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A Rundown, What Not To Do…And My Best Case Scenario
Posted on | July 2, 2010 | 12 Comments
As I figured, none of the big three free agents made any decisions on the first day. There goes the theory that everything was planned weeks ago. Of course, there was some action the first day. The best news for the Raptors is that Amir Johnson re-signed. More on that later.
Joe Johnson was one of the players I thought had the least chance of going back to his home team. Now he’s re-signed with the Hawks, continuing them on their course to high level mediocrity. If anything was apparent during the playoffs, it’s that the Hawks are a team built to compete, not win. The smart thing for them to do would be to make some deals and change the structure of their team. The smart thing is not the likely thing, however. My money is on them thinking a new coach is going to be ails this team.
Memphis, who is apparently hemorrhaging money and didn’t even make the playoffs this past season, gave away the first ridiculous contract of the offseason, signing Rudy Gay to the maximum. Anyone who isn’t sure if Bosh is worth the maximum should agree that Memphis drastically overpaid a guy who has never even made the All-Star team before. Shouldn’t that pretty much be a prerequisite to making the maximum? Sure, I like Gay, but since he was a restricted free agent, couldn’t Memphis simply have waited and seen what he was being offered instead of throwing him everything on the first day of free agency? That probably would have been the smart move. Of course, when has anyone used “smart” and “Chris Wallace” in the same sentence?
Minnesota was also another surprise newsmaker, bidding against no one to offer Darko Milicic a 4 year $20 million contract. Now Darko did a fine job in Minnesota, and they should probably jump on any free agent that actually WANTS to go there, but I would have thought it would have been prudent to wait until after they deal Jefferson to sign Darko. Now it’s pretty much a foregone conclusion the T-Wolves have to make a deal. Not a good position to be in.
Milwaukee re-signed John Salmons, who I figured was on his way out after the acquisitions of Corey Maggette and Chris Douglas-Roberts, and added another jersey to the already full closet of Drew Gooden. Gooden is on his eighth team in 8 years and hasn’t played defense or passed the ball at any of his stops. Is he really worth the full MLE? No wonder Gooden jumped on it. Now I have liked what John Hammonds has been doing in Milwaukee, but neither Maggette nor Gooden have played defense since college, and the Bucks got to where they are on their defense. Adding talent is always nice, but I don’t know if I like where this team is headed.
This brings us back to Amir Johnson. I felt re-signing Amir was very important for the future of the franchise. Before the offseason started, I felt that a 3 year, $15 million contract offer to Amir might be enough to bring him back. Unfortunately, $5 million per season is what the inferior Darko Milicic signed for. Then Milwaukee signed Gooden for nearly $6.5 per season. Now, Gooden certainly is talented, but I think it’s ironic that he signed with the Bucks on the same day Amir re-signed with the Raptors. To me, Amir is exactly the type of player the Bucks need and the type of player that would thrive in their system. Instead, they traded him away and signed Drew Gooden. Personally, I’d much rather have Amir.
So, because of Gooden getting $32 million over 5 years, it was evident that Amir would have to get more than that. Apparently he had interest from Phoenix, Golden State and one other team, so Colangelo had to bid against others. I don’t know if Colangelo had to outbid, or simply match the other teams’ bids, but a 5 year, $34 million contract, while seemingly high for a player who only scores 12.7 ppg in 36 mpg, is probably not bad value. I read one comment that bothered me a little, and that’s that Amir is overpaid because his skills are so easily replaceable. Pat Riley has said that hustle is a skill, and in the NBA, it’s not a common skill. And that’s not even close to all Amir brings. He’s a 23 year old, highly athletic big man who rebounds, defends, hustles and is extremely efficient on the offensive end, despite not being much of a scorer. Basically everything Bargnani is not. Personally, I’d rather pay Amir $34 over 5 years than Bargnani $50 million over 5. While Bargnani is going to get you points, Amir is going to do the little things that actually help a team win.
In other Raptor news, Bosh met with Toronto, but there is apparently little hope among Raptor brass he will re-sign. I’d love to have been in on that meeting. You know what keeps going through my head? The show Entourage. In the middle of season 3 when Vincent Chase has fired his agent, Ari Gold, because of a couple of big screwups. Much like Bosh and the other free agents, Vince goes from agency to agency as they pitch him why he should sign with them. All the pitches end up being the same, including Ari’s, which Vince walks out of. It turns out all Vince wanted Ari to do was apologize. If only that was the case with Bosh. I don’t think a simple apology will be good enough in Colangelo’s.
So with one of the pieces for the summer in place, there are some questions about what it is that Colangelo is trying to do. One of the more disturbing bits of news I heard was that the Raptors had interest in Amare Stoudemire. Excuse me while I gag. The argument seems to be that Amare would be able to replace Bosh, although I’m at a loss of why you’d want to do that. With Bosh, the team missed the playoffs, were a disaster on the defensive end and proved that you need more than just scoring to win.
And now you want to replace Bosh with Amare, apparently believing that will improve the team.
This is the guy who the Laker big men basically humiliated, highlighting just how bad Amare’s defense is. And I won’t even mention how every single Phoenix player has mysteriously regressed upon leaving Steve Nash’s domain.
Chris Bosh leaving is a disappointment, but as the late Phil Hartman once said on the very funny show, NewsRadio, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, and then toss it in the face of the person who gave you the lemons until they give you the oranges you asked for in the first place?”
Colangelo needs to realize that retooling is not going to be the way to go. Sure, it will help reassure some of the ticketholders that only see one season ahead, and aren’t worried about the difference between competing and contending. Bringing in Amare, or some other move like it, will certainly make the Raptors more competitive, but it’s not going to make them contenders. They need to rebuild, not retool. One of the reasons I liked the drafting of Ed Davis was because he can be the symbol of the type of team the Raptors need to turn themselves into. He’s a smart, defensive player who does all the little things that you need to do to win. He’s San Antonio, not Phoenix. I don’t know about you, but I want San Antonio. San Antonio won three Championships and was one of the most dominant teams in the last ten years. Phoenix entertained and did well in the regular season, but never made it to the Finals.
Colangelo needs to rid the team of the lazy, underachieving players and focus on getting young, talented and hard working players that don’t mind doing the dirty work.
Speaking of which, I’ve decided to share what I hope are the types of deals I hope go down this summer. They’re certainly best case, but if all the stars align, these are the types of deals I’d like to see happen…
1. Bosh is sign-and-traded to the Nets for Derrick Favors and a $12 million trade exception.
2. Bargnani is traded to Minnesota for Ricky Rubio and Corey Brewer and a trade exception.
3. The Knicks, after striking out on the free agent front, agrees to trade for Turkoglu in exchange for Eddy Curry and his expiring contract. Eddy Curry is then bought out.
4. Trade Corey Brewer and part of the trade exception to Houston for the expiring contracts of Shane Battier and Jared Jeffries.
The Raptors go into the season with…
Jose Calderon (Jarret Jack, Marcus Banks)
DeMar DeRozan (Sonny Weems, Marco Belinelli)
Shane Battier (Jared Jeffries)
Derrick Favors (Ed Davis, Reggie Evans)
Amir Johnson (Solomon Alabi)
The team is most likely not a playoff team, but have the right type of players on the team, a few good, smart veterans, a very young core, the likelihood of a high lottery pick next season and a franchise point guard, in Rubio, on his way. If the team looks even remotely like that next year, I’ll be happy with how the offseason transpired.
Should Colangelo Play Hardball?
Posted on | July 1, 2010 | 7 Comments
Bloggers note: I know I promised a Draft Report Card, and I had started writing it, but got too busy. I still may finish it, but I don’t get paid to do this, so who knows.
So hunting season has started and the bullets are flying left, right and centre. For Raptor fans, the good part in this is that we don’t have to read all the premature speculation about where Bosh could be going. On the downside, we now have to read the less speculative reports about where Bosh could be going.
By the time you read this, it’s possible that Bosh, or any of the other big name free agents, could have agreed to sign with a team, but I doubt it. Proving that all the rumours flying around about where players have decided to go were false, I’m going to guess it will at least be a day or so before players start making verbal agreements. They’re going to want to know what’s out there for them and they couldn’t do that until today.
So with Bosh seemingly more open to playing second fiddle to guys like Wade or LeBron than he initially stated, it seems that the likelihood of Bosh leaving is pretty much a reality. Too bad. While he’s certainly not the type of big man I would choose to build around if given the choice, he is the best player, by far, that the Raptors have and the team is worse off without him.
The question now is what to do if Bosh chooses to sign elsewhere, as is predicted. Initially, I felt not doing a sign and trade was pointless and only hurting the team. After reading this article on Raptors Digest, I realized that Colangelo might need to take a different approach. Now, I have no idea what deals are available to the Raptors in a sign and trade for Bosh. Bosh going to Miami seems to be the rumour with the most legs, and there is talk of everything from Michael Beasley, Mario Chalmers and Joel Anthony, to a simple $16 million trade exception and the Raptors draft pick back.
The most frightening rumour out there was that LeBron, Wade and Bosh all agreed to sign with the same team, probably Miami. If you’re a Miami fan, you couldn’t ask for better news. If you’re a fan of the other 29 teams, this would just plain suck. The East would basically be a wasteland and no Western Conference team would have a hope of beating them in the Finals. Personally, I don’t see this happening, and there are recent reports that Wade has given up trying to recruit LeBron.
Still, it got me thinking that perhaps Colangelo might not want to simply sign and trade Bosh to any team he wants. Maybe Colangelo might want to sit back and think about what really is best for the Raptors.
If Colangelo decides to play hardball with Bosh, Bosh could simply sign with one of the teams that have the cap space, but he would be losing out on nearly $30 million and an extra year on his contract. That might be enough to entice Bosh to want to help out the Raptors a little more.
First of all, if I’m Colangelo, I’d forbid Bosh from teaming up with both LeBron and Wade. They could only do that in Miami, so Colangelo would simply have to refuse to take back Beasley and Chalmers. Without Colangelo taking back those players, Miami doesn’t have enough to sign all three. Problem solved.
Of course, simply preventing a dynasty in his own conference might not be enough for Colangelo. He might actually want something of value back for Bosh. Something more than a simple trade exception. Could Colangelo give Bosh a list of teams HE would approve of, and what he would expect back were Bosh to agree to a sign-and-trade to them?
If enough teams are desperate for Bosh, he might be willing to put pressure on those teams to agree to Colangelo’s demands. Obviously the teams without cap space would be able to send the most talent back, but simple talent, with equal sized contracts, might not be exactly what Colangelo wants back. Now obviously a trade of Bosh and Jack for Bynum and Odom would be incredibly enticing, especially if the Raptors could turn around and trade Odom for a young player. Even more enticing might be a trade to the Nets, where they send back draft pick Derrick Favors in return. Sure, the Raptors just drafted Ed Davis, who plays the same position, but getting Favors would give the Raptors an 18 year old athletic big man would give them a great piece to keep or trade, but they’d also be getting a sizeable trade exception to do with what they want.
Basically, Colangelo, who has been powerless throughout the Bosh saga, might be able to actually wield some power, and possibly gain some more respect, if he decides to play hardball with Bosh. It certainly could backfire and Bosh could leave for nothing, giving the Raptors less cap space than what the MLE is worth this summer, but Colangelo might actually be able to turn water into wine and come out somewhat of a victor in this whole sordid mess.
It’s a dangerous gamble, and one that will end up affecting the team for years. It’s the dangerous gamble, however, that a great GM would make. Back when Jerry West was in charge of the Lakers, he traded away a top ten center, in Vlade Divac, in exchange for the 13th pick in the draft and the cap space to be able to ATTEMPT to sign Shaquille O’Neal away from the Orlando. Thankfuly, for them, that 13th pick was Kobe Bryant and Shaq decided to walk away from a nice young team in Orlando that had just won 60 games and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Can you imagine if Kobe had been a little more like Kwame, and if Shaq decided he like Orlando better? Talk about your bad moves. West, however, had confidence in his abilities and judgement and decided to trust his instincts and threw everything into the pot. Colangelo has that chance, although unfortunately without the same upside as Jerry West’s bet.
Loading ...Draft Diary
Posted on | June 24, 2010 | 14 Comments
In honour of The Sport’s Guys draft diary, which is probably one of the best articles of the year, every year, I thought I would do something similar. I wrote down my thoughts while I was watching the draft.
I didn’t write down the time, which I probably should have, but you can probably figure out when each comment is.
- Blah, blah, blah. Why does it take half an hour of pointless banter before the draft can begin. I have to pick up my oldest daughter at 6 PST. Hopefully the Raptors will have picked by then.
- Why are they showing former Blazers VP Tom Penn’s resume? Is he looking for a job? Oh, I guess he is. My wife is looking for a new job. Any chance I could get her resume up there, too?
- Wall, Turner, Favors, Johnson, Cousins…this draft is starting to become incredibly predictable. And no trades yet. It’s starting to feel like every Christmas, when it finishes and I wonder why the hell I looked forward to it for so long.
- Finally, a shake up. Isn’t Odoh possibly the least Golden State-type player available? Is this a sign that Don Nelson may, in fact, not be running the franchise? If I didn’t know any better, I’d start to think that they are actually trying to be a good team by picking a player who actually plays defense.
- What’s up with Jay Bilas? He seems to like everyone. It’s sickening. What I’d give for Charles Barkley and some honest opinions about now.
- Was Flip Saunders wearing a hairpiece?
- Hilarious. The Clippers “select in the lottery nearly every year”. I can’t even add to that.
- Bilas actually seemed to show less than normal enthusiasm for Aminu. “Needs to improve skill level.” Is that really something you want to hear about an 8th pick?
- Am I the only one who thinks that Aminu looks like Erkel with those glasses? Was it supposed to be a joke, because it certainly doesn’t look stylish.
- Why am I not surprised that Utah drafted a fundamentally sound white guy with little upside?
- Apparently Xavier Henry is “somewhat lefthanded”. What does that mean?
- I can’t believe I was right about Ed Davis falling. Man I feel smart. If the Raptors don’t select him, I will take back everything good I have ever said about Bryan Colangelo. This is a gift. It reminds me of when Iguodala unexpectedly fell to the Raptors, but instead Babcock chose Aruajo. I remember listening to the draft on the internet and was momentarily confused, thinking they had actually picked Iguodala. I was a little disappointed when I realized that it was a different Spanish sounding name called.
- Wow. All I have to say is wow. I can’t believe my number one guy fell and they picked him. I am officially a happy man. No matter what else happens, this was a good draft for the Raptors.
- Since my wish came true with Davis, does that mean Bargnani should be packing his bags?
- All these guys who I remember recently watching having sons come into the NBA makes me feel old.
- DeRozan’s favourite player was Vince, Ed Davis’ favourite player was Bosh. I’m sensing a pattern, here.
- Why am I not surprised Patterson went to Houston? They seem to like solid, unspectacular players.
- Patterson looks like he’s got massive shoulders in that suit. It’s cartoonish. He looks like the guy in the wheelchair on Family Guy.
- Bilas says Patterson is “a very good defender”? He needs to read more scouting reports, apparently.
- Larry Sanders went higher than expected. ”He still needs to learn the game”?? Isn’t that really something you should do BEFORE you get drafted in the first round in the NBA? Can you imagine a law firm hiring a guy with potential even though he still needs to learn about the law?
- Wow. Luke Babbitt, the player no one seems to care about, going to the city no one seems to care about. Good match.
- I have to go pick up my oldest daughter now. At the rate it’s going I won’t miss much.
- Crap, I missed quit a bit. Bledsoe and Bradley went one after another. Why do I think Oklahoma hit another home run? And look at all the guys who I have absolutely no opinion about.
- Babbitt got traded to Portland? Well that screws with my witty comment. This doesn’t seem like a Kevin Pritchard move, for some reason.
- Pointdexter danced the Nutcracker? Did you notice the ESPN announcer say “basketball player and dance”, and could barely keep a straight face. Sure, it’s not as manly as getting made up and sitting in front of a camera, stating the obvious, but whatever.
- The Nets get Derrick Favors and Damion Jones. I think they’ve done very well and if nothing else, they’ll be harder to score on, now.
- Wow. Greivis Vasquez’s mother looks like Catherine O’Hara.
- Orlando selects Daniel Ortez. Could that pick upset more people, do you think? Both Gortat and Ortez are probably pissed. I smell a trade.
- Why did David Stern have to read “First Round”. There are only two rounds. Did he forget which one it was? Do you think he’s rethinking holding the draft in New York every year? I think the fans booed at everything, and chanted USA when the Raptors were picking. Way to come across as classy, guys.
- Look at how far some of the guys fell! Whiteside, once a lottery pick, goes to the second round. The Raptors were looking at grabbing Alabi in the late first round and he lasts until 50. Willie Warren almost wasn’t drafted! That’s a long way to fall in one year. He was a projected lottery pick last year.
- Nice. The Raptors get Alabi and only give up a future second rounder and cash. They’ve done very well, despite not making any big trades. Raptor fans on some of the sites are looking like idiots, complaining about the Ed Davis pick and the lack of big trades. Apparently they believe that today is the only time trades are allowed to happen. I’m amazed by the pessimism.
- Well, that’s it for me. I’m actually a little shocked that no top 15 picks were traded. I was sure a couple of big deals would go down.
- Tomorrow I’ll do a report card of the draft.
—————–
I just thought I’d share a couple of quotes from Draft Express about Ed Davis, which might explain why I am so excited about him…
Defensively and as a rebounder is where Davis shows the most potential, thanks to his rare combination of fundamentals and physical tools. He ranks as one of the best shot-blockers in college basketball, being a major presence in the paint with his terrific length and timing, and should be able to make big strides as a post-defender and rim-protector as he continues to add strength to his frame. His wingspan allows him to go well outside of his area for rebounds as well, again being very productive in this area on both ends of the floor with his 12.4 rebounds per-40 minutes pace adjusted.
STRENGTHS:
- Executes offensively
- Excellent hands
- Excellent Touch
- Ability to contest shots
- Commitment to playing defense
- Defensive fundamentals
- Shot-blocking tools
- Basketball IQ
- Potential
- Role-player potential
- Strong Intangibles
- Above average athleticism
- Solid frame
- Wingspan
- Rebounding ability
——————-
Last minute update:
Kevin Pritchard was fired on draft night. Isn’t that kind of like being dumped on prom night? Sure, there might have been reasons, but I don’t think there could be a worse time to fire a GM. The guy turned the team around and now he gets the shaft. Id really like to know what went on behind the scenes there.
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