi has the opportunity to team up with Kyrie in Brooklyn or team up with Jimmy Butler on the Knicks though....

 

[iron yuppie]

But what about Jimmy Butler and RJ Barrett???????

 

[iron yuppie]

Seems like LA has got to add shooting now, and a lot of it. Going after another big-name would be foolish when they have so many glaring roster needs.

 

[Hewson]

Seems like LA has got to add shooting now, and a lot of it. .

They can re-sign Rondo.

 

[DaveC]

pretty sure this is the biggest championship parade in north american history.

 

[Hewson]

pretty sure this is the biggest championship parade in north american history.

But with the current exchange rate its the equivalent of 2869 US people.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Humor aside, this is the first time Canada has won a major North American sport’s title since the early 90s, isn’t it?

 

[Hewson]

Habs and Blue Jays both in 1993 I believe.

Amazing that a Canadian team hasn't won the Stanley Cup in a quarter century.

 

[iron yuppie]

I just heard Toronto didn't have a single lottery pick on this year's roster. Crazy.

 

[DaveC]

there was a shooting at the rally like 50 feet from where i was standing. a woman was shot and there was a stampede and a few more people got hurt by that.

i'm fucking heartbroken that this day turned out like this.

 

[DaveC]

i guarantee that this wouldn't have happened if the team didn't arrive 3+ hours late after a million people had been baking in the sun getting irritated at being told over and over how the team was coming out "in just a moment".

fuck. this was supposed to be such a fun day.

 

[mikal]

i guarantee that this wouldn't have happened if the team didn't arrive 3+ hours late after a million people had been baking in the sun getting irritated at being told over and over how the team was coming out "in just a moment".

fuck. this was supposed to be such a fun day.

Damn. I feel for you man. As much as this championship must feel good, the city of Toronto actually came out looking worse which has been a huge surprise. Then again, you have the privilege of not having Trump as your leader, so it could be worse.

 

[DaveC]

thanks bud. i was 50 feet away from two people getting shot and almost got trampled in a mass panic three times but sure, lucky me that at least donald fucking trump isn't my head of state or something.

 

[DaveC]

thank you also for taking a dump on the entire city of toronto in general right now, i really appreciate your sensitivity dude.

 

[mikal]

I was actually trying to make you feel better. Sorry.

 

[DaveC]

it's alright man, i was just pretty freaked out. several dozen people literally ran for their lives straight at me more than once today and i was still really shook for a while afterwards. i'm fine now though, thanks for trying to cheer me up but that just wasn't the time.

 

[mikal]

All good. That’s some crazy shit to deal with.

 

[LemonMelon]

Hope you're alright, Dave. I haven't been in a shooting, but I've been in three car accidents and easily could have died under slightly different circumstances and I know that PTSD can linger like crazy when your life is put in danger like that. Check in with yourself over the next few days and analyze how you're handling everything. I know you've said you've been dealing with a lot mentally lately at it is.

Best consolation I can offer is at least no one died. 4 wounded at the moment.

What a fucking shame that these great memories were stolen away and replaced with negative associations by assholes with guns.

 

[DaveC]

thanks man. it's not the first time i've had a stampede of people running straight at me but it was by far the largest and most scared group. and i've come a lot closer to death than that on multiple occasions so that's not really what was bothering me. i feel pretty okay about it today, just hoping that the people i saw that were trampled and hurt or got separated from their friends and family are alright today. after the first rush my friend and i stopped to try and help a teenager whose nose was clearly broken and while i was trying to wave down a medic the crowd rushed again and she got pushed into the crowd and i never saw her again. i really really hope she was able to get help and get out of that situation. lots of people limping around with stomped feet and ankles and a baby stroller was knocked over so my main concern is for the people who experienced things like that.

personally i got off pretty lightly and i think it's because i saw it coming out of the corner of my eye and had a split-second to brace myself. my friend's foot is messed up today and another one of my coworkers who was caught up in a different part of the rush on the street got thrown into a hydrant and messed up his knee pretty bad. i have a big bruise on my back from where someone ran into me but other than that i'm fine aside from a bad sunburn from standing out in the sun for 8 hours.

that whole parade was a shit show and the way it was mismanaged is fucking disgraceful. it felt very much like they hadn't put a second of thought into planning the parade before friday. considering how "plan the parade" has been a running joke in this city every september/october for decades it's ironic how poorly planned it actually was.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Any word on the motive?

 

[DaveC]

not from what i can tell, but nothing would surprise me at this point. it could have been anything from a targeted attack on one person and some bystanders got caught in the crossfire, to someone simply getting pissed that they were being pushed around in the crowds. they caught the shooter a block away from there just a couple minutes later (there were hundreds of cops around) and also arrested some other people who are connected to the incident.

the vibe in the crowd started to get pretty ugly around 3 pm as people were getting out of work early and cramming more and more people into the square and surrounding streets, and i had a suspicion that something might happen, but i figured it would just be a fight or something. everybody was getting dehydrated (the one and only water tent being in the dead middle of the crowd where nobody could get through to it) having been standing in the square for hours with very little shade and hungry (having been promised the raptors would be in the square from 12:30-1:30 pretty much everyone planned to go for lunch afterward). not to mention there were two porta-potties for that entire giant crowd, plus a small one-person public washroom in the snacks building.

they started off showing a live feed from the start of the parade but as soon as it became obvious that they were going to be late they shut off the feeds and replaced it with an NBA champs logo and didn't give the crowd any updates. the only way we had any idea of where the parade was, was by looking up and seeing where in general the tv helicopters were hovering.

after about 2 pm they started in with stuff like the raptors dance crew getting on stage and dancing to a song, then the MC would come out and say something like "raptors fans ARE YOU READY?!?" which of course hyped up the crowd, only to be followed with "the raptors will be here in just a moment" when the people on stage knew damn well that the parade was still well over 90 minutes away. at about 2:30 they sang the national anthem and had a military jet formation fly over the square so it was obvious that something was about to happen, and then literally nothing did. not even as much as a "the raptors will be here soon", just all this stuff happened and the crowd got super hyped up again only to get disappointed yet again and given absolutely no information. after this kind of shit happened like 3 more times the crowd around me was getting really irritated. it seemed like once the players actually arrived that the vibe was less angry but still very tense. the executives and players were introduced then during the first speech from the team owner about 5 minutes later is when the shots went off and all hell broke loose.

if this ever happens again then they should run the route backwards and start from city hall then head to the exhibition grounds - the staging area where they departed from is a gigantic parking lot on the ex grounds, right next to the toronto FC stadium, where they hold the indycar race and have RV shows and huge events that are highly attended and require a ton of space like that all the time (https://i.imgur.com/k1GOX2Z.png). if they had held the rally in that lot and used the stadium & the amphitheatre and parking lots across the street as overflow to show the rally on the screens there, that area could easily have held way more people than city hall, but without the crushing penning-in effect of being right downtown in the middle of the financial district, and it would have made a world of difference.

 

[MrPryck2U]

DaveC, congratulations on the Raptors winning the NBA Championship. I'm glad you're safe after what happened to you at the celebration. Sounds like a recipe for disaster due to the conditions.

 

[mikal]

not from what i can tell, but nothing would surprise me at this point. it could have been anything from a targeted attack on one person and some bystanders got caught in the crossfire, to someone simply getting pissed that they were being pushed around in the crowds. they caught the shooter a block away from there just a couple minutes later (there were hundreds of cops around) and also arrested some other people who are connected to the incident.

the vibe in the crowd started to get pretty ugly around 3 pm as people were getting out of work early and cramming more and more people into the square and surrounding streets, and i had a suspicion that something might happen, but i figured it would just be a fight or something. everybody was getting dehydrated (the one and only water tent being in the dead middle of the crowd where nobody could get through to it) having been standing in the square for hours with very little shade and hungry (having been promised the raptors would be in the square from 12:30-1:30 pretty much everyone planned to go for lunch afterward). not to mention there were two porta-potties for that entire giant crowd, plus a small one-person public washroom in the snacks building.

they started off showing a live feed from the start of the parade but as soon as it became obvious that they were going to be late they shut off the feeds and replaced it with an NBA champs logo and didn't give the crowd any updates. the only way we had any idea of where the parade was, was by looking up and seeing where in general the tv helicopters were hovering.

after about 2 pm they started in with stuff like the raptors dance crew getting on stage and dancing to a song, then the MC would come out and say something like "raptors fans ARE YOU READY?!?" which of course hyped up the crowd, only to be followed with "the raptors will be here in just a moment" when the people on stage knew damn well that the parade was still well over 90 minutes away. at about 2:30 they sang the national anthem and had a military jet formation fly over the square so it was obvious that something was about to happen, and then literally nothing did. not even as much as a "the raptors will be here soon", just all this stuff happened and the crowd got super hyped up again only to get disappointed yet again and given absolutely no information. after this kind of shit happened like 3 more times the crowd around me was getting really irritated. it seemed like once the players actually arrived that the vibe was less angry but still very tense. the executives and players were introduced then during the first speech from the team owner about 5 minutes later is when the shots went off and all hell broke loose.

if this ever happens again then they should run the route backwards and start from city hall then head to the exhibition grounds - the staging area where they departed from is a gigantic parking lot on the ex grounds, right next to the toronto FC stadium, where they hold the indycar race and have RV shows and huge events that are highly attended and require a ton of space like that all the time (https://i.imgur.com/k1GOX2Z.png). if they had held the rally in that lot and used the stadium & the amphitheatre and parking lots across the street as overflow to show the rally on the screens there, that area could easily have held way more people than city hall, but without the crushing penning-in effect of being right downtown in the middle of the financial district, and it would have made a world of difference.

That’s always the recommendation. When Green Bay won their Super Bowls in 96 and 10, the always ended at the stadium and sold tickets dirt cheap to have the speeches and fireworks. In 96, Holmgren forgot his jacket so a cop gave him one, which was hilarious.

 

[Hewson]

that whole parade was a shit show and the way it was mismanaged is fucking disgraceful. it felt very much like they hadn't put a second of thought into planning the parade before friday. considering how "plan the parade" has been a running joke in this city every september/october for decades it's ironic how poorly planned it actually was.

That’s always the recommendation. When Green Bay won their Super Bowls in 96 and 10, the always ended at the stadium and sold tickets dirt cheap to have the speeches and fireworks. In 96, Holmgren forgot his jacket so a cop gave him one, which was hilarious.

Avoiding the one giant crowd at the end of the parade is why most of the recent parades here have been "rolling rallies" ("Wolling wallies" when Tom Menino was still alive) with the players on the duck boats and no final gathering spot for speeches and the like. Spreads the crowd out throughout the parade route and attempts to avoid the one giant congregation of folks.

 

[U2inUtah]

NBA 2019, Finals & Beyond

The Jazz traded for Mike Conley. I'm not sure he makes us a Finals contender but at least the West is looking a lot more wide open next season.

Would love to pick up Bobby Portis too but not sure we have the cap space. Should be fun to watch the draft/trades/free agency unfold this year

 

[iron yuppie]

I like Conley a lot, and he fits their style well. The loss of Crowder hurts though. They need to pick someone up to replace his skill set.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

I hear Hassan wants out of Miami.

Good riddance ya giant lazy.

 

[LuckyNumber7]

Pls someone take that contract

It’s weird at first thinking “the LeBron saga was a necessary evil that ruined our future by trading all of our picks” only to realize... mmm no... bad contracts like Whiteside and Tyler Johnson and yada yada being on the bill has really restricted them from adding a marquis player to an otherwise solid setup.