Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Raptors Sign Landry Fields to Offer Sheet

Landry!

3YR and $20 MILLION!! Says Marc Stein. As much as I don’t trust people who introduce a ‘c’ into their name instead of a ‘k’, he’s usually right. ESPN article link.

For those of you that have seen the Knicks play the Raptors, he’s the guy having a pretty good game. Here’s the ESPN Scouting Report:

+ Big shooting guard with outstanding nose for rebounding. Quick leaper.

+ Line-drivey, inconsistent outside shot. Smart player with good feel for game.

+ Average athlete and defender. Never fouls. Rarely attacks offensively.

Fields displayed such a variety of skills over the first half of the season that the Knicks didn’t want to part with him in the Carmelo Anthony trade; he then faded into oblivion over the second half. As a lightly regarded second-round pick, the worry is that the latter sample is the more indicative one for his future performance.

Fields has one exceptional skill — he’s among the best-rebounding guards in basketball. He ranked second among shooting guards in rebound rate and outrebounded 29 power forwards and centers, including three on his own team, which helped compensate for the anemic boardwork of New York’s frontcourt.

Fields rarely attacked offensively, however, and if he didn’t have a putback it wasn’t clear what he could offer in a half-court offense. His 39.3 percent 3-point shooting mark was very solid but seems like an outlier based on his college stats; his 72.7 percent shooting mark near the rim, however, may be sustainable given his impeccable shot selection. Fields shoots at the rim only in transition or on putbacks, so they’re all easy shots; if he tries getting to the basket on his own steam that number will go down.

Last season, however, he was a low-usage sniper and effective in that role, ranking fifth in TS% at his position. The giant asterisk, however, was his 58th ranking in turnover rate. While he moved the ball effectively, a fifth option should not be punting the ball this often. As always, I’ll remind everyone that a high turnover rate from a rookie is often a sign of improvement to come. Fields will need that to be the case, since I suspect his TS% may regress and Carmelo Anthony is likely to snag some rebounds away from him.

More importantly, his girlfriend is f***ing hot (Google Images Link).

Blake Murphy also makes a good point in the comment section of this post:

The most important consideration here is that they now HAVE to trade or amnesty someone to offer Nash the deal that has been reported.

As for Fields, I assume this makes DeMar our full-time SF. Really don’t like the AAV$. Too much for this type of player. In performance terms, he declined across the board in his sophomore season, specifically in 3FG%, which would be one of his main ‘assets’ to a Nash-led Raps squad.

One note that was mentioned to me that I don’t necessarily buy in to – Fields & J-Lin are BFFs, so this could also pave the way for Lin as a Nash contingency.

I don’t think Bill Simmons likes this deal for the Raps: