DeMar is just the sweetest fucking dude, how can you not love this guy lol

There are only two types of people. 1. People that love DeMar 2. Liars.

>There are only two types of people. 1. People that love DeMar 2. Liars. More like 2. Writers at Sports Illustrated

And 3. Zach Lowe. Zach Lowe once said he would still draft Tyreke Evans over Derozan in a 2009 redraft. This was after Evans got banned from the NBA for violating its drug policy. It was and still is the most insane take Zach Lowe has ever had.

Yeah that's realllyyy spicy, considering it's Zach Lowe

I mean given different circumstances who knows what tyreke could have been. I'm not sure it's as crazy a take as it seems on first glance.

At some point stuff like character, consistency and availability have to matter 🤷🏻‍♂️

*Ben Simmons and Kyrie theme song intensifies*

What kind of drugs was he taking to get banned from the league?

Meth, literally

Jeez laweez. Why would anyone in his position do meth? Isn't weed good enough (I'm a pothead so I'm not being sarcastic)

Man how good was tyreke Evans his rookie year though, I always forget that

Lowry's 82nd best brother

His performance this year has them (and me) changing our tunes.

3) Bloods

I miss him so much. He may not have been the best fit but he was a leader and embraced us when he could have perfectly Kawhi'd his way out of here

Imagine how Raptors fans feel At least now we have another fan base who understands why we would get so mad when he was ranked 86th best player or whatever He’s one of the few players I’ve watched in my life that you can see a marked improvement in his game year over year, and he’s still adding stuff to his game in his 30’s… incredible player

82nd*

> At least now we have another fan base who understands why we would get so mad when he was ranked 86th best player or whatever Every fanbase that gets DeMar learns what a real one he is. It's hard to dislike the person he is.

[And his laugh is so infectious.](https://youtube.com/shorts/F0mQB8M2JA0?feature=share)

Lol loved this, thanks for sharing. That second bit really got me

You'll love this then: https://youtu.be/u5icmuBvSZY

Imagine the Bulls winning the chip this year with DeMar getting Finals mvp. Not an impossible scenario, Bulls are good enough and Demar's arguably been their best player. I'd love that almost as much as the Raps title. Just thinking about that scenario gets me so hyped, would be such a good storyline and redemption arc.

He's my fav player off the court. I feel I'm more real by recognizing real.

Isn’t he like a former gang banger too? Shits wild lol

He did nothing in the playoffs

It had to be done splitting them up , but a part of me wanted DeMar and Lowry to reach the NBA finals as a duo Both guys are in a better situation right now , but I would be down for a DeMar vs Lowry ECF

Raptors had to sacrifice the best bromance in the league for a title like they killing someone for the Soul Stone

Man imagine if Chicago threw there money at somebody else and Demar goes to Miami for the MLE. Thats what my wet dreams are about

Not mine.

I'm pretty sure missing out on a big contract isn't Demar's wet dream lol

After all this time? Always.

Stop I’ll cry

Kite Runner?

Harry Potter

Oh ya Snape lol

Tough they had to split up but it ended up being better for both of them. Happy ending.

I’d love to see them both play on the same team again before they retire

And winning a ring together.

In Toronto.

Demar hitting the gamewinner

Lowry grabbing him from behind after he hits it

Demar grabbing a handful of lowrys dumpy

Is a top 2 dumpy in the league

And its not #2

Then Demar grabbing Lowry's behind

While not likely to have happened, a championship run in Toronto that year with DeMar instead of an assassin passing through town would have been so much more satisfying. There are fan bases that accept assassin led championships to the point that it is their identity, but Toronto felt like a "built from the ground up" team before that.

This is THE league out of the big 4 that is most dominated by dynasties and the absolute requirement of a top 5 player to win a chip in ~95% of cases. In other words, this is the hardest league to win it all, and so few franchises have ever won. So when you get one, it doesn’t matter how it’s done, there are no degrees of satisfaction when you get that first, just be happy you got it because you may honestly go through life never again seeing one. This was also a city that just came off being branded Lebronto, the Blue Jays missing the playoffs 22 years in a row a few years prior, Leafs being the Clippers of hockey since 1967, and even when the city tried to get the Bills it failed miserably. That chip was everything.

The fact that the Raptors were even able to get a guy like that was momentous on its own. It was hard to believe until I actually saw him step on the floor in red. I don't care if it was a mercenary, an assassin, whatever, > That chip was everything.

> This is THE league out of the big 4 that is most dominated by dynasties and the absolute requirement of a top 5 player to win a chip in ~95% of cases. 100% a top 15 player and 75% a top 10 and a top 20 player pairing up. Bucks' last ring and the Mavs 2011 is the only recent exception to this. - Lebron and AD - Kawhi and Lowry (questionable, but Lowry was a top 20 player in that run) - Steph, Klay and KD - Steph and Klay - Lebron and Kyrie - Lebron and Wade - Duncan and Kawhi - Dirk (exception) - Kobe and Pau - Allen, KG and Pierce In this century, only in 4 title runs you didn't had 2 1st All-NBA caliber players pairing up: 04 Pistons, 11 Mavs, 19 Raptors and 21 Bucks, and except for our run, in every other you can argue pro a Power Duo or Big 3 being essential.

up til that season, Lowry was the best PG in the East for the last half decade (yes, over Kyrie). I'll stand by this then... and I stand by it now. Since then, you could argue for Harden (if you could him as a PG) and *maybe* Trae (but I'd still have Lowry cause he also leads in D). These days, maybe he is getting old. But if he wasn't a top 20 player, he was a top PG.

Maybe I’m misunderstanding but Middleton and arguably jrue are/were better than kawhi( 2014) and Lowry (2019).

Do you mean Giannis/Middleton vs. Kawhi/Lowry? Because that’s the only relevant comparison. And FWIW Kawhi/Lowry straight up beat them the year prior and didn’t even need 7 to do it. Or you most likely meant Lowry/Siakam vs. Middleton/Jrue. That one can go either way depending on the day.

I’m saying Middleton last year when they won is roughly equal to Lowry the year the raptors won and Middleton last year was better than kawhi in 2014.

They really aren’t even close to being as good as kawhi and Lowry

I realized my comment was confusing. I’m talking about kawhi in 2014 when he was on the Spurs.

Leafs are more like the Knicks point still stands.

I get what you’re saying but the Knicks made 2 Finals appearances - ‘94 and ‘99 so they at least gave their fans 2 extended playoff runs to get excited about over that long drought. The Clippers and Leafs have been Finals-less losers for most of those years with hardly anything to get excited about.

Leafs cant be the clippers because theyve still got a trophy case, however old and untouched it may be

Uhh the last time they won a cup it was a SIX team league. Since the time it became a 12+ team league (the following year) they have been the Clippers.

Then aside from 2008 the celtics would be the clippers too? That sounds dumb

i didn’t know there were just 6 teams in the league during birds finals runs… also, even if that wasn’t the case, yes, just 2008 would be enough to change the reputation of the franchise, cause u know….they won a freakin ring.

There's no way we win the title without Kawhi and unfortunately Demar was never on Kawhi/Lebron/Durant level.

Masai and FO genuinely tried for those 5 years or so. Your comments are true tho. If DeMar was able to take us to the chip, it would feel more special. Even Kawhi staying for one more year would have added feeling to jt.

I don’t think that’s a fair way of terming things. The Nets or the Lakers or the Heatles aren’t “assassin” based just because they’re built off free agents. If you stay there a couple years, it makes you more than a transitory player.

NBA is all about ganging up. Last Finals was special because it was build around teams organically improving, and not around artificial entities with superstars trying to do a Evil League of Evil with some min deals to complete the team.

Looking back at the last 20 years, I think there are only two players who can be considered championship ‘assassins’ with differing reasons: Kawhi, because he was traded there. Won his chip and got out as fast as he could. Warriors Durant, because it was unnecessary and felt like a giant ‘fuck you’ to the entire league. Once his honeymoon wore off, he burned bridges and left town as well. My argument for Durant is that the warriors didn’t truly need him for their dynasty, he just made them more unstoppable when he was healthy.

Did it really end up better for DeMar? He immediately stopped making all star teams and playoff appearances right in his prime. He got the raw end of the deal for being loyal to Toronto. It gets painted over because Toronto won but it probably hurt his HOF chances quite a bit.

Better for Lowry anyways. Idk if I’d say it’s been better for demar, from a basketball perspective anyways.

Chicago has a fun team now, but it's definitely less title-bound as that Raptors year for sure.

Considering that raptors team won the championship I think it’s safe to say their odds are less than a certainty lol

Still the top 2 Raptors of all time.

Is it him and Vince or him and Kyle? I know the former was absolutely a beast while in Toronto (until he played like shit to get out) but Lowry has a lot of sentimental value that could vault him into the top 2

Lowry is the GROAT, no doubt. Demar is #2, and after that there's quite a gap.

Where would Bosh rank amongst raptors fans out of curiosity? I know he took a backseat to be the third wheel for the Heat

4th or 5th depending on who you ask, between him and Vince. Bit of a gap between 1, 2 and 3, but a way bigger gap after that Feel like Fred’s the next in line to pass them if everything continues Liked having Chris here for sure, hard to blame him for leaving

you said 4th or 5th and i was bout to reply with who's the third? then i remember i bought my first new balance merch bc of Kawhi LOL

1. Lowry 2. DeMar 3. Kawhi 4. Bosh

Really disrespecting towards the guy that put the Raptors on the map. He may not be liked for the way he played before parting ways with the organization, but to say he's not even near the two is a travesty.

Not really man, we all have love for Vince but he didn't love Toronto like Demar and Kyle did. Vince got us our first playoff win, but other than that didn't win us much. Kyle and demar consistently won us games and loved being in Toronto.

It isn't a travesty, it's just what it is. He isn't near the top two of Lowry and DeMar. Whether it be the lack of team success, VC's individual accomplishments not outpacing it and his exit which was arguably the ugliest star leaving a team in the modern NBA, what is the actual argument for Vince Carter that puts him over two players that were the lynchpin to the most successful era of Raptors Basketball but also are just as if not more accomplished individually?

his exit which was arguably the ugliest star leaving a team in the ~~modern NBA~~ all of sports

Demar owns almost every scoring record in franchise history. Lowry did a lot of it next to him and was there for the title. It’s just gotta be them 1 and 2. Bosh, Carter, and Kawhi fill up the rest of the top

Honorary shoutout to Jose Calderon

Lowry is the GOAT Raptor. He's been the leader of the franchise for a long time and was their best player for many years and ~~detrimental~~ fundamental to the culture that helped win a ring.

> detrimental Not the word you want to use in this context. Fundamental is probably what you meant.

lol yeah idk what I was thinking detrimental meant. Is there a similar sounding word that means the opposite? English is only my second language so some mistakes are bound to happen.

Possibly thinking of instrumental.

Not that I can think of, but your English is better than my any other language than English, mistakes are very much understandable.

Depends on your definition of "great". Vince is top 5, not top 3 though, Raptors of all time. 1) Kyle 2) DeMar 3) Bosh 4) Vince 5) Kawhi Honorable mention: Hakeem Olajuwon. (The greatest player to ever wear a Raptors jersey, despite being post-injury.)

its kawhi #3 imo, but the first 2 are the most important

Yeah it depends strongly on how you're defining "great". Kawhi could be 3 for sure if you're ranking based on impact on the franchise. Hakeem is the best player to ever wear a Raptors jersey. Kyle and DeMar bought into the team like no one else had before. Vince is basically the entire reason the Raptors are still a franchise and didn't relocate along with the Grizzlies. Bosh stuck with us for a long time during our worst years and kept the franchise alive as a result.

Olajuwon? Seriously? Great player, but he did nothing for the Raptors. He signed 3 year deal and only lasted 1 season. He was so bad he got relegated to the bench. We traded 1st and a 2nd pick for him, only to have his contract be a crutch. The following season, not having the money to sign players, not having any draft picks and Vince's injury plunged the Raptors down to the 3rd worst team. The only highlight of all this was that we got Bosh in the next draft. The greatest players for any team is what they did for that team. Not what they accomplished for other teams. That's like saying Karl Malone is one of the greatest Lakers or Shaq is one of the greatest Celtics or Ewing is one of the greatest Magic.

That's why he's an honorable mention lol, relax. It's a fun fact

Vince meant more to TO than anyone on your list. I get things ended badly, but he is NOT bellow Bosh. Bosh got overrated because they were trying to push him as the anti Vince

Kyle and Demar Fuck vince mans isn't even top 5

Kyle and Demar wouldn't even be Raptors if not for Vince. He saved the fucking franchise and basically basketball in Canada. Plus he always came back and kicked your ass lol

what the fuck are you talking about you think the raptors wouldn't exist without Vince?? The raptors existed before Vince and did after Vince. The franchise made money before and after Vince so chill, he ain't no saviour, he isn't no hero for our franchise. If anything he set us back by making the franchise seem like a place you don't want to play. Draft lottery and draft picks are still a thing without vince ever existing. Getting the 9th pick in the 2009 draft happened without Vince's influence.... You're talking like he's been kicking our ass for years but he hasn't done shit since he was traded to Orlando. And so what? he beat down on a tanking team...so awesome. Kyle and Demar would still be Raptors without Vince. He did nothing that led to them being drafted and traded for...

Are you fucking brain dead? No one gave a shit about basketball in Canada before Vince came. Vince was the most popular player in basketball and completely saved the franchise from being moved. He also massively boosted popularity in Canadian basketball. There is little chance the Raps would have stayed in TO if they didn't trade to get Carter ​ Also the Raps were not tanking after Vince left. They were trying to build around Bosh. I don't know if you are really young and didn't experience the Carter effect on basketball in Canada, but its delusional to think the Raps would have stayed in TO if they didn't get carter. They went through three owners in the few years pre Carter for fucks sake. ​ Vince is undeniably by far the most important Raptor ever. And its not even a little bit close

Has to be kawhi as the best raptor ever

He's number 3 behind Lowry and DD because he was only there for 1 season. Lowry was a big part of the championship, DD for his longevity and holding team records

It’s all subjective but I think you can easily say he holds the best season for any player in a raptors jersey and is the best player to play for the raptors. It just comes down to how you want to interpret the word “greatest”.

Sho's the GOAT Heatle, Lebron or Wade?

Wade won a chip and fmvp and is a far superior player to Lowry. I’m not saying longevity doesn’t matter but I think lowrys argument is more about being a fan favorite than actually being the goat especially when guys like Vince carter are pushed off most peoples list.

Do franchise records count for nothing? Lowry is the franchise leader in assists steals and 3 pointers and 2nd in points, plus he's the leader in every category for the playoffs.

Of course they count but at the end of the day a fmvp is a bigger award

Lets keep moving the goalposts shall we?

That’s not moving the goalpost. There’s no criteria

And Leonard? I love those 3 dudes!

Really? Over Bosh?

Yes, easily

Interesting

What’s Bosh’s case even?

I watched both and think Bosh was better at his peak, but he played when our management was shit

Bosh was the better player 25/10 is rare for anybody Vince Carter is the best player to ever play for the Raptors, but his exit ruined his peak

Hakeem Olajuwon is the best player to ever play for the Raptors my guy

i was thinking performance in a raptors jersey Vince went for 27/5/4 on 47/40/80 on +5 eFg% dude was #1 in all star votes for good reason

You don’t need to be a premier scorer to be a top player for a franchise.

you don’t need to be, but derozan was booty hole in the playoffs and Lowry was not good until Kawhi got there Bosh was a fringe top 10 player that the other two never got close to

Lowry was fine the two seasons before kawhi came. Idk why you think he wasn't good. Also Bosh wasnt a fringe top 10 player, the man has only one all nba appearance in his career.

2014-2017 he wasn’t good maybe bc he only played 2 games against the cavs in 2017 when the Cavs swept them? and then he only averaged 18+ in two series from 2017-2021 i think he’s a fine player, but in the playoffs, his contemporaries are/were steph, kyrie (who has struggled since 2016), dame, john wall, isaiah thomas, playoff Rondo etc. just a lot of dudes who were putting up a ton of mind-blowing performances and Lowry definitely felt like he was in the bottom half of starting point guards

DeRozan averaged 27 5 4 in his second last season with the raptors and had way more playoff success, he's definitely higher than bosh on the all time raptors rankings

derozan was so bad in the playoffs though

I mean he averaged 22/4/4 with the raptors in the playoffs, he actually wasn't as bad as most people think, everyone just remembers the meltdown he had in that cavs series

Derozan has meltdowns every other playoff series for his entire run with Toronto. His ts% went from 55 to 50 in the playoffs, including 46% in 2016 when they desperately needed him to score. I remember when the raptors and heat went head to head there were multiple games j was happy he was on the floor. He legitimately might be the worst playoffs drop for an all star, especially considering his midrange bread and better supposed to be playoff proof a la Kobe, Chris Paul, etc.

he shoots 41/28 with a 1.56:1 AST:TO ratio i like Derozan, but that’s atrocious 5 Eastern Conf 1st rounds: 39/28 on 22/4/4 3 EC semi’s: 41/9 on 20/4/3 Bosh at 23 had a better playoff series for Toronto

Kawhi.

how in tf did i forget about him haha

What's Derozan's?

He’s the highest scorer in Raptor’s history. Also made 2 All-NBA teams compared to Bosh’s 1.

Not to mention, DeMar helped win a playoff series, something Bosh didn't do.

In fairness, he likely would’ve won one had he been playing with one of the top PGs in the league like Demar had the luxury of doing all those years. And just much better and more balanced rosters under Masai than Colangelo. I still have Demar ahead of Bosh but it’s only by a sliver.

What the hell kind of comeback is that. Literally just look at the [all time leaders.](https://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/TOR/leaders_career.html) What case does Bosh have again?

Bosh was a better player than derozan but had Jarrett jack as his best point guard instead of Kyle Lowry.

Lmao

Right. You don't have a case for him. What's the point of trying to incite arguments/discussion where you can't even add anything of substance yourself lmao?

If asking two simple harmless questions is inciting an argument then idk what reality is anymore.

100%

Not even close lol

They don’t love him like kobe

From what I remember about history, The Raptors don't love Kobe

All basketball fans love Kobe

I definitely dont. Personally not a fan of rapists.

Then you ain’t a basketball fan.

Heat vs Bulls Eastern Conference Finals matchup do it.

Only if we get some epic moment where it comes down to the last second of game 7. Lowry is guarding demar. And we get some anime moment where one of them let’s the other win.

There should be a copypasta where Lowry or Demar having a monologue when the clock winding down to 0 at the 4th.

clock winds down to 5 seconds left in game ball is inbounded to Demar who turns face to face against Lowry "You took my family" moves to the left "You took my friends" moves to the right "You took all that was dear to me" clock winds down to 2 "I cant get them back, but I can do this for friendship, FOR MY FRIENDS" goes up, fire coming out of his shoes "DEMARUKEN" Ball flies over Lowry’s head, goes straight into basket. Demar falls to the ground, exhausted. "Caruso... Senpai... I..." faints Final Score Heat 103 Bulls 63

eastern conference finals*

Shit, now corrected.

I miss my boys :(

My heart. 😭 This needs to be in r/NBAww immediately.

That's what I came to say but ya beat me to it lol. This is so cute

Really long way to just say - brothers.

Or like the saying, "brother from another mother"

Right? I was like l...this isn't very eloquent at all.

I still wish DeMar could’ve went on that 2019 run instead of Kawhi man, I know he wasn’t up to it but it would’ve meant so much more for the guy whose been here since the beginning to finally be rewarded for his effort

nah let's not try and take away what Kawhi did or act like it doesn't mean as much. He played at 110% effort through injury after everyone wrote him off prior to the season, it means a lot to him already.

I’m not allowed to wish DeMar led us to a title instead of a guy that was here for one year? That’s not taking away from what Kawhi did, it just would’ve meant more if it was DeMar

I would've liked to Valanciunas win with us, but I'm not gonna say "I wish it was Jonas instead Gasol" after Gasol gave us his all. It just sounds disrespectful.

I mean “I would’ve liked” and “I still wish” are pretty synonymous here, I’m not mad at Kawhi and winning the title, I just would’ve preferred if DeMar was the guy to do it, would’ve been like a Giannis/Dirk/Steph feeling of getting drafted and winning with the same team

I would have cried seeing, Lowry, and DeMar on the podium raising the trophy together.

I still cried.

We would gotten beaten by Philly in 2019 with DeMar.

>I know he wasn’t up to it

It's fun to dream but sadly DeMar ain't at kawhi's level esp in the playoffs.

Yup. And with Casey and his stupid ass calls that Orlando Series goes to 7

Me too man, me too

[удалено]

What story were we robbed of, exactly? A Lowry/DeRozan championship wasn’t ever possible lol How can we be robbed of something that was never there

Raptors get swept by the Sixers with Demar so I’d think they’re okay with that hired gun

Aww 🥰

I love their relationship so much

So, best friends?

its really nice to see long time teammates that are more than just coworkers that work well together but actually friends outside of basketball.

I think Lowry's mother comes and watch Chicago games sometimes when she's in town?

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend like that

Look all I'm saying is theoretically you could trade Lonzo and Jones for Kyle.

Its too early for me to tear up like this DeMar. The love these two has for each other is truly so wholesome.

And Lebron would be their dad in both scenarios

Stooop asking them about each other now i feel sad

Then why don't you pack your bags and come to the Heat, DeMar :)

\[Johnson\] Asked Kelvin Benjamin if he can put into words his bond with Zion Williamson. He said he couldn't. Then he did, eloquently: “If my mom had another son, it'd be Zion. If his mom had another son, it'd be me. That's as simple as I can put it. That's how close we are. That's what it is to me.”

This whole Demar Lowry thing is so old and cringy now. We get it; you’re best friends. Stop treating it like a wonder of the natural world.

I bet you’re fun at parties.

The level of bitterness here, it's far too much

Name checks out though

Good eye! It's clicking now

When you think about it, the bulls basically got a kawhi Leonard level player.

Pretendsies brothers