There’s talk of Garbajosa being bought out of his contract. This probably will be the most complicated buyout in NBA history given the insurance implications, nations involved, federations involved, injury and just about everything else. Anytime the GM refers to something as the “Garbo scenario”, you can’t help bu think its more a salvage/rescue mission more than an endorsement of him in a future team.
Garbajosa had 3/4 of a good year with the Raptors where he showed he was a grit-player with an inconsistent perimeter jumper that played good team-defense. He was valuable in our division title run which was greatly helped by a pathetic Boston, New York and Philadelphia. Garbajosa – great utility player but probably overrated by Raptors fans because he was one of the few players who played consistently hard. At less than 5 rebounds a game and an offensive game that leaves a lot to be desired, its not hard to see why Colangelo wants him gone.
Go ahead and check out the Idaho Stampete because we along with Portland are the parent club for the team.
“The D-League has become a very valuable resource for NBA teams to identify talented players and coaches who are ready to contribute at the next level. We are pleased to be affiliates with Idaho as they have a stellar reputation for both their business and basketball operations.”
This means that rather than rotting at the end of the bench, Maceo Baston can now play some ball in Idaho.
Tim Donaghy won’t shut up about how playoff games are fixed and I’m loving it. You know how they say “anything can happen” in the last two minutes, well, they’re refering to the officiating. You never know when the fix is in. Although Donaghy’s claim that certain playoff games were fixed sounds almost taboo, its entire conceivable that he’s right. The NBA’s interest is in prolonging series, generating interest, developing story-lines and there’s no better way than to have a bunch of long playoff series. As my Dad always says, “It’s all controlled by the CIA”.
Keyon Dooling is going to be a free-agent and the defensive minded streak-shooter could be a good fit for the Raptors if Ukic is still not ready. Speaking of trading TJ Ford, the Clippers are more interested in Calderon than Ford and you get the feeling if they have to choose between Ford and DJ Augustin, they’d go with the latter. I can’t blame them, a younger, injury-free point-guard that comes at no cost over a perceived selfish player that you must acquire through trade. Its almost a no-brainer.
More feel-good stuff as Jose Calderon fired his American agent since he doesn’t need him to market him anymore. It’s the security of knowing your club will match any offer that makes you do things like this. The Raptors and Calderon realize that this is a good match for both parties and there’s no reason for a slimy agent to sour relationships here. The question on the side is what Bryan Colangelo will get for trading TJ Ford because Raptors fans will compare the return value of that trade to Charlie Villanueva – a guy Colangelo traded a little too prematurely.
