Toronto Sun

Jack, 25, is a defensive standout, capable of guarding both backcourt positions well.

He would likely be the sixth man, backing up Jose Calderon at the point, while also seeing some minutes beside him.

Jack is also a close friend of Chris Bosh, dating to their season together at Georgia Tech.

The offer might be too rich for the cap-conscious Pacers, who still have point guards Ford, Travis Diener and A.J. Price on their roster.

Globe and Mail

Adding Jack at the very least puts pressure on Ukic, the second-year Croatian guard who has been spotty during two games in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas and suggests that Marcus Banks, who was acquired by the Raptors from Miami along with Shawn Marion, isn’t likely to be on the roster come training camp.

The Raptors sill have about $7-million to spend before they bump up against the luxury tax. It’s expected their next priority will be to sign a veteran big man, with former Raptor Rasho Nesterovic an oft-mentioned target.

CBS Sports

Henry Thomas, who represents Wade and Bosh, said his clients are looking forward to evaluating extension offers from their teams.

"You can editorialize about the numbers that you’ve heard from the NBA as far as what they projected the cap will be," Thomas said. "I’m aware of what the NBA has projected. They say that’s a good-faith projection. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I don’t know. But everything relevant to the guys making the decisions whether they should extend their contracts now or not is going to be evaluated."

Wages Of Wins Journal

When we put the whole picture together, it appears the Raptors will employ the following starting line-up in 2009-10: Calderon (PG), Wright and/or DeRozan (SG), Turkoglu (SF), Bosh (PF), Bargnani [C].  Last season the NBA veterans in this line-up combined to produce fewer than 30 wins. So unless these players improve dramatically, or the team finds very productive players off the bench, it’s hard to see how this team improves dramatically.  And that’s true even if Delfino returns to Toronto (although if Evans returns to what we saw in the past there might be some hope this team can get past 40 wins).

Straight From The Arse

It would appear that Bryan Colangelo is recruiting some former Georgia Tech stars to make Chris Bosh happy.  Reports are circulating that the Raptors have offered former Georgia Tech point guard Jarrett Jack a contract.  I guess this is what you do when trying to sell your franchise player that he should stay in the city that drafted him for the long term.  It always amazes me that the organizations sell their souls for certain players, when in actual fact it should be the other way around.  I imagine when there were fewer professional sports jobs available, players would go the extra mile for the organization and be happy that they were getting paid to play a sport that they loved.

Heels On Hardwood

He would be a major upgrade for the team and though they have multiple players who can play the point, none seem to be candidates for the job over the course of a 82 game season. Indiana was already flirting with the tax limit and may be handcuffed at this point unable to match the offer. The Pacers did try the tandem PG strategy with Jack and TJ Ford (a scenario that had played out in Toronto previously with Ford & Calderon) and by seasons end Jack had won the starting spot. Going forward though, seeing that they have a ton of money tied up with Ford and Tinsley, it’s very unlikely they pony up the cash to keep Jack in Indiana.

Welcome To Laz’s Blackboard

Ok, this team is asleep. Calderon got hurt, Jermaine O’Neal was completely ineffective on both sides of the ball, they couldn’t go inside, they KINDA went outside, with Calderon out they couldn’t execute, they fired their former Coach of the Year, and this team de-railed. I could not have been more wrong about this team. But my man-crush on Chris Bosh persists… I really want him to come to Detroit.

Le Basketbawl

Once again there is further proof that the Canadians are trying to become the dominant country in North America as news reaches us from the “Associated Press“. The Toronto Raptors have reportedly signed restricted free agent guard Jarrett Jack to an offer sheet said to be for 4 years and worth $20 million. Jack just finished season number four in the NBA his first with the Indiana Pacers. He spent his first three seasons playing for the Portland Trail Blazers. Jack put up the best numbers of his career this past season averaging 13.1 points, 4.1 assists and 3.3 rebounds a game.

The Hoop

Nesterovic, 33, spent last season with the Indiana Pacers (averaging 6.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game) after being dealt from Toronto in the Jermaine O’Neal-T.J. Ford deal. He knows a role here would be as a backup and he’s fine with that; he also knows there will be no rush to get things done. "I know the first week (of free agency) is to get the stars done and the big names," he said. "I can wait."

Canoe

The Raptors have offered Pacers guard Jarrett Jack at four-year, $20 million contract.
The money is a tad rich for a player who would likely not even be a starter in Toronto, but overpaying a bit is necessary, or else the Pacers will match the offer sheet for the restricted free agent.
Here are some pros and cons and interesting facts about Jarrett Jack:

RaptorsHQ

Toronto’s Summer League team is one of the worst I’ve had the pleasure of watching up close and personal these past few days and it’s a bit scary to think that several of its members played key roles for Toronto last year.  It shouldn’t be much of a surprise then that the Raps failed to make the playoffs and struggled when they had to rely on their bench group.

BC is trying to remedy this situation and hopefully he’ll be able to complete the task without blowing the bank too much.  With the salary cap expected to drop further next year, Toronto’s management team will have to be wary of this when making contract offers and I therefore wouldn’t be surprised to see many front-loaded deals.

Chris Denker, of Netscouts Basketball, is reporting live from summer league:

If you are evaluating on wins and losses the Toronto Raptors summer league performance has been disappointing with an 0-2 start.  But if you are merely evaluating individuals and getting a look at your draft picks you can take away a few positives with those disappointments.

NBA veteran guard Quincy Douby has been a bright spot averaging over 18 points per game through two games.  He has played hard on both ends, competing defensively as well as attacking the basket often drawing fouls and knocking down open jumpers although he did struggle from 3 going 0-3 against the Lakers.  I also like PG Roko Ukic, his 6′5 size and length has given some guards issues and he is steady and under control while also adding some scoring punch.  It can be difficult trying to run a team with odd parts and little practice so all in all he has done well.  Smush Parker (wasn’t he just in the NBA Finals a few years ago?) has had a few highlights but would need to be more consistent throughout the week to really gain attention.

One concern would be the lack of defense the Raptors youth have displayed.  In game 1 against LA the Lakers Adam Morrison, being guarded by DeMar DeRozan, scored 24 points and 6′8 235 CENTER Ben McCauley (out of NC State) lit the Raps big men up for 24 points and 15 rebounds.  McCauley out-scored and out-rebounded 6′11 Paul Davis and 7′0 Patrick O’Bryant combined!

DeRozan is a talent and has good legs, hopefully for the Raps he will be a quick study and learn the nuances of the game and become the player Raps Fans are yearning for.

CRAZY HOPS!

Brent Petway, the 6′8 SF from Michigan who has spent the past few years in the NBADL (Idaho) is one of the best leapers in the entire Summer League and had perhaps the dunk of Day 1 but also scores some with his lefty turn jump over smaller G/F who match up on him.  Does he possess the stroke from range to play in the NBA?

In game 2 the Raps lost to Detroit in another high scoring affair (by summer league standards) 91-87.  Lottery pick DeRozan looked better scoring 20 points, 4 rebounds, 0 assists but needed 20 shots to get there and doesn’t get to the foul line very much whereas the much smaller Douby had 21 points on 13 shots, got to the foul line 5 times and had 5 boards and 3 assists.  DeRozan and the Pistons top pick Austin Daye basically watched each other score (while guarding one another) as again DD’s check went for team high honors scoring 19 points and 8 boards on only 14 shots.  The Pistons have looked quite good and all three draft picks are playing decent ball.  DaJuan Summers was terrific in game one and versus the Raps he scored 19.  Jonas Jerebko, the 6′10 lanky athlete from Sweden, played the Center spot and scored 13 points and grabbed 7 boards against the Raps bigs which isn’t bad for a guy who was touted as a SF/PF in the recent draft.

Random notes from Vegas:

• Stephen Curry and Tyreke Evans had a shoot-out with Curry coming out on top 29-27 in their battle and also hit the go ahead bucket under a minute to go as Golden St. beat Sacramento.
• Cartier Martin (Kansas St.) has been a big surprise to some, averaging over 20 ppg.
• Coming off a trade and ACL injury, Adam Morrison is leading the event in scoring at 22.5 ppg.
• Rodrigue Beaubois has been stellar, his quickness off screen/roll and crazy long arms have given opposing PG’s fits and he is also scoring over 20 per including 34 in the night cap vs. Houston.  Not known for his stroke, RB went 7-12 from 3 land which with his quickness, if he can shoot like that, he’s a keeper!

Toronto has a much needed day off today (Sunday) and will play Portland on the 13th.

@chrisdenker :: @raptorsrepublic :: facebook :: rss feed

Toronto Star

Jack, who averaged 13.1 points and 4.1 assists last season, is capable of handling both backcourt positions. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder started 53 games for the Pacers last season.

If he does end up in Toronto, he could be used as a backup to Jose Calderon at point guard and would have more experience than Roko Ukic, who is just going into his second season. And, depending on how Toronto’s shooting guard spot ends up working out, Jack would undoubtedly see minutes there, too.

Toronto Sun

DeRozan didn’t totally get the message about the Raptors wanting him to be more aggressive, getting to the line just twice and making one. But he did score 20 points and grab four rebounds in Toronto’s 91-87 loss to Detroit.

"The message we’re trying to get to him is to get more aggressive,” said Raps coach Jay Triano. "He’s making that jump shot, which is good and bad. We want him to get to the rim and finish there.”

Mediocre Forever

I like Roko, I really do - I probably like him more than most people, but I can’t deny that he just hasn’t shown enough yet - he’s shown flashes of brilliance here and there, but he’s definitely not stable enough to run a team given serious minutes. Plus his two summer league games have been subpar so far. But I am confident he will get there, so until then, it’s good to have a proven point guard in Jarrett Jack who could arguably start on a lot of teams. Adding Jack should motivate Roko that much more.

NBA Obsessed

Now Toronto is trying to build a team to put around him, because next year Chris is a free agent and may want to leave. The biggest off season move was to land Hedo Turkoglu. Hedo is a definite mismatch player that becomes so valuable if you make the playoffs. He not only has the outside shot, but also stands 6′ 10″ tall. Hedo averaged over 16 a game this year.

Beware The Claw

“Revamp” would be an understatment in describing what has happened to the Raptors  roster so far this offseason. Brian Colangelo remains focused on collecting a winning team now. Obviously, keeping Chris Bosh in Toronto beyond next season is the top priority.

Las Vegas Sun

“My first NBA season was pretty cool,” Ukic said. “My whole life, my dream was to play in the NBA, which is very tough for a white European point guard.”

He is ecstatic about Toronto signing free agent forward Hedo Turkoglu.

“Last season, I felt I was getting better and better,” Ukic said. “I just wanted to get on the court and get a chance. It’s a shame we didn’t get to the playoffs. A shame. But I think we’ll have a better team this season.”

The Plain Dealer

Should the Cavaliers fail to land the "stretch-four" they’ve been seeking, another player they have some interest in is free agent small forward Joey Graham, according to an NBA source.

TSN

Put it this way: If Antoine Wright isn’t starting for this club at shooting guard on opening night it would be a serious oversight on the part of the Raptors’ brass.

What Wright brings to the table are exactly the attributes this team needs at that spot. Since they decided to swap Shawn Marion for Hedo Turkoglu, they need a guy that they can stick on opposing wings to stop them from burning the club with penetration (a huge issue for the team a year ago). Wright can guard all but the biggest and burliest of perimeter players (he had his trouble denying position to Carmelo Anthony in the aforementioned series, for instance) and he does so without needing touches to stay focused on that task.

Las Vegas Review Journal

"I’d say right now everything’s up in the air," said Colangelo, who watched his team play Saturday in the NBA Summer League. "We have a lot of moving parts right now with free agency and our draft, and as the dust settles, we may have some things that may or may not affect Marcus."

Banks had surgery on his big right toe March 23 and played in six games for Toronto after being acquired from Miami in February. He is scheduled to make $4.5 million in 2009-10 and $4.8 million in 2011, the final year of his contract.

Crunch Sports

Jack will turn 26 years old later this year and his game has steadily improved since his first season in the league back in 2005-06 when he was with the Portland Trailblazers.  While Portland was reluctant to use Jack as a starter in the 2007-08 season, after moving to Indiana to play the 2009-10 season, Jack started 53 games and averaged 13.1 points per game, 4.1 assists per game, and 2.7 rebounds per game.

T.O. Sports

So in lieu of the acquisition of Hedo Turkoglu, Devean George, Antoine Wright and the resigning of Andrea Bargnani; Raptors fans should be feeling pretty good as their leader Bryan Colangelo has worked some of his old magic again. I still feel that the Raptors have an opportunity to acquire stronger role players (the bench bunch) so lets look at whose left in the world of free agency.

The Knicks Blog

If he ends up in Toronto, this is a good move for the Raptors.  Unlike the Knicks who are trying to build a team to attract a big free agent next summer, the Raptors have a big free agent that they are trying to keep next summer.  Players like Jack, Turkoglu, Antoine Wright, and the Bargnani extension should give Bosh the inclination that the Raptors are trying to get better and that they are trying to win with him.

NBA.com

Raptors vs Pistons Hilites

Indy Star

Pacers officials wanted to re-sign Jack, but they likely won’t be willing to match such an offer. The Pacers don’t want to go over the league’s $69.9 million luxury tax figure next season.

Jack, a college teammate of Toronto All-Star Chris Bosh at Georgia Tech, averaged a career-high 13.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists last season. He replaced T.J. Ford at point guard and started the final 12 games.

Indy Cornrows

My head tells me letting Jack go is the only move here for the Pacers, considering the limitations in his game. My heart will always have me rooting for Jack and watching his progress with Toronto. There’s even a small part of me that hopes the Pacers rue the day that Jack left town after his game fully matures. That day may never come but for Jarrett’s sake I hope it does.

Summer league is as painful to write about as it is to watch but something quick needs to be said about it: DeRozan is good, Ukic is not, Douby is a ball-hog, O’Bryant is soft and Smush is desperate. While Douby was going one-on-one every chance he got hoping that the Raptors would see the scorer in him, DeRozan played a comfortable game safe in the knowledge that he’s got a roster spot sown up. He displayed a fundamentally sound jumper and some surprisingly adept dead-dribble moves against Piston defenders that, if not talented, were certainly giving 100%.

In a game dominated by guard possession Douby was the primary beneficiary as he got to the rim as he saw fit and constantly finished against a late defense. Douby’s point production was high but there wasn’t a semblance of team-play in his game; don’t think the Raptors brass doesn’t know that 80% of the moves he was pulling today weren’t going to fly in the NBA. Ukic must know about the Jarrett Jack offer-sheet because he’s playing like he’s already conceded the backup PG position. I wish I could say he had tunnel-vision because that would imply he got to the rim; he showed nothing but a horrible tendency to leave his feet to pass the ball and take jumpers that even Ray Allen would think twice about. Smush Parker’s the other pervert in this sick ménage à trois and he didn’t even show up except to turn the ball over a couple times which was a little surprising given the touch he showed in the first game. I suppose Douby’s hogging has more than one victim and Parker was one of them.

Patrick O’Bryant might’ve had 10 rebounds but he gave up at least 7 offensive rebounds on his watch. We even tried to give him the ball in the post a few times but the guy’s a little too feathery and soft to assert himself and that’s probably why he had 5 turnovers - the man just doesn’t seem confident in his ability. He prefers launching it from 19 feet than making an impression in the paint which is a very bad thing for a 7-footer, unless you’re Bargnani. I’m telling you, Patrick isn’t looking good. Brent Petway has been my favorite “who the hell is this guy” player so far, he’s a power forward in a small forward’ body and tries to take it strong every chance he gets, he’s got a soft outside jumper and is as athletic as anyone on the floor. On talent alone I’d put him ahead of O’Bryant at this point for a roster spot but as they say, an NBA roster always has room for a 7-footer.

In summary, it’s only two summer league games but DeRozan’s shown that he’s ready to compete for a starting job. For a Pistons perspective on the game check out this report, it’s all about Austin Daye. Here’s the box score.

On to Jarret Jack. Obviously Colangelo still views Ukic, Banks, Douby and Smush as third string material and feels that Calderon should not be stretched, it’s hard to disagree with him based on what we’ve seen so far this summer and given the durability issues of Calderon. Jarret Jack can no doubt satisfy the defensive needs we have at point-guard, however at 6′ 3″ he’s not a solution to the lack of offensive punch at the SG spot. Sure, he played 48% of his minutes at SG last year but that’s only because T.J Ford can only play the PG, he’s ideally suited as a backup PG and although he has a bit of tweener in him you can’t ask him to defend the SG for long stretches, he’ll get exploited just like Juan Dixon used to. I highly doubt he will be our last move of the summer since Colangelo will not settle for the SG depth of rookie DeMar DeRozan and Antoine Wright. This signing does fix the PG issues and means Roko, Douby, Smush and Banks can fight for one third string PG spot.

Will Indiana match? It depends entirely on whether they’ll be flirting with the luxury tax or not. With the league cap and tax level set to decrease in 2010-11, Bird has to think hard about this one, especially after signing Dahntay Jones. The Pacers highly value Jack and if this were a one or two year offer-sheet there would be no hesitation on their part but a four-year back-loaded deal might be the only reason the Pacers are forced to pass. The Pacers current payroll is $66.05M and they’ve got $64.61M committed in 2010-11, the current tax-level is $69.92M which leaves them with $3.87M before they hit the tax. From the Raptors perspective, signing anybody to a 4-year deal is risky unless the salary is reasonable. Jack made $2.2M last year and has a qualifying offer of $2.9M, if you factor in a 20% raise on that it’ll take him to around $3.5M which is still a very reasonable contract for a 20-25 minute utility player. Basically, if the Raptors offer exceeds $3.87M which it apparently does there is no way the Pacers will match, if it doesn’t, then the Pacers will have to weigh in future flexibility while accounting for a tax level drop. Mathematically speaking, the rumoured 5M/yr offer seems too high for what would be needed to lock up Jack and Colangelo appears to have overpaid for a player yet again, but I’m not going to complain since it is a sound basketball move. The Raptors have $61.2M and $57.9M committed for the next two years, to view up-to-date salaries check our salary page.

The other shoe to drop in a Jack deal might be of Linas Kleiza who the Raptors are looking at to address perimeter shooting. At 6′ 8″ he brings size at the wing position and could give us a respectable wing lineup alongside Turkoglu, DeRozan, and Wright (Delfino injury concern). If we sign Kleiza by structuring his contract to be light in the first year and stay under the tax, we could offload Banks’ expiring next summer to even things out and quite possibly return with the same roster. If we can pull this trick off we’ll be a solid two-deep at four out of five positions:

C: Bargnani
PF: Bosh, Evans
SG: DeRozan, Kleiza/Delfino
SF: Turkoglu, Wright
PG: Calderon, Jack

If only we can manage to get our hands on one of Rasho or someone like Big Baby we’d be set. With both our MLE and LLE valued at $5.6M and $1.67M available, it is entirely possible that we can address these issues although it would involve some sort of sign-and-trade to send salaries the other way. And as Colangelo said in his interview with the Rick Kamla, player agents are literally hounding him for that cash. If we sign Jack to the reported 4-year back-loaded $20M deal we could have exactly $5M to offer Delfino or Kleiza before we touch the tax level, that would almost make it impossible for us to not cross the tax level if we sign Chris Bosh by giving him a raise. I suppose we can worry about that when/if he’s ready to sign.

You’ll notice little Facebook and Twitter links at the bottom of every post, we encourage you to share RR content through those channels. If you have any suggestions for the site, we’d be overjoyed to hear them, just email us at info [at] raptorsrepublic.com. @raptorsrepublic

DeRozan is sporting some old school Jordan’s and his handle in the open court looks decent. Smush Parker has come into the game for Ukic, let’s see if he decides to make this his game again. Raptors are trying to give the ball to O’Bryant in the post but he can’t seem to make anything of his touches. The more I see him the more he looks like a waste of a roster spot.

DeRozan just hit a sweet fallaway jumper (excellent form), the man uses his size will in one-on-one matchups, something O’Bryant needs to do more of. For the Pistons, Austin Daye is lighting it up. 17-15 Pistons. Daye just got a rebound over O’Bryant for a offensive rebound score. Raptors rebounding looks brittle, very brittle.

Smush Parker misses his first three. Brent “Air Georgia” Petway is in the game too but hasn’t had the same impact like yesterday, mostly because the guards are dominating the ball. Parker tried to run the pick’ n roll and turned the ball giving the Pistons the last shot of the quarter but their attempt was blocked by Petway at half-court. 26-23 Detroit.

David Doblas, the Spanish forward is trying to show us his post skills, he did this yesterday too, good hard spin move to draw the foul. Jesus Christ, Austin Daye is showing us a mid-range game, a drive game and some rebounding, would not be shocked to see him get minutes for the Pistons this year. The announcer is now giving his ideas on drafting high school players (he’s saying, they can enter but they shouldn’t be allowed to be selected in the lottery).

Roko with a terrible pass into the post, probably needed a bounce, results in a turnover and FTs for Detroit. Roko’s in there handling the ball now with Douby at the off. Patrick O’Bryant blows a jumper than misses defensive assignment. Ekene Ibekwe hits a mid-range jumper, this guy’s release is very slow, no way he gets that shot off in an NBA game. 32-26 Detroit with 6:55 left in the second. Ibekwe with a nice drive and left-handed finish over unknown Euro on the Pistons. Good showing today, he’s even trying to play some defense, nice of the chap.

Haha..Douby just rejected some one-trick pony at the three-point line and then rainbowed one in. We got a little battle going. The unknown Euro just scored on O’Bryant - technical one-on-one move. So far the main player ratings: Douby: A, Ukic: C, O’Bryant: C, Parker: B.

Douby now breaking his man off the dribble, after yesterday’s terrible first half he’s been quite good. Smush Parker turnover, out of control and leaving his feet to pass. A point guard needs to be very careful in how he chooses to showcase himself and Parker needs to calm down and play the team game rather than show his individual offensive talent. Random note: Announcer says Magic will “crash and burn” next year, he’s saying Miami, Cleveland, Dallas and Orlando went too fast to the Finals and that’s not good for them.

Douby now with 11 points after scoring on a drive after catching the pass from Parker. The guards are hogging the ball for the Raptors. 44-36 Pistons. We’re running a freestyle offensive, no real sets.

They say one of the reason DeMar DeRozan left college early is to help out his mother who is sick. He’s had a very low-key game, just a couple points on a fallaway jumper, Douby and Parker are the ones doing all the ball-handling and they’re refusing to pass it unless they really have to. DeRozan finally made a move of intent by driving, missing and putting back his offensive rebound. We’re leaving Michael Bramos wide open on the perimeter who is killing us.

Brent Petway is described as a power forward in a small forward’s body. He hit a nice little power fadeaway after using his body to create space. He’s probably the only non-roster guy that will make Colangelo think about a training camp invite, at least so far.

The half ends with Douby using a Patrick O’Bryant to drain a deep three. It’s 49-44 Pistons at the half. Jay Triano interview coming up. I’ll try to summarize.

• Says defense is still a key for the team. We need the rebound to run. Says there’s enough talent on the team to play multiple styles.
• Says its reasonable to think that DeRozan could start at the SG come opening night. His strength is the mid-range game and he’ll be able to find seams in the defense to exploit using his athleticism.
• They asked him if Bargnani got too much. He’s obviously defending it by saying that Bargnani’s proven himself whenever he’s gotten consistent minutes. He’s praising his shot-blocking ability and his man-defense, and saying he’ll only get better.
• Says Ukic will be fine, last year we wanted him to be the third guard but he ended up being the second guard. Says he’s got a great feel for the game.

Now they’re talking to Bryan Colangelo:

• Says they’re evaluating every player in the summer league, not just the players on the Raptors.
• Says agents are in his ear as we speak talking to him about the Raptors’ MLE.
• Says the whole 4-team trade got sparked off with Marion rejecting a contract offer. Says the best part about the deal might’ve been retaining the MLE and LLE thanks to Orlando playing ball.
• Says we are negotiating with Carlos Delfino and that we have withdrawn the qualifying offer so he’s more marketable to other teams too.
• Says the MLE could be used on a back-up point-guard (as Roko hits a shot) and that we’re evaluating Roko very closely.
• BTW, Darren Washington just had a massive dunk for the Pistons. He’s been a real physical presence for them. Raps down 10.
• Says Steve Nash talked a lot about Jay Triano when they were in Phoenix. Ha, Nash was biggin’ up Triano before Colangelo even knew him.
• Jesus, Darren Washington just got an athletic block on what looked to be a sure layup. Wow, this guy is making an impact. Colangelo says he likes him a lot and reminds him a little of Jamario Moon.
• The Raptors had settled on DeMar DeRozan three weeks before the draft and Colangelo believes he has “star quality” and is a great kid. Colangleo met his parents and everything and thinks he was raised right. Says coming out of USC will help tremendously. Says his psychological profiles and background-checks were great.
• Roko just attempted a step-back 25 footer with plenty of time on the clock. What was going through his mind? DeRozan got an AND1 on the break, good composed finish, fairly easy though. It’s 63-54 Pistons with 3:18 left in the third.

Back to the game, Jonas Jerebko (Sweden) is another Piston who is making a name for himself with his slashing. It’s an 8 point game after Douby knocks down two more FTs. Singletary just scored on Smush Parker, Parker just looks like he wants to play offense.

DeMar DeRozan hits a three - great stroke. I thought jump shooting was his weakness? Another Raptors turnover with Smush on the watch leads to a break but soon after it’s DeMar DeRozan again. Very composed FT line move where he leans in for the AND1, can you say high basketball IQ?

This Doblas guy from Spain doesn’t do anything spectacular but give him the ball in the post and he’ll treat it with respect and get to the FT line. Austin Daye with a deep three, this guy’s making the league no problem. It’s 73-66 Pistons at the end of 3.

BTW, announcer is very arrogant. Says USA basketball needs to be #1, nobody else deserves it. Punk ass b*tch.

Brent Petway made a wing three off some Douby work to cut it four but the Raptors can’t get the offensive rebound and energizer bunny Darren Washington gets the offensive rebound and gets to the line. Douby with another step-back three to cut it to a 2 point game. The Swede misses a running hook but Washington once again gets the rebound and gets to the FT line. Our rebounding is terrible. More missed FTs for Detroit, it’s keeping us in the game.

Douby drove the ball and passed it back into the paint to nobody, turnover. The Raptors offense runs much better when Roko’s not touching the ball. For the sake of this game we should just let Douby to the ball-handling and create, having Roko do dumb shit isn’t helping. Speaking of, Roko turnover after leaving his feet to pass. Next possession, Douby finds DeRozan in transition for the jam. It’s a four point game as DeJuan Summers shows his size inside.

Patrick O’Bryant with a soft 21 foot jumper, he’s playing his outside game in summer league. If he can’t throw his muscle here, when can he throw it? The Swede with a turnover, a blemish on an otherwise pretty good game.

DeRozan once again shows his smoother jumper, this time from the top of the key. Roko ties the game with a patented floater.

Jarret Jack is rumoured to be signing for the Raptors. Apparently that’s what Antonio Harvey thinks after talking to Bryan Colangelo.

Clay Tucker with a couple hoops to give the Pistons a five point lead before Douby executes another one-on-one drive. I wonder if that’s what we’re looking for from him, one-on-one is nice but what happened to the team game? The only wing consistently passing is DeMar DeRozan, probably because he’s the most secure about his spot on the roster. 84-81 Pistons, three minutes left.

DeJuan Summers with another three, he’s playing within the system for the Raptors. DeRozan had a chance to cut it to two with a baseline jumper, got the space using the fake but missed the jumper. Showing good patience with the ball, not rushing things and playing composed.

Patrick O’Bryant was one again given the ball in the post but traveled on a post move. Not good man, not good. Douby with another one-on-one score and soon after O’Bryant finally makes a proper post-move - a hook shot over a shorter guy. Raps down 3 are forced to foul.

—-

91-87 is your final. Check boxscore.

Roko: Another poor game. Leaving his feet to pass, not showing an ability to drive, taking some questionable jumpers and not coming close to running a team. C-

Douby: Great one-on-one game, terrible team game. He’s the great NBA 3-on-3 player ever and today he played like it, not sure how much the Raptors will be impressed with his selfish display. Still 21 points get him a B+.

Patrick O’Bryant: Should be dominating in stretches like certain Pistons, but can’t find his footing, confidence and coordination. C.

Parker: Didn’t get his jumper going early, had a couple turnovers. Not good. C

DeRozan: 20 points, 4 rebounds and all in rhythm. No ball hogging, no selfish play. Had a nice jumper going, a couple good leaners in the paint, good ball-handling and most of all, very confident in his approach to the game. He looks like a 7-year veteran out there. A.

Thanks for swinging by.

This interview is a week or so old, but Raúl Ruscitti did us a great favour in translating this interview…

In an interview with a basketball radio show in Argentina, Carlos Delfino talked about the possibility of returning to the NBA, his right shoulder injury that limited his participation last season, and his decision of leaving Toronto for the Russian powerhouse Khimky.

About his contract situation and the possibility of playing in the NBA next year:

“This year I watched very little NBA action in general, I tried to focus in some teams that play the style of basketball I like, the Knicks,  the Raptors, of course, among others, teams that play a very European type of basketball. I think I can fit better in those types of teams.”

“Right now (for Monday) I have to wait until Wednesday to see how things work out. Toronto has my rights and they showed interest in trying to bring me back. There have been negotiations because that’s what this time is about. But, apparently, since the signing of Turkoglu for about 53 million dollars, the “poor” guys (laughs) like Parker, Delfino, and Humphries (Editors note: he means Graham, Humphries is not a free agent this year) loose all our rights. Right now I’m waiting for what will happen, how the market is going to move because I could change from being a restricted free agent to an unrestricted free agent, which means I could negotiate with any other team.”

“Today I’m a Khimky player, because that’s what I actually am, I’ve got a contract signed for two more years [...] but there’s a buy out clause in my contract in case some NBA team is interested in me.  If something interesting suddenly comes to bring me back to the NBA where I’ve already played and where I’ve always dreamt to be, I’ll evaluate it and I’ll take the decision I have to take. But for now, I just have to keep waiting.”

“At a same financial situation in Russia and in Toronto or some other team, I’ll for sure be coming back to the NBA. I’ll return even losing money if it’s a good situation for me basketball wise. I won’t come to be the 12^th guy on the bench or in the injury list. But I’m willing to lose money if I’m going to be in the coach’s rotation.”

About his decision of the NBA for Russia last year:

“Zero, I mean, zero regrets for it [...]. Last year I wanted to sign a contract quickly so I could play with the National Team without other preoccupations and win a medal in the Olympics. Luckily it all came down great. In the moment I signed, the team that moved faster than any other was Khimky with a very good offer. If maybe I had waited to sign with a NBA team, I wouldn’t have been able to play with the National Team.”

“It was a very good experience for me. I also grew up and learned a lot as a person. I’m really happy because I grew up a lot the last year. It was really hard because the injuries. Beside me, Garbajosa was injured too. For a while, we had seven players injured at the same time and there weren’t even enough players to practice.”

“Even tough we didn’t win any title last year; we made it to the finals in the EuroCup and in the Russian league, losing 3-1 to maybe the best team in Europe, CSKA. We qualify to the Euroleague which was one of our main objectives.”

About his right shoulder injury:

“I’m not a hundred percent right now. Even tough I didn’t start to practice hard yet I’m still doing rehab. When I went to shoot some baskets, I moved a little and it sore and it bothered me, something that I wasn’t expecting.”

“One doctor that gave me details about the exact type of the injury and what I should do was Mario Mouche (a well know doctor in Argentina that focus on basketball) [...]. He told me that this type of injury could heal in one month or in six, there’s not a special quantity of time to recover. He told me that I have to keep working even tough I feel that it’s healing”

• DeMar DeRozan Blog: Interview with David Aldridge After Summer League Game #2 « Rookie Chronicles
• How Jarrett Jack helps Toronto Raptors
• Daily Spin: The Raptors Making a Smart Move for Indiana’s Jarrett Jack | Bleacher Report
• Foot on the Line: About the Summer League and Toronto Point Guards
• TheStar.com | Raptors jump at chance to bring in Jarrett Jack
• Points taken | Toronto Sun
• Mediocre Forever - A Toronto Raptors Blog: Jack A Rap? Roko, & New Marcus Banks Nickname
• Did Toronto do enough? : NBA Obsessed
• * Colangelo proving his genius « Beware The Claw
• NBA Day 2: U.S. steak the best, says Ukic, but he’ll take Croatia - Las Vegas Sun
• Source: Cavaliers have interest in Toronto Raptors forward Joey Graham - cleveland.com
• TSN -Wright Could Be Just What Raptors Need
• Well-traveled Banks may not be in Raptors’ plans -ReviewJournal.com
• The Toronto Raptors Make a Move on Jarrett Jack - Would it make them competitive
• Top Raptor Free Agent Targets - At BargainPrices : T.O. Sports
• The Knicks Blog » Jarrett Jack to the Raptors
• Summer League: Raptors vs. Pistons - NBA Videos and Highlights
• Raptors sign Pacers’ Jack to 4-year offer sheet | The Indianapolis Star
• Raptors Offer For Jarrett Jack Too Rich For Pacers - Indy Cornrows
• RaptorsHQ Summer League Recap Day 2 - Raptors HQ
• Sources: Jarrett Jack gets offer sheet from Toronto Raptors - ESPN
• NBA.com: Source: Raptors sign Jarrett Jack to an offer sheet
• 2009-2010 Toronto Raptors Renew Excitement and Hope to Keep Bosh (Includes interview) - Digital Journal: Your News Network
• IndyStar.com | Raptors to make Jack an offer
• Reports: Raptors target guard Jack - Sportsnet.ca
• Raptors Pursue Jack, Interested in Kleiza — NBA FanHouse
• Raptors Give Offer Sheet To Jarrett Jack « nbaroundtable
• Anthony Parker Heading To Cleveland « nbaroundtable
• Dino Nation Blog: Jacked About A Lose!!!
• 4 years offered to Jack
• Triano: Bosh Happy With Moves - HOOPSWORLD
• Daye, Summers lead Pistons to another summer-league win | Detroit Free Press
• Chisholm: Wright could be just what Raptors need
• Detroit Pistons Summer League: Game Two Recap | Bleacher Report
• Raptors signing Jarrett Jack to offer sheet - CBSSports.com
• Raptors vs Pistons - Box Score
• DeMar DeRozan: Arriving Early - TrueHoop By Henry Abbott - ESPN
• Daily Spin: Toronto Raptors Could Be a Surprise Package of the East | Bleacher Report
• Hardwood Paroxysm » Will Someone Please Get Andrea Bargnani A Copy of Brewster’s Millions?
• Raptors Want to Be Magic of North — NBA FanHouse
• The Salami & Cheese: Raptors lose close one in Summer League Opener
• Mediocre Forever - A Toronto Raptors Blog: What’s Next For BC?
• <b>Raptors vs Pistons Live Stream</b>
• Vegas: Is DeRozan a Perfect Fit in Toronto? - HOOPSWORLD
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• Raptors/Pistons Summer League Game Streaming Live. | FanSided.com
• khandor’s sports blog » What the 4-team trade was REALLY about from the Raptors’ perspective
• Dino Nation Blog: Raps Lose Close One To Open Summer League
• RaptorsHQ Summer League Recap Day 1 - Raptors HQ
• Court Surfing - DeMar DeRozan video
• Court Surfing - Summer League Game 1 (Better late than never)

Globe and Mail

The Raptors can sign Delfino without using the NBA’s mid-level exemption because they maintained his “Bird rights,” which allow teams over the salary cap to sign their own free agents. The rights were kept in the complicated four-team transaction finalized Thursday.

That deal brought in Turkoglu and sent Shawn Marion to the Dallas Mavericks. The market for Delfino is expected to begin at about $4-million a season.

Another big man is needed, and former Raptors centre Rasho Nesterovic would be a good fit. But the Raptors will get stiff competition from European teams, who have offered the Slovenian big man between $2-million and $4-million.

Globe and Mail

Surprisingly there, are some decent bodies out there for 15-20 minutes and $2-4-million: Brandon Bass is one, though word is he’s heading to Orlando. Chris Wilcox another. You could take a flyer on the healing powers of Leon Powe – a Goodwin client, as is Demar DeRozan – and get him very affordably. I’ve always kind of liked Aaron Gray and he might be cheap.

NBA.COM

Raptors Lakers Video hilights

Yahoo

Bargnani was selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draft and has recently signed a contract extension worth a reported $50 million over five years.

"I’ve had so much money since I joined the NBA — 20 million in the first four years," he said in an interview published in Saturday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"I cannot even manage to think about what to do with it. I’m not someone who buys eight Rolls Royces and I don’t have strange needs or material dreams."

Bleacher Report

Toronto is looking for some perimeter players to add depth to their roster and strengthen their bench. Some potential options at the shooting guard and small forward positions are:

Globe and Mail

"This is a huge deal for the Turkish community," homeroom teacher Imran Coksurer shouted over bursts of gleeful bellowing as the children mobbed the smiling, six-foot-ten hardwood hero, who loomed, minaret-like, above them.

"That’s what we’re hoping; we really want our voice to be heard and we want other communities to realize there is a Turkish community."

Obscure as it might be to the rest of Toronto, the community’s presence has been made boisterously known to Mr. Turkoglu every time he’s visited here as an opposing player through nine National Basketball Association seasons with Sacramento, San Antonio and, most recently, Orlando.

The Chronicle Telegram

Free-agent shooting guard Anthony Parker is expected to officially sign his two-year, $6 million contract with the Cavaliers on Sunday or Monday.
The Toronto Raptors defensive stopper and top 3-point threat, who agreed to a deal with Cleveland three days ago, is in the process of making travel plans to the North Coast.

Fan590

The Toronto Raptors General Manager joins the Morning Show to talk about the latest trades and signings and the changes being made to the team.

RaptorsForum

with so many different African-American players not wanting to stay in Toronto (or even come here), citing reasons such as the cold, the tax, the country, etc., why doesn’t Toronto effectively become Europe’s first NBA team…that just happens to be playing out of Canada?? Hedo said that the key to coming to Toronto (and don’t tell me it was because of the extra $3 mil, because over the life of the contract, that’s nothing) was the Turkish culture here and the cosmopolitan nature of the city.?? Why don’t the Raptors play that up as much as possible and make the Raptors into an international team??

RaptorsForum

Having Hedo around is only going to help Bargs develop. Hedo has the ability to light things up from outside, but he does attack the basket and is surprisingly effective when he does. He isn’t really fast, but he manages to use his body well, getting himself in good position to put in some layups or at least get to the line. If Bargs can take a few notes, he should be able to learn from Hedo and use his superior athletic ability (yes, I do think Bargs is a better athlete than Hedo) to create a few more points for himself.

• Raptors Blog » Raptors 2009 Offseason: Bargs Matey! Having Hedo around is only going to help Bargs develop. Hedo has the ability to light things up from outside, but he does attack the basket and is surprisingly effective when he does. He isn’t really fast, but he manages to use his body well, getting himself in good position to put in some layups or at least get to the line. If Bargs can take a few notes, he should be able to learn from Hedo and use his superior athletic ability (yes, I do think Bargs is a better athlete than Hedo) to create a few more points for himself.
• Raptors Blog » Raptors 2009 Offseason: Toronto - World Class City
• Standing on the shoulders of a giant - The Globe and Mail “This is a huge deal for the Turkish community,” homeroom teacher Imran Coksurer shouted over bursts of gleeful bellowing as the children mobbed the smiling, six-foot-ten hardwood hero, who loomed, minaret-like, above them.”That’s what we’re hoping; we really want our voice to be heard and we want other communities to realize there is a Turkish community.”

Obscure as it might be to the rest of Toronto, the community’s presence has been made boisterously known to Mr. Turkoglu every time he’s visited here as an opposing player through nine National Basketball Association seasons with Sacramento, San Antonio and, most recently, Orlando.
• Toronto Raptors Potential Free Agent Targets | Bleacher Report
• Moneybags Bargnani ponders how to spend his millions - Yahoo! News Bargnani was selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draft and has recently signed a contract extension worth a reported $50 million over five years.”I’ve had so much money since I joined the NBA — 20 million in the first four years,” he said in an interview published in Saturday’s La Gazzetta dello Sport.

  “I cannot even manage to think about what to do with it. I’m not someone who buys eight Rolls Royces and I don’t have strange needs or material dreams.”

• Raptors by the (cap) numbers - The Globe and Mail Surprisingly there, are some decent bodies out there for 15-20 minutes and $2-4-million: Brandon Bass is one, though word is he’s heading to Orlando. Chris Wilcox another. You could take a flyer on the healing powers of Leon Powe – a Goodwin client, as is Demar DeRozan – and get him very affordably. I’ve always kind of liked Aaron Gray and he might be cheap.
• Colangelo still tinkering with Raptors roster - The Globe and Mail The Raptors can sign Delfino without using the NBA’s mid-level exemption because they maintained his “Bird rights,” which allow teams over the salary cap to sign their own free agents. The rights were kept in the complicated four-team transaction finalized Thursday.That deal brought in Turkoglu and sent Shawn Marion to the Dallas Mavericks. The market for Delfino is expected to begin at about $4-million a season.

  Another big man is needed, and former Raptors centre Rasho Nesterovic would be a good fit. But the Raptors will get stiff competition from European teams, who have offered the Slovenian big man between $2-million and $4-million.

• NBA Summer League: Lakers vs. Raptors - NBA Videos and Highlights
• Summer League Buzz - CBSSports.com
• Four Vipers alumni to play in NBA Summer League | - TheMonitor.com
• NBA Day 1: Jennings silent so far in U.S. pro debut - Sports: Upon Further Review - Las Vegas Sun
• As The Ink Dries: Rating the NBA Free Agent Chase 2009 | Bleacher Report
• <b>Raptors vs Lakers Live</b>
• NBA: Remaining Free Agents | Bleacher Report
• Hedo confident that he can take Toronto to the next level
• khandor’s sports blog » Which franchise made out best from 4 team trade?
• The Salami & Cheese: What’s next for the Raptors?
• khandor’s sports blog » Turkoglu steps off on right foot with Raptors
• Bulls want Bosh but have chance to land Boozer :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Sports
• Sports Central | Memo to Chris Bosh: Stay in Toronto
• Jawai’s hopes hinge on Mavs - Cairns Sports News
• Wild and Crazy Offseason - Wizards Insider
• Foot on the Line: The new CBA by Tigercub
• Dino Nation Blog: It Was Beautiful Day
• It’s official, AP is gone - The Globe and Mail
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• Raptors finally get their man
• Raps lose Jawai, not Douby - The Globe and Mail
• TheStar.com | Fruitman plants seed that leads to Raptors’ harvest
• TheStar.com | Raps’ wild ride not over
• It’s all about Bosh | Toronto Sun
• Landed, at long last | Toronto Sun
• Might this keep Bosh in town? | Toronto Sun
• The Back of the (Really Large Manila) Envelope Guide to the Las Vegas Summer League - TrueHoop By Henry Abbott - ESPN
• It’s All Part of the Plan - RaptorsHQ.com
• Hedo Turkoglu - The FAN 590
• Hedo Turkoglu - The FAN 590
• Snore… « Danimal’s Den
• Sheriff Matrix « Fantasy Basketball Jedi
• KGood Official OPEN Sports Blog - Poof Goes The Magic
• Jawai traded in blockbuster NBA deal
• RaptorTalk: Bryan Buries The Son Of Jerry Myth Once And For All
• Bryan Colangelo: The Smartest Man In The NBA | Raptors Rapture
• B.C. Resurfaces, Re-Tools Raptors All In A Day’s Work | Jurassic Hoops
• More great Colangelo audio
• Raptors’ DeRozan signs on dotted line
• Lots of options: Marion makes Dallas Mavericks more versatile | Dallas Morning News
• Colangelo returns to form
• CANOE — Turkoglu worth the price for Raps
• Raptors get creative to land Turkoglu
• Raptors’ salary cap puzzle fits together - The Globe and Mail
• In the NBA, free agency is a perpetual motion machine - Los Angeles Times
• Updated Toronto Raptors Salaries
• Will 2009 upstage 2010?
• Chisholm: Examining the Raptors Options
• Once you sort it out, Dallas Mavericks got better | | Dallas Morning News
• Inked: Andrea Bargnani – More Pasta for the Paisan «

‘Sup everybody, they’re singing the national anthems. They got a real cow to sing the Canadian one. Never really liked how the US national anthem gets a louder cheer even though it was sung worse.

DeMar DeRozan, Patrick O’Bryant, Roko Ukic, Quincy Douby, Paul Davis are the starting lineup.

McCauley is killing Patrick O’Bryant on the offensive glass, POB looks a little soft footed there. Douby turns it over to fuel the break. 8-0 Lakers. Sasha Vujacic is in the game for the Lakers. DeRozan with a nice floater on the baseline, looks good. McCauley now taking POB outside with the jumper. Hand this guy a 10yr/60M deal. Some guy named Paul Davis scored for us. Lakers killing us on the boards. Ukic actually drove and kick and got the ball back on the swing and hit the three!

Roko just crossed hard to his left, bad defense. Very lackadaisical. He follows it up with a layup-fake on the break and a behind the back pass to Douby on the break - Raps pretty on the break.

Smush Parker is in the game, walks as soon as he comes in. Ukic still keeping his hands on his hips like a girl Douby’s been doing most of the ball handling so far. Smush uses the high screen and drains a three. Nice stroke. Then comes up with a steal and gets fouled on a break. I reckon he’s shown enough for a 5yr/60M deal. So far Douby and Smush have been trying to get their own while POB is getting owned on defense.

Adam Morrison feels he can take any shot. Making is another story

Spanish forward for the Raptors, David Doblas, executes a hard pivot post-move for the foul. Best move of the game so far for us. Goes 1-2. David Aldridge is calling the game, he appears to be high.

POB needs to be dominating this and he’s not. I think he just got his first rebound. It’s 14-14. POB should’ve gotten a block on Justin Hawking there, but got scored on. Very unimpressive performance by him so far. Raps are 2-8 from the FT line.

Smush Parker with another step-back jumper, he’s outshining Roko right now. Raptor Demetris Nichols (Syracuse, ex-Blazer) just went up strong for a dunk after a baseline move. Showed quickness there, got fouled hard and hit both FTs. Brent Petway got a block that POB should’ve gotten. Very nice, got up high and timed it well. It’s 18-16 Raptors.

Smush using the high screen and turning off of it to get fouled. POB set the screen and rolled, Smush getting his right now. Boy, Quincy Douby can’t hit a shot. He’s taking it early in the clock and missing badly. Brent Petway ran the break well for us to get two, POB hits a jumper right after and its 24-16 Raps. Petway and Nichols showing some very good athleticism for us. Lakers have called a timeout.

BTW, Carl English has not entered the game.

Petway showing us some passing on the break, too bad Douby can’t finish. DeRozan’s drive looks a little raw but at least he’s driving. Roko is back in the game, breaks down some no-name punk and goes in for the layup. Smush’s little show probably woke him up. Petway has been one of the best Raptors so far. Got a block on a guard driving in, bad offense, good defense. He’s shown some great athleticism. It’s 28-19 Raps, 6:28 2nd.

DeRozan picks up a charge. He’s looking to be aggressive, once he gets his timing right he’ll be fine. Roko showing a case of tunnel-vision after the drive and gets REJECTED. Douby’s second spell has been much better, hit a jumper, drove the ball and looked generally more composed.

One-on-one POB vs Morrison on the semi-break and POB gets called for the AND1. Adam Morrison is unable to guard Douby, no lateral movement. Morrison making Douby look good. As soon as Smush comes in for Ukic, he goes one-on-one, loses handle but ball falls to a Raptor who drains the spot. Smush is really looking to get his.

Smush once again turns off the high pick and sets up a Raptor who blows the layup. Nice move though. DeRozan showing us a 14-foot jumper. His jumper is fundamentally sound.

Brent Petway closes the half with a massive left-handed dunk after Parker set him up after the drive. It’s halftime. 40-31 Raptors. Will return for the second when it starts.

Raptors letting Douby handle point duties with Roko at off-guard. Douby is doing well against Morrison. David Aldridge picks the Raptors to finish 6th and if they stay fully healthy, maybe 5th.

Roko alley-oop to DeMar DeRozan on the break. Sick stuff He’s missed his last two jumpers though, keep with the drive kid, keep with the drive. 48-43 Raps, 5:37 left in the third. DeRozan misses his third jumper in a row. Ukic isn’t showing much at all and Douby is settling. Lakers have taken the lead on an offensive put-back right in front of POB. Roko finally asserts himself with a drive to the right and gets fouled.

Raptors aren’t getting back anymore and Roko settling for a 25 footer doesn’t help. WTF? Smush using his height advantage over his cover well, another step-back jumper. Good man. Best Raptor today you could even say. Just had a sick pass to POB from beyond the 3pt line off the pick ‘n roll. He has been impressive, looks like an NBA player. 8/3/5 for Smush.

DeRozan showing us a baseline jumper. Used the pick, went to his let, dug his feet in the ground and elevated nicely. It’s 62-61 Lakers at the end of 3. Raptors shooting 53%, Lakers at 40%. Lakers getting a lot of second chance points early in the game.

Am I being unfair when I expect Patrick O’Bryant to sorta dominate? Just as I’m thinking that, POB finishes hard and gets fouled after rolling on a high screen. They’re trying to front O’Bryant again and he caught the pass and finished. He should be able to do a lot more of that if we just be a little patient and use him.

Douby showing us a little drive to the left, got fouled. He’s had a much better second half but that doesn’t change the fact that we had no business signing him to an extension last year. Two 10-days sounded about right. Douby misses an open three, gotta hit that, it was even in rhythm. Drove to his right, controlled the body, absorbed contact and finished. Good move.

The announcer keeps calling Roko “Rukic”.

DeRozan and Morrison getting at it. Morrison hitting a couple jumpers and DeRozan comes back with a nice move drive, turn-around spin for a short-jumper. If he can get that move going we won’t even remember Anthony Parker. Morrison is having a pretty good game, he’s filling it up from the perimeter. 9-16 FG for him. 73-73 5:53 left.

DeRozan is looking very fluid and confident. Some of the jumpers are off but overall he appears to know exactly what he wants to do and goes about it in a confident way. The defense has also been very good although Morrison’s hit some jumpers on him.

Ukic had a post-up and walked, committed an offensive foul (hook) and then made a bad pass, all at the same time. That’s three turnovers on one play. Nice. Comes back with a floater but overall he’s been unimpressive. 77-77, 2:53 left.

DeRozan with a nice hop-step type drive but gets rejected at the rim. Ukic hits two FTs to tie the game at 81 with 1:32 left. Ukic launches an ugly jumper with :52 left, misses. Had a nice drive ‘n kick which didn’t go anywhere (probably should’ve just finished). Ukic sets up POB who misses the jumper, DeRozan misses the put-back one-handed jam.

Lakers execute a pick ‘n pop with McCauley launching a big jumper from 20 feet out to give them a 2 point lead. 83-81 Lakers. 14 seconds left. Raps come back with DeRozan going one-on-one with Morrison, drives to the rim but doesn’t get the roll. A good move, just didn’t fall.

Raps forced to foul and Morrison seals the game with two FTs. Roko hits a three at the buzzer to make it a one point loss. Disappointing loss really, the Lakers had one NBA player on the team whereas we had 4. DeRozan looked great, Smush’s offense looked great, Roko didn’t assert himself and ended up having very little impact, I thought he got away with at least three walks. POB played like POB does: very hesitant on offense, looked very raw and unpolished, tried to be big on defense but the timing wasn’t there and got scored on a little too much. Douby had a bad first half, a good second one and took advantage of the slower Morrison checking him. Raptors missed tons of FTs which probably cost them the game.

At least we now know that Smush is motivated to make the game and if his summer league goes the way this game went, he’s going to get at least a call to training camp. His jumper is superior to both Douby, Ukic and Banks which could be the difference in him making the team. DeRozan, as I said earlier, is a confident multi-skilled player. He’s more than just raw athleticism, he’s got the willingness to drive and the makings of a solid jumper. It might not happen this year but he’s already ahead of year 4 Joey Graham. Really enjoyed watching him think and maneuver with the ball, looking forward to the next game.

Brent Petway impressed with his athleticism and drive, reminded me a little of Pops when it comes to sheer aggressiveness. Seems like he’s got a high basketball IQ, he looked very comfortable out there and was physically on par with anyone on the court.

Thanks for swinging by, here’s the Raptors official roster.

1) The schedule isn’t out yet and we are still tweaking our roster, but as it stands now, if you had to choose 3 games to grab tickets to, which would they be?

2) Other than seeing what damage DeMar can do, what are you most interested in seeing come out of the summer league?

3) We have the MLE/BAE back and we are spooning them like they were Megan Fox or Brad Garrett (hey, we don’t judge). If Colangelo showed up at your cottage this weekend for a few beers and some deep fried asparagus, who would you have on your shortlist of players when he asked for your input?

*** Also, be sure to put your Friday night plans on hold and join us for a live blog tonight at 8pm, as we spew our thoughts on tonights opening game of the Raptors summer league extravaganza. ***

Hedo Turkoglu was officially announced yesterday and here are the bullet points:

• Colangelo admitted that he had been pursuing Turkoglu for quite some time and wouldn’t let his failure to complete the deal in Phoenix repeat itself. At that time Magic GM John Weisbrod beat him to the punch.
• The idea of the trade was thought up by Steve Fruitman, Senior Director Basketball Administration. Colangelo’s first preference in signing Turkoglu was a straight signing based on cap space but soon realized it wasn’t possible.
• Colangelo things Hedo is a player that will make others better. He’s damn right there, creativity with the ball and ability to recognize options is what has been lacking the last couple years and Hedo does address that to a degree, however that doesn’t mean we still don’t need a defensive minded guard that can knock down the jumpers Marcus Banks and Roko can’t. Colangelo assessed that Hedo was making the main basketball decisions for the Magic in the playoffs and values his clutchness.
• Chris Bosh helped recruit Hedo Turkoglu by calling him up. Colangelo thinks the moves he’s made so far have made a very positive impression on Chris Bosh which he thinks will help in his eventual signing.
• As for leaving an NBA Finals team and joining a lottery one, Hedo put it straight:
  

  It’s a situation which was made by both sides, not just one.

  Nobody asked him about the Portland thingy.

• The Raptors have 12 committed contracts for next year: Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Hedo Turkoglu, Jose Calderon, Antoine Wright, Devean George, Quincy Douby, Reggie Evans, DeMar DeRozan, Patrick O’Bryant, Marcus Banks and Roko Ukic. Colangelo will try and sign Carlos Delfino and is officially waiting for the Anthony Parker to Cleveland deal to get done first.
• Colangelo got calls from many GMs whose clients are looking for that mid-level exception. According to him, Toronto became a very popular place to play since yesterday. Tim Chisholm looks at the possible players that we can sign using the MLE including Glen Davis, Hakim Warrick, Josh Childress and others. My number one choice would be Grant Hill. Here’s the up-to-date team salaries.
• People who ask questions like Why is Toronto so great and why did you choose this city? just need a pat on the back for living where they live. After Doug Smith asked this question, Turkoglu basically said that basketball came first, then the city.
• Here’s the full press conference on YouTube thanks to Birdman.

The Raptors also signed DeMar DeRozan to the rookie scale contract which will pay him $2,282,640 next year. Assuming Antoine Wright remains a Raptor, DeRozan’s going to be fighting him for a starting spot with Delfino likely kept in reserve to boost the bench.

What’s lost in the shuffle is the exit of Kris Humphries from the team, it’s unfortunate because he’s a type of player which every team needs and if only he had stayed healthy last year, he probably would’ve had a say in this year’s roster. He was a guy that grasped his role very well but for whatever reason refused to stick to it, his hustle and energy were second to none but Mitchell never managed to get through to him the concept of sticking to what he was good at. His recurring need to deviate from his role and morph into a wannabe scorer spelled his end in Toronto. Good luck to Hump, he will be missed. Kinda. Not really though.

So what team-need do you think needs addressing the most? Let’s quickly recap:

• Front-court Rebounding: Evans, Bosh, Bargnani. B-.
• Back-court Rebounding: Turkoglu, DeRozan, Delfino. A-.
• Ball handling: Turkoglu, Calderon. B+.
• Dribble penetration: Calderon, Turkoglu. B.
• Wing defense: DeRozan, Delfino. B-.
• Point-of-attack defense (dribble penetration): Calderon, Ukic. C+.
• Guard Scoring: DeRozan, Wright. C-
• Front-court scoring: Bosh, Bargnani. B+

Now I know I’m being generous with some of the grades but the point is that singling out some of the weak points of the team aren’t that hard. Point-of-attack defense is still weak and so is the expected production out of the shooting guard position, both these areas killed us last year and we’re one signing away from killing two birds with one stone. I already said I liked Grant Hill but a motivated Flip Murray could also do the trick although his defensive game isn’t good enough for what we need. Ideally, a James Posey or Raja Bell type player is needed.

Rebounding is also a concern, last year we missed Rasho and the space he used to take up in the middle. Rasho might not have gotten the rebound but his box-outs and man-defense were perhaps the best on the team. We were 3rd worst in defensive rebounding for most of last year until we made that meaningless run at the end. Colangelo can’t afford that to repeat as the Achilles’ heel. I’d even go as far as saying that rebounding is perhaps a more grave need than production from the off-guard position and PG defense. That’s going on the assumption that Roko’s improved his defensive mechanics to be relied upon to play smart and tough defense.

One final thought, does anyone notice how quickly Colangelo jumped off the Marion bandwagon? At the end of the season he appeared to want to sign him to an extension based on the late-season run and even went as far as offering him a contract which most of us thought was more than reasonable, if not too high. Is it Colangelo’s good luck that Marion rejected the deal and thus fell the first domino of what transpired? Whatever it is I’ll take it.

Summer league starts on Friday and we’ll try to have a live blog of the game followed by a report or two, here’s the schedule:

If you want to watch the Las Vegas Summer League action you can do so here for about 15 bucks.

Quick site note, today we experienced some load issues on the site which made it unavailable for about half an hour or so. We’re trying to get the house in order so outages like those are minimized, sorry about the inconvenience. But for now, let’s end with Colangelo’s quote from yesterday:

Stay tuned for more changes to the roster, we got other things on the horizon…

@raptorsrepublic

Let it not be said that BryCo doesn’t do work. In what is the craziest trade this franchise ever made, B.C. Colangelo turned Marion, Humphries and Uni-brow (Douby) into Hedo (don’t call me Hedu) Turkoglu, Devean George, Antoine Wright while being able to keep our mid-level exception (actually they have just under $8mil to sign whoever they want - Twitter source - I’m not going to verify, but take at face value -> at the very least we have the mid-level).

To Toronto:
Hedo Turkoglu (Orlando)
Devean George (Dallas)
Antoine Wright (Dallas)
Mid-Level Exception: $5.6mill+ (Jah)

To Dallas:
Shawn Marion (Toronto)
Kris Humphries (Toronto)
Greg Buckner (Memphis)

To Orlando:
Trade Exception: $10mill (Jah)

To Memphis:
Jerry Stackhouse (Dallas)
Quincy Douby (Toronto)
Cash (Cuban’s left pocket)

Oh, and we didn’t have to rescind our offers to Carlos and Pops. Now, if we can do something about Banks, we might actually have a team that can win some games on our hands. That all sound about right?

Clearly last nights heroic interpretation of the CBA and shrewd deal-making has the left the Raptors much better off then if they just went out and signed Turkoglu (thank God for the week between July 1st and the cap being announced, or I shudder to think…). If Carlos and Pops accept their qualifying offers (whatever they are), the Raptors will look something like this:

PG - Calderon / Ukic / Banks
SG - Delfino / DeRozan / Wright
SF - Turkoglu / George / Wright
PF - Bosh / Evans / Pops
C - Bargnani / O’Bryant / Jawai

AND you have to include the mid-level in there somewhere, ALSO, we could be in line for our bi-annual exception, about $2mil (LLE) … depending on league approval on the details of the furry of movements taken place. (There you go, mid-level + bi-annual exceptions = under $8mill, there, above Twitter source is verified, thanks Gagan) I would look at bringing into a REAL backup point guard [Royal Ivey], a wing [Linas Kleiza] and possibly a center [Rasho Nesterovic]. We would have to definitely get rid of Banks and maybe one of Jawai/O’Bryant to accommodate these three, but just imagine:

PG - Calderon / Ivey / Ukic
SG - Delfino / DeRozan / Wright
SF - Turkoglu / Kleiza / George
PF - Bosh / Evans / Pops
C - Bargnani / Nesterovic / Jawai

That is a pretty solid team that would be in the 45-49 (I just have a hard time saying 50 wins because our coaching is…lacking…) fighting for 5th/6th in the East, and who I would be proud to blog/tweet for :). Even Chris approves.

On another quick note, the Magic get a $10mill trade exception??!?!?!!!????? That is ridiculous…they can pretty much acquire whoever they want, under $10mil of course, during the season…the list is almost endless…but, imagine they go after Josh Smith (who Atlanta is reportedly shopping), and field a starting lineup of: Nelson, Carter, Lewis, Smith and Howard…LOL

Let it not be said that I can’t eat crow with the best of them…I forgot to include crucial info in my Tuesday’s post, some of you ripped me a new one (thanks for keeping me on my toes), and some of you stood by me (thanks for being good peoples).

@raptorsrepublic :: facebook :: rss feed

… Free Ukic … No Pirates …

• RAPTORS: Raptors Sign First-Round Pick DeMar DeRozan
• The Associated Press: Blazers GM speaks out about Turkoglu, free agency
• FAN590 - Parker Still A Possibility?
• Cavs to sign Parker | King James Gospel | A Cleveland Cavaliers Blog
• Magic to Receive Trade Exemption | Howard the Dunk | An Orlando Magic Blog

• Bargnani wants to see Hedo in Toronto
• Matrix Headed To Big D | Air Alamo | A San Antonio Spurs Blog
• I see myself fitting in Great: Shawn Marion | Dallas Morning News
• The Associated Press: Marion to Mavs, Stackhouse to Griz in complex deal
• Court Surfing - The Score - What’s G?
• Raptors Report - More Summer Reading for Raptors Fans
• Maurizio Gherardini - The FAN 590
• Raptors News Conference - The FAN 590
• Memphis Grizzlies help trade that sends Shawn Marion to Dallas : Grizzlies : Memphis Commercial Appeal
• Raptors gain from a wife’s weight - The National Newspaper
• Marion to Mavs, Stackhouse to Griz in complex deal - nba - SI.com
• Raptors confirm multiple deals - The Globe and Mail
• NBA Free Agents: Four-team deal sending Shawn Marion to Dallas Mavericks approved - ESPN
• RAPTORS: Raptors Acquire Turkoglu, George and Wright
• Anthony Parker A Good Fit In Cleveland | WaitingForNextYear
• It’s official: Raptors land Turkoglu
• CTV Toronto - Raptors confirm signing of forward Turkoglu
• Do not burn your Quincy Douby Raptors jerseys - Posted Sports
• NBA.com: Raptors, Mavs consummate deals for Turkoglu, Marion
• TSN - Raptors get Turkoglu, so much more
• FAN590 - Colangelo’s Coup
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog - Jawai being traded,not Quincy
• Recordpub.com - Cavs sign free agent guard/forward Anthony Parker
• Mavericks, Grizzlies, Magic, and Raptors make four-way deal - Fantasy NBA Zone
• T.Jose Caldesports: If Bryan Colangelo is working this hard…
• The Salami & Cheese: Bryan Colangelo=Mastermind?
• Shawn Marion: "its official" | Dallas Morning News
• Second Step Complete. :The AltRaps Blog
• Welcome The Newest Cavalier: Anthony Parker - Cavalier Attitude
• Raps’ Bryan Colangelo is now back to wizard status : The Cheap Seats
• Daily Spin: Bryan Colangelo Shapes Raptors’ New Look | Bleacher Report
• NBA.com: Mavs, Raptors make big push to improve themselves
• Raptors, Mavericks agree to Marion trade: report
• Complicated Marion deal close | Toronto Sun
• Where Does Toronto Go From Here? « nbaroundtable
• TSN - Colangelo Not Afraid To Live With His Choices As GM
• Marion to Mavericks in 4-team trade - Sportsnet.ca
• Chaun’s Raptors and NBA blog: The Story of The Man. A Smart, Smart Man
• Dino Nation Blog: B.C Doing WORK!!!
• Raptors clear path for Turkoglu - The Globe and Mail
• Are Mavs Paying Too Much To Shawn Marion? | Dallas Morning News
• Hedo Turkoglu, Orando Magic, trade exception - OrlandoSentinel.com
• TheStar.com | Raptors working on four-team trade
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• I Want to Believe - RaptorsHQ.com
• Dallas Gets Marion for Five Years — NBA FanHouse

The Mavericks and Raptors recruited the Orlando Magic and Memphis Grizzlies to help facilitate the deal. The Raptors will get Hedo Turkoglu in a sign-and-trade deal with the Magic rather than signing him outright. They also will receive forwards Devean George and Antoine Wright from the Mavericks.

Marion will receive a five-year, $40 million contract from the Mavericks.

Stackhouse will go to the Grizzlies, who will waive him. Only $2 million of Stackhouse’s $7 million contract for next season is guaranteed. The Grizzlies will receive cash, likely $3 million, to participate in the trade.

Toronto, which gets to keep its midlevel salary-cap exception, sends a trade exception to Orlando. The Mavericks also will receive forward Kris Humphries from the Raptors.

Also of note, we have apparently rescinded our qualifying offers (audio) to Delfino and Pops.

Today Andrea Bargnani’s contract was officially announced and here’s the bullet summary of what is being said, thought, mulled over, swallowed, and kept secret.

• Andrea is very happy to be in Toronto. He’s never even considered to play for another city and loves it like we love the Rail. This of course should make you wonder why Colangelo wouldn’t hold out and sign him to a number closer to his qualifying offer sinc he’s already got an affinity towards the city, what with the shrinking cap and all that.
• Answer to the previous question is two-fold: He wants to do right for the kid and focus his mind back to basketball and the Italian national team rather than worry about this petty contract nonsense (although I get the feeling Andrea needed to be reminded that he was going to be a free-agent next year). The second reason for getting this deal in the first minute of free-agency was to set an example for Chris Bosh, an example which says, “Hey Chris, we’re willing to spend reasonable money, do you want to be reasonable?”.
• What is the difference between AB and VL? According to AB, it’s all about getting minutes. You give him minutes and he’ll produce, you starve him of minutes and dump him in an unpredictable rotation and you’ll get VL. The man sure dumbs the game down, good for him.
• Colangelo said he fully intends to sign Chris Bosh. My feeling is that he’s being honest and not even contemplating a trade and hopes that his early work this summer is enough to convince Bosh to settle in.
• This extension is another example of Colangelo backing the horse he’s always backed. He’s never doubted Bargnani’s abilities and didn’t hesitate in the least in offering him a big extension. The negotiation process was short and sweet, Leon Wood asked for a slightly higher number than 10, Colangelo offered a slightly lower number than 10 and they reached a midway point. Done deal. Next target: Chris Bosh. That one’s going to be a lot harder than this one.

You can watch the full video here. If you do, check out the quality of Mike Ulmer’s questions. I can’t believe RR is not offered a media pass by the Raptors.

Moving along, our good friend Anthony Parker is closer to signing with the Cleveland Cavaliers where he will add size to the dwarfed backcourt of Mo Williams and Deltone West. Depending on the deal that will get executed this morning this could clear the way for Carlos Delfino to finally return even though we’ve rescinded the qualifying offer. If we are able to unload Marcus Banks or Kris Humphries for picks and cash in the deal we would have enough to sign Delfino and Hedo outright.

More later, in the meantime check out some Bryan Colangelo audio.

@raptorsrepublic

• Bargnani could be a bargain - The Globe and Mail
• TheStar.com | Bargnani signs rich new deal with Raps
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• Raps lock up Bargnani | Toronto Sun
• Cavs and Mavs close to ex-Raps | Toronto Sun

• Bryan Colangelo pulls off a miracle, Raps can spend money | Toronto Sports Media Blog
• Breaking Down A Complicated Trade | The 3rd String Safety
• Marion to Mavs « Full Court Press
• Shawn Marion to Dallas Mavericks: Cuban Proves Everyday He is Hustlin | Bleacher Report
• Shawn Marion Traded To Mavs in Complicated Four-Team Trade | Bleacher Report
• The Associated Press: Raptors re-sign former No. 1 pick Bargnani
• Clear to Launch » The Two Man Game
• Cavs sign Anthony Parker and Anderson Varejao | Chronicle-Telegram
• Raptors ink Bargnani, trade Marion to Mavs; Blazers talk | Bleacher Report
• NBA Players: Ridiculous Salaries vs. The Concept of Winning | PROTECT THE PAINT
• FanIQ News: Shawn Marion traded to the Dallas Mavericks - , Dallas Mavericks, Memphis Grizzlies
• Multicultural Toronto becomes a drawing card - The Globe and Mail
• Raps’ Parker expected to sign with Cavs - The Globe and Mail
• Dallas Mavericks Pretty Much Welcome Shawn Marion | Planet Suns Blog
• Toronto Raptors trade Marion and Humphries in three-team deal, receive two players and midlevel exception - Posted Sports
• Four Team Trade: Shawn Marion To Dallas « nbaroundtable
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• Court Surfing - Raps agree to trade Marion to Mavs
• Yahoo! Sports: Orlando Magic Will Sign-and-Trade Hedo Turkoglu to Toronto Raptors for a Traded Player Exception - Third Quarter Collapse
• Head straight to gate for sign of weakness in NBA money machine - NBA - CBSSports.com Basketball
• Foot on the Line: We will miss you, Anthony
• Mavericks agree to deal for Marion - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
• Courtside - Yahoo reports Raptors will keep their mid-level exception
• Mavericks agree to deal for Marion - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
• Mavericks Acquire Shawn Marion - The Baseline
• Marion to Dallas (UPDATE) - CBSSports.com
• Risk vs. reward: What Turkoglu and Bargnani deals mean for Toronto – NBA - NESN.com
• The Associated Press: AP source: Mavericks to acquire Shawn Marion
• Kris Humphries coming to Dallas, Antoine Wright Devean George to Toronto | Dallas Morning News
• Finally, its all sorted out - Trade complete
• Yahoo Sports: Magic agree to Turkoglu sign and trade
• NBA.com: Aldridge: Shawn Marion headed to Dallas Mavericks
• khandor’s sports blog » Eureka! … Perception of Toronto in the eyes of top NBA free agents finally confirmed by Raptors’ GM
• Cavs agree in principal to free agent deal with Raptors guard Anthony Parker
• Toronto Raptors Building for the Future | Bleacher Report
• Cavaliers are close to a contract agreement with Parker : Cleveland Cavaliers News
• Dallas Mavericks land Marion, source says | Dallas Morning News
• Raptors give Bargnani five-year extension
• Breaking Free Agent News: Anthony Parker a Cav | WaitingForNextYear
• Cleveland Cavaliers close to contract agreement with Toronto free-agent guard Anthony Parker - cleveland.com
• The many reasons Toronto re-signed Andrea Bargnani
• Chisholm: Bargnani extension a shrewd move
• Free Agent Buzz (UPDATE) - CBSSports.com
• The Associated Press: Raptors re-sign former No. 1 pick Bargnani
• Why Andrea Bargnani’s extension is (probably) a good move - Posted Sports
• Canada Basketball | RAPTORS CHOOSE NATIONAL TEAM VET CARL ENGLISH FOR SUMMER LEAGUE SQUAD
• White Chocolate Blog: Raptors Off Season - Another 5 years of Lasagna
• Court Surfing - Bargnani Locked Up, Hedo On His Way & Other Notes From T.O.

Two major items this morning. The NBA’s moratorium period has ended and they have released the salary cap and tax level number for the upcoming season. The salary cap will be $57.7 million and the tax level is $69.92 million. The previous year’s salary cap was $58.68 million and the tax level was $71.15 million. The NBA states that “although the league-wide revenue increased by 2.5% this past season, the decrease in the salary cap and tax level for the 2009-10 season is the result of the formula used to set the cap and tax under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement.” So we all have a little less of the pie to work with but overall the drop isn’t much. The other major news of the day is ESPN’s report that Andrea Bargnani is being extended for five years at $10 million per. That number is about 1.5 million over his qualifying offer for 2010-11 which stood at 8.5 million.

This is definitely the safe way to go, otherwise we would’ve risked losing him next summer if a team signed him to an offersheet which we couldn’t match for whatever reason. It also protects us against any new CBA worries such as salaries going up. Hopefully he has a phenomenal year which would make this deal look like a steal. The flip side of the coin in him reverting to his form of his sophomore year and the first half of last year, basically he’s been great for 50% and terrible for 50% but even then it’s a gamble you just don’t take. One thing to keep in mind: if Bosh re-ups at the max, we’ll have 42 million tied in 3 players and 50 million tied in 4. In comparison, the Spurs have 48 million tied in 4 players next year, the Lakers have 52 million tied in 3, the Magic 50 million in 3 and the Cavaliers 55 million in 4. So its not a number that will prevent us from signing the role players needed to fill out the roster, but at the same time know that the teams I mentioned have arguably more solid cores than us. Money well invested for the Raptors?

There’s also this report by RR enthusiast Michael Grange where he says that the Turkoglu deal could take a few more days even though the Grand Turk is already in town.

So, where are we otherwise? Probably debating whether we should renounce those contracts before we sign Hedo and then deal with the rest of the roster in some haphazard way where we parlay Kris Humphries into a more serviceable and less frustrating player. Or of course there’s a chance we execute a sign-and-trade like the one rumoured the last couple days which would see Marion go to Dallas in exchange for Jerry Stackhouse and his 2 million guaranteed contract, who we would either keep on the bench for comedy purposes or more likely, release into the wilderness again. This deal does not benefit the Raptors much at all, it’s more a favor to Marion than anything else and at best it might yield us some cash or future considerations. There’s also some small talk out of LA that the Clippers might be interested as they can afford to pay him more than the MLE. As they say, there are no good options, just bad ones and inconsequential ones.

From what we can tell Colangelo wasn’t kidding around about trying to put a contending team out on the floor, his moves of late remind me of the quick-fire shooting-from-the-hip Glen Grunwald. They’ve got a touch of tact, a whole lot of desperation and a follow-through of a home run swing, question is whether he’s connecting or not. To his credit he’s also trying to correct his many mistakes one by one, the latest of which is him trying to unload Marcus “Cap Hold” Banks in a Marion sign-and-trade. Unfortunately for us, even the spendthrift Cuban isn’t willing to pay someone as unworthy as Banks a penny more than he deserves.

As discussed over the last couple days, a trade is the likeliest way a couple real players can end up in Toronto this year. Problem is that we haven’t got much to barter with other than Kris Humphries and those 3 million we keep hearing over and over again (which I thought could’ve been used wisely in the first round). When Colangelo was fleeced by Riley into taking on Banks and giving up a first round pick, the only safety net the Raptors had was a Marion sign-and-trade which as mentioned isn’t happening since nobody’s buying his Matrix role anymore. That leaves us with only one thing as trade bait – more draft picks.

Who needs Rasho when you have this guy?

BTW, how nice would O’Neal’s contract be to have right now? Or more specifically, no Marcus Banks to worry about, a first round pick in hand and another asset in Jamario Moon to trade. Anyway, I’m getting off topic, what I’m trying to say is that after Humphries and the 3 million, we only have draft picks left as bait and right now Colangelo’s got to be thinking whether to risk even more of the future in order to fix the present. If he’s really serious about contending next year he’s going to have to bring in some bodies.

A starting five of Bosh, Bargnani, Turkoglu, Calderon and DeRozan complemented by a bench of Evans, Humphries, Banks, Douby, O’Bryant, Ukic and (maybe) Delfino is good for a 6th seed and a prompt first round exit. A defensive minded shooter of the Raja Bell, Rasaul Butler or James Posey variety is necessary to support the shooting-guard, and we need someone who can do what they told us Marcus Banks could do. Take a look at Rafer Alston, a spark of the bench who can break down his man and not panic when the defense reacts, how far do you think Roko is from doing that? If I had my pick I’d make try and wiggle hard for Grant Hill who both Boston and New York (I know) are interested in. Our other division rivals (if you can call them that after the 0-for season series), the Celtics, have inked Rasheed Wallace to the MLE.

Right now Colangelo has to go all in to acquire proven bench talent to keep up with the division and it might have to come at the cost of sacrificing even more draft picks. Usually I’m not a fan of giving up picks but if that’s the only way of not doing another half-ass job of assembling a bench, so be it, trade ‘em. Worry about acquiring them later, under a new GM.

Kelly Dwyer is very luke warm about the Hedo deal and I see his point. After all, Turkoglu was at best considered a role player for the majority of his career and suddenly he’s propelled himself into the pseudo-elite of the NBA. It’s a jump that’s going to be hard for him to sustain, to his credit he’s done it for two years but expecting five more is a stretch. Even then, Dwyer’s criticism of the deal is based on what the situation will be three years from now where he alleges that Hedo will be riding the pine and will be significantly older than the rest of the crew. Wrong. He’ll be 33, Calderon will be 30, Bosh will be 28 and Andrea will be 26. That’s hardly an unreasonable age difference. His skill-set will probably decline but let’s remember that his game isn’t dependent on quickness or athleticism, it’s based on craftiness. The obvious key to him being a productive member of the group will be health and so far in his career he’s been great. In his 10 seasons he’s played an average of 75 games per season and has never played less than 67 games.

Or if worst comes to worst, we can deal him to a contender looking for that missing piece at some deadline. God knows that some GM will deem Lebron, Kobe or Chris Paul needing help for that stretch run and will be willing to pull the trigger on a now proven playoff performer. If need be, we shouldn’t have any problem offloading Turkoglu’s contract in the next 2-3 years, year 4 will be tough but year 5 will see his value rise as an expiring contract.

There’s a spanking new poll on the site which asks you to pick between a guy who gets his ass kicked by his sister and another who wears makeup. I can see a cat-fight breaking out. Another quick note. If you want to stay right up to date with Raptors news throughout the summer, look no further than our twitter account which AltRaps is all over as if it were Cinnamon from the Rail.

@raptorsrepublic :: facebook :: rss feed

• FAN590 - Summer Vloggin’
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• Courtside - Memphis agrees to take part in potential Marion deal

• 50 million reasons to scream Il Muggo! | Cuzoogle
• The Silver Lining of the Salary Cap Cloud - TrueHoop By Henry Abbott - ESPN
• NBA PM: Marion In Four-Team Deal? - HOOPSWORLD
• Sources: Memphis Grizzlies part of Shawn Marion to Dallas Mavericks trade - ESPN
• Marion Getting Closer and Closer - Dallas Morning News
• Andrea Bargnani - The FAN 590
• Bargnani News Conference Video
• Dallas Close To Acquiring Marion « nbaroundtable
• RaptorBlog.com - Bargnani = Bargain
• Defending Andrea Bargnani’s Contract Extension « Vittorio De Zen’s Fast Break
• Clearing the Red Tape » The Two Man Game
• "Lithuanian Lighting" Linas Kleiza Being Targeted By Cavs and Raptors | Bleacher Report
• Eyes and Ears » The Two Man Game
• Bargnani signs 5-year extension with Toronto Raptors
• Reports: Shawn Marion sign-and-trade to Dallas getting close - Posted Sports
• Official Press Release: Raptors Sign Bargnani To Contract Extension
• Raptors/Mavericks trade reaches standstill
• Toronto Raptors - NBA Salaries 2009/10
• Foot on the Line: It’s nice to cash your check…
• Marion sign and trade very close
• khandor’s sports blog » You make the call - Andrea Bargnani or David Lee?
• League Memo: 2010 Cap « nbaroundtable
• TheStar.com | Raptors lock up Bargnani
• Locking Up Bargnani and Turkoglu Creates Win-Win Situation
• Dino Nation Blog: Raptor Moneyball
• B.C Looks Like He Spent All The Money | Jurassic Hoops
• Marion Sign and Trade= Rudy Fernandez? : T.O. Sports
• Andrea Bargnani to sign contract extension - Posted Sports
• Bargnani agrees to extension - The Globe and Mail
• What about Pops Mensah-Bonsu? - Bullets Forever
• To Boldly Go Where No Raptors’ GM Has Gone Before… - RaptorsHQ.com
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• Bosh still Heat’s Top Target - MiamiHerald.com
• NBA memo: Prepare for lower cap in 2010-11 - ESPN
• Raptors discussing Shawn Marion sign-and-trade, but don’t get too excited - Posted Sports
• TheStar.com | Colangelo hustles to free cap for Turkoglu
• Bargnani is from Rome – the city which doesn’t need anything else | FIVEmag NBA basketball blog
• New Faces in the Atlantic « The Jersey Side
• Hardwood Paroxysm » A Taupe Area
• Cavs stepping up talks with Parker - Cleveland.com
• Mason’s wish list for the Raptors : propeller
• Andrea Bargnani Extension « nbaroundtable
• Raptors Continue Spending Spree, Extend Bargnani — NBA FanHouse
• TSN - Bargnani Signs Extension
• Dallas Mavericks’ Stackhouse must wait a bit longer for trade | Dallas Morning News
• Turkoglu’s official deal might take a few additional days - The Globe and Mail
• Salary Cap Is Set « nbaroundtable
• NBA.com: NBA salary cap set for 2009-10 season The National Basketball Association today announced that the Salary Cap for the 2009-10 season will be $57.7 million. The tax level for the 2009-10 season has been set at $69.92 million. Any team whose team salary exceeds that figure will pay a $1 tax for each $1 by which it exceeds $69.92 million.
• FAN590 - Salary Cap and Luxury Tax Announced
• Agent: Toronto Raptors give Andrea Bargnani contract extension - ESPN
• Free Agency – Same Faces, New Places (Part II) «
• Courtside - Shawn Marion sign and trade scenarios

The shot-clock is expiring, and Colangelo has put in more work over the last few days then he has all season, I can feel it. His Teflon is wearing thin with whispers that his job could be on the line. Needless to say, the man is motivated to field a solid team to start the season, win a lot of games (45+) and hopefully get into the second round. At the least, he needs to build a team that Bosh believes in, to re-up.

Lon Babby (Hedu’s agent), has an artificial a deadline of Thursday to get a contract drafted and signed. Needless to say, in hopes of not having the Hedu signing go to waste, B.C. needs to do something ASAP to put a couple more guys around DeMar and Hedu at the wing spot, or risk having Douby and D-League pro-stars round out the empty 2 and 3 spots.

Hopefully this pic made you as happy as it made me…

In order to sign Turkoglu, Colangelo had to renounce the rights of Delfino, Marion and Parker so that their ‘cap hold’ comes off the books, actually freeing up the salary cap space we have because of their expired contracts. Depending on where the cap lands, the Raptors can have little to no room to round out the roster. Meaning that if B.C. stands pat, and does nothing, we run the risk of losing those three assets which WILL cause the Hedu signing to be worse then it already is (potentially eating all your cap room to sign a player who is a sick player, but wont help that much if you only have three wings on the team).

I tried researching the CBA, to make heads or tails of what the options the Raptors have, but lets face it, it is a complicated mess. The issue that arises is with our expiring free agents. Apparently, we can sign and trade our guys for help, AND sign Turkoglu … BUT, we have to do the S&T before inking Turkoglu. That’s where the deadline of Thursday starts to get sticky. Teams, that are well versed in the CBA, know that the Raptors have their backs to the wall, and will rape on us any deal. You don’t need to be a genius to figure that one out.

Looks like Leo found someone to go clubbing with…

Obviously Marion is the most valuable asset we have at the moment (as much as we like Parker and Delfino, they just wont be bring back equivalent talent in a trade), and the current rumour has him being signed and traded to the Mavericks for Jerry Stackhouse…yea…doesn’t seem like the kind of move that someone with his job on the line would make. BUT, it isn’t that bad either. We get some cheap veteran (and I mean veteran, Stackhouse will be 35 when the season starts) leadership coming off the bench and mentoring DeRozan (although I’m not sure I want Stack mentoring our kid - sorry for the brackets).

Another rumour floating out there is Humphries and a pick (presumably our 2011 1st rounder) for anyone. Although this deal does clear up some of the logjam on the front-court AND serves to save me heart burn every time Hump makes a move to the rack with the ball, it is bad. First of all, I cringe to think what Hump and a pick will net us; second, we can’t keep trading away our draft picks, that is one of the reasons this team has very little young talent. I mean, had we bought a 2nd rounder this year and drafted another wing, I wouldn’t be so nervous to give up another 1st rounder…but I digress.

You have to believe that BC is working every angle to get some wing help and veteran leadership, but I wont hold my breath that it will be quality help. If Marion seems to only be able to land us Jerry Stackhouse, I don’t even want to know what Parker and Delfino can get us. Fortunately, we will all know what kind of this team will be for the 2009-2010 season within the next couple days. Good to see that Colangelo has his big boy thinking cap on this summer. I’m sure he can do better than Jerry Stackhouse though (thanks Chris).

@raptorsrepublic

@altraps

@arsenalist

@rapsfan

Feed

• Who Wears the Pants In The Turkoglu Household? : COED Magazine
• Hedo World! « Vittorio De Zen’s Fast Break
• Oh, How I Love The NBA Offseason!! « Daniel Dudley Is BORED!!
• NBA 2009 Free Agent Grades so far « Regaw World
• Foot on the Line: The Hedo-gate in T Dot & LeBron’s big mouth

• Mavericks 2009: The Shawn Marion Rumor
• White Chocolate Blog: Raptors Off Season - Making the Case for Iverson
• RaptorBlog.com - The Stackhouse rumor and the CBA
• Shawn Marion in a Clippers uniform?
• Trading Chris Bosh Is Not the Answer | Bleacher Report
• Top 10 International NBA Free Agents (2009) | Interbasket
• If I was Shawn Marion, where would I go | Bleacher Report
• Dallas Mavericks Blog - Sticking point in the Shawn Marion talks?
• What grabbing Shawn Marion could mean to Dallas - Ball Don’t Lie
• Separating Fact From Fiction Isn’t Easy - Dallas Mavericks Blog
• Shawn Marion, the Toronto Raptors, and the Dallas Mavericks in a ‘Love’ Triangle
• Why Hedo Turkoglu is a Perfect Fit for Toronto | The Hoop Doctors
• The Salami & Cheese: Marion to Dallas?
• If the Clippers Wanted Shawn Marion… - Clips Nation
• NBA.com: Eight thoughts to ponder in a summer full of big-name deals
• Daily Spin: What a Revamped Toronto Raptors Could Look Like After Bosh | Bleacher Report
• NBA.com: NBA.com Notebook: Mavs working hard to land Marion
• Rich getting richer in free agency - FOX Sports on MSN
• Hump Has Got To Go | Jurassic Hoops
• Dino Nation Blog: Colangelo Attempts To Afford Extra Toppings
• Chaun’s Raptors and NBA blog: Free agency p4 – Why the negativity?
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• Mavs Reportedly Trying to Add Shawn Marion — NBA FanHouse
• Raptors, Mavericks talking Marion - The Globe and Mail
• Hedo Turkoglu – A Portland Blogger’s Take on the Situation - RaptorsHQ.com
• More on the Turkoglu signing - The Globe and Mail
• Doug Smith’s Toronto Raptors blog
• TheStar.com | Mavericks interested in Marion but Raptors need third-party help
• Courtside - ESPN reports Marion sign and trade to the Mavs a strong possibility
• Doug Smith - The FAN 590 Toronto
• NBA.com: Toronto’s global appeal proved too alluring for Turkoglu
• Marion Could Be Headed To Dallas « THE BASKETBALL ORACLE
• NBA House Warming Post « BTW: Binder To Wolfe
• Dallas Mavericks in trade talks for Toronto’s Marion | Dallas Morning News
• NBA News: Shawn Marion As a Dallas Maverick? | Bleacher Report
• Insider: Toronto’s win in the Hedo Turkoglu tug-of-war is a Blazers victory - Behind The Blazers Beat
• NBA star Shawn Marion returns to North Chicago :: News Sun
• Beavers, Blazers, fans left in limbo – OregonLive.com
• RaptorTalk: Chill Raptor Fans - The Hedo Signing Will Work Out Fine
• Raptor Pizza Party Summer : T.O. Sports
• Dallas Mavericks in trade talks for Toronto’s Marion | Dallas Morning News
• TSN - Raps/Mavs Discussing Sign-And-Trade
• A free agent who’s worth having around
• Summer reading for Raptor Fans « Raptors Report
• Sources: Dallas Mavericks chase Shawn Marion in sign-and-trade - ESPN
• Marion to Dallas? - CBSSports.com
• Hedo Turkoglu Turns Raptors "Turk-Tastic" With Big Offseason Signing | Bleacher Report
• Reviewing the big offseason moves this year - FOX Sports on MSN
• Raptors Game Time - Times They Are Changing