Copy of Everything Raptors

Raptors show interest in Gani Lawal

Sun, 19 May 2013 21:50:13 +0000

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...eason-In-Italy

Quote:

After a breakout season in Europe, Gani Lawal has intrigued NBA teams and could receive consideration for a contract, league sources told RealGM.

Lawal has already scheduled workouts private and as part of mini-camps with the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Orlando Magic, sources said.

Lawal, the 6-foot-9 athletic, scrappy forward, had his best professional season with Italys Virtus Roma, averaging 13.3 points, 8.8 rebounds and 1.4 blocks. Virtus Roma has gone 20-10 this season and ranks third in the league standings.

I watched Lawal play a lot at Georgia Tech and he definitely has NBA talent at the PF position. Like many GT players, he underformed in college due to the terrible coaching of Paul Hewitt, which dropped his draft stock to the 2nd round. Sounds like he has finally put it all together. Bringing in Lawal would be a great way to make up for the lack of a draft pick this year. I think he'd make a nice backup PF if we stick with Amir as the starter.

New GM Resolution

Sun, 19 May 2013 17:29:28 +0000

Whether it's Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, Kevin Pritchard or Masaj Ujiri, this is a few moves they should do

1) Hire a new coach - Who's available, Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, most likely not. Doc Rivers (maybe a few weeks ago but he decided to resign with the Celtics). Brian Shaw? Steve Van Gundy? Maurice Cheeks? Nate McMillan? Mike Malone? Anyone but Kevin O'neil, Sam Mitchell or Dwayne Casey again.

2) Find a new home for Bargnani - This must be addressed in the offseason as in Bargs stated after the last game of the Raptors that he wish to play for a new team so why not grant his wish. Possible suitors
Chicago - Boozer + Nate Robinson for Bargs + Ross + Lucas III
Utah - Millsap + Watsons for Bargs + Fields
LA - Gasol + Nash for Bargs + Ross + Telfair??
MIN - K.Love for Bargs + DeRozan + Future 1st rounder

3) Buy a pick perhaps or trade one of our player for a late first rounder and grab a backup PG or C.
PG: CJ McCollom, Myck Kabongo, Nate Wolters
C: Rudy Golbert, Gorgui Dieng, Jeff Withey

4) Buy a second round pick and grab a backup SF or a third stringer SG
SF: Michael Snaer, Deshaun Thomas, Livio Jean Charles
SG: Jamal Franklin, Glen Rice Jr, BJ Young

5) Free Agent Signing Options
C: Samuel Dalembart, Nazr Mohammad, Brendan Haywood
PF: Carl Landry, JJ Hickson, Gani Lawal
SF: Dorrel Wright, Mike Dunleavy, Marquis Daniels
SG: JJ Reddick, Tony Allen, Nick Young
PG: Jose Calderon, Eric Maynor, DJ Augustin

6) Summer Camp Invites to fill the remainder of the Roster
a) Gani Lawal
b) Bobby Brown
c) Undrafted players from 2013 NBA Draft
d) Asian, African, European or Australian prospects (Zhou Qi, Luigi Datome, Vassilius Spanoulis, Nathan Jawaii, Shawn James)

Kleiza & Gray picked up their player options

Sat, 18 May 2013 19:03:47 +0000

Lost in the shuffle, its been reported that Linas Kleiza ($4.6M) & Aaron Gray ($2.6M) have both picked up their player options for next year
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) May 18, 2013

Unsurprising news.

Anyone have information about Linas status? Is he healthy or not?

Raptors targeting Nuggets GM Masai Ujiri to run organization

Sat, 18 May 2013 14:54:16 +0000

According to ADRIAN WOJNAROWSKI

Quote:

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is pursuing Denver Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri to take over as the top basketball executive of the Toronto Raptors, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Masai, the 2013 NBA Executive of the Year, has emerged as the top choice of the search firm Korn/Ferry International that's been charged with finding a successor to Raptors president Bryan Colangelo, league sources said.
MLSE has until Monday to make a decision on Colangelo's contract option for next year. It is possible that he could stay with the franchise under a new top basketball official.

Ujiri's contract as Denver's general manager expires this summer and he has been in talks with ownership on an extension. Ujiri, 42, has a strong bond with Nuggets CEO Josh Kroenke but new MLSE top executive, Tim Leiweke, has expressed a desire to make a serious financial and organizational commitment to an elite executive to turn around the franchise.

Source - Click here for more

Should we discuss Jerry Sloan in light of this weeks (in)action?

Fri, 17 May 2013 21:17:19 +0000

Seems like TL has been shopping for new GM candidates:

"Leiweke is not conducting the search for a possible replacement on his own; multiple NBA sources say MLSE has hired a head-hunting firm to whittle down a list of possible replacements," Smith wrote.

Interesting.

Also, looks like Jerry Sloan turned down the Bucks, but is interested in a return to coaching:
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/92...ucks-job-agent

So, if DC is gone due to BC's departure, new GM-guy has to make that call, right? Dunno if its so cut and dry. Re already tried Lenny Wilkens...ugh.... I don't know if I can work through another old-school coach trying to remake-it in the "new NBA".

I personally would be in favour of keeping Casey. I think he's done a good enough job given the talent and the scrambled expectations of the head-office for the players he's been dealt.

Greg Oden. Anyone?

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:57:25 +0000

I dont think posters will really take my post seriously, but, nothing really much to talk about since its the off-season.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap...ks-Ready-To-Go

Would you be willing to overpay to get Oden as JV's backup?

Your 2013 Summer Raptor Watch

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:32:09 +0000

Thought it would be cool to put player updates in this thread see what they are up to during the time off before next season... For any updates on the current roster now and future cpost here :)

Follow @Raptors for all the general updates.

DeMar DeRozan
@DeMar_DeRozan

-Prepping for Drew-League
-just donated 15,000 to charity
-expecting his child soon?

Rudy Gay
@rudygay22

-Just had Eye surgery taking it easy

Terrence Ross
@T_DotFlight31

-At UW working out and has been playing ball non stop for the past week

Landry Fields
@Landryfields

-Is Traveling with his fiancee'

JV
*No Twitter :O Follow @Raptors and @RaptorsMR for JV updates*

-Spending quality time with his family
-joining the Lithuanian team for some ball

Andrea Bargnani
@AndreaBargnani*Seldom updated*

- In Italy
-Spoke with Colangelo and his agent no news on future plans "A"possible change of scenery" was the key phrase used in the talks at season wrap up.

Quincy Acy
@QuincyAcy

-After a light vacation and dolphin riding with Ross he's in Dallas

Amir Johnson
@IamAmirJohnson

-delayed plans to LA workouts to follow and support the Leafs.. now that they are out I assume the plans are back on?

Kyle Lowry
@KLow7

-Was supporting Leafs delayed his trip to Philadelphia (workouts, family)

Sebastion Telfair
@BassyS31T

-Traveling to China

John Lucas III
@Luke1luk

-Still in Toronto delayed workouts to support the Leafs

Alan Anderson
@ASqared06

-In Toronto enjoying quality time with loved ones.

Pietrus and Aron Gray: ?????????????????

Your list of "IF's"

Tue, 14 May 2013 22:46:13 +0000

Not a lot of happy campers in Raptorland but I think the one thing everyone basically agrees with is the current Raptor team with just minor tweaks has a low ceiling and requires a lot of "IF's" to make the playoffs - let alone go beyond the first round.

So whether you want the team to stay as is, blow it up, or make a trade give YOUR list of "IF's" that would make you excited for next season.

Zach Lowe and Bill Simmons on Rudy Gay

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:08:35 +0000

On Sports Guy's pod cast with Zach Lowe they went off on Rudy Gay for about 10 minutes. Long story short Lowe says it's POSSIBLE it could still work in Toronto.

http://espn.go.com/espnradio/grantla...yer?id=9270983

It's around the 25:00 mark.

Boring offseason stuff I know.

Blowing it Up

Mon, 13 May 2013 19:22:03 +0000

(Disclaimer: This is not an Andrew Wiggans thread)

What do you say we become the worst team in the NBA? BCs desperation has left us in NBA no-mans land.:

Not good enough to win a playoff series
Unlikely to even make the playoffs
Still too good to not get an impactful draft pick
Too tied up in terms of cap space to sign a star player
Not enough players with trade via to improve the team via trade

We are headed for AT LEAST 3 more years of irrelevancy as currently constructed under this strategy. This thread is about limiting our continued irrelevancy to only 3 years by aggressively tanking and trading away all current assets for terrible players/contracts and draft picks.

Move 1:
Trade Rudy and Landry to the Nets for Gerald Wallace, Chris Humphries and a 1st round pick in 2014
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ct86vho

Given that money is no object for the Nets, perhaps they could even pony up some cash for a potential Wallace buy out in 2015. Rudy and Landry are both overpaid, but the Nets do this to get out of the Wallace deal and to add another “star”. Derron/JJ/Rudy/Evans/Brook. That’s a quasi-contender that King can sell to the Russian as a real contender.

Move 2
Trade Amir to Phoenix for Beasley and a (protected) first round pick
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=chxpgj6

Not sure we can land their top 5 pick this year for taking Beez off their hands and giving them Amir. But if we protect it like: Top 10 (2013), Top 5 (2014), Top 5 (2015), Top 3 (2016), unprotected (2017), they might bite on the chance to ditch Beez and we’d still get a lottery pick out of it.

Move 3
Trade Lowry and Demar to Detroit for Jerebko, Stuckey and their (top 5 protected) 2013 first rounder
(Note: This trade fails straight-up in the trade machine, but after the first 2 moves, it works)
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=btjas5p

Detroit gives up a mid-lotto pick to get out of 2 bad contracts, get a good one back (Kyle) and add a pretty good young piece on the wing (Demar). Kyle and Demar are probably both better than what they’d get at 7 this draft, and it accelerates their rebuild.

Then we bring back Grey, Anderson and Lucas. Your 2013-2014 Toronto Raptors (!!!!):

1) Stuckey, Lucas
2) Ross, Anderson
3) Wallace, Beasley, Jerebko
4) Bargnani, Humphies, Acy
5) Valanciunas, Grey

Plus a top 10 pick in 2013 from the Pistons (say, MCW). We could provide heavy minutes to a young lineup of MCW/Ross/Jerebko/Acy/Val. Is that bad enough to virtually guarantee a top 3 pick in 2014? I say yes. We might even get a top 3 pick in 2015 with this core. Plus, we get a team with 2 guys named Jonas!

Then Stuckey and Hump are off the books, and Beez/Wallace/Bargs can be bought out or paid to stay home. That leaves us going into 2016 with:

Ross
Val
Acy
Detroit’s 2013 (#7)
Brooklyn’s late 2014 first rounder
Phoenix’s 2014, 2015 2016 pick (likely #6-10)
Our top 3 2014 pick
Our top 3 2015 pick
2 high second round picks of our own

We’d have cap space to fill out the roster with veteran leaders as needed, plus potentially get a star to fill whichever remaining hole is biggest.

We would need a care taker coach for the next few years before bringing in somebody to guide the team forward – similar to the Carlisimo/Brooks handoff in Seattle/OKC (although they may have misfired with Brooks a little). PJ is available.

Now that I’ve gone through all this, my questions for y’all are:

Would you be on board with another 3-5 year rebuild if we really, truly committed to bottoming out?
Do you think a massive rebuild like this is even necessary, or do you want to roll with the core as constructed?
What do you think the likelihood of any/all of these moves from the other team’s perspective? Could this actually be pulled off?
Do you have your own ideas of how to tank & rebuild?
Do you think we could embark on a strategy like this without mortally wounding the development of any young guys (Ross/Val/etc)?

What about Larry Bird for GM/Prez?

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:38:11 +0000

So, it seems like we are in wait-and-see mode to find out how the Phil Jackson / BC thing plays out.

What about Larry Bird for GM / Prez?

He's won as a player (MVP), Coach (COY), Executive (EOY). He completely rebuilt the Pacers into the winning team they are today without tanking or a having a definable superstar on a limited small market budget.

Credibility? Check. Name appeal? Check. Winner? Check. Available? Check.

Would you trade Lowry for this year's #12 overall selection?

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:32:15 +0000

Basically asking if you think the Lowry trade was worth it. Some mocks have Michael Carter Williams in that spot; others have CJ McCollum, Dario Saric, Kelly Olynyk or Gorgui Dieng going in 12ish territory.

If your selecting "Yes", reply and state who you'd pick and why.

If your selecting "No", reply and tell us how far up the draft board you'd go in exchange for Kyle. That is, what's the pick # where you would no longer want to trade Lowry? You could also include which high lottery pick you're targeting.

Raptors Talking to Celtics Assistant Coach Tyronn Lue

Sat, 11 May 2013 13:21:18 +0000

Could he be the offensive coordinator that we wanted for this team??

Realistic Options Regarding Andrea Bargnani

Thu, 09 May 2013 20:02:53 +0000

Dude looked spent as a baller last year. Same old issues about defensive positioning, no nose for the ball, etc, plus the added bonus of being a terrible, terrible shooter. At $11 & $12 mil for the upcoming 2 seasons, his value is at an all time low and he's one of the worst contracts in the game. What are the options for shipping him out?

1) Amnesty.

Widely reported we're using this on Linus. Barg's $23 mil remaining certainly outweighs Linus' $4.6. Pulling the trigger on Andrea would give us more cap room, but also increase the money we're spending on literally no contrabutions. THis option seems more likely if BC is gone because Andrea is his baby to a certain degree.

2) Sit Tight.

We could try to revive him as an off-the-bench scorer, if only his shot would start falling. Maybe we could get a decent 6th man season out of him and deal him as an expiring next year (like Jose this past season).

3) Trade.

As one of the league's worst deals, we're not getting much (if anything) back. BC basically begged for offers this February and got ziltch. There is zero chance we get a first rounder for him. REPEAT: ZERO. We're only going to get a deal done if we take an even more horrific contract back (examples: Gerald Wallace, Amare), we trade a blue-chipper along with Andrea (JV), or we catch a team desperate team in a unique situation and hope they make a dumb move. I don't want Wallace or Amare. I want to keep JV. So who might make a silly trade with us? I suggested that we look at the Kings can ask for Chuck Hayes and Jimmer back. People here thought i was trolling and I'm not sure why. Are we really getting more than that back for our deadweight? Eric Gordon is begging to get out of New Orleans. David Lee is looking like a piece that no longer fits in GState. But those 2 guys are WAAAAY more valuable to AB at this stage.

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=ctezfpe

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=blaho5v

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cnhgtkq

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=cagx8ls

http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=bdccz8t

Do you guys think any of these trades are realistic and intriguing? (Again, I HIGHLY doubt we're getting a pick back for him, so let's avoid tossing any into our hypothetical deals)

Would you rather amnesty him?

Do you want to roll into next year with him?

Small Ball?

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:20:12 +0000

Interesting article from Grantland:
http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/...-playoff-teams

It looks at this season's experiment with "small ball" while noting that in the second round of the play-offs, only two teams that played a lot of it are still in the race

"That leaves New York and Miami as the only true small-ball outliers left, and the Heat have the benefit of the world's greatest player, a totally unique multipositional cyborg who defies almost everything we know about basketball players. The playoffs have reinforced two very basic NBA realities we sometimes forget in anointing this the Era of Small Ball:

1. Size is really important, at all positions. I think Jarrett Jack just hit another midrange pull-up over Ty Lawson.

2. A big guy who can actually play both ends of the floor at a B-plus level is the most valuable non-superstar commodity in the league. This is why Josh Smith is getting a max deal this summer, no matter how distasteful you might find it. This is why Al Horford, earning a flat $12 million per season through 2015-16, is rising up through the informal "best contract in the NBA" rankings every league exec keeps in his head. It's why David West is underpaid, even if the real reason he's underpaid is because he signed his current deal while recovering from an ACL tear. It's why Tyson Chandler, when healthy, is easily worth his $14 million annual salary, even though dunking on pick-and-rolls constitutes 80 percent of his offensive game."

The Raptors have two very competent big men, in JV and Amir. I know many here don't think Amir is a starting caliber PF, but I would say he is definitely a B-plus level big.

"If teams are indeed going small more often, it's not because they've figured out that small ball is better in some objective, all-encompassing way. It's because they've realized playing small is better for teams who simply don't have enough competent big men."

This article would tend to support those RR members who are arguing for another dependable big to fit into the rotation. I like Grey, but definitely not a B-plus big because of he lack of speed and mobility compared to other bench bigs he must play against.