You don't like the extension? Is that what you think? With $40 million in the bank, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU THINK!

A little bit lost in the excitement of opening night Wednesday were the morning rumours that the Raptors and DeMar DeRozan were getting close to signing an extension, followed by the eventual confirmation just before game time. The specifics: four years, $40 million, with incentives built in that could push the total value over $46 million during the course of the deal.

Those numbers are staggering. DeMar is now making more money than Tim Duncan. Let that sink in for a second. The Republic made their views on a potential extension clear on Tuesday, and although I understand (and, to some extent, agree with) the sentiment behind the “wait and see” approach with DeMar no matter the contract terms, I wasn’t opposed to offering an extension as long as the numbers were reasonable for a player of his caliber.

Obviously, that didn’t happen. Brian Colangelo and the rest of the Raptors brass have made a bold statement with this deal – that they consider DeMar to be a cornerstone of this franchise, one that will be here for the foreseeable future, for better or worse, and while I do admire the loyalty they’re showing their core players with this signing, from an economic standpoint this one is more than a little perplexing.

Before I get into that, though, let me offer this disclaimer. I’m a big fan of DeMar. He’s proven to be a very useful scorer over his 3 years in the league and has shown enough flashes of dynamic athleticism that it can be argued he hasn’t quite reached his potential. On top of that, he’s been a great Raptor from an intangibles standpoint – someone who’s been great with fans and media, who seems committed to and invested in being part of the Raptors rebuilding process, and who’s clearly worked very hard to improve his game in the off-season. After the Vince/T-Mac sagas, it’s hard not to appreciate a guy like that.

That said, I really don’t like this extension. The upside of signing a young player to a deal like this is to essentially lock in an asset at a fixed price, with the hope that during the course of the contract the player outperforms its value. With DeMar, it was simple – the Raptors had the choice of extending him now, or letting him play out the year and negotiating in the offseason, when he would have been a restricted free agent and potentially sign a costly offer sheet.

If the Raptors were committed to matching DeMar’s offer sheet in the offseason, they were essentially rolling the dice that what they could negotiate now would be less than said deal. Basically, the economic argument for the extension is that Colangelo and the Raptors brass believe that signing a deal with DeMar now will end up saving them money if he has a breakout season this year.

That argument kind of goes out the window when you sign him to an extension of this value, though. By most accounts, DeMar’s best comparables in the league (in terms of production, not playing style) are scoring wings like OJ Mayo and Nick Young, and though it can be argued that he has more upside at this point in his career than both of them, this extension has him making as much as both of them combined annually.

Basically, let’s put it this way – the Raptors brass must think DeMar is going to have a hell of a year to justify $10 million per as a “discount.” I just find it hard to believe that he would command much more than that on the open market, even with plenty of teams with cap space throwing around offer sheets, and so it seems like the Raps have thrown away a year of hedging their bets with DeMar, waiting and seeing what kind of player they have, for potential savings of a couple of million dollars a year at most. For a team touting its cap flexibility going forward, this isn’t exactly the kind of move that inspires confidence in our management’s financial decisions. If any player on this team screamed “wait and see,” it was DeMar.

Colangelo explained in this interview with Eric Koreen that the market for these extensions was set earlier in the day, and that DeMar’s number is reasonable given the amount the other players in his class were making, but this argument doesn’t hold sway for me – it’s not like they were bidding against another organization, and using other team’s signings to justify your own is a bit of a sign of uncertainty in your own decision making, in my opinion. To use a parenting cliché, if the other GMs jumped of a cliff, Bryan, would you do that too?

On the bigger picture side, it also removes an asset from the Raptor’s trade toolbox that could have been used to bring in a more established wing player this season. Those Jose/DeMar/etc. for Gay or Iguodala rumours this summer feel like they were broken years ago. This contract certainly doesn’t make DeMar untradeable, by any stretch (again, someone was going to offer him $10 million this summer), but it does show that management feels like he’s a big part of the future and substantially lowers his value on the open market for a contender looking for a young, cheap scoring option this season. Basically, don’t expect any big trades from the Raptors this season besides a possible Jose move, as the team seems committed to this core group for the foreseeable future.

The bright side in all of this is that we do have a reasonably effective, young wing scorer locked up for the next four years, and that DeMar’s extension does still leave the Raptors with plenty of room under the cap after next summer. On its face though, it does seem like we could have signed a player who gives us a reasonable facsimile of what DeMar does on a nightly basis for a fraction of the cost (even with the “Canadian premium” that the Raptors pay to lure free agents), especially if T-Ross develops the way the team is hoping he does.

In many ways, though, this year just became an even bigger one than it was for DeMar pre-extension: if he’s really as committed to the team as it seems like he is, he’s going to have to raise his game a notch to not only increase his stature around the league, but also to protect the reputations of management, because early returns seem to suggest that this one might not have been Colangelo’s finest hour.

Thoughts? Post in the comments or tweet at me @garretthinchey.

The good news is that Colangelo is on a shorter leash with this deal, and it looks like Silvestri flexed some of his clout in getting these terms.

A few thoughts:

• Even though he’s had his ups and downs, I think this is the right move. Continuity is something this team hasn’t had in abundance over the years, and with the shorter leash, you can expect some very inspired moves; I hope anyways…
• The second domino to drop will be all the questions about Triano’s status with the team evaporating. Bringing in a ringer of a coach with this lot makes little sense while Triano is still under contract.
• If the balls bounce the way they should in the lottery tonight, I can smell a trade of some sort: either trade down to get a small forward, or move the pick in a larger deal for players.
• I’m very interested in this “winning plan” that Peddie mentions.

Quote from Peddie:

I pleased to inform you that Bryan will be staying on as Raptor President. Bryan and the board worked closely to help create a “winning plan” for the Raptors and today the board gave Bryan their 100% support to continue the rebuilding job he stated this year. I can tell you that it was a very healthy process, that definitely has everyone understanding what it will take to create a winning basketball team and everyone’s total commitment to making it happen.

Do you think it was the right move to extend him?

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

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

John Hollinger of ESPN is reporting that Hedo Turkoglu will be signing for Toronto. Michael Grange of the G&M is doing the same. Apparently Hedo’s wife really likes Toronto and they didn’t even visit it when on their “free agent tour” because they didn’t even need to be convinced of it. The deal is reportedly in the 5yr/$50M range.

Hedo has reneged Portland after visiting the city. Shawn Marion, who appeared to be hours from a deal worth $36 million will now be forced to hunt for the mid-level exception. According to Hollinger, the Cavaliers, who were working on a sign-and-trade for Anthony Parker, have little chance of executing it. Linas Kleiza will also be off the Raptors radar.

Investing for 5 years in a 30 year old Turkoglu is about the same as investing for four years in a 31 year old Marion. I like the signing because he adds a whole new dimension to the team but at the same time feel that his best years could be behind him and that Orlando nabbed him when he was ripe for the picking, i.e. after a miserable year with the Spurs. Hopefully Colangelo’s not reaching on a has-been product like he did with Jermaine O’Neal. In this year’s playoffs he showed a real knack for using his size to guard the pick ‘n roll and defended Kobe Bryant and Lebron James well enough in stretches. He’s no Marion when it comes to one-on-one defense but he’s nothing to be scoffed at. Also, we finally got a guy that doesn’t start choking his heart out in the clutch.

Having the scoring touch of Turkoglu in the lineup might even allow the Raptors to test rookie DeMar DeRozan as a starter, much like the way the Magic did with Courtney Lee. With a big frontline of Bosh-Bargnani-Turkoglu, an athletic shooting guard and a hopefully injury-free point guard in Calderon, the Raptors starting five looks respectable – at least on paper. The need for a tweener off the bench still remains and suddenly the role of Delfino looks more suited to what’s needed. David Aldridge is reporting that the Raptors might sign-and-trade Delfino to Orlando.

Finally, someone worthy of the #15 jersey. I loved Jorge,
but not so much…

Hedo averaged 5.3 rebounds last year which was an acceptable number since he was playing with Dwight Howard. However, playing with a rebounding-allergic and perimeter-oriented Bargnani is a different matter and leads me to believe that he’ll have to see some time with Reggie Evans just so the defensive boards are attended to. The strength of this acquisition lies on the offensive side with Hedo initiating the pick ‘n roll with Bosh or Bargnani while having the ability to finish over help defense or kicking it out over stretched arms to shooters – just like he did to Rashard Lewis.

Much like the Jermaine O’Neal trade, whether or not this is a good move will be determined by what follows it. We followed O’Neal with Will Solomon and Hassan Adams, right now we have assets in Marion, Delfino and Parker that could yield some serviceable NBA talent. Waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Hedo Turkoglu is 30 years old, stands 6′ 10″ and weights 220 lbs. He was selected 16th overall in 2000 by the Sacramento Kings. Toronto will be his fourth NBA team after Sacramento, San Antonio and Orlando.

@raptorsrepublic

Part 2 and 3 after the jump.

Colangelo: “We have gone through an extensive evaluation process…and felt Triano was the right choice” Colangelo gives Jay a stamp of approval: “There are no deficiencies with Jay as the head coach of this basketball team.” Three year contract for Jay Triano. Triano “not given the most ideal circumstances to fight through but showed up each game”. Colangelo appears to be giving the late season push a lot of weight in hiring Triano.

Triano says that he’s looking forward to having a training camp to work with. Will try to work with individual players over the summer and determine their regimen and schedule. Says that the assistant coaching staff has yet to be determined, he’s though about it but hasn’t made up his mind, mostly because he wasn’t the head coach until today.

Colangelo says there wasn’t a need to hire a more experienced coach because Jay Triano had shown enough (basically evaded the question by praising Jay). Says “if you got the right candidate here, why look elsewhere”. Jay will spend a lot of time with Colangelo and Maurizio in determining what the roster will look like. He’s making it sound like Triano will have a lot of the say in the roster. Colangelo says he’s a “consensus guy”.

It’s “Jay’s call” as to who the assistant coaches are but they have to be approved by Colangelo (huh?). Says same is true vice-versa, Jay has to approve all assistant coaches. Triano says he values ball movement and defense. Two departments where the Raptors have to get better at. Triano says “We will be a lot different than we were last year”.

Triano says “toughness can be coached”. By better rules in training camp, coaching the right thing and forcing the players to do the right thing all the time. Hard cuts, good screens, being a good teammate. Showing up hard at practice. “Toughness is something we need to address”. Triano will likely bring in an older coach as an assistant to help with the experience.

Triano says Chris hasn’t thought as much about as 2010 summer as some people say he has. Says it the job of the franchise to build a winning atmosphere to players like him stay, says we don’t have to necessarily “prove” anything to Chris. That’s about it, just watch the videos.