Raptors mailbag: Why Toronto might follow the Indiana Pacers’ template on rebuilding, and key stealth moves in the NBA

A very light mailbag this week. I guess everyone’s getting ready for the coming NBA pre-season and the rest of the stuff that’s going on.
Either that or you don’t want to play along anymore, which I refuse to believe.
Jordan
That makes sense to me. If things start going sideways, they might want to stock up with some draft capital and look to move guys like Chris Boucher, Jakob Poeltl and Bruce Brown. But other than that, they need to see what these young players look like.
I have no idea what the season will turn out to be in wins and losses — there are more than a few equally dubious Eastern Conference teams — but it’s mostly about meshing and growing with this collection.
Paul M.
Oh, I don’t mind the champagne celebrations. My issue is that if you do it for a wild-card series, how do you ever top it for the league series or World Series? The frequency diminishes the importance of it, I say.
All votes in matters like awards need to be made public, and I’m glad the NBA was the first league to mandate it. And that’s been a constant thought, certainly not spawned by the WNBA this year.
The Bucks are interesting, but it’s soooooo hard to quickly “blow it up.” I can’t imagine them taking it down to the wood, regardless of how this season plays out.
Josh in California
I’ve got two with the same team that I think are huge under-the-radar moves.
Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso to Oklahoma City.
Adam Berel Wetstein
I’d think very little, because the move to ballparks is to intimacy, quirky design and real grass. Can’t see that meshing with a concert venue. But who knows what lurks in the mind of E. Rogers.
Bernie M.
There’s draft protection on the pick, if I read correctly, so everyone’s covered. And with Flagg, you’re not talking about a guy who’s likely to last past No. 1. I would have been more worried about New York giving up Donte DiVincenzo. They’re gonna miss that depth and shooting.
I would guess, on average, NBAers have three to four weeks of true down time from hard work.
And I think, with kids, there are two vital things: They cannot solely concentrate on one sport because the burnout factor is too great, and they need more time than they usually get to simply have unstructured time to breathe. Every weeknight and weekend doesn’t need to be “scripted” with games, practices, lessons and what have you.