Another week before the Raptors start a manic month or so of activity, so until then, we will talk a little ball about the Mavs, Dirk, Beaubois and Bosh (and maybe a lil Turk).
The eight teams that remain in the playoffs spent an average of $80.0 million this year. And only Atlanta spend less than $75 million. We can conclude that we likely need to spend in Colangelo’s “higher than that” category to be a contender.
The Raptors will no doubt renounce the rights to O’Bryant, Wright and Nesterovic thus freeing up a cap-hold of $5.57M. This amount would otherwise be counted against the cap when making any transactions. The only question is whether they will renounce Amir Johnson or not. His cap-hold is $7.88M.
The Celtics are 3-0 so far this season against the Raptors, and there’s a simple reason why: The team just can’t defend anyone. Jay Triano really doesn’t seem to have figured it out.
The Nets tried to defend Bosh by either denying the ball, staying with his first move, or double-teaming on the catch to force a pass. Boone admitted that if Bosh gets that first step, he’s among the best in the league at finishing the play. And even when Bosh struggles, he remains capable of reeling off a stretch that reveals the reasons he’s one of the top three potential free agents this offseason.
True enough regarding players not wanting to be here. That is old world Antonio Davis/Steve Francis nonsense. It is no secret players love coming through Toronto and as the league has gotten younger it has also seen that sentiment disappear. Rudy/Amir and Demar love it. I saw Kyle at the island airport and unprompted he started to tell me how much he loved it here. Jennings loves it. AI loved it and god knows KG has long loved the ladies here. An the tattoo shops. It's the organization they don't care for. Or rather, the losing.