2014 off-season Compendium

[magoon]

I'm hoping they find a way to get Tony Allen. What about a trade for Zach Randolph and Tony Allen?

Very doubtful. Memphis has a good, strong, competitive team that was hobbled this year by injuries and still managed to manage seventh in the west. They're not trading Tony Allen, who's the heart of that team, and Z-Bo is only marginally possible if he opts in for his final contract year rather than opting out to re-negotiate a new contract that will guarantee him nearly as much money but on a team-friendlier basis (say, three years at $11m per year) so Memphis can find some more perimeter shooting, which is all they really need right now. And Z-Bo's made it clear he's open to renegotiating because he wants to stay in Memphis.

And we wouldn't want to make that trade anyway, even if Memphis was suddenly willing to trade a star player and a solid starter for bench scraps, because we'd be hobbled, money-wise.

[Other Scott]

I don't think that now is the best time to trade Terrence Ross.

Honestly, I don't see the difference between trading someone like Ross or draft picks and trading Derozan though. If you get blown away with an offer, you do it. If you don't, you hold on to them. You aren't forced into doing something at this point.

[Other Scott]

No more trades with Memphis. Unless we get Bayless, Ed Davis and James Johnson back.

Nevermind, forget Bayless got traded to Bostonia.

I just pretend that Gay was never a Raptor and that we got Vasquez and Patterson for those guys. And I do like Chuck Hayes more than most.

[e_wheazhy_]

I just want this team to make a deep playoff run. I could care less about Vince's legacy being reestablished in Toronto. That said, if Vince is willing to come off the bench behind T-Ross, accept his role, focus on defense, and not bitch and whine when he doesn't get his way, then I am all for it!

He probably wouldn't mind playing behind Ross, but would Casey play Ross before the veteran of all veterans?

[magoon]

In order of eastern seed this year:

1. Indiana - Probably overachieved a bit in the regular season and this playoff means that they're going to look at serious restructuring. That having been said: they'll have Paul George to build around and Larry Bird rarely makes mistakes when it comes to team building, so he was due for one and Evan Turner was it. They'll be back, probably engaging in one big trade involving either Roy Hibbert or David West. Almost certainly a playoff team but will drop from 2013/14.

2. Miami - will still be Miami.

3. Us

4. Chicago - With or without Rose, they're a playoff team, but the question is if they're going to pursue Melo or not, and if so what they'd have to do to get him (in short, bribe another team with picks to get rid of Carlos Boozer). Will be better.

5. Washington - have the potential to be scary, but they need to re-sign or replace Trevor Ariza and Marcin Gortat and that's not going to be easy.

6. Brooklyn - will either spend too much money to keep Paul Pierce or they won't. Either way, Brooklyn are who they are and probably aren't going to significantly change, except that Brook Lopez will be back.

7. Charlotte - need to re-sign McBob and extend Kemba, but other than that will have room to pursue mid-level free agents. Can definitely see them making a play for Luol Deng.

8. Atlanta - Horford will be back and they should be back in the serious mid-level contender conversation again. They'll have room for a decent signing or two.

9. New York - If Melo returns, they will still be the Knicks, which means that they can either win fifty games or they can lose fifty games. If Melo doesn't return it's a rebuild season.

10. Cleveland - They have cap space but what free agent wants to go to Cleveland at this point? The team is a disaster and if they don't extend Kyrie, the writing is on the wall for his departure. Barring major internal development for half of their young players Cleveland probably spends another season in the gutter.

11. Detroit - comes down to if they can trade one of Josh Smith without losing their shirt or Greg Monroe for value (preferably Smith). Detroit needs a true point guard (Jennings doesn't qualify), lots of perimeter shooting on the wing and defense. They're a lot of work away from being a contender, but the bright side is that it's possible for them to become one with a smart enough front office.

12. Boston - Rondo and Green aren't a core. They're still rebuilding.

13. Orlando - This should be the year they start TRYING to win games. Probably won't make playoffs unless their first pick breaks out as a superstar, but that's okay.

14. Philly - They only just finished letting their house burn down so the rebuild has already started.

15. Milwaukee - Of all this year's truly terrible teams I think the Bucks are the most likely to surprise people next year. They were devastated by injuries, Larry Sanders regressed horribly and their coaching situation was awful. If Sanders rights himself, they'll fix all three of those things in a single year and then have a top-4 pick at worst to add. I can see the Bucks contending for #8 again, honestly.

[stooley]

It'd be awesome if we can get Ariza, but I doubt he'd want to play a bench role for toronto lol

realistically, ross has to start being a bench guy. DD/Ross isn't all that reasonable, they're both SGs. The question is, do we make that move this year or next.

[KeonClark]

Considering there's been exactly zero days of off-season, this thread is extremely premature. Just like every year, the landscape will look waay different in the fall.

[Nilanka]

I'm not really concerned about anyone outside of Miami, Indy, Washington.

Even if we do stand pat, hard to imagine us not challenging for home court again.

[ebrian]

Landry couldn't be used because he has zero offensive ability. In the regular season you can probably get away with it but if you're on the offensive end in the playoffs and only 4 of 5 players is capable of putting the basket into the net, you're going to be in big trouble. Elbow issue or not he's going to have to spend the offseason re-learning how to shoot.

It's like Jaime Lannister trying to learn how to fight with a sword after his right hand got cut off. Landry is just gonna have to figure it out if he wants to see floor time.

[planetmars]

Too much love for Washington.. they didn't have a great regular season.. and now they might lose Ariza and Gortat. Toronto was the better regular season team and started off with a 6-12 record.

Miami, Indiana, Chicago should be the near the top. Toronto could win the Atlantic again.. wouldn't rule it out. It boils down to how difficult or easy the schedule is going to be. Last year the schedule was harder in the beginning but got softer after New Years. If its the reverse next year than it could be harder for the Raptors.. but either way I'd be surprised if they don't make it to the playoffs even if they take a step back.

[Primer]

Dude... and 11-3-2 guy is too good for the vet min... his per-36 are 17-5-4. Dude can still ball

Yeah, if Vince signs for the vet min then he is doing the Raptors a huge huge favor. I;d expect something closer to $3M per year.

[Niagara Raptor]

i like noah and the bulls with rose coming back ... but rose is 2 years out without any development or refinement of his game

and the game he had was based on going all out and being the fastest player in the league so I don't know if rose could be the same player he was which makes me really sad

[Fully]

I think the Nets and Knicks have too muddy of a cap situation to expect any big changes this offseason. The Nets have moved all of their first rounders until what seems like 2030, and the Knicks aren't in a much better spot. Neither of them have very much in terms of young, affordable assets that could potentially facilitate a trade that would change their fortunes in the short term. They are stuck with those rosters until the summer of 2015, minimum.

[Niagara Raptor]

he balled this year but next season he will be 38 so the end is coming very soon
nash's skills dropped off a cliff and nash was a much better player than carter

this has been discussed before and I guess I wouldn't be against it ... but I wouldn't be expecting much
and Cuban is going to throw money at him if we get in a bidding war for carter

[Niagara Raptor]

agreed Fully ... nice story for the knicks to get Jackson but he has never been a president or gm of a team and its not the same as being the coach

and even if he does the best job possible the knicks are hamstrung for a least 2 years