OFFICIAL: Landry Fields is a Toronto Raptor

[tucas]

Yeahhhhhh... aIother avg player.
Well I guess he would be good off the bench player,soooo u got jj,klieza,ross,demar,fields...lol..
This franchise needs big trade,plz go get a proven sf...enough with these mediocre talent,omg,just brutal signing.
Ohh yeah,if u think this good signing then why didn't ny match it,they wont even match Lin contract, bc his not worth it same as fields...

P.S

Why the hell is calderon still a raptor,amnesty his A$$,get him out of here or trade him..I'm sure 1 year at 10 million is worth a lot on the market...ie salary cap relief.

I'm hoping this is a joke. Just because Landry Fields is not an Allstar calibre sf doesn't mean he's not a starting calibre one. New York didn't match because it was poison pilled for them but it won't be for us, same with Lin plus Felton was dirt cheap.

Why would you amnesty a player with one year left on his contract.... That makes almost no sense if anything trade him but then we'd have no backup pg. I say for now unless a great deal that they can't pass up on comes up keep this roster for a while. In a few years this roster could be one of the best.

[tkfu]

Btw, how do you use this synergy thing? I've been hearing about it a few times now, is it something you need to purchase? Or am I just revealing my newbyness lol

Afraid so, yeah.

http://mysynergysports.com/

They have a commercial version that costs tens of thousands of dollars that they sell to teams, scouts, and broadcasters, but then they also have the consumer version, which is more feature-limited, but still good. It's on sale now that the season's over--$20 gets you access to every game from the last season, and possibly from the last 4 seasons (that's what my subscription gives me, but I paid the full price for the season at the start--dunno if the promotion includes all that).

[Bendit]

@tkfu

I look forward to the results of your comparison of Fields 3 pt shot in his rookie year. I would just say that the Raptors with their use of advanced analytics and of course normal scouting probably have an idea why he fell off in this area. I notice that his total 3 pt shots taken reduced by a third. Not sure that this impacts on the fact his shot action was inconsistent/improper.

[Matt52]

No, I haven't looked at his rookie year yet. Maybe I will for a follow-up post. There's one thing I noticed that could maybe be attributed to a change in offensive system: he was especially terrible when he was curling or coming off pindown screens. He was best when he was already squared up before catching the pass, often either off a quick perimeter cut to the open space or spotted up in the corner. He's got a really good sense of where the ball handler's passing lanes are going to be, and gets himself into the right spot and makes himself available for the pass. That is a skill that he is years ahead of DeRozan in, incidentally: too often DeMar just stands still on the perimeter or in the corner when he could be making himself more of a threat.

I think that is very important.

It says to me he works within the flow of an offense and reads good ball movement well. From everything I can tell from DC's comments, this is the type of basketball he is looking to execute moving forward. I did not watch a lot of Knicks ball last year but what I did see with Melo was not this type of basketball. Amar'e also struggled for a good part of last year.

[thead]

Fields is likely going to be camped on the wings and being the player that gets the ball after drive and kicks or being 2nd option on a pick n roll if the defense collapses on the big . I think if he ends up averaging 13pts 5rebs 3 assists and plays SOLID defense he will be worth his contract. I don't think those numbers are out of reach for him.

[Maleko]

I almost wanted the Knicks to match just for the hilarity of them having to eat a 9M contract in year three, but since they didn't, I'm actually pretty happy with this signing. Yes, 20M is a lot of money, but to me its not as unreasonable as some of the "NBA experts" are saying. I like Fields, and I think he'll live up to his 7M per year from TO with smart basketball.

Not specifically jumping on you here, but it kills me how the contract numbers get bloated to complain or make points. The contract is $18.7M or a little over $6.3M against the cap per season (since the PPP is averaged for the offering team). But people keep quoting $20M, and now $7M per or $21M?? Pretty soon people will say we payed Kobe money for the guy! Similar with Amir's contract and everyone saying Calderon is paid $11M per year during his contract.

[jbml]

From watching Knicks games last year, I seemed to recall him getting passed the ball late in the shot clock a lot, being forced to shoot bad shots. So, I decided to fire up Synergy and watch every Landry Fields 3-pt attempt from last season to confirm if my memory was correct. I divided all his shot attempts into three categories:

1. "Good" shots (open shots in the flow of the offense)
2. Bad shots forced by the shot clock
3. "Bad shots" (shots that the player forced, not open and/or not in the flow of the offense)

My results? Well, here's the good news, first: Landry Fields doesn't take many bad shots. Out of 126 3pt attempts last season, only 8 of them were "bad"(1-8). A further 18 were bad shots he was forced to take to try to bail out the end of a possession(2-18).

Unfortunately, of the 100 good, reasonably open 3-pointers Fields took last season, he only made 29. Landry Fields's bad shooting last year was NOT primarily because he was stuck in a crappy, Melo-centric offense. It was because he didn't make shots.

The one thing that really jumped out at me from watching the video was that this is a guy who really needs a shooting coach. His form was inconsistent all season. His release is a little bit farther forward than you would like, and he looks like he's trying to work on that...but he's going about it all wrong. In trying to bring his release up higher, he's getting his body off-center and fading a bit on his shots. He also seems to have briefly experimented with a very high, Dirk-style release that was completely ineffective for him. I think if he picks a form--just one--and really works on it with a good shooting coach, he will get back to his rookie season numbers. If not...God help us all.

Thanks for sharing this with us tkfu. Appreciated!

[Matt52]

Not specifically jumping on you here, but it kills me how the contract numbers get bloated to complain or make points. The contract is $18.7M or a little over $6.3M against the cap per season (since the PPP is averaged for the offering team). But people keep quoting $20M, and now $7M per or $21M?? Pretty soon people will say we payed Kobe money for the guy! Similar with Amir's contract and everyone saying Calderon is paid $11M per year during his contract.

Solid points.

It is like the guy accused of an assault on the front page of the paper and then 3 days later it comes out the charges were BS because the accuser lied and had a vendetta but that only makes page 3 in bottom left hand corner. In the end even though the initial report was BS the false report is the one that sticks.

Above is probably a little extreme but all things relative it is fair.

[Balls of Steel]

Solid points.

It is like the guy accused of an assault on the front page of the paper and then 3 days later it comes out the charges were BS because the accuser lied and had a vendetta but that only makes page 3 in bottom left hand corner. In the end even though the initial report was BS the false report is the one that sticks.

Above is probably a little extreme but all things relative it is fair.

How much of the American media do you think would complain about Lin's contract with the Rockets? Carmelo already considered it "ridiculous". Omer Asik and Lin with Houston both have contracts that makes Fields' contract look like a bargain. I'm still convinced that Fields will live up to it.

[Matt52]

How much of the American media do you think would complain about Lin's contract with the Rockets? Carmelo already considered it "ridiculous". Omer Asik and Lin with Houston both have contracts that makes Fields' contract look like a bargain. I'm still convinced that Fields will live up to it.

I think he is getting overpaid by about $2.3M per season.

If he plays to his ability, I think he is a legit and in demand full MLE player (i.e. $5M per year with 4.5% increases). So in this case he is overpaid by about $700k per year.

Considering the Raps had to get him via restricted free agency, I have no problem with this.

And actually, if his g/f sits courtside, suddenly he is underpaid

[tucas]

Fields is likely going to be camped on the wings and being the player that gets the ball after drive and kicks or being 2nd option on a pick n roll if the defense collapses on the big . I think if he ends up averaging 13pts 5rebs 3 assists and plays SOLID defense he will be worth his contract. I don't think those numbers are out of reach for him.

If anything he should average more. Maybe not in points but he was one of the best(if not the best) rebounders of all sg's in the league. His assists I imagine will be around 3 and for points just over 10 or 11.

[Hugmenot]

How much of the American media do you think would complain about Lin's contract with the Rockets? Carmelo already considered it "ridiculous". Omer Asik and Lin with Houston both have contracts that makes Fields' contract look like a bargain. I'm still convinced that Fields will live up to it.

I believe the Rockets overpaid for Lin from a basketball talent's perspective but I am not so certain they overpaid him from a business' perspective. How much revenue is Lin worth remains to be seen.

Omer Asik is a defensive player I really like and I believe his contract is a fair gamble on the parts of the Rockets. I think Asik will be worth his contract and more if, and that's a big if, he can stay on the court for 30+ mpg.

[joey_hesketh]

And actually, if his g/f sits courtside, suddenly he is underpaid

They've gotta recruit her for Raptors Advertising.

AND If she's sitting courtside, put some Nike/Coka Cola/GoDaddy.com Logos on her; Instantly new revenue stream for the Fields'.

[ceez]

Welcome Landry Fields and your model girlfriend to Toronto!

[Matt52]

They've gotta recruit her for Raptors Advertising.

AND If she's sitting courtside, put some Nike/Coka Cola/GoDaddy.com Logos on her; Instantly new revenue stream for the Fields'.

Maybe she could be the Dance Pak this year...... yes, just her.

[KHD]

Not specifically jumping on you here, but it kills me how the contract numbers get bloated to complain or make points. The contract is $18.7M or a little over $6.3M against the cap per season (since the PPP is averaged for the offering team). But people keep quoting $20M, and now $7M per or $21M?? Pretty soon people will say we payed Kobe money for the guy! Similar with Amir's contract and everyone saying Calderon is paid $11M per year during his contract.

Yep, fair enough. I was just making a point. I corrected my numbers in a later post.

[NoBan]

It's a bad contract. It's too much money. He plays a position that we already have 2 young guys playing. He regressed badly in year 2, he was playing Dantoni ball in year 1. This is a major F up

[ReubenJRD]

People are saying we NEED a starter, why can't we just have great DEPTH?

I mean look at a team like the Nuggets, sure they weren't great, but they made the playoffs with decent players, but decent players at every rotation. IMO, our players are much more talented. Fields, Demar, Ross, JJ, Kleiza looks pretty game deep and well enough at LEAST to compete.

Bargnani is a more skilled/SMARTER basketball player than either Mcgee or Faried. Gallinari in my mind was there only "big time" player.

[ReubenJRD]

It's a bad contract. It's too much money. He plays a position that we already have 2 young guys playing. He regressed badly in year 2, he was playing Dantoni ball in year 1. This is a major F up

5 million in two years isn't bad for a hard worker who has good all-around basketball skills.
Has the versatility, size, and strength to play the 3.
Didn't regress, just wasn't in the game because Melo had the ball in his hands more often than with Dantoni's free offense.
Dantoni ball sure can make you look like a superstar, but Fields didn't earn his reputation because he was a great offensive player.

This is a solid signing. A guy who can hold his own, and who you can rely on to get a basket, and guard your best player.

[NoPropsneeded]

i want to slam dunk Fields's gf, if you know what i mean haha