Raptors Weekly Podcast, Jun 27 – Draft recap and free agency preview | Raptors Republic
The NBA Draft, which saw the Raptors select Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam.
What do you need to know about these guys?
What kind of floor and ceiling are we talking about?
Catch up on all of Blake’s draft content here.
Read Will’s draft breakdown here.
A quick look ahead to free agency.
How a youth-heavy roster gives the Raptors additional options.
Is Terrence Ross secretly Harrison Barnes?
A lack of cap space isn’t the same as a lack of flexibility.
The Raptors may not get a Kevin Durant visit, but that’s OK.
What Will would do for a championship. (Spoiler: It’s disgusting.)
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan officially join USA Basketball Olympic team | Raptors Republic
Those final berths will be granted in early July, and Cory Joseph and the Canadians still have a chance, although it feels like a bit of a long-shot. Canada needs to win their Olympic Qualifying Tournament outright in Manila from July 5-10, knocking off Turkey, France, the host Philippines, New Zealand, and Senegal in the process. The Canadian squad is 3-1 in an exhibition tournament in Italy right now without Joseph, Joel Anthony, or Tristan Thompson, the last of who is yet to confirm his intention to play.
In any case, if Canada qualifies, we’ll have game-by-game coverage for you here. Otherwise, we’ll probably take a “notes and highlights” approach to the Olympic tournament for the other Raptors participating.
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2016 free agent list | Raptors Republic
Thanks to the tireless work of the amazing people of R/NBA (seriously, such an amazing resource), we now have a full list of available free agents you can sort and search here on RR (that’ll be up and updated all summer).
I took that list a step further today, updating some of the player option decisions and dates and then cross-referencing the player list with Nylon Calculus’ position playing time estimates. While it’s probably best not to shoehorn potential free agents into one position given the fluidity and versatility of many names and how positionless teams (the Toronto Raptors among them) are moving, Nylon’s estimates at least give us a gauge of where each free agent played most often last season.
What follows, then, is the list of 2016 free agents by the position they played most often last season, with their secondary position noted. (The “estimated position” is the average of where they played, where 1=PG, 2=SG, and so on.) Again, some of these names are going to be more desirable to Toronto at one position over another, so be sure to look in SF/C for PF targets, too.
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NBA Free Agency: Yes, Bismack Biyombo would like to return to the Raptors | Raptors HQ
This still seems like a bit of a pie-in-the-sky scenario, requiring as it does not one but two players to ask for contracts below their market value. I can envision a scenario where DeRozan maybe takes a bit less than the max he deserves, but Biyombo’s whopper of a $15-17 million value is hard to shrink, squeeze, or wave away no matter how hard the Raptors may try. This, even with the huge jump in the salary cap up to $94 mil.
There’s also the new added wrinkle of the fact that the Raps just dropped two draft picks on big men — Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam — to supposedly fill in their front court ranks.
Bottom line: if I was a betting man, I would say Biyombo is leaving Toronto.
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Raptors: What is Masai Ujiri doing with Lucas Nogueira? | Tip of the Tower
Nogueira is supposed to develop into the defensive dynamo that the Raps want as the back up 5, but he never gets the chance to actually develop. He never gets a chance to make mistakes and learn, nor does he ever get experience during meaningful minutes of games.
Jonas Valanciunas went down in the series against the Heat, a prime time to let Nogueira to test his mettle, much like Norman Powell in the Pacers’ series. However, he only saw spot minutes in a couple games and only played in garbage time throughout the playoffs.
So, if the franchise only thinks of the São Gonçalo native as a garbage time player, why did they just extend his rookie scale contract? It’s not like the coaching staff has shown any affection or confidence in the Brazilian centre.
Everytime it looks like Nogueira could break into the rotation, the coaching staff pivots away from him. If he hasn’t shown any development in the past two years in the d-league and never gets minutes in the NBA, it doesn’t make any sense to keep him on the team – it’s either now or never in his development as a NBA player.
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Raptors and Hawks – Toronto Clears Cap Space | RealGM
To Atlanta – Terrence Ross
Why for Atlanta? If they can’t resign Horford, they will need to retool with Millsap leaving in a year. Ross is young, athletic and cheap under the new CBA.To Toronto – Kyle Korver
Why for Toronto? Clears up cap space while maintaining / improving 3 point shooting. Drawback is that Korver is 35.With the money cleared, Toronto signs SF/PF Marvin Williams for 3 years / 30M. The Raptors would then go over the cap to re-sign Demar Derozan and James Johnson
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A Quick Case for Terrence Ross? | Reddit
Folks, I know what you’re probably thinking. This sounds like a terrible idea. However, the Knicks need to fill the 2-guard spot and Ross may be a cheap option. I’m just going to provide some bullet points:
If the Raptors want to resign both Derozan and Biyombo, they need to shed salary. Offer the Raptors the Bulls 2017 2nd round pick.
Ross has a 3 yeas $31.5 million contract, or $10.5 million per, potentially cheaper than any free agent guard.
Will be 26 in the middle of next season.
Shot 38.8% from 3 on 4.6 attempts.
Had an eFG% of 57.6% in catch and shoot situations on 4.5 attempts. 3.9 of those attempts were from behind the arc.Ross is basically a younger version of JR Smith: athletic, very streaky shooter, and when engaged, can defend well. All Ross would be asked to do is what JR does with the Cavs, which is to catch as shoot open 3s (sadly, only shot 39.9% on those shots).
NBA free agent who asks to be anonymous says his top 4 destinations, all things being equal, would be:
1. Spurs
2. Raptors
3. Cavs
4. Knicks— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) June 27, 2016
The time is right for Jamal Crawford | Daily News
Crawford, who does have a meeting scheduled with the Clippers, is also drawing interest from a number of teams in search of a scoring guard. Crawford is expected to receive interest from the New York Knicks, the Miami Heat, the Toronto Raptors, the Dallas Mavericks, the Orlando Magic and the Brooklyn Nets in addition to the Clippers.
Toronto Raptors: 5 Players You Forgot the Team Drafted | Tip of the Tower
P.J. Tucker’s path to becoming an NBA starter has been anything but ordinary. After being drafted by the Raptors in 2006, Tucker would bounce back and forth between the Raptors and their D-Leauge affilitate team, the Colorado 14ers.
He would only play a total of 83 minutes with the Raptors and would eventually be released in 2007 to open up a roster spot for Luke Jackson.
From there, Tucker would play for seven different teams across the world until he returned to the NBA in the summer of 2012 with the Phoenix Suns. Since then, he’s started the majority of the Suns games and signed a three-year, $16.5 million contract in 2014.
Former No. 1 Pick Anthony Bennett Throws Down Poster Dunk in International Game | Bleacher Report
On June 9, Bennett’s trainer, Andrew Moore, told SNY’s Adam Zagoria that his client is in “tremendous shape.”
Italy’s Marco Cusin likely agrees.
During an international exhibition contest on Sunday, Bennett made Canada proud with a vicious one-handed poster over Cusin, who was dropped to the floor as the former lottery pick stood over him.
How The Raptors Can Acquire Paul Millsap | Raptors Rapture
The first notable change is who’s being offered. By adding Biyombo to the mix via a sign-and-trade agreement of $16 Million, Ross’ $10 Million deal would push Toronto’s outgoing salary to $26 Million. By removing Ross and adding Nogueira ($1.9 Million) to the deal along with Patterson ($6.05 Million), who tips the value of the trade more than Ross would, the outgoing salaries would total approximately $23.95 Million, a difference of $2.05 Million. While the savings might be beneficial to the Raptors, the Hawk might not want to take on the extra cap dollars, especially for an inconsistent player like Ross. With Millsap’s $20 Million contract on the Raptors’ payroll, there’s still a saving of approximately $3.95 Million, which would give Toronto much-needed flexibility… if they weren’t above the cap with this move.
By not adding Ross to the deal, the Raptors would sit at approximately $97.7 Million in committed salary, which is over $3 Million over the projected salary cap. To accomplish our task, we would still need to move Ross to a team that could utilize his skills and in return give the Raptors a useful option at the 2-guard and/or small forward position.
Raptors & Free Agents – a precious few I like | Raptors Rapture
Luc Mbah a Moute has played for five teams in eight seasons without ever breaking into double figures in scoring. Yet last season he started 61 games for the Los Angeles Clippers. Yes, I know they were missing Blake Griffin…but they couldn’t find anyone else? Anyway, he’s a quality person who wouldn’t cost much. Luc is one of those rare players who contributes without the ball.
Alan Anderson was a useful veteran off the bench in a stint with the Raptors a few years ago. However, there were indications he and Casey didn’t get on for some reason, so I doubt he’s under consideration.
Are you excited yet? Me neither. Masai may consider his work done after nailing down DeMar, then signing the draftees.
Raptors Should Target Pau Gasol In Free Agency | Pro Bball Report
As much as Gasol wasn’t about to dismiss re-signing with the Bulls, he knows that organization is a long ways from contending. As is often the case, the best contract opportunities will come from unproven or flat out rebuilding teams and the best opportunities to contend for an NBA Championship will come with much less money.
Patrick Patterson showed he can start if needed for Toronto, but this team was so much better with this mobile ‘3-and-D’ power forward coming off the bench. They need a starter at that position and Gasol would slide into that spot very smoothly.
Gasol will undoubtedly look at the Spurs and Grizzlies as potential landing spots and the Pacers have improved and depending on what the HEAT can do elsewhere in free agency, they could look good next year, but the 56-win Raptors went to the Eastern Conference Finals this year and with Gasol on the roster and DeRozan virtually certain to re-sign, they should be the early favorites to get back there to challenge the Cavaliers again.
Gasol was only making $7.5 million a season with the Bulls, but he signed the bargain contract because he thought it gave him a shot at a ring. This time it’s likely he’ll have to take even less to get a chance to go deep in the playoffs, however, in Toronto at least he’d have an important role on a proven team.
It’s worth noting Gasol has already made over $170 million in his NBA career.
How Raptors can re-sign DeMar DeRozan | USA Today
The good news, for DeRozan and the Raptors, is that Biyombo wants to come back. According to a person with knowledge of his situation, he will be patient as Toronto works things out with DeRozan as its top priority. Biyombo will have no shortage of suitors should the Raptors blink long enough to lose DeRozan, but there will be no immediate rush to seize the speediest deal.
Should DeRozan be willing to shave some off the top of his salary as a way to help Biyombo stay on board, as it seems he possibly will, then there is a very real interest on Biyombo’s part of making it all work. The person spoke to USA TODAY Sports on the condition of anonymity because of the private nature of the situation.
As for DeRozan, he has plenty of options on hold as well. The Lakers, who could wind up getting a meeting with DeRozan, in part, because he still resides there during the summer, are widely known to be very interested in making him part of their young core. The Clippers, Golden State Warriors, Miami Heat, New York Knicks, and Orlando Magic are also hoping to lure him stateside.
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