I thought that Indiana game was a bit closer than it seemed; the Pacers hit every single crucial shot they had, and still only won by 5. You have to figure if Amir caught one of the two passes in the key that he missed (either would have finished in a dunk), the Raptors made a stop down the stretch, or the Pacers missed on of the many shots they shouldn’t have hit, the Raps could be 2-0 right now. That’s my glass is half-full moment, down to business.

The defending champs host the Raptors for what will be their 4th game in 6 nights; on the second night of a back-to-back having played the Thunder in Oklahoma. That’s a lot of wear and tear for an aging team who is 0-3 to start the season. That said, these are the defending champs with a war-tested lineup; can’t take them lightly.

I had a chance to talk with Ian Levy and Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game about the Mavs:

True or False: Cuban and Nelson don’t get enough credit for the teams they’ve been fielding for the last decade.

Ian I think they get the right amount of credit. Cuban is known for be willing to spend and for letting the basketball people make the decisions. Nelson has shown a great understanding of timing, not just buying low and selling high, but knowing when the structure of the team needs to go in a different direction.

Rob True. I don’t want to instill the Mavericks with more of a victim complex than they already have (sorry, Shawn Marion — I meant to say “World Champion Mavericks,”), but building and maintaining a contender for more than a decade is no small feat. Dallas may only have one title to show for all of Cuban and Nelson’s hard work, but they played some incredible basketball for 11 straight seasons. That’s damn impressive.

The Mavs retooled in the off-season, replacing Chandler w/ Odom, signing VC and Delonte; without jeopardizing their 2012 cap situation I must add. I look up and down this roster and feel this team is better than the one that won the championship last year; thoughts?

Ian The team that won the championship last season was not the same team they had on paper, it was a beautiful origami construction, using that paper as a raw material. These first two losses for the Mavericks are a reminder that they need to take what they have and make it into something much greater.

Rob I’d give Lamar Odom a slight edge over Tyson Chandler in whatever universal comparison of basketball players I can muster, Vince Carter is fairly comparable to Caron Butler (if you count him in your estimations of the championship team), and Delonte West is better than J.J. Barea. But as a team? I’d say this roster is a bit inferior; Chandler, Barea, and even DeShawn Stevenson were perfect fits for this particular team, while the new pieces contribute to a less complete overall product.

This season could finally be the one that Jason Kidd’s body says “enough’s enough”? With Dirk potentially having a couple more elite seasons in him in the front court, wouldn’t the priority heading into the summer be signing Deron Williams as a free agent target?

Ian Absolutely, but it sounds a lot like one of those “hometown loyalty” pipe-dreams. The Mavericks need to be proactive in building a roster for the future. Adding a player of Williams’ caliber would be tremendous, but the possibility seems too tenuous to be the centerpiece of a plan.

Rob Both are possibilities; Kidd’s drop-off could come without warning, and Dallas has very real interest in acquiring Williams. But it’s one strategy, not the strategy. The Mavs aren’t banking on age-old ties to a high school to bring in Williams, just as they won’t be banking on an age-old point guard to guide them into the next era. Nelson and Cuban are staying flexible, being mindful of their spending, and playing it by ear. They obviously have some tentative plans in place, but overall their outlook is more of a flow chart than an agenda.

Call the game

Ian My apologies to the Raptors fans but I think the Mavericks get on track with a win tonight.

Rob I’ll say Dallas wins a tight one. The Mavs looked much improved against the Thunder on Thursday night, and while they’re sure to be weary after their down-to-the-wire loss, I see them building on their performance in Friday’s game. They’ll have their hands full with a more active Raptors team, but I think the Mavs get it done for their first win of the season.

Match-Ups

Point Guard
I know we’re just two games into the season, but the Raptors are 8th in defense. Don’t rip me a new one, I realize it’s ony two games, but when the hell have we ever been top 10 in defense? Some of that starts with Calderon on the perimeter not doing his clapping hands routine. The one thing that has me concerned about Kidd after watching Paul George have all the time in the world the other night from beyond the arc, is Kidd being put in the same spot; otherwise, keeping him under control shouldn’t be  a mission for Calderon (and Bayless who is my 2nd least favourite Raptor after Magloire).
Edge: Raptors

Shooting Guard
DeRozan played ball all summer, is young, in great shape, a gym rat…yet still has been having a tough time with catching a rhythm early in games. Had it not been for an epic 2nd half against the Pacers, everyone would be pretty ‘meh’ on the kid right now. That said, his shot has looked really good this year. Barbosa has given us exactly what we’ve expected from the get-go (stayed fresh in Brazil while the rest of the league played XBOX and such). The Mavs have two guys over 34 (Terry/Carter) and a head case (West). So while Carter’s best days are behind him, Terry still has some gas in the tank, and has been playing well so far. West is the only one of the lot who plays any defense, but I have a suspicion the Mavs will give the Raptors just enough wiggle room that they will find their offensive stride.
Edge: Mavericks

Small Forward
James Johnson can play defense, rebound, and dunk in transition, and…that’s about it. He should never be allowed to shoot another jumper or put the ball on the floor, again. That said, he’s loads better than Weems. Marion on the other hand hasn’t been to the free throw line yet this season. This troubles me, especially considering he still insists on shooting 3s. Regardless, he’s still got enough to completely nullify anything (Rasual Butler, seriously?) the Raptors can throw at him at the 3, and give Bargnani some fits if Dallas ever goes small ball. The 3-spot quickly falls off after Marion, but they are deep enough to trot out some interesting lineup combinations.
Edge: Mavericks

Power Forward
Nowitzki > Bargnani. Bargs is making strides, nice ones, but there’s nothing else to talk about here.
Edge: Mavericks

Center
One day I’m actually going to put together my list of players I loathe; Brendan Haywood will be on that list, close to the top. I hate how the Raptors single handedly made him look like a star when he played for the Wizards. I did enjoy how after the Mavs handed him that retarded contract of his, they realized they wouldn’t be able to win anything with him as their starting center, then went and got themselves Chandler; that must have been fairly emasculating. So he will have a couple dunks, miss everything from the line and be pretty invisible for the night. Odom may or may not finally wake up and actually choose to contribute, and knowing the Raptors luck it could be tonight, but I like the center-by-committee the Raptors can field against this lot.
Edge: Raptors

The Line

The gamblers have the Mavs as 9.5 point favourites with an over/under of 196. I’m really torn on this one, on the one-hand it’s hard to imagine the Mavs losing their 4th game in a row to start the season at home to the Raptors, but on the other hand they are giving up 110 points a game.  Mavs by 3, bet against the line.

Arsenalist has a Breaking It Down post dropping after lunch; check it out.

“I don’t get it, what did we end up with?”

“Limp noodle (Andrea Bargnani), is he still on the team?”

My girl said that to me as I sunk into my seat while TSN played the Bosh presser. I seriously don’t know where to begin, except to say that there is no hard feelings towards Bosh from this corner of the internet (Arse excluded). All my anger and disgust are squarely aimed at the brass for failing this city so miserably, yet again.

Some bad PR aside, Bosh stayed true to the tenets he had maintained since his exit interview:

• Be a core piece of a championship calibre team (think Pau Gasol)
• Max contract (the Florida tax situation puts him damn close without breaking out a calculator)
• That he will resign with the Raptors IF he feels they are doing everything possible to put a quality team around him

We can do nothing but speculate about what was said between Colangelo and Bosh’s camp up until yesterday, but one thing was clear: there was not enough communication between the two groups. For that, the blame gets spread around evenly. However, you can’t take a couple tweets about the excitement of getting courted from a 26 year old guy to heart, that’s all I’m saying. While I fully believe that Colangelo was working like a mad man to get Bosh to resign, clearly not enough was done to appease him. For starters, perhaps he could’ve made the trip to Texas last week instead of sending his assistants.

By signing outright (for now, Colangelo can still negotiate a max S&T) with the Heat, Bosh has put winning a championship above everything else. For that, we should ALL have nothing but respect for the guy. Sure, the Heat only have Wade, Beasley and Chalmers under contract; they will have a tough time filling out the roster with enough talent to be a championship contender next season, but Riley has built a championship team in Miami in the past without a running mate for Wade of Bosh’s caliber. Top four team in the East as things stand? I say that’s about right.

Where did it all go wrong?

Colangelo had three summers to improve upon the surprising 47 win team that raised all of our expectations. While there were a couple smaller moves that worked out fairly well, Amir/Belinelli/Jack, the larger ones failed miserably:

1. He underestimated the value of Jorge Garbajosa after he went down with a broken leg, and literally did nothing to replace him in the lineup. While Jorge wasn’t the most talented of players, he was a glue guy for the Raptors who did a lot of the little things necessary to win games. The thinking at the time went that the team didn’t need a whole lot of tinkering, so there wasn’t any at all. Foul ball: 0-1
2. After getting thumped by Orlando in the first round of the playoffs, the Raptors had a clear need for a second “20 point scorer” who could take some of the load off of Bosh, so defences couldn’t zero in on him and grind our offense to a halt. Jermaine O’Neal was obtained to be that guy who could come in and be fill that role. Seemed like this was the start of a couple other moves (a shooting guard in the mold of Mickael Pietrus would have been a good fit), but it was the only move. JO didn’t pan out at all, and things went from bad to worse prompting the premature (but widely expected) firing of Sam Mitchell. O’Neal was promptly shipped to Miami (with a 1st rounder to boot) for the expiring contract of Shawn Marion and the crippling contract of Marcus Banks. Strike two: 0-2
3. The Raptors still needed that second option on offense, so Shawn Marion was turned into Hedo Turkoglu who, while coming off a great playoff run, couldn’t recreate the Magic (sorry) he displayed for Orlando. Hedo literally provided no relief on the offensive end of the court, and the Raptors narrowly missed the playoffs. To make matters worse, Hedo made a bigger mess with his appearance on Turkish television saying he wanted out and that the organization was unfair in their handling of his going out on the town. To top it all off, Colangelo outbid nobody and re-upped Bargnani to a 5yr/$50million contract instead of letting him prove his worth in a contract year and relying on the qualifying offer. That still could work out, but so far it hasn’t. Strike three: 0-3

If you were given the choice to play for Colangelo and Triano alongside Calderon, Turkoglu and Bargnani, or for Riley and Spoelstra alongside Wade and anyone else in the league – in Miami of all places, who would you choose? I think he made a great basketball decision. Doesn’t even matter that LeBron wont be joining them, since the pairing of Wade and Bosh rivals that of Kobe and Gasol.

Where does that leave the Raptors?

There is still some hope. Colangelo can still swoop in and try to make some things happen by giving Bosh a max contract, while trying to make a couple other things happen. I prematurely posted a Bucher rumour the other day that looks MIGHTY fine to me right now:

To Miami
Bosh/Calderon

To Toronto
Chalmers/Beasley and a trade exception

It is doubtful we get any draft picks back since Bosh was willing to forgo some salary to sign outright with Miami; Riley has proved to be a shark in these matters. The Heat still need a top calibre point guard, which Calderon still is. This leaves them enough space to fill out the roster by signing a few of their own free agents, while grabbing some veterans. Not a bad start for the Heat.

Where do we go from here?

The short: it leaves a squad with a lot to be desired. You can’t expect that Beasley will replace what Bosh (you also can’t expect him to even be a part of our imaginary dream either) brought to the table, you just can’t. The kid has talent, there is no denying it but the other stuff that comes with him frankly has me nauseous. A front court of Turkoglu, Beasley and Bargnani doesn’t get me excited, but it does get rounded out with Johnson, Evans, Davis and Alabi. Chalmers and Banks back up Jack, with a trio at the wing of DeRozan, Weems and Belinelli. That isn’t terrible, but there are no stars, and no one who can create their own scoring opportunities AND get to the line like Bosh did. The playoffs would be an unlikely event with this group, though.

IF Colangelo can negotiate a S&T that includes Jose AND if he gets back a large enough trade exemption that we can land a star somehow (I hear Chris Paul is available if you take Emeka Okafor’s massive contract, just putting it out there) AND if said trade exception is properly managed, things are salvageable BUT I wont hold my breath based on this teams history.

Here’s another IF: LeBron James. IF he decides to sign in Miami, expect a deal to get done that includes Beasley. The Heat still need to clear some space to bring in the second max free agent. With LeBron’s ego LeBron James holding a presser at 9pm tonight, Colangelo has a small window of opportunity to possibly take advantage of Riley since the clock is ticking to get LeBron to sign in Miami. Fortunately this ordeal will be over with quickly, then we can get to the important business of debating the crap out of our secondary tier of players and what to do with them.

I’m on Twitter.

1. Rid us of Turkoglu
2. Bring in a complimentary piece to Bosh

The fact of the matter is that Bosh wont be making a decision until he is allowed to talk to some teams, and see what they have to offer; at which point he will either sign on the dotted line, or give Colangelo his short list of teams he wants to play for.

Either way, unless we trade yet another lottery pick (and throw DeRozan in), I expect this trade to make the Raptors better in both the short/long run. Take that however you want, but we all have another week to go nuts on the ESPN trade machine.

I had a chance to talk to Rob Mahoney from The Two Man Game about the Mavericks, and what the f*ck happened.

Sam Holako: WTF happened???

Rob Mahoney: Well, that depends on who you ask. Talk to the Maverick faithful, and the team peaked too early; after riding a big winning streak following the Mavs’ acquisitions at the deadline, the team had faded going into the playoffs. Talk to the realists, and they’ll tell you of a Dallas team that never could quite get it together defensively, and lacked the offensive versatility to protect Dirk from aggressive coverage. Ask an extremist, and you’ll likely hear stories of how centuries-old prophecies as told by soothsayers around the globe foretold of Rodrigue Beaubois’ ascension, and Rick Carlisle’s stubborn denial of the rookie’s destiny led to an extended fourth quarter benching in the decisive Game 6 and a destruction of the natural order of the universe.

Needless to say, it’s all a bit complicated. Still, the easy part is that the team just wasn’t ready. They weren’t good enough on either side of the ball to get past San Antonio in the first round — much less a potential match-up with Phoenix or L.A. later in the playoffs — even if they fell just short in almost every loss.

SH: One thing I have admired about the Mavs/Cuban is that they have continually retooled via big moves in an effort to win a championship (Butler, Haywood, and Marion). However, I’m not so sure Carlisle was/is the right guy for the job (although I’m a big fan of his). You touched on his benching of Beausboise a little; while I’m not convinced he would have saved the season if played, I can’t help but think that specific event was symptomatic of a larger issue. Is it time to reduce Kids role on the Mavs and increase Patrices? Does Carlisle have what it takes to make this happen without things detiorating?

RM: I really do think he can make it happen. Carlisle has shown a lot of flexibility during his time in Dallas (his reluctance to play Beaubois was the exception, not the rule), and that’s crucial. I mean, he benched Caron Butler in a playoff game. It was the right move, but the real question is how many coaches would even be willing to do that? That was a lot of salary left sitting on the bench and a former All-Star, but Caron was hurting the offense and Carlisle knew it.

Coaches need to be willing to play whichever players give the team the best chance to win, regardless of standing or reputation. Carlisle has shown that he’s willing to do that (except with Beaubois, apparently, but again that’s more a fluke), and he’ll continue to alter the rotation until he’s satisfied.

For what it’s worth, the Mavs — from Rick Carlisle to Mark Cuban to Donnie Nelson — have made it clear that Beaubois will have a bigger role next season, both playing off the ball as he did this past season and with more time as the back-up point. That probably won’t indicate much of a drop-off for Kidd, but the team may be more conservative with Jason’s minutes in the regular season.

SH: What’s this kids upside? Not very often you hear people scream about benching a late first round pick in favour of Jason Kidd.

RM: It’s incredibly high. The physical tools are all there — the speed, the length, the athleticism, the body control — and once he finds ways to properly utilize all of his gifts, he’s going to be a force. In the meantime, he was only second on the team in points per minute, led all rookies in PER and true shooting percentage, and shot 50-40-80 from the field. He doesn’t have a ton of experience, but at the same time I wouldn’t call him “raw”; his instincts serve him well. He’s coming along at the defensive end as well, but he played defense like a rookie. I expect a little more nuance in his defensive performances in year two, with a better understanding of opposing players’ tendencies, how he fits into a team defensive concept, etc.

I see no reason why Beaubois can’t be a star in this league for a long time. All of the components are there, it just takes time and a little opportunity.

SH: An issue that has split Raptor fans into two groups is the notion of Chris Bosh as a max player. Some of us, myself included, feel that he is an elite level player in the league who is worthy of a max contract (in terms of his worth on a championship team, I feel he’s more a Pippen than a Jordan), while others violently disagree. I want to ask that question of you, can a championship team be built around Nowitzki at this stage of his career? Is he a max player? Would the Mavs be better off dealing him and rebuilding around Beaubois?

RM: For the record, I think Bosh is a max player and I’ll defend that notion to the grave. Similarly, Nowitzki is still a max player, even if he may take a lower-than-max deal to help out the team.

You can still build an offense around Dirk Nowitzki, it’s just not the easiest thing in the world. There is no template to follow, because Dirk isn’t a traditional low-post player or a super-quick point guard or an athletic swingman. The league has never seen anything quite like Dirk; there have been players with similar skills, but no one that combines Nowitzki’s unique versatility, talent, and efficiency. He just needs the right components around him on both ends of the court to secure a title, and he’s never really had that.

Even in 2006 when the Mavs went to the Finals, the thing that really put Dallas over the top was Devin Harris’ ability to penetrate. Harris is the only post-Nash point guard the Mavs have had that could really attract defensive attention. Jason Kidd, for all of his talents, doesn’t command coverage. He doesn’t penetrate particularly well, and he’s not forcing defenses to adapt to his movements. Similarly, Erick Dampier has been the most successful center of the Nowitzki era. I appreciate Damp more than anyone, but if the Mavs had a superior center in the last few seasons, Dirk could have a title to his name.

He still could, but it’s going to take some kind of adjustment. The guys currently on the roster — Jason Terry, Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood, et al — are talented, but probably not talented enough nor do they possess ideal skill sets. It doesn’t take a monumental change, but Dallas needs a few upgrades, and given that, Nowitzki could still be competitive for a title. There may be a day when the Mavs would be wise to build around Beaubois, but it’s not today. Or tomorrow. And probably not the day after that, either.

SH: Nowitzki isn’t getting any younger, but he still has a few years at an elite level in him. Cuban has shown the chops to make things happen, and has continually loaded up year after year with players that have put together great regular season teams, but failed in the playoffs. What players should he be targeting this offseason to compliment Dirk; or is trading Dirk the only answer?

RM: If I had my pick of any potential acquisition, I’d shoot for Dwyane Wade. Not exactly a great center that can anchor a defense, but he’s an elite scorer, a terrific playmaker, and an excellent defender that fills a positional need. That said, Wade won’t be giving the Mavs the time of day, which makes some of the other players that could be on the market this summer — guys like Joe Johnson and Andre Iguodala — far more reasonable targets.

Bosh is a bit of an odd fit in Dallas. Offensively, he’d be a dream, but I’m skeptical of Bosh and Dirk’s ability to coexist on defense. That said, he’s a hell of a player, and if the Mavs had a shot of nabbing him, they’d do their best to take that shot.

That shot would be something like Erick Dampier (or really, his instantly expiring contract that wouldn’t cost Toronto a penny), Rodrigue Beaubois, and DeShawn Stevenson’s expiring contract. If the Mavs were particularly desperate, they could agree to take on Hedo Turkoglu in exchange for Caron Butler, but that would sour the deal rather substantially in my opinion. It’s not a knockout for the Raps, but I honestly don’t see Toronto getting any return value better than Beaubois; he’s young, talented, and inexpensive, and would really only come with the additional cost of Stevenson’s one-year $4.15 million deal. Beaubois may not be Chris Bosh, but he’d be an excellent young piece that when paired with DeMar DeRozan, could give Toronto the most athletic (and one of the most exciting) backcourts in the league.

–

Damn interesting proposal if you ask me. Have to say, if Bosh said he didn’t want to play for the Raptors anymore, and the Mavs agreed to take Turkoglu in a S&T, gotta say this deal gives us lots of options in the short and long term.

I’m on Twitter.

The one thing I was thinking about while watching the Knicks game was that the Raptors need to focus and execute for a full 48 minutes against the Mavs to have a chance at taking the game. While the Knicks were mounting their comeback, thoughts of Nowitzki nailing shot after shot were dancing through my head. Unlike the Knicks, the Mavs are a great team. From what I have seen/read, they are next in line in the West in terms of championship potential in the West.

The Raptors have building a 20 point lead down to a science. They are great at it. Winning by 20 is another story. The Mavs are great at spotting the Raptors a 20 point, then slowly taking it away. What hurts the most is that you know there is nothing that can be done to stop it. The Mavs are perfectly constructed to beat the Raptors on any given night .The script almost writes itself:

Passing the Torch
Since Bargnani got to the league, he’s been the next coming of Dirk. To his credit, he has shown, in stretches, that he is capable of  having the same impact on the game. A crucial match-up. Nowitzki is going to get his points, so will Bargnani, but the one who also does the intangibles (rebounding, weak side blocks, clutch play) will have the most impact for their team.

The Sales Pitch
Bosh is a free agent. Bosh is from Dallas. Dallas likes Bosh (the city). Dallas wants Bosh. Dallas can show Bosh that his addition to the team could push them over the top. Bosh has a lot to think about. Just watch Cuban, every time Bosh looks in his direction, he will smile, wink and nod his head approvingly.

The Guy We Should Have Kept vs The Guy We Ended Up Getting
The title pretty much says it all. Marion represents a perfect compliment to Bosh and Bargnani. The guy rebounds the hell out of the ball and would be that second rebounder on the offensive glass when Bargs is on the perimeter. On the defensive end, he is that lock-down guy who would limit dribble-penetration much more than what is going on now. Oh, Marion doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective on either end of the floor.

Supporting Actors
While Calderon has always excelled at coming off the bench, Jason Terry is the best in the game. He gets on the court, and is istant offense. Makes you pay for giving him space, and makes teams jealous that a starter level player has no problems coming off the bench – we could all be so lucky. After Terry, the Dallas bench gets pretty rough. The Raptors are deeper and more versatile, and need to take advantage. Amir will get burn, and actually need to do something with it. Belinelli/Weems/Wright will all get a shot at covering Howard/Marion, and should actually get good results on Howard who has been playing through an injury all year and not at the All-Star level he once was.

This game is a crucial one, aside from the fact that we dropped one against Indiana, we have a back-to-back against Cleveland and Milwaukee (sadly Milwaukee is the second night). It’s another statement game that they can build off the Friday win in New York, and take it to the Mavs who aren’t used to the cold and early game times.

I can only see this game going into one of two directions: 1) The Mavs just get out to a big lead and coast; 2) The Raptors get out to a lead, the Mavs chip away at it, take control in the 3rd, then coast to a win. What I am more concerned with is the manner in which the Raptors play. No easy buckets, no cheap ones, play through screens (there will be a lot coming), run Kidd into a seizure, and do it for a full 48.

Seems like Colangelo wasn’t ready for his summer vacation. Word on the street is that the Raptors and Mavericks are in talks to swap Marcus Banks for Matt Carroll. Yes, a post dedicated to two over-paid players, one of who’s only NBA skill is salary filler to satisfy CBA salary rules during player transactions.

At first glance, I liked this trade if only to jettison Banks from the Raptors, but then it dawned on me: why the hell do we want to trade a dud who has two years and $9mill left on his contract for a dud who has four years and $16.7mil left on his contract.

As pissed as we are with Banks right now, imagine how we will feel about Carroll at the end of 2011 when he will still have two years and $7.5mil left on his contract?

The timing of Banks’ expiring contract couldn’t be coming at a better time. With the salary expected to shrink significantly over the next two years, teams (especially the broke ones) will be looking to get under the CAP in an effort to control losses, avoid the luxury tax and such.

It’s all very technical, but needless to say, when the cheap/poorly run teams need to shed some salary, BryCo will be there, with an ear-to-ear grin and demands bordering on sodomy to ‘liberate’ said team from the grips of the luxury tax (or help minimize financial losses).

Anyways, back to Banks…

I have thought about what it would take to get rid of the guy, and two scenarios come to mind:

1) We can’t keep Bosh, so we S&T him, along with Banks, for pieces (much like the last two Marion trades)

2) He gets traded for an equally bad contract, or for a better player with a longer or bad contract.

I’d say Carroll falls into the latter category, but since he isn’t a better player, I’ll take a pass – hopefully BC is too drunk on his golden summer touch to wave his wand and make this deal happen (or hopefully it is expanded to net us a good player or a first round pick or something useful – which is a different conversation).

Let it not be said that BryCo doesn’t do work. In what is the craziest trade this franchise ever made, B.C. Colangelo turned Marion, Humphries and Uni-brow (Douby) into Hedo (don’t call me Hedu) Turkoglu, Devean George, Antoine Wright while being able to keep our mid-level exception (actually they have just under $8mil to sign whoever they want – Twitter source – I’m not going to verify, but take at face value -> at the very least we have the mid-level).

To Toronto:
Hedo Turkoglu (Orlando)
Devean George (Dallas)
Antoine Wright (Dallas)
Mid-Level Exception: $5.6mill+ (Jah)

To Dallas:
Shawn Marion (Toronto)
Kris Humphries (Toronto)
Greg Buckner (Memphis)

To Orlando:
Trade Exception: $10mill (Jah)

To Memphis:
Jerry Stackhouse (Dallas)
Quincy Douby (Toronto)
Cash (Cuban’s left pocket)

Oh, and we didn’t have to rescind our offers to Carlos and Pops. Now, if we can do something about Banks, we might actually have a team that can win some games on our hands. That all sound about right?

Clearly last nights heroic interpretation of the CBA and shrewd deal-making has the left the Raptors much better off then if they just went out and signed Turkoglu (thank God for the week between July 1st and the cap being announced, or I shudder to think…). If Carlos and Pops accept their qualifying offers (whatever they are), the Raptors will look something like this:

PG – Calderon / Ukic / Banks
SG – Delfino / DeRozan / Wright
SF – Turkoglu / George / Wright
PF – Bosh / Evans / Pops
C – Bargnani / O’Bryant / Jawai

AND you have to include the mid-level in there somewhere, ALSO, we could be in line for our bi-annual exception, about $2mil (LLE) … depending on league approval on the details of the furry of movements taken place. (There you go, mid-level + bi-annual exceptions = under $8mill, there, above Twitter source is verified, thanks Gagan) I would look at bringing into a REAL backup point guard [Royal Ivey], a wing [Linas Kleiza] and possibly a center [Rasho Nesterovic]. We would have to definitely get rid of Banks and maybe one of Jawai/O’Bryant to accommodate these three, but just imagine:

PG – Calderon / Ivey / Ukic
SG – Delfino / DeRozan / Wright
SF – Turkoglu / Kleiza / George
PF – Bosh / Evans / Pops
C – Bargnani / Nesterovic / Jawai

That is a pretty solid team that would be in the 45-49 (I just have a hard time saying 50 wins because our coaching is…lacking…) fighting for 5th/6th in the East, and who I would be proud to blog/tweet for . Even Chris approves.

On another quick note, the Magic get a $10mill trade exception??!?!?!!!????? That is ridiculous…they can pretty much acquire whoever they want, under $10mil of course, during the season…the list is almost endless…but, imagine they go after Josh Smith (who Atlanta is reportedly shopping), and field a starting lineup of: Nelson, Carter, Lewis, Smith and Howard…LOL

Let it not be said that I can’t eat crow with the best of them…I forgot to include crucial info in my Tuesday’s post, some of you ripped me a new one (thanks for keeping me on my toes), and some of you stood by me (thanks for being good peoples).

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… Free Ukic … No Pirates …

The shot-clock is expiring, and Colangelo has put in more work over the last few days then he has all season, I can feel it. His Teflon is wearing thin with whispers that his job could be on the line. Needless to say, the man is motivated to field a solid team to start the season, win a lot of games (45+) and hopefully get into the second round. At the least, he needs to build a team that Bosh believes in, to re-up.

Lon Babby (Hedu’s agent), has an artificial a deadline of Thursday to get a contract drafted and signed. Needless to say, in hopes of not having the Hedu signing go to waste, B.C. needs to do something ASAP to put a couple more guys around DeMar and Hedu at the wing spot, or risk having Douby and D-League pro-stars round out the empty 2 and 3 spots.

Hopefully this pic made you as happy as it made me…

In order to sign Turkoglu, Colangelo had to renounce the rights of Delfino, Marion and Parker so that their ‘cap hold’ comes off the books, actually freeing up the salary cap space we have because of their expired contracts. Depending on where the cap lands, the Raptors can have little to no room to round out the roster. Meaning that if B.C. stands pat, and does nothing, we run the risk of losing those three assets which WILL cause the Hedu signing to be worse then it already is (potentially eating all your cap room to sign a player who is a sick player, but wont help that much if you only have three wings on the team).

I tried researching the CBA, to make heads or tails of what the options the Raptors have, but lets face it, it is a complicated mess. The issue that arises is with our expiring free agents. Apparently, we can sign and trade our guys for help, AND sign Turkoglu … BUT, we have to do the S&T before inking Turkoglu. That’s where the deadline of Thursday starts to get sticky. Teams, that are well versed in the CBA, know that the Raptors have their backs to the wall, and will rape on us any deal. You don’t need to be a genius to figure that one out.

Looks like Leo found someone to go clubbing with…

Obviously Marion is the most valuable asset we have at the moment (as much as we like Parker and Delfino, they just wont be bring back equivalent talent in a trade), and the current rumour has him being signed and traded to the Mavericks for Jerry Stackhouse…yea…doesn’t seem like the kind of move that someone with his job on the line would make. BUT, it isn’t that bad either. We get some cheap veteran (and I mean veteran, Stackhouse will be 35 when the season starts) leadership coming off the bench and mentoring DeRozan (although I’m not sure I want Stack mentoring our kid – sorry for the brackets).

Another rumour floating out there is Humphries and a pick (presumably our 2011 1st rounder) for anyone. Although this deal does clear up some of the logjam on the front-court AND serves to save me heart burn every time Hump makes a move to the rack with the ball, it is bad. First of all, I cringe to think what Hump and a pick will net us; second, we can’t keep trading away our draft picks, that is one of the reasons this team has very little young talent. I mean, had we bought a 2nd rounder this year and drafted another wing, I wouldn’t be so nervous to give up another 1st rounder…but I digress.

You have to believe that BC is working every angle to get some wing help and veteran leadership, but I wont hold my breath that it will be quality help. If Marion seems to only be able to land us Jerry Stackhouse, I don’t even want to know what Parker and Delfino can get us. Fortunately, we will all know what kind of this team will be for the 2009-2010 season within the next couple days. Good to see that Colangelo has his big boy thinking cap on this summer. I’m sure he can do better than Jerry Stackhouse though (thanks Chris).

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Slow and steady doesn’t win the race, but at least it gives you time NOT to f*ck up. Two days into the second most important free agency period this team has ever gone through (the most important being the summer we re-upped AD, JYD and Boogie), and I’m glad Colangelo didn’t jump the gun to sign a free agent Shawn Marion. What would you say the contract he was going to be offered would be worth, 3yr/$21mil? Now, two days in and I bet not many of you would offer him more then a 3yr/$18mil deal, I know I wouldn’t.

Top 3 wing on the FA market sound about right? There a few teams around the league who are expected to compete for the championship, who could use the defense and rebounding that Marion brings to the table, but the funny thing is, there is zero chatter. Who wants Shawn Marion I know the Raptors do, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else out there who will drive his asking price up, which should end up well for the Raptors. I can only speculate the reason Marion is taking his sweet time is that he hopes someone else will come in, and offer him a contract that will force BC to up the ante. I like the guy a lot, but he is 31, and any deal with him has to be 3 years and under $7mil/year.

I have to admit, the David Lee rumours make me nervous…really nervous. It makes no sense to sign Lee if the plan is to keep Chris Bosh. Argue all you want about what Chris’ natural position is (4 or 5), but as long as Bargnani is a Raptor, Bosh is a 4 (and Bargnani will be a Raptor unless we can get Wade or LeBron for him aka he will be here for ever). Does signing Lee give us options? It gives us a great deal of options, but the question is whether the Raptors would be a better team by signing Lee and trading Bosh for pieces, or keeping Bosh and signing/trading for pieces? Put me in the camp that supports the latter.

$60mil for Hedu? Seriously? I floated a 5yr/$50mil as my threshold of pain for the guy, but $60mil? I can only imagine that number was floated by his agent, in hopes of it working out for Hedu. Regardless, the Raptors seem to be out of hunting for the guy, which is fine with me, because…

ARTEST IS A LAKER!!!!

I love what he says about playing against Kobe in the finals, about not being friends and helping folks off the floor – I LOVE THAT ATTITUDE (we could have used Artest desperately). With the Lakers committing to Artest, Ariza is as good as gone, and the number of teams that could drive the value of his contract higher just decreased by one. I feel like Ariza is a younger Marion (not as talented mind you, but a younger-raw’er? version), and would be a nice fit lining up with Bosh and Bargnani in the front court. The rumour is that whoever, between Portland and Toronto, didn’t land Turkoglu would target Ariza. For once, here’s hoping the Blazers “win” the Hedu sweepstakes and we get the “consolation” prize.

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No rumours or chatter about anything other then Marion, so I turn to you, what do you think will happen, and (just for fun) what would YOU do if you were Bryan Colangelo?

Globe and Mail

The Raptors are no different. Their plan has been to re-sign Marion, and likely offer a deal starting about $7-million a season. That’s an $11-million pay cut, but it will likely be the best offer the 31-year-old small forward sees, according to league sources, who suggest that Marion’s image as a high-maintenance locker-room presence in his Phoenix Suns days would hurt his league-wide marketability as well.

The reality of such a massive pay cut may take some time to sink in. "It could take a little while here and Shawn will likely want to see how things go," Colangelo said.

But if Marion signs, the Raptors would still be interested in signing other players using the same mid-level exception that lured Kapono. Just don’t look for them to spend all of it.

"The players we’re targeting and the way the budget lines up, I’m not looking at doing a full [mid-level deal]," Colangelo said. "I’m looking at a partial."

T.O. Sports

Let me burst your bubble Toronto: DeMar DeRozan is not the answer, he’ll give you minimal contributions this year, and I am at best skeptical to him reaching his potential, especially in Toronto.

After watching the NBA draft, last week I came away with this conclusion on DeRozan, patience will be key, and that he has tons of potential.  Frankly as a Raptor fan I am running out of the former and sick and tired about hearing the latter.

NBA Roundtable

I think it will take a longer contract from Toronto than three years in order to get Marion to stay. Say a five year $37-40 million contract (maybe more!).

Or, a larger contract at three years, say $26-28 million over three years.

Pro Basketball News

8. Shawn Marion – He’s coming off a maximum deal that he landed in Phoenix in his prime, so it’s clear he’s not going to be making what he’s used to. At the same time, he’s just 31 years old, and although he didn’t put up massive numbers in Miami or Toronto, he did somewhat dispel the system player tag by performing well in both stops, helping his new teams achieve results. The Raptors have some leverage due to Hedo Turkoglu being out there on the market, but it may turn out that Marion is their best bet to field a more competitive team, since signing the Turkish star would really strap them financially, compromising their ability to acquire any depth.

Lake County News-Sun

Marion, a 6-foot-7 small-forward who needs to be on a team that plays fast, has reportedly said he’d like to finish his career playing for a team that has a chance to win an NBA title.

That would seem to preclude him re-signing with the Raptors even though they have a shortage of small-forwards on their roster. Toronto is a non-contender and is probably going to lose star center Chris Bosh after next season as he will be a free agent then.

NESN

The Raptors find themselves in a similar position. They have a franchise centerpiece in Chris Bosh, but he’s one of the many high profile players eligible for free agency next year. In order to retain him, Toronto is going to have to give him a reason to re-sign. In other words, the Raptors are going to have to make the playoffs – something they weren’t close to doing with a 33-49 record in 2008-09.

And that starts with re-signing Shawn Marion this offseason. At 31, Marion’s not quite the player he used to be, but he’s still a solid rebounder and No. 2 scoring option. Along with Bosh, Jose Calderon and recent draft pick DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors would have a formidable core with which to compete in the shallow Eastern Conference.

And the move would make sense for Marion, too. He benefits from a fast-paced offense and the presence of a true point guard — something the Raptors have in Calderon, who was fourth in the NBA with 8.9 assists per game last season. And with $21 million dollars between the Raptors’ current payroll and the luxury tax threshold, there’s more than enough leeway for Marion and Toronto to strike a deal that both sides would find fair.

League Of Our Own

9.  Toronto Raptors – DeMar DeRozan

Toronto will be getting an extremely athletic high-flying wing player, as the unpolished DeRozan will be bringing his game north to Toronto.  After losing Jamario Moon, Toronto had very little athleticism at the wing position.  He will fill this void and in time has the ability to be a special player in the NBA if he begins to show some consistency, unlike his lone season at USC.

Best Case Scenario – High Scoring Wing (JR Smith)

Worst Case Scenario – Journeyman Who Cannot Put It All Together (Gerald Green)

Grade – B

Panthers Fanatic

10. Shawn Marion - Shawn Marion had a futile stay with the Raptors. He produced, but the team went no where. The Raps drafted USC freshman DeMar DeRozan to take over Marion’s spot in the starting five. At this stage in his career, Marion will not find a starting job for a contender. But as a 6th man for a championship contender, Marion would excel. The Celtics need some firepower off the bench…ding ding ding!! Our Guess : Celtics

Dino Nation Blog

Safe to say Demar likes us. The more I learn about him the more I can say the feeling is mutual. I also enjoy talking with Justin. So much so that I give myself a lot of work editing the conversation down. He is a very knowledgeable guy far beyond his years. I think that this was mentioned in his first appearance but worth repeating he has been covering basketball since the age of 17. So with all that said here is Justin Walsh and myself talking ball.