With the arrival of free agent Hedo Turkoglu and first round draft pick DeMar DeRozan, Bargnani will have to be more than just a perimeter floater. While his strength is catching and shooting and quick attacks set up by his jump shot, his struggles have been in the post area. He’s been unable to hold inside position, getting bumped off his moves, and hasn’t had a good counter move when he gets jammed inside. And the longer he has held the ball, the more trouble he’s gotten into.
All this means that with better perimeter scorers around him and a weak post game, Bargnani has to become better in the mid-range. This will start with his pick-and-pop game, and his primary focus should be on becoming a much better screener. His screens have been soft and he hasn’t held them long enough, which means the ball handler isn’t as free and Bargnani hasn’t had as much open space when he catches the return pass.
Whenever I see guys in the locker room pregame or postgame while we wait for them to address the media my mind generally drifts back to my first specific memory of each player, or what sticks out in my mind about the guy, be it a particular performance, shot, random fact, interview etc.
I’ve been doing the same thing as it comes to these Raptors and I thought I’d share with you the most vivid memory or impression of each of the new guys who will be taking over lockers in the Raptors locker room.
One player that has stayed in the hearts of Raptor fans since he was acquired in 2001 for Corliss Williamson is Jerome “JYD” Williams. Jerome began his tenure with the Raptors by famously driving from Detroit to Toronto after hearing of the trade. It was this initial gesture that immediately identified Williams as a “working class” basketball player and thrust him into the hearts of raptor fans. You could immediately tell that he was a little different from your average NBA player. This was not a guy worried about shoe contracts and making excuses about being late for “practice”. He was a player who was happy to be in the league and have a job and worked as hard as he could to keep the job he loved so much.
But one has to believe that with the cap space Miami will have next summer, and with the promising young guys the HEAT have assembled, and with the desirable location of the team, Wade understands that there probably will not be a better situation for him next summer. If the team can sign Bosh or Carlos Boozer and extend Wade, anybody else you put around those two guys will be serviceable and the HEAT will be a perennial playoff team.
Besides, does anyone believe that Bosh, Wade, or James won’t get the absolute top dollar they can? Their current teams can even offer them an extra year. It comes down to where these guys think they can win. A betting man still should lay money down that all three guys stay put, but who knows what can happen. Every year free agency proves to us how crazy things can get when big money gets thrown around. Don’t think for a minute that free agency 2010 won’t be exciting. With a class like the one we’re going to see, there’s no way it couldn’t be.
So who should we chose? I haven’t been the biggest fan of Pops Mensah Bonsu as I think his game is limited. However, given our new offensive firepower, he may just be another great role player. Running the screen with a lower minimum minutes played (since Pops just scraped by 250 minutes), shows him as ranked 26th out of 370 players. No doubt the low number of minutes can skew these stats. Who ranks #1 out of 370 in offensive rebound rating? You got it, Pops. Okay, that’s a fluke. How about defensive rebound rate then? Ah… Pops is #1 AGAIN. For a minimum pay guy, this is a no-brainer.
Remember that Udoka and Mensah-Bonsu will not likely be core rotation players. And you’re paying them (likely) the league minimum. Note that when we are talking about veterans minimum contracts, our sample size of players will no doubt have some major flaws – so you’re looking for solid role players. Given the data, it’s hard to see the downside. The price is right.
36 Raps
Which team is better with its current roster:
Miami with Bosh?
Toronto with Wade?
A Toronto with Wade would be much better than Miami with Bosh.
The only thing we’re missing is a killer SG, so why is it not possible for Bosh to recruit Wade 2010?
How could the Raps possible afford Wade and Bosh?
Would absolutely need to be a sign and trade – in which case we likely lose many of the assets that would make TO a better destination than Miami.
The President of the Raptors (BC) would probably have to ask the Board of Governors at MLSE if he could enter into the luxury tax.
The thing is they have the money, MLSE is like the yankees, their loaded…its if the owners/share holders of the Maple leafs want to spend it on the Raptors.
Actually no. You really need to learn the difference between salary cap and luxury tax level.
Even if they let Wright, POB, Douby, Belinelli and Nesterovic go next season, they won’t have enough room under the salary cap to sign Wade to anything more than the mid-level. Otherwise, they’d have to get Miami to agree to a sign and trade, and that’s unlikely. Either way, it will have nothing to do with the luxury tax level.
For a minute I thought you were mentioning a Bosh for Wade trade, which obviously wouldn’t happen. The key difference between Miami getting Bosh and Toronto getting Wade is that Miami has cap room next year, Raps don’t. So Wade to Toronto isn’t happening, while Bosh to Miami has very little chance of happening, there is at least a possibility. Wade on the Raptors would be a dream come true but that’s all it is, a dream.
The Key difference is one is Miami and the other one is Toronto.
One is Canada and the other USA :)
One is called Hocky Nation and you have curling in TV and the other, well, you just DoN’T.
unfortunaitly, there are alot of misconceptions about Canada and how it will effect a player in the market for endorsements and ….
More accurately, one has beautiful beaches, mostly nice weather and no income tax (or much lower anyways)! But the issue IS mostly the salary cap..
Haha, what you talking about is impossible. There so many things that would stop this from happening.
1)We are soooooo close to the luxury tax level already, and that Miami isn’t.
Miami payrole for next year: $17
Toronto payrole for next year: + $60
So miami has the chance to makeover the whole team next year. That is why Bosh going to Miami is a high possibility.
2)Our team is never willing to go 20-30 million over the luxury tax even if we had the money.
3) Seriously can you ever imagine a Wade, a Lebro, or a Kobe come to the Raptors as a free agent?
4) If we tried to pull off a sign-trade with Miami, they would ask for our whole team.
Actually, Miami’s payroll for next year is less than that. It’s 12.6 mil and that’s only they exercise all their team options on Beasley, Cook, James Jones and Chalmers.
Your 17 mil figure is probably from the 17 mil player option that Wade has.
But yeah, with a payroll of 12.6 mil or less, they’re the biggest threat in the Lebron James/Chris Bosh sweepstakes, not the New York Knicks.
More on Udoka:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=At_z7XpkZeE
What’s interesting is all the Jarrett Jack to Ime Udoka plays in that mix.
D: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JR7iYJgakjg
Udoka Helping Local Students Reach College Level (speaks to his character):
http://www.clipsyndicate.com/video/play/1018750
(oh and I’m confiscating this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chH3ofesY3c)
- Tom “Official Campaign Manager for the Ime Udoka to Toronto push” Liston
Delfino – I think BC has a roster spot waiting for him, if he’s willing to accept a deal for $4M or less, which I don’t think he will do. Delfino would just further logjam the SG position, without effectively addressing the team’s need for a true backup SF.
Mensah-Bonsu – I expect him to be on the Raps’ roster come the start of the season, as an atletic backup PF/C option. Nobody has high expectations for him, aside from high-energy and aggressive rebounding for 5 mins or less per game.
Kleiza – I would still love to see BC swing a sign&trade deal for Kleiza, but I don’t see Toronto having enough assets to make it happen… Denver has no need for Ukic, Douby, O’Bryant or Banks and they would pay Kleiza $3-4M before they paid Delfino $4-5M… unless Toronto can turn Ukic/Douby into 2nd round draft picks which they could then offer to Denver for Kleiza, I don’t see it happening
This is the lineup I expect to see at the start of the season, barring additional moves from BC:
C: Bargnani, Nesterovic
PF: Bosh, Evans, Mensah-Bonsu
SF: Turkoglu, DeRozan
SG: Wright, Belinelli
PG: Calderon, Jack, Ukic
Extras: Douby, O’Bryant, Banks
I think the biggest weakness is the backup SF position. If the Raps could acquire a backup SF, that would allow DeRozan to slide into the backup SG position, while Belinelli/Mensah-Bonsu become the 11th/12th men on the bench. Ukic and Douby are decent end-of-bench type players, Ukic still has some potential for improvement and both have limited trade value, but I wouldn’t put it past BC… here’s hoping, anyway!
At the moment there is no need to bend backwards for a back up SF. Hedo at the least will play 30 MPG at the Sf. I am pretty sure that if that 18 min is split between DD and MB won’t the team too much.
However, this is high risk we are taking. Because if Hedo gets injured, we will be truly hurt. I don’t see MB or DD or AB being effective at all for 48mins at that position.
The only 3 guys I see covering for Hedo while he is injured, without hurting us too much are the possible addition of Delfino, Kleiza or Nocioni. Addition of anyone else would not do much better than the guys we already have… (guys like Pops, Graham, Udoka etc)
The addition is Nocioni would be ideal, where he is a defensive minded guy who is a very good rebounder for his position. However, he has a huge contract under his belt (3 more years left averaging around 6.85 million/year) and I don’t know what we have to give up to steal him from the Kings(who are looking to trade him because they are going young again).
I looked through rosters of all the teams in the league and the only SFs that I came across, who I thought could be readily available, were Nocioni and Posey. Sacramento and New Orleans are both looking to dump salary.
Using the ESPN trade machine, the following trades worked, though I don’t know that Sac/NO would make these trades.
Nocioni ($7.5M x 3 yrs) – Douby/O’Bryant/Banks ($6.25M)
- Sacramento would save $1.25M this year, $3M next year and $7.5M the following season (total $11.75M savings)
- Ukic is probably a better player than any of the Raps I included, but Sacramento already has 3 PG under contract (Evans/Rodriguez/Udrih), so I doubt they’d have interest in Ukic
Posey ($6M x 3 yrs) – Banks/O’Bryant-OR-Douby ($5.4M)
- New Orleans would save $0.6M this year, $1.5M next year and $6M the following season (total $8.1M savings)
- NO is deep at both guard positions, so I doubt they would have any interest in either Ukic or Douby
If BC could trade Ukic for a 2nd-round pick, which could then be included in either of these trades (or Kleiza trade), then BC could possibly make a trade like these work… I agree with you that Nocioni would be a great addition to the Raps lineup
There’s no reason for the Kings to take Douby on a trade. They waived him six months ago. The most logical option would be involving Wirght in the trade. With nocioni coming and marco playing at the level i think he will play, there’s no room for wright. Plus, antoine’s contract is a year shorter than ukic’s. Banks, wright and POB for nocioni could work after september 9th.
I rather have nocioni over posey. He could fit great here and he wants out of Sacramento, he wants to be with a playoff contender. Plus Nocioni was former teammate of Calderon in Tau. Plus I need an argentinean in the raptors roster so i can see more raptors game broadcasted in my country
Good point, Wright and his expiring contract would become more expendable. It would hurt the defense of our starting lineup though, as neither DeRozan or Belinelli are proven defenders.
Another potential benefit of trading for Nocioni, could be the impact on salary demands that the lure of playing with a fellow Argentinian has on Delfino!
Just think how deep the Raps would be if they essentially turned Wright/Banks/O’Bryant into Nocioni/Delfino, along with resigning Mensah-Bonsu! Imagine this Raps lineup:
C: Bargnani, Nesterovic
PF: Bosh, Evans, Mensah-Bonsu
SF: Turkoglu, Nocioni
SG: Delfino, DeRozan, Belinelli
PG: Calderon, Jack
Extras: Ukic, Douby
That lineup could be great, no question about it. But I think the main reason Belinelli is a Raps is to replace Delfino. Right Now Carlos is better than Marco, he’s a more complete player but i see marco improving this year like carlos did when he was a raptor. No one excected something from delfino that year and he became the sixth or seventh man off the bench. So i think belinelli will surprise some people out there. Don’t forget jarret can play the SG spot and that he will be closing games for us at that position.
Another thing is that belinelli and delfino are going to take some minutes from demar and that could hurt his development.
One last thing, is Carlos is re signed, it would be an one year deal and with the next year salary it will be very hard to re signed him again, so he will be a one year rent player, just like the last time. That’s not a good thing if you’re trying to build a consistent gruop of players.
That being said, nocioni is the best and most logical choice for the raps. Can’t wait for that trade to happen.
This all sounds good on paper but if you look longterm, will Delfino accept the role of playing behind DeRozan and maybe even Belinelli when and if these guys develop into starters/ solid backups? Delfino seems like a guy who wants significant playing time which may disappear in the seasons to come.
I don’t think delfino is needed here. Belinelli will surprise a lot of people this year. He could improve like Carlos did the year he played for us. About the deph in the SG position, don’t forget jarret is going to play a lot of minutes there, so i don’t see that as a problem. Plus having jack, belinelli and delfino will take a lot of demar’s minutes and that could hurt his development. Plus, the re signing of delfino will be a one year rent because there’s no way we re sign him after this year. And that’s not a good thing in my opinion.
That being said, nocioni is the best and most logical choice for us and that will make us an tittle contender right away
I’m saying that Delfino is not needed if we adress the back up SF position. Plus there’s a strong indication that Delfino is going to sign with Ettore messina’s Real Madrid now that kleiza went to the olympiacos.
Oh Raul I just checked and I think you are going wrong somewhere. The kings already have 14 roster spots taken, so if they do a 1 for 3 player deal, that would make them have 16 roster spots. So they have to make another trade to get rid of that extra player…
That’s not a real problem, sacramento has k thomas expiring contract and he is not likely to play for them this season. If they think this trade could work, they could buy him out. It’s not likely that the Kings what to trade that contract. They will let it expire, so a buy out is the most logical choice
Kleiza’s now off the market anyway: http://www.hoopsworld.com/Story.asp?story_id=13552
Re: Backup SF – hence my Ime Udoka suggestion. I also believe DeRozan would be absolutely fine as well. A wing is a wing – and the 6′7″ish players are usually fine either at the “2 or 3″. Wright can play here as well against certain matchups and guard the opponent’s best wing.
If I couldn’t get Kleiza/Nocioni, then I think I’d just stick with what I’ve got, if I was BC. I don’t think Udoka is an upgrade over DeRozan/Belinelli, so therefore isn’t worth signing.
I agree with you that our team’s depth should suffice at SF, provided Turkoglu doesn’t get injured. I just think it would be a steal to be able to upgrade the backup SF position using our spare parts (Ukic/Douby/O’Bryant/Banks) and 2nd round draft picks.
That’s why I started out saying I would be quite happy overall with the offseason, if BC’s only additional move was to resign Mensah-Bonsu.
At the very least, I wouldn’t be shocked if he turned one or both of Ukic/Douby into 2nd-round draft picks, which would be more useful long-term than either of them, given the Raps’ depth this season.
Udoka isn’t an upgrade over DeRozan/Belinelli, but who is our insurance if Turk is injured?
Buying out Banks or POB doesn’t help the cap but opens up a second roster spot. Why not both Udoka AND Pops (http://bit.ly/RapsBench)?
talking of bargnani not setting good screens i will say this for him. he lays a better one then cb. cb always squids one weak leg in there and any quick player goes right over him. maybe he is worried about his knees taking the hit from a real screen but we need him to set better ones for spacing. especially now that were going to have 4 perimeter people on the floor at once with him. the difference in bargnanis game last year was his ability to hit the mid-range. that was the one shot i knew would usually go in. especially when he stopped doing that mega-travel off of the jab step. if he could learn a leaner in the corner it would be a shot he could get off everytime due to his height and it wouldnt take away from the time that he needs to be ont he perimeter. we do need post presence but it will have to be gang developed because although bargnani has the potential to have some moves down low i dont think any of us want to lose the deadly threat he is from outside the box
lol@rocking chair
Sign and trade Delfino to Atlanta for the rights to Josh Childress. Just an idea and I’m uncertain if this works regarding the salary cap or sign and trade guidlines.
Ok folks, enough of us playing GM.
Our team is stacked the way it is, plain and simple. Our depth…
Jose/ Jack
Demar/ Belinelli/ Jack
Hedo/ Wright/ Demar
Bosh/ Evans/ ????
Andrea/ Rasho/ POB
that is a decent crew, and a playoff one to boot!
We are deep, talented, and I think, we are going to surprise a lot of teams.
Why should we trade our young bench back ups for one guy who would be a third string player?
Oh how quickly we have been spoiled by the moves BC has already made this summer.
I assume this is your regular rotation depth chart, so why is O’Bryant in there? I more or less agree with what you said though. I believe if the Raps bring Pops back, he addresses rebounding, energy, aggressiveness and other intangibles that the team can use!
Don’t forget his towel waiving skills! He is one of the best in business!
The Raps do have a decent team on paper, definitely much better than last year’s team and likely a playoff team. In fact, I think a healthy season should see the current Raps’ roster contending for the 4th seed.
However, it never hurts to play GM and no GM sould ever shy away from a trade that makes your team better. If the trade scenario suggested above (Wright/O’Bryant/Banks – Nocioni) were to have a chance to go through, I can’t see how any Raps fan could possibly argue against it.
Anytime you have the chance to make your team better, especially when you are giving up 2 players who likely won’t see the court this season and another player who won’t be around beyond this season, for a good rotation player signed for 3 seasons who is capable of playing multiple positions, you have to do it! It’s a no-brainer!
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having some internal competition for playing time, as it makes all the players involved better.
IF THAT TRADE WENT THROUGH (without resigning Delfino):
4 Set Starters – Bargnani, Bosh, Turkoglu, Calderon
Jack – primary backup PG, fighting to maintain minutes and also fighting for backup SG minutes
Ukic – fighting for backup PG minutes
DeRozan – fighting Belinelli for starting SG duty; if he loses, he will be primary backup SG, fighting to maintain minutes and also fighting for backup SF minutes
Belinelli – fighting DeRozan for starting SG duty; if he loses, he will be primary backup SG, fighting to maintain minutes
Nocioni – primary backup SF, fighting to maintain minutes and also fighting for backup PF minutes
Evans – primary backup PF, fighting to maintain minutes
Mensah-Bonsu – fighting for backup PF/C minutes
Nesterovic – primary backup C, fighting to maintain minutes
agree with you in almost every word you said.
Only one thing left, with the adition of nocioni, there’s no reason to re sign delfino. We have demarr and belinelli in our team, both are unproven players waiting for the oportunity. DeRozan is still very raw and his development will take time but i expect a big improvement from belinelli. Like i said before he will surprise a lot of people out there. If i’m wrong, we still have jarret to fill the void at the SG, closing games for us at that position.
If members of the bench are useless (Banks, POB and maybe Douby/Ukic) then you should always want to upgrade if the situation presents itself.
It is very difficult to predict injuries and if they do occur, the “third” string becomes the FIRST backup – and then we see how important that “afterthought” becomes!
I don’t think there is going to be anymore trades for the Raptors. BC is going to wait and see how the team performs. What are the holes and … He is going to look at injuries and how team Gel and … If team is doing good, then, he might look for moving Banks for a guy Nicioni and commit to more money in the long run and … by that time, Banks will be worth more as well since he will have a contract that is expiring at the end of the folowing season. I think it is too risky to make more moves now since if the team does not gel, you are really limiting yourself on what you can DO and what you can’t
The 15th spot is either going to be Joey or POP