It’s official and the newest Raptor says:
“It took a minute, but I was able to secure a contract for four years. I’m looking forward to playing with Chris (Bosh) again. It will be like our freshman year (at Georgia Tech) all over again.”
Now, I’m sure some of you have been thinking Man, wouldn’t Earl Watson have been a cheaper option than Jarrett Jack and allowed us to spend that $5M MLE on a big or somebody like Kleiza. The thing to remember is that Jarrett Jack is only 25 years old, can play two positions and can be a staple off the bench for years to come. Earl Watson is 30 and cannot play the SG, not even for a minute. As for Jack’s salary, in a world where Jamario Moon stands to make 3.2M, is 5M really too much for him? The depth at SG without Jack is DeMar DeRozan and Antoine Wright. It is no doubt a position that needed to be addressed and Colangelo’s gone about it the right way, by mixing youth (DeRozan) with a veteran (Jack) and adding a decent third stringer (Wright). So yeah, Earl Watson is a nice little player but we went the smarter route.
The backup center is still an issue and will be addressed, I trust Colangelo to recognize this glaring hole and take action. The Pistons signed Chris Wilcox which means Drew Gooden, Baby Davis and Rasho Nesterovic are still available. The Raptors are unlikely to sign Davis to an offersheet since the total we can spend on other teams’ free agents is very little (LLE + MLE – Jack’s contract = approximately 2.9M) and the Celtics will have no trouble matching. Drew Gooden’s latest salary was $1.4M and he’s an unrestricted free agent so technically we could offer him a raise and as for Rasho, well, the door’s always open for him. There’s also Pops who the Raptors are reluctant to overpay and are basically waiting for a team to make an offer before sealing him up. Since we have the right to match offers for him we can bide our time and look at him as Plan B if things don’t work out with any of the players mentioned above; his qualifying offer was 1M. I do feel that even if we manage to sure up Rasho, Pops is the guy who I’d rather give a roster spot to instead of O’Bryant as long as we can afford it. Pops will be heading out to the England national team camp in August and will compete in the European Championships in September, I’m sure he’ll like to have an NBA job sealed up before that.
Here’s the current depth chart without players that are likely to make zero contribution:
PG: Calderon/Jack/Douby
SG: DeRozan/Jack/Wright
C: Bargnani
PF: Bosh/Evans
SF: Turkoglu/Wright
That’s 9 spots accounted for, once you figure in the guaranteed contracts of Ukic, Banks, George and O’Bryant it takes us to 13 players leaving room for a big man and a wing or two big men. Colangelo could buyout O’Bryant but with the big situation as it is he’s likely to retain his roster spot. Marcus Banks is the player that doesn’t figure into any of our plans and is destined to be a constant healthy scratch. If we didn’t have that guy hogging up 5M of our cap we’d be in much better shape going into the next couple weeks. Unfortunately, buying him out will be expensive and the sum would count against the cap so it doesn’t make basketball or financial sense to do that unless we’re really hurting for a roster spot.
The Raptors have been the most active team in the Eastern conference this summer but what does that mean in terms of how they’ll fare in the increasingly competitive East, a conference where Cleveland and Boston appeared to have already sealed up the first two spots and Orlando is poised for another great regular season. Once you get past those three teams it comes down to the likes of Atlanta, Miami, Philadelphia and perhaps Detroit trying to snatch that final home-court spot. That’s the group the Raptors fall in and the one they hope to top next year. I’ve always said that you have to crawl before you can walk and before the Raptors make a serious dent in the playoffs they’ll have to go through a couple years of heartbreakers in the second or third round, next year is setup to be just that.
Last year’s fourth seed – Atlanta – had 47 wins and if the Raptors were to match that and get home-court advantage it would mean a 14 game improvement and a 9 spot jump from the previous year. That in itself would qualify the season as a success in the eyes of management regardless of what happens in the playoffs. And realistically speaking, that’s the best-case scenario for next season. Rarely has a team that was assembled over the summer made a deep and meaningful playoff run, it even took Orlando two years of seasoning before making an impact in the post-season. Last year was supposed to be the year Portland made a mark but despite having budding stars in Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, a great rookie in Rudy Fernandez and a solid supporting cast, they couldn’t muster much. We already know how the tweaks in New Orleans and Philadelphia worked out.
All I’m saying is that we should brace ourselves for a playoff performance that will fall short of the expectations set by the regular season. The improvements we’ve made on the roster will allow us to beat the bad teams much more consistently and will beef up our seasonal record. But as we learned in 2007, chalking up regular season wins doesn’t mean much if you don’t have guns that can fire in the post-season and as of this moment the only proven playoff performer on the team is Hedo Turkoglu. The good news is that our roster is in the process of gaining such experience with Bargnani, Bosh and Calderon all going 0-2 so far, the latter two coming up very short in defining situations.
Jamario Moon signed an offersheet with the Cleveland Cavaliers, it’s a two-year deal which Miami is unlikely to match not because of the salary, but because they’re very reluctant to add a contract past the summer of 2010. See that’s when they’ll try to add Bosh which is going to be a little difficult with a cap around 50M because after all you still need role players to fill out a roster. Since Moon’s going to be replacing Sasha Pavlovic who was downright brutal for them he should be an improvement, Cleveland’s looking for size at the wings and Moon brings that for them. Paying him $3.2 million a year seems a bit much, though.
Also, did you know that if you do a Google image search for Katie Price tits, Raptors Republic is the first site that shows up. Chew on that and wonder what other Raptors site offers that kind of service. Do tune in tomorrow as I’ll be talking to Ryan Wolstat of the Courtside blog about Katie Price and other such things.
99 Raps
I can only speak for myself, but I assure you that I was definitely not one of people saying “damn, why didn’t we get Earl Watson”.
I just laughed typing that quote.
Welcome to Toronto JJ. Now get to work….
So we have only have around 2.9 million to split for two new players…like Rasho and another SF
Unless that SF is Delfino who we can sign to any number since he’s our own free agent.
Do we not have use of minimum contracts – veteran, etc
Yes we do, but that goes without saying. And that’s how we ended up with Hassan Adams and Will Solomon, I don’t think you’ll find a serviceable player for the minimum unless its an NBA vet (like Rasho) who’s made enough money in his career to just want to play for a team and city he likes.
Arsenalist, your math is off, Jack is only #13, with Rasho & Delfino still the preferred #14 & #15. I think you may have counted Jack or Wright twice in your count.
Oh shit, I counted Wright twice. Fixed and thanks.
Ne-yo looks angry in that picture.
Hahaha. I damn near choked on my food when I read this!
LOL!
Also I believe I read somewhere that you cannot combine any portion of the MLE with the B1-annual exception on a contract, leaving only $900k, on the MLE, unless Jack’s contract is back loaded, and $1.9 on the Bi-annual, plus min contracts, to go.
That’s my understanding as well. You can’t mix the LLE (BAE) or divide it up…it’s a one shot deal. The MLE can be split but not added to any other exemption.
So we now have the LLE (BAE) to one player, the rest of MLE to one or more players (not much left so only one player I’m sure) or players we have rights to for any amount that will not put us over the luxury tax.
Looks more and more like an overpaid Delfino and underpaid Rasho (BAE) coming back to the Raps.
Thats correct – and thats why I expect Jack’s contract to be front loaded considering the dropping cap and the fact that we have room under the tax this year…
I believe in Bryan Colangelo.
Wat about Rasho and then that European-Giorgos Printezis for a wing player @ the minimum salary?
that might be a good solution to ‘money bags Delfino’
Giorgos should have a summer league shot for next year… I mean he does look like the scrapper we need in the future. I hope he can buck the trend of crappy 2nd rounders we pick up in Raptors history.
He already signed a big three year contract with Unicaja Malaga
In Colangelo we trust , part 2 …
Part 2? I think we are beyond part 2…. but I still believe! I have too the season tickets need to be in demand, so I can sell half of the games!
Arse,
You completely FORGOT about the Washington Wizards. I know it is tempting to say that Gilbert Arenas will become Lieutenant Dan from Forrest Gump, but he might give them enough firepower to make them outscore (if not out-defend) the weaker teams.
Jamario joins Lebron? Will Lebron pop a nerve seeing him shoot 3’s? How many more former Raptors will they sign next?
Can Katie Price’s assets contribute into airplane ocean crash safety for emergencies?
Cleveland now has our starting wings as bench players…
That is a perfect illustration of what went wrong last year
LOL! how awful is that…
Knowing that Delfino may be our only opportunity to add another wing, I hope he comes to his senses and lowers his contract expectations. I’d rather go into the season with him than without him.
Jack was one of those players on Portland, Outlaw being the other, that I used to say “man, he would look awesome in a raptors jersey” when seeing him in action… he brings it, and is no nonsense. This is my favourite BC signing since he took office.
The rest of the pieces will fall now that Jack is in the fold…I imagine BC was hand-cuffed for a week. Delfino and Rasho will be back very soon….
he can defend CP3, billups, kidd and tony parker…plus hes a little bit gansta something this team needs more of
Jack is exactly what we need, a guy to push back at some of those guards when amigo breaks a nail…now if only the “wimpy B’s” could grow a set of nuts Reggie would be proud of, maybe we’ll have a team…
oh ya, another thing, Stephen Hawking will be able to guard Kidd soon enough…
hahaha
Finally we get a player with balls and heart! Good signing!
Just a clarification Arse (and I will come across as an arse here)…
Using “irregardless” means that it depends on playoff success.
I think you meant regardless.
Don’t usually nitpick grammar, but this word changes the entire spirit of the sentence.
If you’re going to “nitpick” grammar at least figure out that “irregardless” doesn’t mean anything because it’s not a word. The word is “regardless” regardless of the spirit of the sentence, whatever that means.
Good signing. The most success the Raps have had has been when they’ve had 2 solid PG’s.
Not true. It is a word, albeit nonstandard.
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
REGARDLESS, I would like to point out that the correct term is “shore up” not “sure up”. Otherwise, great article (as usual).
I guess the question that begs asking is how you figured out we were first in search results LOL
lol true.
who googles that….
Great read.
Love the JJ signing.
He is NOT overpaid.
Go Raps!!!
It’s the fucking blog stats and referrers you twit. Try logging in once in a while.
whoa whoa.. don’t need to get all defensive LOL
…. First Katie Price, now we move on to conquer other tits such as those of Rihanna and potentially Pam Anderson.
Oh, and Jarret Jack is a great signing; along with Bargs’ contract, in a couple years raps fans will be begging to smoke some BC pole, because of how cheap these players will seem when considering their output.
Good morning Arsenalist – good post.
One small thing re: Jamario – I think all reports are saying Cleveland has “UP TO” $3.2M of room to sign Moon – I didn’t see any confirmation. As per my posts a few days ago, I would think $1.5 to $2.0M per (for 2 yrs) would do it – Miami is looking at Odom plus doesn’t want to pay for a guy like Moon for the 2010 season (keeping room for resigning Wade).
It’s interesting to see Raps fans throw him under the bus, but (likely) the #1 in the East find value there.
What does “but(likely) the #1 in the East find value there” mean? Just curious…
The other day I mentioned that Moon wasn’t a castaway given his ability to play defense (top 25 in steals/min in NBA), rebound, shoot (no where near as bad as most remember, his TS% is WAY above league averages), etc.
All I meant, is that it’s interesting that a top team in the league sees value in Moon and many here wouldn’t pay him a dime.
Not sure how someone who will likely be paid ~$2M can disappoint with 7.5 pts, 5 boards and 1 steal a game (when avg ~24 min). He’s not a superstar, but seems like decent value to me
(Can we think of any other FA with these kinds of numbers that is paid less?)
I mean, damn, we’re going to pay a 40% FG (53% TS%), 9 pts/game, 4.4 boards/game, 74% FT over $4M/year. **Of course Delfino is better than Moon**, but Moon is better relative value (at likely half the price). Miami fans liked him – they set reasonable expectations and he contributed nicely most nights. For the price… for the price.
It’s easier to find value in a guy like Moon if your team only has small issues to address. Cleveland needed to get more athletic on the wing, so they added Moon to improve their depth. The Raptors needed to make much more serious changes this offseason, which prevented them from making small pickups like Moon.
Do I recognize Moon’s value? Absolutely. But the Raptors aren’t in a position to be signing a value guy like Moon at this point. Where’s that money coming from? Out of Jack or Turkoglu’s deal? No thanks.
Delfino, although more expensive, makes more financial sense because we don’t have to adjust anything to get him. We own his rights, therefore we can absorb the cap hit. To get Moon we would have to give something up, and I don’t know why we would want to do that to get a guy who is basically the definition of an average contributor, and didn’t show any significant improvement from his rookie to sophmore years.
100% Agree – for us, you’re right – the math is less likely to work as you want the bi-ann for a big. Was just making the point Moon was likely good value out there.
I know what you’re saying, but I have a hard time attributing Cleveland’s success to moves like this. If Danny Ferry has proven anything, it’s that he’s a decent exec who has the best player in a generation and a great regular season coach. The fact that Ferry signed a guy might be more of an indictment than anything.
Does Barnes count? Albeit he’s not the exact same kind of player as Moon, but I’m sure most would agree he’s a better player, and he just signed with the Magic for $1.6 mil per year (player option for the 2nd year).
Do try to remember, though, that when comparing contracts, the context is important. Jack received more as a RFA to ensure Indiana wouldn’t match. Moon received more as a RFA to ensure Miami wouldn’t match. Barnes received less as a UFA because the deal is essentially a one-year showcase for a better deal next off-season. Which leaves Delfino, who doesn’t quite fit any of the above situations. Normally, he should receive closer to what Barnes is getting if re-signed by Toronto; closer to what Moon is getting if signed to an offer sheet by another team. However, and this is what sucks, it’s his leverage and not his actual worth that is warranting a $5 mil/year figure.
None of this means Moon is worth what he’ll be getting with Cleveland though.
As much as I’ve criticized Moon, he did bring energy to the Raptor game – something we’ve needed. Unfortunately, I also believed that over time, he somehow interrupted the flow … not that we had much of that.
On the ESPN site, I ran across this gem:
["This is what the Cavs needed. Moon is young (relatively), defensive minded (relatively), we will get him cheap (relatively), and he is a SF who can shoot the 3pt shot well ...." ]
Everything is relative — I guess — but I still have flashbacks of Moon, as he jacks up a 3 pt shot. It’s like a bad nightmare.
The irony of all this, is that Moon might very well be sipping champagne sometime next June. That oughta make us Rap fans cringe even more.
OK…I understand it now. As for throwing Moon under the bus…Miami could have signed Moon to a one year contract if they really wanted him, but they didn’t. Moon was of very little value to the Raptors and Heat and I’m pretty sure he will disappoint in Cleveland too.
Sarcasm alert – Boy, Cleveland is going to look great in 2010 when LeBron leaves and their starting 5 includes Jamario Moon and Anthony Parker. Honestly, how does signing Moon really help Cleveland? When they don’t win the NBA championship this year and LeBron leaves of NYC is this the excuse their GM is going to lay on the fans – I don’t know what went wrong. I went out and signed Jamario Moon! If that didn’t tip the balance of power in the league what would?
Or, you know, Moon might address one of their biggest deficiencies, athleticism on the wing. That will result in them not having to play Wally Sczerbiak or Sasha Pavlovic, both of whom suck horribly.
Moon, who is a solid defender, will be able to defend wing players that Wally/Pavlovic struggled with (think Turk/Allen/Pierce/VC) which will mean Lebron won’t have to guard them as he often did in the playoffs, which will allow him to get a bit of a rest at the defensive end.
So, you see, by adding Moon, Cleveland will improve their team as a whole, which will, in fact, give them an excellent shot at winning the NBA Championship, as they were already fairly close this past year. There is also the distinct possibility that Lebron doesn’t leave next summer, because he is playing for one of the best teams in the league already, and they will be able to offer him more money than anyone else.
They also traded for a guy by the name of Shaquille, so the GM would have that as his primary “excuse”, as you put it, should things not work out.
I think you are viewing Moon’s tenure through rose-coloured glasses?
I also get a feeling analysts like calling anybody with a deficient offensive game a “solid defender”
Moon’s man continuously blew by him on a nighly basis!!! He neve knew where to be on the pick and roll defensively!
Anyone that calls him a solid defender does not watch the Raptors play on a regular basis.
Disagree. He’s clearly an above-average defender, especially off the ball at the wing. How many straight games with a block?
When talking about LeBron, don’t forget that the Cavs are owned 15% (not sure about the correct %), so if they know what they’re doing there’s a chance for him to make MUCH more through endorsements/branding in Cleveland than NY.
Blocks does not a good defender make. How many blocks did Bruce Bowen average for the Spurs the last 8 years? How many steals? Perhaps you’d be surprised to find that both of his figures are lackluster when compared to Moon’s.
There was a rather revealing article regarding Theo Ratliff’s defensive prowess, or lack thereof, back when he was still a relevant commodity. It went somewhere along the lines of yes, he leads the league in blocks, but actually, he’s a below average defender at his position. Why? Because the main reason he gets so many blocks in the first place is because he lets his man get by him constantly. His blocks are always from behind, and while he does do that part well, there are plenty other times when he isn’t able to correct his mistake. Better to have someone who is able to stay on his man and force him into taking a low percentage shot.
Moon is similar in this regard. I don’t know what % of his blocks were from behind, but you have to also remember that he goes for the block *every* shot/pump-fake. He may have been good at some other aspects of defense, but he was horrible at playing the kind of smart defense that doesn’t show up on a box score, hence the Raptors being torched by opposing swingmen every single game.
On a similar note, some news outlet dubbed Joey Graham as a “superb defender” when they wrote about Cleveland’s interest in him. So I guess teams must be clamoring for Joey’s services now, but what I want to know is who is better? Superb defender Joey Graham or solid defender Jamario Moon?
irrespective.
How many minutes do you think we will see Jack playing a night? Because if it is around 30(which would be similar to his last year with the Pacers) there aren’t a lot of extra minutes floating around for a guy like Delfino.
23-27. If you heard my interview with the Pacers blogger (who saw all 82 of his games) he said that Jack runs into some turnover trouble when he plays high minutes. He played 33+ minutes for them last year which is past his ideal usage. Calderon will still need to be durable, this signing doesn’t mean that we can afford to have him limping around half the season.
Good point. I think that with the Jack signing and a couple of decent young wings (DeRozen and Wright) Delfino is kind of redundant at this point. We still more depth at C but why blow a bunch of cash on Delfino if we don’t really need him?
BC should listen to the ING Direct guy.
Agree and have been saying this all along. Also, because the Raps have his bird rights, they very well may end up overpaying him. And because the Raps will be overpaying him, there will be pressure to overplay him.
Delfino has done nothing in his NBA career to justify 5 mil per.
Plus we would overpay him for 3-4 years. We’ve already got 3 guards locked up for the next 4 years, and we can do better than a 6′6 backup small forward.
Even if Delfino is redundant, we should still sign him. He would be great coming off the bench plus the more depth we have can only help in a future trade scenario. And I’m guessing Rasho will be signed this week…let’s hope.
I like JJ, but I’ve never really seen him as a SG. He is a bit undersized isn’t he, being listed at 6′3? As a buck up PG I love him though…
I hope we can get Rasho or Gooden to help us out on the front too. Both of them would serve the purpose
He is a bit undersized in height, but certainly not in strength. Bigger SG that can post up could take advantage, but Jay Triano can adjust with Wright in those cases.
For what it’s worth, Jarrett was more effective at SG: http://www.82games.com/0809/08IND3.HTM
Yeah his only defensive weaknesses I have heard to date are keeping up with the fastest of the tiny PG’s like TJ Ford, Parker, Aaron Brooks etc, and being shot over. Apparently he can hold his own against any average sized SG. Guys like Lebron etc would likely be successful in posting him up…
Lebron is a small forward.
Some “expert” (I think from ESPN), much smarter than I, noted that no one can truly guard the fastest PGs out there. He’s probably right – Devin Harris probably couldn’t guard Devin Harris. It’s more about not making it easy for them, but its difficult to contain them.
I don’t understand why people think that we can’t make any trades with other teams. Basically everyone here thinks we are stuck with just MLE and LLE. GUYS we CAN trade with other teams, as Bc said plenty of times “We have a lot of movable pieces” (except Marcus Banks, lol). We can make trades to either open salary space, or trade two of unnecessary players for one necessary player with matching salaries.
So I’m pretty sure we can’t predict our roster shape until it is all set and done at the end of the off season! The only thing we can be sure about is our core roster players for next season because they are here to stay.
Here is the hope for at least one series win after a LONG LONG time!
Of course we can trade, that’s always an option but what disposable assets do we have? The only guy we had which I could see teams wanting was Kris Humphries and we already dealt him. You’re not going to find a taker for Marcus Banks because word has gotten out that he sucks. Sadly, George, Douby and Wright are the three players that I could maybe see some team wanting, not necessarily even because of their talents but because they’re all expiring contracts. I suppose you could add O’Bryant to that list but I’m thinking he’s destined to be waived if traded.
I have a question for you all here, what is chanse of us getting Gooden ??? And is he an upgrade over Rasho ?? I like Gooden ( Although I have not seen him play for a while now) since he is younger and can play PF position as well but not sure how much he is looking for , how healthy he is and ….
I’d rather have Rasho. He’ll be cheaper and he likes Toronto. Gooden fell off big time over the past couple of seasons, and there has been no indication he will ever regain the form he had when he was with the Cavs a few years ago.
Even his Cavs form wasn’t great. Rasho’s a better option, bigger, better defender against Howard/Shaq/Perkins, higher bball IQ. Maybe not quite the range of Gooden, but they can both knock the 12 footer. Plus we’d all love having Rasho because he’d love us (in the words of Chris Bosh).
Does DD play SF as well as SG ???
Given he’s 6′7″ sure. A “wing” is a wing – depends on matchups, but given his game, he would be fine there.
I tend to agree, I hope to see him at SF sometimes bc if Hedo goes down, we are very thin in that position.
Man, Cuba Gooding Jr. looks pissed off in that picture, I suppose that means he’s done doing kids films?
That’s not Cuba Gooding Jr. It’s Mario Winans.
I don’t understand why people are hating on Moon. I would say he is a very good player for the money he was/is getting paid. But he is a not a STARTER in the nba, and anyone could tell you that. It was our fault and our lack of depth in the team for having to start him, and leaving him out there with the clock winding down. I would have loved to see him come off the bench for us this season if could have got him for the bi-annual exception. He would have gave us depth of the bench, a bit of scoring, denfece, and rebounding at the 2 or 3. I think it is a very good pick up for the Cavaliers, but I don’t think he will get any minutes there, being a third stringer.
I don’t think anyone hate him or anyone is denying his caopabilities. But He is a prime example of NBA Player who does not listen, learn and know his strenght and his place in a team. His ill timed shots were driving everyone crazy. He was suppose to be slasher and not a shooter in a team with AB, JK and AP. His laziness in attacking the offensive board was sometime annying too. Belive me, LJ will kick his ass out if he takes one of those 3s there.
Ummm, Arse, but I am pretty sure that the Raptors have no interest whatsoever in Pops,
and I’m pretty sure they had rescinded their offer
and he is now a unrestricted free agent
correct me if I’m wrong.
Pretty sure they haven’t, BC alluded that he had in an interview (about him and Delfino) but turns out it was misunderstood. I’ll confirm though.
wasn’t misunderstood, assuming you are referring to his scrum at the Evans thing. Had the s&t with Otis Smith not happened, it would be the only way to get Hedo.
Arsenalist – if that wasn’t you calling in on the Fan just after 3:30 pm, it was a sound-alike. Was it you?
Nope, it wasn’t.
hey we could sign and trade Delfino and Carcass Banks to New York for David Lee…oh crap Isiah is gone isn’t he?? ;)
I think the Raps should try a sign&trade of Delfino for Kleiza. Denver needs a SG who can defend and shoot 3’s and Kleiza is a backup to ‘Melo at SF. Kleiza would backup Turkoglu in Toronto, allowing DeRozan to slide into the backup SG role behind Wright, until/unless he proves he should be starting.
If I were BC, I would rather pay Kleiza $4-5M than Delfino. Other players/picks could get inovlved, but a 1-for-1 deal would seem to help both teams.
Actaully i think arron aflalo is going to play that role at the sg this year for the nuggets. They replace D. Jones with Aflalo basically, and i think it was a great move for Denver. Delfino is more like a JR Smith type of SG, not a defensive specialist but a scorer
Valid point, I had forgotten about their acquisition of Afflalo.
Another SF I think the Raps should target, with any combination of Delfino, Ukic and expiring contracts (Douby/George/O’Bryant), is C.J. Miles from Utah. He’s their 3rd string SF behind Kirilenko/Harpring and Utah needs to shed some salary.
I don’t think we can gte him. How much does he make ??
I’m not sure Utah will make any deal for him, his natural position is the SG and Utah is still working an extension for their starting SG, Ronnie Brewer, if they don’t come to terms with him, they’ll look to miles as an isurence in case he leaves next season. Don’t forget the third SG Morris almond, is a free agent and won’t come back
By the way, I like almond much more than Wright
Speaking of Moon…I would actually consider re-signing Joey G( I know a lot of people will disagree) for a cheap contract and he could backup Turk. We seem to be full at the 2 spot with Wright, Jack, DD and possibly Douby. DD can also fill in at the 3 spot and hopefully “good” Joey could bring in some energy off the bench.
I agree, JG played Ok under Triano and I don’t mind us getting him if his salary is reallyyyyy low :)
If the Raps had an extra roster spot, I’d rather see them resign Mensah-Bonsu and play DeRozan as 2nd unit SF and play either Delfino/Douby at SG (assuming no more trades/signings), instead of resigning Graham.
At least Mensah-Bonsu gives the Raps a more athletic alternative at backup PF (along with Evans) and knows he’s there just to rebound, not try to fill the scoresheet. Graham has shown no growth over the past few years and hasn’t given any indication that he ever will. He is selfish and looks to score, and tries for monster posterizing dunks instead of simply laying it in. This summer is about looking ahead for the Raps, to recycling past crap like Graham (and yes, I get the irony of that statement when I also promote resigning Mensah-Bonsu and Delfino, and bringing back Nesterovic…. but they know their roles and fill a need for the Raps, unlike Graham)
TYPO: …is about looking ahead for the Raps, NOT recycling past crap like Graham…
I’d direct you to the above discussion on Jamario Moon, where a reader calls Jamario a good find for the Cavs. For what they are looking for, at a heavily discounted price, Jamario (might) be good value.
In this case, the argument isn’t ‘let’s bring back Joey for $5mill/year and see if we can get him starting by the all star break, we know he’s got it in him!’, it’s ‘let’s see if we can get him at a heavily discounted rate where his role is clearly defined as a back-up to step in and play 10-15 minutes of hustle basketball while Hedo rests his back. If that’s what we’re looking for and Joey’s the best option/value, then why not at least consider it?
It’s asinine to simply say that because he was once on the Raps, he should never play here again unless your initials stand for Vince Carter
I seriously wouldn’t mind bringing back Joey in case things didn’t work out with Delfino. He’d come cheap and would bring some toughness at the back up 3 spot.
If and only if we don’t re sign delfino, i would rather have joey than any other minimun salary SF. He knows the team, the city, the players and the most important, the coach and his sistems. Actually, i wouldn’t mind replace george with joey
Great adittion. I didn’t see that coming when we sign him to an offer sheet, i saw Kleiza as a better fit with this team (actually i still do)
Also, we have George, Douby (i’m not buying his summer league permormance, it’s just summer league), Banks and O’Briant. That’s too much players without any impact in this team. I don’t mention Ukic because he actually had a lot of impact last year in games against Orlando and San Antonio. I want him in the rotation and expect improvement from him
That’s how i saw the finished roster right before the turk trade
PG: Calderon/Ukic/Banks
SG: DeRozan/Delfino/Wright (or Almond via Free agency)
SF: Turk/Kleiza/George (or joey?)
PF: Bosh/Evans/Pops
C: Andrea/Rasho/POB
That’s a good roster in my opinion, a Second Round of the playoffs roster. Not impossible to get. With Banks, Joey or George and POB desactivated and with Wright and one of pops or evans out of the rotation
Now, right before the Jack’s signing, and after the summer league and the words of the GM and his assistent saying that douby will probably have a spot in the roster, it’s a little different. This is how i see it
PG: Calderon/Jack/Douby/Ukic/Banks are you kidding me? 5 PG? it’s insane
SG:De Rozan/Delfino/Wright with Jack playing a lot at the SG
SF: Turk/George (or joey?) with Carlos playing most of the back up SF
PF: Bosh/Evans
C: Andrea/Rasho/POB
Actualy, i like a lot more the first roster i saw, it’s more balance, now we have 5 possible pg with only 2 playing regulary (and maybe one of ukic and douby) only one valuable SF and only 2 PF
ESPN Trade Machine just reload this season rosters and I come up with an idea. Forget about Kleiza, no way we can get him this season.
But, let’s try Delfino as the back up SF this year, and the next we will have two expiring contracts for a value of 9.5 millions. Teams like sacramento will be in dessperate need for expiring deals and I come op with a possible trade with the Kings. Andres Nocioni for the expriring contracts of Banks and Evans, we will save almost 2 millions of cap space but andres contract has two more in the books. He will bring the same three point shooting than kleiza but with more experience. Plus, he will bring his well known energy and hustle and could play the back up PF easly. He is a former teammate of Jose in Spain and toghether, and Scola, they won almost every title availeble
If you think this could be good right know, something like this could be worked
http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=n4k5mf
Not sure if the king could bite but, two expiring deals and Wright defense could do it. They would also save a lot of money in the future by trading nocioni. We just won’t use George and Banks, so it’s basically nocioni for wright
Like you, I hope Ukic can play. The sad part is he’s never proven that he can do that. Backup PG was a bigger need than backup SF, Jack was the right man.
Nocioni’s overrated. And he’s Argentinian, not Spanish.
I’m argentinian, don’t you think i would know if a player of my country plays in the NBA? I meant he was a teammate of Jose and Scola in the Tau Cerámica, one of the best teams in spain and in europe, and when the three played togheter, along with Macijauskas and oberto, among others, they won almost every title avaliable.
By the way, he’s not overrated, he is in my opinion overpaid, but not overrated at all, most people doesn’t even know his experience as a player and what he brings to the table. BTW, he clearly wants out of the Kings, he would never say it but, he’s a winner, he wants to be at least with a playoff team