The 401 is covered with snow and in the distance you see two dozers working in tandem, one is on the edge of the road and the other in the middle. The one in the middle isn’t moving the snow off the road, he’s just making sure that the one closest to the edge has little trouble moving all the snow off the road. That’s Rasho. He may not get the eventual credit but without him the job is impossible. He uses his wide body methodically, even stealthily, to clear medium to large big-men out of the lane so his mates get a crack at the rebound. He’s the guy who won’t get a face-up block on you but he’ll push you out of your comfort zone. He won’t dominate on offense but he’ll unclog the name by taking his man away from the paint using that 8-10 foot jumper. He’s 10 feet tall and weighs a f*****g ton, he’s Rasho and he’s coming. He’s coming.
As planned, the bi-annual exception was converted to a 1-year deal for Rasho Nesterovic. It’s not clear whether there were other NBA inquirers but it’s rumoured that there was some European interest. But why play in Europe when you can play in Toronto with Europeans? If being the Slovenian representative to the Raptors wasn’t incentive reason enough to take a paltry (I can’t believe I’m saying this) $1.9M, then surely reducing his commute definitely was – he still owns a home in Toronto, we haven’t yet figured out where it is but once we do we’ll forward you the address so the vigil can start in earnest. Seriously though, I’m sure he could’ve gotten a better deal money-wise but he’s made enough of it in his career to end his career in a place where he really wants to play.
The move’s hardly a surprise but I still felt relieved that there was zero chance of Patrick O’Bryant touching a basketball during non-garbage-time. I think every Raptors fan knows exactly what Rasho brings: good fundamental defense and expert knowledge of how to use his wide frame, and that’s all we’re asking. He’s going to be a huge part of our defensive rebounding even though his highest average as a Raptor was 4.8. In other words, he’ll prevent offensive rebounds and put the onus on others to clean the glass. Adding Rasho’s 7-foot frame doesn’t mean our rebounding problems are solved, it only means our guards and forwards will have a chance to collect the defensive rebounds that should belong to them. Instead of opposing centers wiping the offensive glass with Bargnani and Bosh, we’ll have Rasho in there to maintain spatial integrity in the paint.
Let’s take a quick look at the roster:
9 Rotational players: Bargnani, Bosh, Calderon, DeRozan, Evans, Jack, Nesterovic, Turkoglu, Wright
2 fringe players: Douby, George
3 guys you have to pay: Ukic, Banks, O’Bryant
That’s 14 players. You would think Delfino’s going to be #15 which leaves no room for Pops “I-try-to-tear-rim-down-but-get-stripped” Mensah-Bonsu. But wait! We can buyout St. Patrick and sign Pops to a $1M deal. The guy is literally sitting at home eating Cheetos and watching the Ashes while waiting for the England national team to start practice. He has zero NBA offers on the table and the only reason I think Colangelo hasn’t signed him yet is because he doesn’t know how much money he’ll have left to spend on Delfino. It would be a tragedy if we sign Pops to a deal and then find out that we’ll have to cross the tax level to sign Delfino. Colangelo’s smart, he’s waiting for the Delfino situation to get finalized so he’ll know exactly how much he can offer Pops.
According to earlier reports we had about $7.1M to spend before we reached the tax-level. We just used $1.9M on Rasho which leaves us with $5.2M. If O’Bryant agrees to a buyout of $200K which is 40% of his guaranteed contract we’ll be left with $5M (buyouts count against the cap). If Delfino agrees to a $4M deal for the first year we should be able to sign Pops to a $1M/1yr deal which also happens to be his qualifying offer. He’s got every reason to take it since he’s still an unproven commodity and will try his best in another contract year. Raise your hand if you’d rather have Pops than O’Bryant. Aaah, everybody’s with me…but wait…you there, you there in the back, why is your hand down? Oh, what’s that? You’re Patrick’s agent? Oooh, I’m sorry your vote doesn’t count and your client plays like a girl.
Rasho’s 33 years old and entering his 12 NBA campaign, he averaged 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds for the Pacers last season in 70 games. In his two previous years with the Raptors he averaged 6.2 points/4.5 rebounds in 20.9 minutes and 7.8 points/4.8 rebounds in 21 minutes. His career averages are 7.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 50.1% FG and 58.8% FT. He hasn’t shot less than 50% in his last four NBA season. He’s Rasho and he’s coming.
I’ve been browsing the internets and have come across some crazy ass banter, something about how signing Joey Graham is a good idea. I suggest those of you who share that thought sign up for my Joey Graham Withdrawal Class (MWF10-11 BA1024) where we go through all 12 steps:
- Wow, what a great physique, he’s going to be a beast.
- He’s still developing, a little raw, but what a physique?
- He’s got to stop going one-on-one and throw up prayers but still, what a physique?
- With a physique like that you’d think he wouldn’t settle for off-balance jumpers.
- What’s Danny Granger upto? All-Star soon, eh? Bet he doesn’t have Joey’s physique, though.
- Moon beat Joey to a starting job? Really? Even though Joey had the better physique?
- Did you say Joey’s crazy baseline dunk on Pryzbilla? Man, so glad we got rid of that punk Moon.
- Ever since Triano gave Joey time he’s been showing us something. Can we sign him to a 9M/3yr deal?
- That something turned out to be nothing.
- Has anyone seen Good Joey lately?
- Four years later Joey still sucks.
- I think Stephen Graham is better.
81 Raps
I agree w/ the whole Joey Graham thing. I also agree that it’d be good for the Raptors to bring back Pops, but with that said, where would he fit in the rotation?
Rasho backs up Bargs, Evans backs up Bosh, Delfino backs up Turks, DeRozan backs up Wright, Jack backs up Calderon.
In crunch time Jack can play on the court at the same time as Calderon. That’s a 10-man rotation right there. At the very best Pops would be the 11th guy.
So, while everyone (including myself) would like to see him in a Raptors uniform next season once again, it’s not something that is going to make or break this team.
I guess at the end of the day it comes down to who’d you rather have? Pops or POB. And that my friends is a no-brainer.
Nice article bud. :)
I agree with you on the lack of playing time for Pop. But lets face it, NBA season is long and neither AB not CB are ” iron man” and at some point of time will miss few games and that will open up time for Pop.
This might be good and give time to Pop to delevop more. He is 26 but has only arounf 35 NBA game under his belt.
I think we can even sign him for less than a 1 mill .
Yep Shahin, that’s the best part about having a good bench. If someone goes down you have someone ready to step in. The guy is a crowd favourite and exactly the kind of spark you need off the bench.
I like Pop as well and you are right, he just have that spike to him that gets the fans going.
There’s a reason he’s only played 35 games at the age of 26. It’s because he’s not very good at basketball.
Who do we have as our back up Small forward ?? Lets Say Hedo goes down with injury, who do we have that can play in that spot ?? I know Wright can play abit, but we should really not count on George.
Also, if we do not sign Delfino, Can we still sign someone for 4 or 5 mill and be under the cap ? Or is this just the case for Delfino since we have his bird rights ?
If Delfino signs I believe he’d be the backup option at the 3. And yeah, you’re right bud, the Raps can only offer Delfino this since they have his bird rights.
That is what I thought and having only 2 guys capble of playing SF is not very comforting for NBA season. I really hope Delfino signs for a reasonable amount with the team.
DeMar DeRozan is absolutely fine at the 3 as well (6′7″) and Jack/Delfino/Douby or Wright would play the 2 in that scenario – depending on matchups.
“….and your client plays like a girl”
i know many women (including myself) that can probably school most of you on the court. don’t get it twisted.
that aside…..
Joey Graham’s meter ran out. I saw that article about the Raps needing to sign him and I couldn’t even make it through the second paragraph.
I love the Rasho pick-up.
if you examine the bench (in terms of bodies in the core rotation), 3 of the 5 potential back-ups started more than half their games last season for their respective teams.
PG- Jack: started 65% of the games he played in 08/09, averaged 33 minutes
SG/SF- Wright: started 82% of the games he played, averaged 24 minutes
SG- (Delfino): if he’s healthy, we know what he brings to the table
PF- Evans: started 7 of his games but is very durable- played 79 of 82 games, averaged 14 minutes
C- Nesterovic: started 27% of the games he played last season, averaged 17 minutes
but the year before with Toronto, he started 55% of his games and averaged 21 minutes
and we all know that we will probably not see 5 players jump off the bench at once. they will be mixed in with Turkoglu, Dorozan, or Bargnani to give the 2nd unit an extra scoring punch on the offensive end.
the Orlando Magic will undoubtedly have the deepest and strongest bench next season, but the Raps won’t be too shabby either. Anytime you can replace Voskuhl, Solomon, Ukic and Humphries with the toughness of Rasho, (Delfino), Jack and Wright, it’s a good solid upgrade.
You know he didn’t mean it that way right? I bet you can probably posterize O’Bryant very easily if you joined the summer league.
He didnt mean “He plays like a girl basketball player” he meant he plays like a girly girl that doesnt want to break a nail.
I coached girl’s high school basketball and I had grade 9’s with more heart, hustle and effort than POB.
i know what he meant to say and i know it’s a saying everyone uses and everyone’s BEEN using- especially in sports.
i’m definitely not sweating it, i’m just saying…. it’s the same as when we say, “great, we got another white guy who probably can’t keep up with our running game”
it’s a good opportunity to think about the language we use and the generalizations we make, no matter how innocent i’m sure the intention was.
Yeah, no offense was intended as Seeten said. I’m positive you could school me. HORSE is another matter though.
O’Bryant’s summer league performance was downright terrible, just awful. He was being schooled by Robin Lopez and little guards were taking rebounds away from him by timing their jump better. He didn’t show any toughness or physicality and other than a recovery block here and there and an occasional 21 footer, he did nothing. It almost seemed like he felt he was the best player there and didn’t need to work as hard as everybody else. Paul Davis was actually better than O’Bryant if you look at it in terms of PER40.
Putting him on the 15-man roster will be a waste of a spot, even if we have to slightly overpay for Pops, I’d still bring him on. If O’Bryant plays he will disappoint and make you want to throw stuff at the TV. Guaranteed.
oh trust, i wanted rip his skinny arms off during summer league.
What??? Think you, a girl, can school “most” guys. Man I’ll cross you over so hard…..
That’s cute
I really hope we pull off a multiyear deal for Kleiza with sign-trade with the nugges for like 3m/year. That would be awesome.
God… Delfino is just asking too much. Even 4 million is way overpaying him. It should be at least less than 3m. If Orlando got Matt Barnes for only 1.5 million (unbelievable deal!), Delfino should be at the maximum 2 million…
That’s the problem right there. On the open market, he’d probably receive a deal similar to Barnes, tops, but all that means is he’d turn it down and stay in Russia (I don’t know the exact figure, but last I read, he’d need to pay his Russian club 800k simply to buy out of the contract). The issue isn’t him being greedy. The issue is that BC is trying to convince him to come back, and is hoping Delfino will give the Raps enough of a discount to do so; otherwise, this wouldn’t even be worth the discussion.
Regarding Joey Graham:
If you compare Graham and Delfino’s Per 36 mins. numbers from their last seasons in the NBA, it goes like this:
Graham: 13.9 Pts, 6.8 Rebounds, 1.1 assists, .542 TS%
Delfino: 13.8 Pts, 6.7 Rebounds, 2.7 assists, .527 TS%
One is an average defender, has a damaged shoulder and is asking for 5M/year.
One is a good defender, makes highlight reel dunks and could be had for the 1.3M veteran minimum.
I’ll take Joey G. any day.
That is my point as well. It seems like the price difference is sooo much that I rather have Joey for that than Delfino with little more upside. I just don’t think it is worth it.
I see the point. However, Joey does turn the ball over more – and you can see he generates next to zero opportunities for his teammates. Doesn’t drive (well, its a sad sight when he does) and is not a good ball handler. Panics near the end of the shot clock.
On D, I agree with ESPN’s assessment “Defensively, it boggles the mind that a player of Graham’s athleticism could go an entire season without blocking a shot. He seems rather confused at that end, which is another reason his playing time has evaporated.”
Because of Bird Rights, its not a big deal that we pay more – its MLSE’s money and about time they spent it.
I hate Joey, but I think i would take him at 10 mins a game and 1.3 million than Delfino at $5million
To be safe… not even 10 mins or a full minute would be given to him, Good Joey or Bad Joey
Joey G is an idiot. He’s not a good defender at all.
As long as it’s a one year deal I couldn’t care less what we pay Delfino vs Graham. I want the better basketball player, and that’s Delfino, hands down.
I’d be very surprised if Delfino came back for less than a multi-year deal.
First off, Graham doesn’t play 36 minutes whereas Delfino actually can last on a court that long, and Delfino has much more offensive variety in his game. I don’t hate Joey, and I’d rather bring in a different SG/SF altogether, but if it comes down to Joey/Delfino, I’ll take Delfino, even if it does cost more.
I don’t understand why Joey Graham is still in the discussion. He has had ample time to prove himself as an NBA player and a Raptor and has shown little to nothing. The fact that we are comparing him (after 4 years of NBA experience on the same team) to Delfino (who has i believe less NBA experience and played for the Raptors under Smitchell for 1 year) means that Delfino is more valuable.
Plus, as I have said in other posts, since Delfino can be had via Bird rights without salary cap implications, then if we can get him on a 1 year deal, I think we should consider paying him 4-6 mill just to have him, and perhaps either trade him by the deadline (if he plays really well and we don’t need him) or let him walk in free agency and still have major cap room.
Now that we have Rasho, the final piece of this team should be as follows: lock up Delfino to a 1 year deal, buyout POB or Ukic (my hopes is that its POB), resign Pops for veterans minimum or somewhere close to that based on mid-level exception remainder, and finally offer Chris Bosh a contact extension (to see if he’s willing to commit early, and end that speculation once and for all). Those should be the final moves for this team this offseason.
The team would have offense, toughness in the backcourt and front court, experience off the bench, clutch scoring in the starting line up, quality depth at the PG position, and fan favourites galore. They would be 3 deep at the 1, 2 and 3 and as well have 3 bench bigs to go along with the killer B’s. What more could you ask for. I think the Klieza talk needs to stop. Now that we have Jack, Klieza is out of the picture.
Bargs, Bosh, and Calderon will all be better than last year too (which will make the team tougher than most are anticipating), plus they will have quality depth and energy in all the bench spots. Colangelo has some tweaking to do, but he will end up with a good team, and will still have Banks and Ukic that he should trade if the opportunity arises.
Go Raptors in 09-10
The only problem is we wont get Delfino on a one year…we would get Joey on that…and then we can just get rid of him at the end of the year
The Banks issue can be solved only next year because his $5 million is expiring. If we are successful this year and comes July 1 or something around there we trade him to a scrub team needing salary cap help for a useful player, or just cap space for Bosh’s pay raise.
The only thing I’d ask is that no one ever says “Killer B’s” again.
Arsenalist – great post. Rasho’s ability to “keep balls alive” on both ends may be underappreciated.
And I completely agree with the comments about Joey – great guy, but not an asset.
Would be fine with Pops – realistically he see very little time and the price is right. Would view it as insurance if one of the bigs were injured.
Even more than that, Rasho stands in the right places at the right time for defense and offence. Plus at the backup, Jarrett Jack had one whole year playing with Rasho in Indiana so Jack and Rasho both know each other enough. The only thing that’s holding Rasho back is his old age and “natural” athleticism from square one. Pops gotta come back, this team need a “Birdman”.
The Raptors did not waive Patrick O’Bryant by July 1, making his contract guaranteed at $855,189.
Yeah… Arse, if B-CO wanted Pops over O’Bryant, he could’ve done it…
But he guaranteed POB’s contract by not releasing him..
If B-Co favoured Pops that much, don’t you think he would have released POBS?
We’ll see man. I don’t think BC’s going to be fooled by O’Bryant, he must value Pops more and its a question of priorities between Pops and Delfino. I think he wants to seal the Delfino deal and deal with Pops after.
Did you watch O’Bryant play in summer league? Huh? C’mon…I mean, Colangelo cannot be serious about retaining him. Hell, I’d take Petway over O’Bryant. At center.
Who cares who’s the 13th man on the team? It blows my mind how concerned some people are with who fills out roster spots. Everybody’s 13th man sucks, let’s get over it.
And as such, why would POB accept a buyout of 200,000?
He’s guaranteed almost 9, so why on earth would he do this? Help out the team? Right.
Only chance I see at getting a spot open is for BryCo to pull off a trade, possibly a 1-for-nothing or a 2-for-1 deal including Ukic, POB, or George.
Exactly. No way POB accepts a buyout..and even if he did, I’m sure he’d ask for it ABOVE his guarantee, which hurts our $ status even more.
Somebody would take a flyer on the guy, much like we did. I’d rather see him traded for picks or packaged up.
He didn’t have a choice.
The Raptors had the option of waiving his contract because it was not fully guaranteed.
That much of a pay cut is a BIATCH if I was POB…… F@^$ you Banks and your $5 million clogging!!!
His contract is guaranteed at $500K. This is as per Grange. It’s not out of the question that he accepts a $200K buyout and signs with another team to make the minimum and get some PT.
Well I think he knows other teams won’t sign him…its off to Europe, SCRUB!!
Well, who knows who is right. Doug Smith states the same as above ($855) (http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/2009/07/the-calm-before-the-storm-we-can-only-hope-so.html) and your buddy Chisholm states “Yet, Patrick O’Bryant will make $1.6-million this season and a workhorse like Pops Mensah-Bonsu remains unsigned.” (http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=284912)
What I do know is if you have an unguaranteed final year, you can have a declining salary, but it can’t go below the league mininum, which would be the $855,189 mentioned above since we didn’t waive him by July 1. (http://www.insidehoops.com/minimum-nba-salary.shtml). HoopsWorld also shows him at the $855 as a non-guarantee. (http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=9165)
So, who the hell knows. Sounds like a 4 team deal all rolled into one below average ballplayer.
Dude….LOVE the Washington reference! Opponents beware! Here comes Rasho, in control. Women dig his snuff and his gallant stroll.
graham CAN rebound if he wants to=minimun contract if necessary
Everything is coming together exactly the way Colangelo wanted it to this offseason, including Derozan. This team has gone from statistically the worst bench in the league (82games.com) to one of the strongest. This team will contend for 50 wins and be the best raps team ever all with a Canadian coach that everyone in the league loves at the helm.
Question: Only three raps teams have ever won more than 45 games:
2006/2007 – 47 wins
2000/2001 – 47 wins
1999/2000 – 45 wins
Is this raps team the most talented ever? Yes or No
Let’s watch them play together first… :]
But I’d say no.
I would just like to ask,
When have the Raptors ever had 4 potential All-Stars in their starting line-up??????
People are right we need to see them play first, but I think that this starting lineup could be one of the best the Raptors have ever had.
SSSSShhhh don’t say best in the offseason…its now a taboo on RR, lol
First, Obryants salary counts against the cap even after we buy him out. Second, what makes you think he would even agree to a buy out? It would basically be his ticket out of the NBA. Third, BC rescinded Pops’ qualifying offer so we can’t offer it to him.
All it means is we no longer have the ability to match if anyone else wants to sign Pops. Doesn’t mean we can’t sign him; he still has Bird rights.
It is driving me mad that Patrick O’Bryant is still on the team when the possibility of Pops returning are slim to none. This is garbage and to make things worse is that Colagelo has so much interest in another player Carlos Delfino who is clearly trying to screw the franchise so he can get his. Put Delfino on the back Burner sign Pops try to buy out POB and if you succeed then give an offer to delfino and say take it or leave it,if he leaves it then give Antoine Wright Back up SF minutes and play Derozan extended minutes. Beleave in the Rookie Triano knows how to handle young players and who knows the kid might be able to do something to put the Raptors back on ESPN.
Jason, you really have to look at the numbers and understand who goes against your CAP and who does not anc …. If you even buy out POB, his full salary will be counted against your CAP. We have Delfino’s bird’s right and his Salary will NOT. This is why BC is pushing it and ….
It is not as simple as sign , buy out , trade and …. There is 1 to 1 tax when u r over.
I don’t get it why people are comparing Joey with Carlos.
Joey is a moron… it is unbelievable that a guy with that size and athletic abilities can’t do nothing. It is like every time he is on the floor he is destined to do something stupid. He can’t handle pressure well, and you know what that means: zero minutes in the playoffs.He was one of the worst picks by the Raptors and you need to deal with that.
Don’t use double negatives… they are confusing because I don’t think you meant what you said. “can’t do nothing”
BUT
I do agree. Delfino is a much better player than Joey G.
Joey …..
I’ve read the Graham article that suggested we bring him back. First up, Delfino is a far superior player, but then again, he wants 4 or 5 million, and for multiple years (at least 2 I’d imagine). Since I don’t see him as being a future part to this team, why lock in on anything long. I’d be okay if Delfino would take 5 million for one year only, but I doubt that’ll happen.
As for Joey, he would be in the latter regions of our depth chart (say #13 – at least before Banks and POB). And his pay would reflect his status as well. And more than likely, Joey would be easier to massage then someone like Banks, or Ukic (with his reduced role now). And for what it’s worth, I still think Smitch affected Joey’s game.
Bringing Joey on board is not a radical move. It’s a way to fill the end of the bench. He would be cheap, and who knows.
Pops seems like he’s caught in the numbers game (if we have to keep POB). It would be nice to have him back, but if that option is not available, I’d have no problem with Joey (painful as I feel writing that). This season is not the Championship run (as much as we’d like it to be), so we need to remember cap issues as well. With Joey, Rasho, and a few other expiring contracts, the Raptors would be able to adjust after the season is over, and not be hamstrung like we were early in the summer. BC pulled a rabbit out of his hat. Don’t count on that happening on a regular basis.
I figure the value of Joey (in terms of his contract that is) is greater than Delfino…Joey seemed to excel after he settled in with Jay on the sideline. I noticed he wasn’t looking over his shoulder at every timeout simply expecting to be pulled from the game…He had a strong finish to the season and given another year with Jay he might ACTUALLY progress. Also Delfino bugged me a bit the last time he was here because i can remember him moving slower than Rasho at times if the game was only getting to the point it was out of reach. Not out of reach, but getting there and his facial expression had a “Wonder who’s on Conan tonight.” Just didn’t seem to me like he gave a s*** at times.
I’m having trouble caring if the Raps make another move.
Is Delfino really any better than Wright? Or is it, Delfino believes he’s a star and someone in Russia with more money than brains proved it last year? At this point, it’s hard to care if Delfino comes back, unless its for more than 1 year and more than $5m – then it seems stupid/ unnecessarily risky.
(It is MLSE’s money after all – so if they don’t handcuff the team for next year – who cares?)
Wow, someone actually cares if the 15th man, Mr. DNP-CD is going to be Pops (was I supposed to cover that guy?), POB (what do you mean I’m supposed to play in the paint?), or Joey (wake up Joey! you’re part of the play). Maybe one of these guys becomes a stud NBA player one day – they all got the tools, but you’d need a crystal ball to figure out if any of them is ever going to do it! Any one of these guys can be effective at chowing down on their Cheetos in a suit at the end of the bench while watching the Raps play.
A – Best Rasho article on the web. Starting to think that Raptors Republic could be the best Raptors forum online. On the downside, some of your collaborators are illiterate. I think you need to change the rotation or draft a few writers. If I were to make an analogy, this site is like the 08/09 Cavs. You’re LeBron.
More importantly… Anyone know where Rasho lives so we can put stuff on his lawn like in Friday Night Lights?
LOL
Like a giant sign that says “TORONTO RAPTORS, RASHO, CENTRE 2″ ?
I’ve been saying that the Arsenalist is the best Raptors beat writer period for over a year. Another great article my friend.
I’m just putting this out there… I don’t know how it would work but if we can clear a roster stop(Preferably POB b/c he sucks). We should forget Delfino for his ridiculous 5mil and try to sign newly banished and super athletic Hakim Warrick AND Pops! That would shore up our 3-4 spot nicely.
Idea is fine, but the money isn’t there – we would only be able to offer Warrick something around $1M even if we don’t sign Delfino. It’s about Delfino’s Bird Rights that we are able to pay him more.
Is it that We CAN NOT pay or is it if we do, we will be over the luxeroy Tax and have to pay dollar for dollar Tax ??? Can anyone confirm this please.
We cannot sign another team’s free-agent for more than $1.4M. We had the MLE which was $5.9M and the LLE which was $1.9M. We spent the LLE on Rasho and spent $4.5M of the MLE on Jack. That leaves us with $1.4M.
We can offer Delfino any amount of money. For next year we can only offer him approximately $5.2M without crossing into the tax, but theoretically we are allowed to pay him anything.
Great, Thanks for the explanation.
Sigh. Very simply put, if you are over the *salary cap*, you can only 1) re-sign your own players to whatever (Bird rights), or 2) sign new players to either minimum deals or to a deal that falls under one of various exceptions. We already used most of the MLE on Jack, and just spent the BAE on Nesterovic. Thus, we have *no* more exceptions to use and can *only* sign players (outside of our own) to minimum deals.
This has *nothing* to do with the luxury tax level; though yes, by coincidence we are also close to that as well.
I think we have a 1.1 million trade exception from trading kapono (according to espn.com)
Can a trade exception be mixed with the MLE, or is it its own animal like the BAE.
Forget about Delfino. He is not much of a player. Less than 3PPG and 1.7RPG career in the NBA is not going to make a difference for the Raptors. We need more rebounders than Evans. It is a joke what Toronto fans will settle for to get a “Euro” player.
What about acquiring Jared Dudley from Phoenix (perhaps for Roko, as Nash’s back-up is Goran Dragic)to play back-up SF. His salary is 1.3 million. Phoenix only has 1 center (the lesser lopez brother), so could actually use POB. The problem is that the salaries don’t match (POB is paid too little). Requires a bit of creativity. Playing SF for phoenix is grant hill, and earl clark is the back-up (I believe), so Dudley is expendible. He shoots 50% from 2, and 39% from 3. He should score more, but doesn’t shoot enough. He doesn’t look like a good rebounder, but he still averaged 1.2 offensive rebounds in 17 minutes. He also gets 0.8 steals a game, without turning the ball over much. His defense was relatively highly-rated on the site I use. We could throw in the 2nd round pick we got from LA clips in the hassan adams trade. He is only 24.
I think we are ok at SG. Depending on the match-up, we use either Jack or Wright when DeRozan isn’t playing. Also, I agree that DD could play SF. His game has been compared to Iguodala, who scores more like a SF than a traditional SG.
I don’t think we are getting Delfino (if we do everything is fine), and we need to make alternate arrangements. I don’t think I want him guaranteed for more than one year at even 4 million per year. I still like Azibuike from Golden State (if they want to dump salary)to play 2-3, as they have FIVE SF’s on the roster (you need memphis to facilitate by taking some of our shitty players who actually would get minutes in memphis+the ever-present clippers 2nd round pick which we could give to GS) even the fifth worst one would look good as back-up SF on our team.
Still, back-up SF is only going to decide what, one game this year? Then there is next year’s off-season to fill one back-up spot. Remember contract dumps during the year, too, as we have a lot of expiring contracts.
Aaah..I bet you remember that massive offensive rebounding game he had against us when he was with Charlotte?
During the Suns/Raptors summer league game they were talking to Robert Sarver and he mentioned how Earl Clark is still a couple years away from being a regular rotation player so I’m not sure if he’s going to be backup #1 for them. Phoenix likes Dudley for the same reasons we like him so I don’t think he’s that expendable.
Azibuike is great but a trade for him would be damn tricky and GSW would definitely be the team giving up more talent in any scenario. They only have a $60M payroll and Azibuike and Morrow are both very good contracts for them. The only guy I see them wanting to dump is Maggette.
There are plenty of 2nd/3rd tier small forwards out there making reasonable salaries but a trade for any of them is going to be hard because the only players we would offer back would be Ukic, Banks and O’Bryant and nobody’s going to bite on them. Maybe Banks’ contract will be more tradeable next year when he’ll be an expiring but right now he’s parked on that roster like a 1000-ton crane.
George is an expiring contract as well.
Golden State also has a SF Brandan Wright, who in 17 mintes averaged 8 points, 4 boards (1.6 offensive), 1 block. Shoots 53%. Didn’t play in their last 10 games, and only played 39 games. My scouting site says he’s actually a pretty good defender. Salary 2.6 million, expiring after this year, so Golden State gets nothing if they don’t play him and he just walks (better to get a 2nd round pick). Azibuike is an expiring contract, so if he walks they get nothing. The other thing we have is LA’s 2nd round pick some year from Hassan Adams trade.
There actually aren’t too many available 2/3 tier sf’s on people’s rosters (according to who is there on espn.com trade machine, I checked every team). Most don’t even have 2. Golden State is FREAKISHLY loaded on small forwards (like hoarding U’s in scrabble, remember Stephen Jackson, too). You could be right about $60 million, but espn trade machine says 67.3 million. They could use a 3rd Center. POB. Anyhow, with revenue coming down, saving 2 million for a small-market club which is probably losing money (half of the clubs are, right) to get rid of a player who doesn’t play (whoever is their #5 SF we will take) is arguably worth it, especially if you get a clipper 2nd round pick.
Memphis could use george (they have no back-up SF). They could use antoine wright, or quincy douby. Quincy douby now has value, more than he ever will again, so now is the time to trade him if possible. They might like to dump haddadi, i’d guess, because he has another year on his contract. He’s better than POB, but that isn’t saying much. Even though we are committing to an additional 1ish million a year down the road, somebody is going to be 3rd center, then, anyhow. And stink. We can also take another teams’s salary dump for the expring contracts of george, ukic, POB, (about 4 million in expiring contracts) provided we get a useful SF (like wright).
Regardless, compared to last year and joey, how much worse can D. George be? At least we have a back-up SF–many teams don’t. Next year there will be tonnes of back-up SF’s available, anyhow
Let’s say you can waive O’Bryant and sign Delfino and Pops while staying under the tax. This is very unlikely, but let’s play the game.
Do you really want to buttress right up against the tax threshold anyways, limiting what you can do in the regular season with trades/signings? Wouldn’t it be better to keep the guy that’s not going to play, rather than pay twice as much for a ‘fan favourite’ that’s not going to play?
All things being equal, would I want Pops over O’Bryant? Yes. Am I willing to pay POB $850K to go away, plus paying Pops $1M to play? Absolutely not. That’s nearly $2M to bring in a non-rotation player. That defines fiscal irresponsibility. And don’t mention Marcus Banks of Devean George, they were trade filler.
It depends on how popular pops is. A sufficiently popular 12th bench player can contribute 2 Million to team revenue. I don’t think pops is that guy, but Sun Yue of the Lakers might be. Attention in China (especially with Yao out) is likely worth 2 million to the team, and if Chris Bosh has any business plans in China it is worth it to him. The Chinese are the largest new immigrant group in Toronto/Canada, and we broadcast Raptor games in the Chinese language, so by making this community more inclined to support the raptors, they will buy tickets/merchandise/etc. If Sun Yue gets garbage time, he makes the news in China. As a Toronto Raptor. The raptors will also get much more attention on the internet, and Chinese votes are very useful come all-star selection time. Plus he always plays on the national team every summer (which pissed off the lakers), which promotes the Raptors. How would Chris Bosh like to go over to China in the summer and hang out with the Chinese national team, with all of THAT publicity. And you can’t minimize the fact that he has a ring. He knows what it takes to win a championship.
This was not serious. I just always try and justify acquiring another international.
Last post on this i promise. According to San Jose Mercury News, July 19, Wright is in Nelson’s doghouse, and is on the trading block. He is not part of the teams’s future.
Joey Graham is very inconsistent and when he’s bad, he’s bad. But when he’s on he has a solid game and a surprisingly consistent and high percentage mid range jumper. He was quite impressive at times last season.