Now that the roster is complete (read full) my attention is leaning back toward the off-season questions around some of the players who don't necessarily fit the rebuild mentality. By that I mean either a cheap young guy with potential for growth or old grisly veteran comfortable with getting paid to ride the pine. Here are my obvious top 3:
Barbosa - Too good and in his prime at 29 y/o to be backing up Derozan on club expecting 15-20 wins. Also he's an expiring contract that could be an excellent rental for a playoff team looking to plug a hole at either guard position or for a 6th man. Could see BC waiting until the deadline since his value is likely to increase moderately for teams looking to make a push. His contract is a slight issue, but I could see BC taking back players with 2 years left (since we likely won't be ready to contend next summer).
Calderon - Also too good and in his prime at 30 y/o to be with this rebuild. Kind of in the grey zone of too good to be amnestied and not good enough to be a major piece in a large deal. Might be stuck with him for 2 years - which isn't the worst thing since he's great with the young guys, is loyal to the franchise and doesn't have seem to have any issues with minutes/starting. Also likely to get injured and open up minutes for others.
Kleiza - While only 26 y/o he's also in the grey area with Calderon as far as team value vs. trade value. He is a tweener that has 3 years left on his deal which is OK but not great value considering he shouldn't be starting alongside our young guys in the new defense first philosophy (he's one of the guys on the roster who is simply not athletic enough to guard his position at SF) and that was before his serious injury requiring surgery. The most-likely amnesty choice out of the 3 considering he may lose a step this season.
PS:
The other choice I expect to come from others is Bargnani, but I can't see him on this list because even his biggest critics admit he has vast potential, and his current trade value is higher than any of these players - meaning amnesty-ing him (or simple salary dump trade), a player approaching their prime that is on a non-max contract with a PER of 16.5 last year, would be viewed as absurd. I view him like Monta Ellis - has weaknesses, but is also too valuable on the market to waive outright.
Barbosa - Too good and in his prime at 29 y/o to be backing up Derozan on club expecting 15-20 wins. Also he's an expiring contract that could be an excellent rental for a playoff team looking to plug a hole at either guard position or for a 6th man. Could see BC waiting until the deadline since his value is likely to increase moderately for teams looking to make a push. His contract is a slight issue, but I could see BC taking back players with 2 years left (since we likely won't be ready to contend next summer).
Calderon - Also too good and in his prime at 30 y/o to be with this rebuild. Kind of in the grey zone of too good to be amnestied and not good enough to be a major piece in a large deal. Might be stuck with him for 2 years - which isn't the worst thing since he's great with the young guys, is loyal to the franchise and doesn't have seem to have any issues with minutes/starting. Also likely to get injured and open up minutes for others.
Kleiza - While only 26 y/o he's also in the grey area with Calderon as far as team value vs. trade value. He is a tweener that has 3 years left on his deal which is OK but not great value considering he shouldn't be starting alongside our young guys in the new defense first philosophy (he's one of the guys on the roster who is simply not athletic enough to guard his position at SF) and that was before his serious injury requiring surgery. The most-likely amnesty choice out of the 3 considering he may lose a step this season.
PS:
The other choice I expect to come from others is Bargnani, but I can't see him on this list because even his biggest critics admit he has vast potential, and his current trade value is higher than any of these players - meaning amnesty-ing him (or simple salary dump trade), a player approaching their prime that is on a non-max contract with a PER of 16.5 last year, would be viewed as absurd. I view him like Monta Ellis - has weaknesses, but is also too valuable on the market to waive outright.
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