Should Raptors be on the phone with Denver?

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Nilanka wrote:

Is Chandler an upgrade over Fields? Yes, yes, and HELL YES!

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He could be but I'm not sure he is that much of an upgrade.

Granted the game is played on the court but a lot of advanced stats put them fairly close (with WS being an absolute win for LF).

IMO, both guys are going to be question marks at this point: Fields yr1 vs yr2 and Chandler with hip injury.

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Nilanka wrote:

Is Chandler an upgrade over Fields? Yes, yes, and HELL YES!

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I really don't think so. Not after hip surgery.

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Hugmenot wrote:

I agree. The problem is if you trade for Wilson Chandler and Landry Fields is not involved in said trade, you now have the $6 million man sitting on the bench.

I am OK with that as long as Bionic Woman fights fembots as halftime entertainment. Mud not required but it would be a nice addition.

I am also uncertain whether Wilson Chandler can be traded before 6 months have elapsed since he signed his contract extension with the Nuggets.

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I thought it was 3 months or whichever was later. But because the NBA calendar year rolled over on July 1st, it doesn't matter. He can be traded whenever and to whatever team.

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Matt52 wrote:

This is a double post. I am not sure where the best place for it to go is:


Denver is now looking like this on the wings (not sure of the positioning George Karl has in mind ):

SG: AI, Hamilton, Fournier
SF: Gallo, Chandler, Brewer, Miller

I'm not sure they would be looking for a trade.

They AI, Gallo, and Chandler as the main wing rotation with Chandler and AI capable at 2-guard. Hamilton, Fournier, Brewer, and Miller can fight for scraps as Brewer is an expiring contract, Fournier is on a 4 year rookie deal, Hamilton has 3 years left on his rookie deal, and Miller.... is he even signed yet?


Where Denver is thin is at PF. C is more than covered with McGee, Mosgov, and Koufos. Faried is the starter at PF. They signed Randolph who is still a major question mark. That is it for PF.

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Masai Ujiri is being lauded as not one of the best, youngest GM in the league but THE BEST GM in the league. He has "leaped-frogged" his teacher in many ways.

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RaptorReuben wrote:

Calderon + Derozan + Amir/Ed should net us a very solid wing.

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I'd want something beyond solid for that.

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Balls of Steel wrote:

Masai Ujiri is being lauded as not one of the best, youngest GM in the league but THE BEST GM in the league. He has "leaped-frogged" his teacher in many ways.

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Yup.

He has done very well with the hand he has been given.

It was incredible how he took a situation whereby Melo was holding the organization hostage and he managed to make the Knicks the ransom on his team behalf.

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Balls of Steel wrote:

Masai Ujiri is being lauded as not one of the best, youngest GM in the league but THE BEST GM in the league. He has "leaped-frogged" his teacher in many ways.

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He did a great job but honestly he had a lot more pieces available than toronto did. He does deserve a ton of credit with the moves he made espcially the melo fiasco and this recent AI trade. However the only problem with denver is they are in the western conference, so they really won't do much damage with LA and OKC

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Matt52 wrote:

Yup.

He has done very well with the hand he has been given.

It was incredible how he took a situation whereby Melo was holding the organization hostage and he managed to make the Knicks the ransom on his team behalf.

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Melo was a lot prettier asset than Chris Bosh and just like that Jazz brass, a lot was learned through the Raptors' and Cavs' hard lumps. The business of the sport has changed and it's unfortunate that the Raptors had to be an example of what not to do (ie: trusting in a man's word).

I'm not so sure Yuri is surpassing Colangelo. He's done well but he has a small track record. One really good play doesn't mean much if he pulls some bone head plays in the years to come. I do like how he handled the Melo situation. I guess he learned what not do to by studying past GM Rob Babcock's tactics when dealing with disgruntled stars.

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Apollo wrote:

Melo was a lot prettier asset than Chris Bosh and just like that Jazz brass, a lot was learned through the Raptors' and Cavs' hard lumps. The business of the sport has changed and it's unfortunate that the Raptors had to be an example of what not to do (ie: trusting in a man's word).

I'm not so sure Yuri is surpassing Colangelo. He's done well but he has a small track record. One really good play doesn't mean much if he pulls some bone head plays in the years to come.

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You're preaching to the choir, brother! :D

I went in and added more past this point you quoted. I like to take shots at Babcock when it's fair and appropriate to do so. ;)

It was also meant to be a subtle "it could be worse fellas".

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geo wrote:

He did a great job but honestly he had a lot more pieces available than toronto did. He does deserve a ton of credit with the moves he made espcially the melo fiasco and this recent AI trade. However the only problem with denver is they are in the western conference, so they really won't do much damage with LA and OKC

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Geo, I hate to do it here but you're not answering your PM's(maybe you don't know you are able to send/receive PM's?). Do you want a spot in the NFL Dynasty league as you expressed interest but never got back to me. There is only one spot left so you might lose out if you don't act soon.

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Hugmenot wrote:

I agree. The problem is if you trade for Wilson Chandler and Landry Fields is not involved in said trade, you now have the $6 million man sitting on the bench.

I am OK with that as long as Bionic Woman fights fembots as halftime entertainment. Mud not required but it would be a nice addition.

I am also uncertain whether Wilson Chandler can be traded before 6 months have elapsed since he signed his contract extension with the Nuggets.

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This brings up an important point in my mind that the Fields' contract is not going to be an easy one to trade. What happens if a good SF does hit the market (cough, cough Rudy Gay) once the luxury tax penalties kick in? $6.5 Million to come off the bench? Between the Landry and Amir's contracts we're stock piling difficult to move contracts.

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Mediumcore wrote:

This brings up an important point in my mind that the Fields' contract is not going to be an easy one to trade. What happens if a good SF does hit the market (cough, cough Rudy Gay) once the luxury tax penalties kick in? $6.5 Million to come off the bench? Between the Landry and Amir's contracts we're stock piling difficult to move contracts.

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Luxury tax line is expected to be $75M after this upcoming season - but that is speculation and could very well be lower or higher.

There is an assumption being made here that DeRozan is still the starting 2-guard. I think Fields is a better SG than SF, fwiw.

Good point about Fields' natural position, but imo DeRozan is a MUCH better option for SG between the two. Despite all of the criticisms about DD's game he still manages to score the ball and athletically he has so much more going for him than Landry. I could very well be wrong as I have no stats to back me up, but I think if you give Fields the same amount of touches that DD got last season he would not be able to score the ball as well as DeMar.

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Matt52 wrote:

Luxury tax line is expected to be $75M after this upcoming season - but that is speculation and could very well be lower or higher.

There is an assumption being made here that DeRozan is still the starting 2-guard. I think Fields is a better SG than SF, fwiw.

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And what happens if DeRozan has a breakout year? I know the market will dictate he gets paid for sure then. The change in style of PG's to Lowry might help him step forward for all we know.

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Mediumcore wrote:

Good point about Fields' natural position, but imo DeRozan is a MUCH better option for SG between the two. Despite all of the criticisms about DD's game he still manages to score the ball and athletically he has so much more going for him than Landry. I could very well be wrong as I have no stats to back me up, but I think if you give Fields the same amount of touches that DD got last season he would not be able to score the ball as well as DeMar.

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But Landry is the better defender, rebounder, and outside shooter. Of course, Demar is the better overall scorer, but IMO Fields is the better overall player up to date

DeMar has a large upside and was taken in the top ten. There will be a strong desire/pressure to see this pick through unless a great trade is made.

Mega props to Uriji for what hes done for that franchise. He's kept them fiscally responsible while somehow becoming more competitive. Does that ever happen?

Nevermind he's the one GM who had the balls to trade a disgruntled superstar and end up a better team.

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mountio wrote:

Excellent post. This is one of the very few rational trade posts that I see on here. Much more thoughtful and realistic than the typical "lets trade Jose for [insert borderline all star here]".

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Um ... the poster suggests that Denver can amnesty Amir, when only Toronto can do that ... next summer. Not very rational.

The only deal I'd really be interested in doing with Denver, since I highly doubt either Iguodala or Gallinari are available, would be to offer Amir ($6.05M, 3 yrs left) for Chandler ($5.93M, 4 yrs left). Toronto could even add a 2nd round pick (theirs or Sacramento's) to sweeten the deal, if need be.

Denver's only real weak position is PF. Faried had a decent half season in a shortened season, but is completely unproven and could easily have a 'sophmore slump'. Randolph is more of a PF/SF tweener. I also can't see either of their backup C's (Mozgov & Koufos) seeing much time at PF, as I don't think they're mobile enough to cover the quicker, more athletic PFs in the league.

Chandler is coming off hip surgery and will be pushed by Brewer (contract year) & Q.Miller (rookie) for playing time at backup SF, and by Fournier (European rookie) & Hamilton (2nd year player) at backup SG. A three-headed wing rotation of Gallinari/Iguodala/Chandler would normally be quite exciting but, given Chandler's salary & injury, as well as the young depth they have at both wing positions, I could see Denver potentially using him as an asset to upgrade their PF rotation.

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Aside from adding veteran wing depth and clearing up the PF logjam, the other thing I like about a trade like this is that it makes DeRozan even more expendable. I like DeRozan and think he could still improve, but he hasn't developed anywhere close to what I had expected, plus he'll be looking for a big payday after this season. Calderon (expiring contract) & DeRozan & 1 or 2 2nd round pick(s) would be a pretty enticing package at the trade deadline... *cough* Gay *cough* Even if they just kept DeRozan, they'd have a very solid lineup.

Starters: Valanciunas, Bargnani, Chandler, DeRozan, Lowry
2nd Unit: Davis, Kleiza, Fields, Ross, Calderon (Gray at C for certain matchups)
Bench: Lucas III, Acy, Anderson