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  • Keep Calderon!

    I've always liked Jose, even through the tough times in 2009, but I think now that he's the clear starting PG the last thing we should do is trade him. There are two reasons for this:

    1) He's playing very well.

    2) He's helping our younger players develop.

    I'll start with the first one. Jose's defence has always been suspect, but to my eye he's certainly trying harder on the defensive end this year. Nevertheless, it's the offensive end that's his bread and butter, and he's doing extremely well since becoming the clear starting PG.

    Arturo Galletti's got Calderon as 15th overall and 4th among PGs for offensive efficiency in the league this season. He's close to one standard deviation above the mean for all players (not just PGs). (Galletti's part of the Wages of Wins network, a group affiliated with the originators of the Wins Produced metric.) Galletti's offensive efficiency metric is still being refined -- the current version incorporates number of assisted field goals. Before taking this into account, Calderon actually topped the PG list.

    Obviously Jose isn't the overall 4th best PG in the league since his defensive rating is below average, but on the offensive end of the floor you aren't going to trade up unless you somehow land Steve Nash, Chris Paul, or Tony Parker. Otherwise you're downgrading offensive efficiency for a defensive upgrade, and while that might be a good move on a different team, I think our young guys need a good distributor right now, which means we need an offensively efficient PG. And on that front there aren't too many guys in the league who are better than Jose.

    There are a couple of reasons why I think Calderon is good for our young players. First, he's been with the team the longest and knows the playbook inside and out. Rajon Rondo joked recently that he knows the Celtics' playbook better than Doc Rivers, and I think Calderon could make a similar boast about the Raptors if he were the boasting type. Which leads to my second point, which is that he's got the right attitude for the job. He's a pass-first PG who's always looking to get his teammates going. Third, he knows how to get his teammates going -- he knows where they like to shoot from, so when he's looking to pass he knows what his best option is.

    DeMar DeRozan mentioned it at a media scrum this week:

    “I love playing with Jose,” DeRozan said. “It’s showing every night. He gets everybody going. He knows where everybody likes the ball. He talks to me, Drea, whoever it may be before every possession, asks us where we like the ball. It definitely helps. Makes us comfortable.”
    This is the main reason I'm against a lateral move that would deal Jose to a team like the Hawks and land us Bibby. Bibby might be a good PG, but he doesn't know the team or players and I would thing PG is one of the toughest positions to get thrown into midseason.

    Finally, for what we're getting from him, I don't think his contract is bad. It looked bad last year when he was splitting minutes with Jarrett Jack and not playing all that well, but with his return to form I actually think the roughly $20M owed to him over the next two seasons is only moderately above his value when you compare it to what other PGs in the league are making.

    Chris Paul: 4 years, $68M signed 2008
    Steve Nash: 2 years, $22M signed 2009
    Tony Parker: 4 years, $50M signed 2010
    Deron Williams: 4 years, $70M signed 2008
    Jason Kidd: 3 years, $25M signed 2009
    Rajon Rondo: 5 years, $55M signed 2009
    Chauncey Billups: 4 years, $46M signed 2007
    Jameer Nelson: 5 years, $30M signed 2007

    Jose Calderon: 4 years, $37.5M signed 2008

    We're getting top-tier offensive production from Calderon for a little bit more than it's probably worth, but the contract is by no means egregious.

    Keep Jose Calderon!

  • #2
    He's been performing lately but can he maintain that? Hard to say. What isn't hard to say is that his defense will never be even average. His value is higher now than it's been in a few seasons. There are teams out there looking for a PG and given that he is probably not in the long term plans of the team I think they should move him while his stock is high. What you see is what you get and it's not enough. Better to take a step back now if it leads to two steps forward latter.

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    • #3
      ive always like jose, personally. yes he infuriates me with his defense, but his offense generally makes up for it. not to mention he's always been a consumate professional here and you can't say that for a lot of players. unless we got a really great return i say keep him.
      @sweatpantsjer

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      • #4
        If we had a legit young PG in waiting I would move Jose for a valuable upgrade at another position, the thing is Bayless in not ready yet and needs Jose around to learn from. Moving Jose for cap relief in not enough and getting a pick in the the 25-30 range from a contender is to little, I just don't see a deal going down that would benefit the team.
        Twitter @WJ_FINDLAY

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        • #5
          I am very comfortable keeping Jose. It would be hard to get a PG of equal value in a trade so any move would be a step backward at the 1 right now, especially with the familiarity Jose has with the rest of the team. Good professional, good citizen and good delivery over the last 3 weeks. Keep 'em.

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          • #6
            If the Raptors aren't making the playoffs this season then who cares if it creates a hole? Others will get more opportunities to play and hopefully rise above where they are now. Who's to say they won't get a player in return who is a serviceable second string PG as part of a potential deal?

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            • #7
              I see the raps hanging on to jose till atleast the end of the season. im sure we will see atleast one more injury and bayless will get some starts and at some point he will be our starter. If bayless does pretty well and we see improvment from the begining of the season they will assess where he fits into the plans. with the draft comming up (with decent pg's selby, walker, joeseph, irving) the raps can aford to take a risk this year. another thing to thing about is if the new CBA takes effect then calderons contract might be reduced. and if there is a lockout drafting a young pg might be a great choice so he will have plenty of NBA practice before playing a season.
              things are gonna get interesting at the deadline. it will have alot to do with what happens in the next few weeks. someone will come asking about jose thats for sure. eitther a pg gets injured or a lower seeded playoff team will want to make a deeper push. bring on february! (sry no caps i was lazy)

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              • #8
                Apollo wrote: View Post
                If the Raptors aren't making the playoffs this season then who cares if it creates a hole? Others will get more opportunities to play and hopefully rise above where they are now. Who's to say they won't get a player in return who is a serviceable second string PG as part of a potential deal?
                Because the Raptors have so few veteran players that the kids can learn from. Jose is the kind of player that can help guys like DeRozen reach their potential.

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                • #9
                  Bye bye Jose, hello Steve Nash-Bayless tandem

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                  • #10
                    As Apollo said above, Jose's value is as high as it's going to get. The axiom of selling high couldnt be more apt in terms of where the Raps sit in it's current evolution/rebuild situation. The potential cap relief and possibility of decent return in trade or pick is the best use of the asset. It's a cold business sometimes. Jose is also breaking down far more than is comfortable.

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                    • #11
                      Michel G wrote: View Post
                      Because the Raptors have so few veteran players that the kids can learn from. Jose is the kind of player that can help guys like DeRozen reach their potential.
                      Is there some sort of documented history on Jose Calderon that suggests he's been a good mentor to teammates? How is he going to mentor DeMar DeRozan, they don't play the same position and their games are polar opposites. DeRozan has a good mentor in coach English. English is one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history was a strong defender. He got their through hard work and determination. You couldn't pick a better mentor in this world for DeMar than Alex English. The coaches are paid to teach the kids and Jose Calderon is a one way player. I don't know about you but I want this offensive minded tunnel vision focus out of Toronto. It's a failed outlook and we've got a good 12 years of the Raptors history as proof of this.
                      Last edited by Apollo; Tue Jan 11, 2011, 03:14 PM.

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                      • #12
                        Apollo wrote: View Post
                        Is there some sort of documented history on Jose Calderon that suggests he's been a good mentor to teammates? How is he going to mentor DeMar DeRozan, they don't play the same position and their games are polar opposites. DeRozan has a good mentor in coach English. English is one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history and he got their through hard work and determination. You couldn't pick a better mentor in this world for DeMar than Alex English. The coaches are paid to teach the kids and Jose Calderon is a one way player. I don't know about you but I want this offensive minded tunnel vision focus out of Toronto. It's a failed outlook and we've got a good 12 years out of the Raptors history as proof of this.
                        I typically agree with most of your points, Apollo. This, however, I do not.

                        Jose is such a huge asset to this team's success this year. Both DeRozan and Bargnani touched on it in practice yesterday. Jose often comes to them to discuss where they want the ball and what types of plays can get them there. I don't think there are many point guards out there who would do such a thing. Bayless? Ha.

                        These young players need confidence, and as unfortunate as it is, confidence in your low 20s comes from scoring. Would Amir be effective on offense without Jose? Would DeMar/Bargs even touch the ball 10 times a game with Bayless around? Not a chance.

                        No question that Jose isn't the longterm answer, but he's simply too valuable to this team right now to give away.
                        Joshua Priemski
                        NBA blogger
                        SB Nation's Rufus on Fire
                        www.RufusOnFire.com/
                        www.twitter.com/HoopPlusTheHarm/

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                        • #13
                          Introcollapse wrote: View Post
                          I typically agree with most of your points, Apollo. This, however, I do not.

                          Jose is such a huge asset to this team's success this year. Both DeRozan and Bargnani touched on it in practice yesterday. Jose often comes to them to discuss where they want the ball and what types of plays can get them there. I don't think there are many point guards out there who would do such a thing. Bayless? Ha.

                          These young players need confidence, and as unfortunate as it is, confidence in your low 20s comes from scoring. Would Amir be effective on offense without Jose? Would DeMar/Bargs even touch the ball 10 times a game with Bayless around? Not a chance.

                          No question that Jose isn't the longterm answer, but he's simply too valuable to this team right now to give away.
                          You make some good points but never did I suggest giving him away. I said sell high. I'll elaborate by saying buy low.

                          I recognize what Jose brings to the table but what use is he to the team in a couple season when he rides off into the sunset and the Raptors having not much to show for it other than a few more wins and maybe slightly better scoring stats for a few players? It's the coaches job to build the players up.

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                          • #14
                            Jose should retire with the Raps. We need that kind of player in the franchise.

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                            • #15
                              Apollo wrote: View Post
                              He's been performing lately but can he maintain that? Hard to say.
                              The stats I linked to are actually on the season, so they include his shooting/distributing slump at the start of the season. If his 2010-2011 season averages are this good, he doesn't even need to sustain his current extremely high level of offensive efficiency to remain near the top of the league's PGs in offence generated per possession. I'm pretty confident that he'll remain in the top 10 PGs in offensive efficiency this season unless he suffers a season-ending injury. On the flip side, his defence looks better to my eye, but my eye is quite untrained and I haven't looked at defensive stats.

                              I see a few people making the "sell high" argument, and to be honest it's the one argument for trading Jose that I can really grok. It does make sense. However, I think it would need to shore up another position (SF, C) rather than trading for another PG. If we bring in another PG who is a good distributor, it's a lateral move at best and more likely a downgrade, since I can't see us getting one of the few PGs who are as good at handling the rock as Calderon. Since we've got Bayless already and he's looking like he could be quite good, if we do trade Calderon I'd make Bayless the starting PG the way we made DeRozan the starting SG in his rookie season -- force-feed him minutes and let him learn by playing real games. We'd cost ourselves quite a few games (Calderon's WP/48 is about 0.2 lately while I think Bayless is still negative), but hopefully bring Bayless along even quicker than we have with DeRozan.

                              The other case is if we hit the lottery jackpot and draft an elite PG. Then I guess we'd try to grow Bayless into a combo guard who could spell our rookie PG but also share the floor with him when DeRozan is on the bench for a bit. So Bayless would be the 6th man the way Barbosa is now.

                              So that argument does make some sense, and those two contexts are really the only cases where I'd reluctantly support a Calderon trade.

                              That said, I actually think Jose can be this team's PG until at least the 2013 trade deadline (when he'll have a $10.5M expiring contract). I think the Raptors as structured need a pass-first PG who takes care of the rock, and as I've been saying, I don't think there are many in the league who are better than Jose on that front. We may be able to develop Bayless into that; I think doing so will be easier if Bayless is backing up Calderon and can learn from him directly in addition to learning from the coaching staff. You can have shooting coaches and defensive coaches and whatnot but I'm not sure there's such a thing as a "playmaking coach." I'm hoping that seeing how Calderon runs an offence both in practice and in games will help Bayless develop his own playmaking.

                              If that pans out, Bayless becomes the starting PG sometime in the 2012-2013 season or at the start of the 2014 season, and we go from there.

                              Finally, I actually think we could re-sign Calderon for a much smaller contract after his current one is up and continue to use him, if his efficiency remains high in the 2012-2013 season. In that case Bayless becomes the next Leandro Barbosa in much the same way I described above, but he plays more and more time at PG as Calderon's minutes decline with age. If Steve Nash and Jason Kidd are still making plays well into their 30s, I wouldn't write Calderon off after this contract.

                              "Jose doesn't fit this team's long-term plans" is an assumption I've seen made by a couple of people in this thread, but I wouldn't just assume that's true. I think he's the type of PG this team needs right now, and unless our starting 5 all grow into shot creators and/or ball distributors (not so likely given their low assist numbers so far), we're probably still going to need a PG who can distribute the ball efficiently and effectively in 2014.

                              Holy crap, I just previewed this post and it's turned into a wall of text... eek.
                              Last edited by Ajar; Tue Jan 11, 2011, 04:34 PM. Reason: Clarified that the WP/48 I mentioned is recent, not overall season (unlike the other stuff).

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