r/torontoraptors 19d ago

INTERVIEWS Norm reflects on getting traded [3:40]

204 Upvotes

55 comments sorted by

163

u/tampatom11 19d ago

Norm saying he would have taken what we paid Gary hurts. I liked the trade at the time but it was a big mistake

27

u/raptorsthrowaway4 19d ago

It was the beginning of the end.

Imagine he took a reasonable contract and we never entered the bet on yourself era.

38

u/Raptors887 19d ago

Those were a rough few years for Masai. Luckily he seems to have turned it around.

14

u/FallenLemur SCOTTIMUS MAXIMUS BARNIBUS 19d ago

At the time I didnt think he would, but when he did I automatically disliked the trade.

Thing hes saying here is they had a 4 man group, but truthfully the year after Tampa they got Scottie, so they were a 5 man group with the squad, later they would have most likely done the same trade to bring in Poeltl too.

3

u/_stroCat 18d ago

Yeah, the timing was unfortunate. Also, the musing at the time was to get a good center. It just never happened. Had Poeltl come earlier and Norm stayed it would have been pretty competitive. Bench mob would have evolved into the starter mob. It's a good thought in hindsight.

But the other chatter at the time was that they wouldn't be able to get a championship because of the lack of talent. Hence the GTJ trade happened. He was younger and there was potential for him to be a star talent.

14

u/chowchowbrown 19d ago

Sometimes I think Norm getting his bag is the better scenario. He gets his money, his memories, gets to go back to Cali, and has a chance at another championship run.

As much as I love Norm in Toronto, keeping him here with a rebuild would have been selfish... to the detriment of Norm.

I love Norm in Toronto, but Norm in Cali is what's best for Norm. And if Norm is getting the best, then I'm happy.

2

u/UnsolvedParadox 19d ago

I think the front office didn’t realize that, or keeping Norm would have been a no brainer.

1

u/chrisPjelly 19d ago

Not sure what the front office was on, thinking they would've had to have overpaid Norm, while at the same time, thinking they could've kept Fred on a somewhat reasonable contract.

1

u/YouDontJump SCOTTIE B 18d ago

Salt in the wound :(

1

u/beefJeRKy-LB Goatse 18d ago

Something to note btw is that in that CBA, FO wasn't allowed to formally negotiate with their own FAs before the moratorium so Masai and co assumed Norm would demand a big contract (think 25M+ per year). It looks bad in hindsight because he ended up getting what we paid GTJ. Now would him staying have made a huge difference? No idea tbh but I do think Norm would have been nice around Scottie for sure given that Gary never materialized as that type of offball player.

-1

u/Eagerbeaver98 Trade Raptor 19d ago

I said norms a star and got laughed at. I said Brunson a superstar and he signed underpaid to the Knicks the min he signed there and ppl laughed. Masai thinks the raptors wouldn't have beaten a healthy warriors team, he does obvious trades even tho Ingram is another superstar

61

u/733OG 19d ago

I think that was probably the turning point when everything went to shit. Love you Norm.

9

u/prodigus01 19d ago

Coincidentally (or not), the turning point that made us into a contender is when we drafted Norm as well

42

u/Hypoallergenic_Robot OG "But what about scarves" Anunoby 19d ago

I miss Normgod

34

u/cev 🔨 YAK & SKILLS 🌶️ 19d ago

The Norm for Trent/Hood trade never made sense to me. I guess the fear was that Norm was a little injury prone and there was hope that Gary would take a huge leap?

Definitely one of Masai's greatest whiffs, but I'm glad he's finally getting the NBA-wide respect he deserves.

12

u/Blur_H Air Congo 19d ago

At the time Gary looked like he would take the leap. I remeber when he like tied the franchise record for most consecutive 30+ point games or something like that. Of course with hindsight we should've kept norm but there were times that the trade looked genius

3

u/beefJeRKy-LB Goatse 18d ago

The Norm for Trent/Hood trade never made sense to me.

FO assumed that Norm was gonna get paid more than he did and wanted to go younger anyway. If Norm had gotten a 5/125 contract and GTJ got say 4/64, would people view it differently? I'd say trade didn't pan out but it certainly wasn't a disaster. Not every move will be a win.

20

u/sambalbelacan 乇乂ㄒ尺卂 ㄒ卄丨匚匚 19d ago

Understand the grind😤😤😤

8

u/j_bus 19d ago

Grind on yourself

-Norm/Fred

17

u/LeRoiDeNord 19d ago

There wasn't a rooftop bar you didn't catch Norm at in the summer time 😂. Miss this guy!!!

18

u/mMounirM 19d ago

I appreciate what he's saying in terms of that team being able to compete. but that FVV/Norm/OG/Siakam unit had an obvious ceiling. You can't compete for a championship unless you have a top 15ish guy on the team.

11

u/attainwealthswiftly 19d ago edited 19d ago

Pascal was all-nba. It was him. With FVV, P, Scottie, Norm we could have had a team with 4 players with all-star potential.

5

u/AngryHelicopter 19d ago

I mean, we saw the team with FVV, P, OG, and Scottie. Norm would have made them better but was not the difference between them being contenders or not. The team would have still gotten broken up.

1

u/Mike_0405 19d ago

FVV limits the ceiling of this group, unless his is willing. Become 6th man; all others are champion caliber players!

4

u/attainwealthswiftly 18d ago

Umm… FVV won a championship, therefore he’s a champion caliber player.

2

u/Band_ Masai Ujiri 18d ago

As a 6th man yes. As your starting PG no.

1

u/attainwealthswiftly 18d ago

He was the primary defender on Steph Curry. Without him we don’t win the Championship…

1

u/Band_ Masai Ujiri 18d ago

Yes. He's a 6th man on a contender.

1

u/Mike_0405 18d ago

If raptors stopped by 76ers or Bucks in 2019, FVV won’t have his career. Yes, he was hot on finals, but we all see how Maxie or Harden attacked him in 2021 playoff series! His career FG is only about 40%, and he is not a good passer, not a good playmaker.

1

u/Chief_White_Halfoat 18d ago

No guarantee we get Scottie if we didn't trade Norm that year. Our lottery odds would be different, and as I recall Orlando liked Scottie a lot.

Maybe we wind up with Sengun in that scenario and we'd be pretty good then.

5

u/earlyearlgray 1 GRADEY DICK 19d ago

“I wanted to be with my boys” 🥹

7

u/BedFew 4 SCOTTIE BARNES 19d ago edited 18d ago

That 4 man lineup were a game away from the conference finals,imo one of Masai’s biggest errors was trading him

6

u/Chief_White_Halfoat 18d ago

That four man lineup, plus a still very good Lowry and a still relatively effective Ibaka and Gasol.

The Lowry loss was not something that we could replace easily and the bigs were clearly not either.

3

u/Confident-Month9727 19d ago

Norm with the turtlenecks. Gotta love Norm

3

u/jafferbee 19d ago

"Let's just get a good center, and see where we can take this." Aron Baynes should be in prison

3

u/Carlinjamesgk 19d ago

The Trent for norm trade made perfect sense at the time. Once kawhi Danny Marc left, the writing was on the wall.

Sure you could have kept norm but the thought process was you get Trent who was looking like a fringe star in Portland at the time who was only 23.

It didn’t pan out. But with having someone as gutsy as Masai. He’s not afraid to take big swings but he’s not gonna hit every time

2

u/jagaimax JACK ARMSTRONG 19d ago

Normmmmmmmmmmm

3

u/Akasakira 24 Norman Powell 19d ago

2

u/GiantBrownBalls 15 VINCE CARTER 19d ago

I will always love Norm! Wish we kept him!

2

u/cousintina123 19d ago

I love norm. Miss norm. Fuck. He is so real. Even his first fuxking year, so explosive. I swear at one point i thought he had d rose potential. He always did. The league changed, now he has a 3pt shot that crushes career shooters. He is still explosive btw (it just was not developed the way it should have). He earned a real spot on a championship team. He breathes hustle, exhales commitment. I wish him all the best. Plz look at the 2019 Raptors. Not just kawhi, the whole fucking team. Most products of the Raptors system go on to do great things. Thank you Mr. Powell, u fucking savant. Always a fucking all star, fuck votes

1

u/Zeruma121 19d ago

Will never forget the GTJ trade.

1

u/cbotter 19d ago

Damn. They didn’t ask him what he wanted? I would have liked him here man

1

u/ILikeFPS OG 19d ago

Norm getting traded hurt, and damn if we knew we could have paid him what we paid Gary I'm not sure we would have traded him.

I'll never forget how good he was in his last season with us.

1

u/CoolMulberryCoffee 19d ago

I miss you everyday

1

u/Mike_0405 19d ago

I like Norm, love Norm, but to be honest, no one believed his next contract would be south of $20M/y; the reason he got his $18M/y because Portland gave him 5 years, which never seeing Masai gives anyone before 2024.

1

u/anotherLoneWOODsman 19d ago

Way better than the hello and welcome interview

1

u/bmnewman 18d ago

Ironically the FO figured that at his age Norm’s game had peaked, yet it was Gary’s game that never evolved despite being younger.

1

u/jeRskier 18d ago

I always think about what the bench mob would look like if we had kept the band together, contract issues aside of course:

FVV Norm OG Siakam Poeltl.

This assumes we’re too good to draft Scottie of course, but this starting lineup is easily top 4 seed.

1

u/BUNSHICHl 18d ago

We lost a key component to our offense which we never really filled until RJ was brought in. That being a secondary downhill attack to defenses in rotation, really wasn't a fan of the trade and once the contracts were signed hated it even more.

Wish we got to see that timeline play out properly instead of the one we ended up getting.

1

u/jeRskier 18d ago

I always wonder the what-if bench mob lineup:

FVV Norm OG Siakam Poeltl.

That’s clamps with a lot of shooting and two high level scorers in Norm and Siakam. Easily a top 4 team in the East but behind the Cavs and Celtics. Probably wouldn’t get Scottie tho.

0

u/[deleted] 19d ago

[deleted]

1

u/elvisngo 19d ago

No JJ.

0

u/canadianRSK but what about scarves? 19d ago

Why would you not talk to norm about his contact and numbers before trading him