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Koreen: Raptors’ job at NBA Draft is to exploit consensus, not follow it – The Athletic
This is where some knowledge of that consensus becomes crucial. It’s hard to extract maximum value from the spot you find yourself in if you’re not aware of what teams generally believe the value of certain players, and certain spots, to be. While it is easy to say the consensus is entirely meaningless — that specific teams make specific moves because of their specific values and needs, and that work is all done independently from groupthink — there is generally an element of trying to exploit those widely held perceptions the best you can.
So, the Raptors have the fourth pick, and consensus is that Cade Cunningham, Jalen Green and Evan Mobley will be the first three picks, and the consensus is Gonzaga guard Jalen Suggs is the fourth-best prospect, and the consensus is Scottie Barnes and Jonathan Kuminga are tantalizing forwards with major questions in their game. Assuming the Raptors don’t trade up, because, as Webster noted, trading up is hard, the question becomes whether Barnes or Kuminga or maybe even Australian prospect Josh Giddey are in the same tier for the team as Suggs, and if they believe they can get one of those players wherever they drop down to while also getting something extra for their trouble.
If those calculations make your head spin, welcome to the life of existence inside a front office.
“We’re pretty exhausted,” Webster said.
“Everyone is pretty familiar: We like mentally tough, versatile players that want to get better, players that are willing to put in the hard work, players that are gonna buy into offense and defense and the systems that we run.
“I think we’re always gonna go with … who do we think long-term is the best player. As everyone knows, (roster) turnover in the league is so high, I think even more so than in the past. Get that player and if one or two or three years down the line the fit isn’t quite perfect — we’d rather have that problem than taking the player now who maybe fits but two, three, four years down the line isn’t good enough.”
Given all of the above, it is easy to say Barnes, a defensive monster with plus playmaking and a huge question about his shooting (a question they have attempted to fix once players have been brought into the Raptors system multiple times before, often successfully) is the guy, and that in a perfect world, they can move down in the draft, get him and also acquire an extra treat. However, treating Suggs as if he is some high-floor, low-ceiling prospect with a narrow role is lazy. He just turned 20, only began to focus exclusively on basketball at Gonzaga (he was a quarterback in high school, which is everyone’s favorite draft fact) and has all of the intangibles the Raptors tend to love in their players, and particularly their guards. He doesn’t have elite athleticism around the rim, but the best version of Suggs develops into an All-Defense team contender with elite vision in transition and solid scoring ability at all three levels. If that seems like a low ceiling, maybe you grew up in a Gothic church. The narratives that develop around these over-scrutinized young men at this time of year are abjectly hilarious.
Yet, it is on each team to engage in their own scrutinization process, identifying which widely held beliefs are real and which ones aren’t. The reality is the next time the top four players picked wind up as the best four players picked will be the first time. It’s understandable fans fall in love with a player at this time of the year, especially after a regular season that was such a chore. This is the part of the NBA season where fans can dream the biggest. To have the certainty that a team messed up in the moment is another thing entirely. If writers and scouts who study draft classes years in advance get this stuff wrong, what chance do the rest of us have?
Breaking down Raptors’ cap situation ahead of 2021 NBA Draft, free agency – Sportsnet
The Raptors won’t be able to use all of these, but here’s a general idea of what the Raptors can do to try to improve themselves.
The word “exception” will be tossed around a lot here and that’s because the only way a team can sign a player or make a trade that would leave it above the salary cap is to use one of the legal exceptions as outlined in the NBA’s CBA. It’s because of these exceptions that nearly every NBA team can — and will — operate above the league salary cap at all times, treating the luxury tax threshold as the real spending deterrent.
Non-tax-payer mid-level exception: There are different tiers of “mid-level exception” and this is the highest. Expected to be worth around $9.5 million in starting salary, this particular mid-level exception is also referred to as the “full mid-level exception” because in addition to being the most highly valued, it also allows teams to offer contracts in length of up to four years.
In order for a team to qualify for this exception, a team must be below the luxury-tax apron after making the deal. This rule holds true even if a team decides to split the mid-level exception between more than one player.
Given the amount of salary that could be shedding off their books, and with no guarantee of landing a high-price player in free agency, the full MLE could very well be something at the Raptors’ disposal.
Tax-payer mid-level exception: This functions almost exactly like its big brother, but comes with a much lower value (projected $5.8 million) and teams are only allowed to offer contracts up to three years in length.
Should Toronto manage to land expensive contracts in free agency, this is the more likely mid-level exception that it will have at its disposal as it’ll probably put the team above the apron. Like the non-tax-payer one, teams can split the value of it to sign multiple players.
When used, however, because a team will be over the apron, that club will be hard-capped to the apron’s value for the remainder of the season, meaning it can’t exceed the apron under any circumstance to make an additional move that year.
Traded Player Exceptions: Free agency isn’t the only way to improve a roster. There is, of course, still the avenue of the trade market. One way Toronto could help facilitate a potential deal would be through a “traded player exception.”
A traded player exception, or just trade exception, is a mechanism that can allow teams over the cap to complete trades as the money from a trade exception can be used to help match salaries and make a deal work.
In Toronto’s case, they hold two of them worth a total of $3.14 million. Unfortunately, you can’t just pool all of these individual trade exceptions into one transaction, you can use only one per trade.
Trade a player(s)/draft pick(s): Perhaps the simplest option for a Raptors team trying to get better would be to make a trade.
And, as mentioned before, with the No. 4 pick at their disposal, Lowry’s free agency situation (which would have to be a sign-and-trade) and all those non-guaranteed contracts on the roster, the Raptors look to have the ammunition needed to push a deal through if they see one that suits them.
Toronto Raptors announce Las Vegas Summer League 2021 schedule – Raptors HQ
After an impossible 2020 and a rough 2021, the NBA is gradually getting its annually scheduled events back together — and the Raptors are set to join in. With the NBA Draft due for tomorrow, and the free agency period after that, the third event of the off-season has now been set: the Las Vegas Summer League!
From August 8 to 17 at the venerable Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus, the Raptors will join the rest of the league’s teams for a mini-tourney in which they’ll all play five games apiece. As per this shortened format, after playing four games, the best two teams will meet for a Championship Game (no small thing) on August 17. Everyone else will just get to play a fifth game and be done with it.
The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday their schedule for MGM Resorts NBA Summer League 2021, which will take place Aug. 8-17 at Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
The next week will define the next decade of Toronto Raptors history – Raptors HQ
The Status Quo
Raptors select Jalen Suggs at no. 4
Raptors re-sign Kyle Lowry for two years and $55 million
This is what most people expect the Raps to do with the pick, and it’s a pretty damn good place to be. Suggs has been analyzed to death, so I’ll keep it short, except to say that the Gonzaga point guard seems to have a clear path to a long and productive NBA career. As a big guard who can pass, score, and defend, and who could very well become a plus shooter, Suggs could be a multi-time All-Star.In this scenario, the Raps and Kyle Lowry decide to keep it together, and the Raps address their big-man issues through a re-signing of Khem Birch and some other “over the cap” team maneuverings that net buy low names (Otto Porter?) or haven’t popped yet (Harry Giles?) type players.
Toronto starts Birch-Siakam-OG Anunoby-Fred VanVleet-Lowry and counts on a bench featuring Suggs-Gary Trent Jr.-Chris Boucher-Yuta Watanabe, combined with, you know, actual home games in the belief that that will be enough for the Raptors to storm to a top Eastern Conference seed and a deep playoff run.
There are three complicating factors, though: No one knows what Detroit, Houston and Cleveland will do with the first, second and third picks, and that will have an impact on what the Raptors have to choose from.
“Obviously being at four, you don’t know who’s going to go one, two, three, so you need to have those scenarios played out — if your guy’s there at four, or your guy’s not there at four, or you’re comfortable with a couple guys at four and you can trade back. Those are starting to narrow as far as what are we realistic, what would we actually do (Thursday night).”
There are also possible trades in the offing, although that’s true every year and they seldom materialize. Still, the Raptors are kicking tires and making calls and will continue until it’s time to announce a name.
“It’s obviously easier to trade back than trade up,” Webster said. “So you’re talking about trading back and collecting multiple assets.
“I think at a certain range you want to stay in the same tier (of prospects) and, hopefully, you just value something differently and you get two or three guys, and maybe you get a player who’s more established. So I think that’s always the goal.”
Finally, anyone who thinks any of this is cut and dried, or the least bit predictable, hasn’t been paying attention to this franchise’s recent history
Tokyo Olympics 2021: Canada beats South Korea in women’s basketball – Yahoo!
This was a team effort by Canada, but the best of the group was Carleton, who led all scorers with 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists. The Minnesota Lynx guard struggled in the loss to Serbia, but she came on strong with a two-way performance.
Defensively, Carleton threw her weight around battling bigger players in the post, forced a shot-clock violation with her ball pressure, and made the play of the game by blocking a three-point attempt before sparking her own fast break layup. On offence, Carleton slipped into the right gaps, flashing to the post for timely baskets, nailing a three late, and also driving inside for an acrobatic and-one finish despite being pulled down by the defender which pushed Canada into a run that secured the win.
Carleton has the ability to impact the game at a high level for this team, and Thomaidis is showing lots of faith in the 24-year-old from Chatham, Ont. She’s played the second-most minutes out of anyone thus far, and is a two-way player who knows where to be in a three-guard backcourt that has created good looks that have yet to fall thus far. Carleton is lacking a bit in height, but as she showed in this game, she is willing to battle and play bigger than her frame.
Canadian Olympic women’s basketball team rebounds with win over Korea | The Star
After taking those 24 three-pointers Monday, Canada took only 15 Wednesday and played to their overall size advantage.
Using a rotating group of centres Natalie Achonwa. Laeticia Amihere and Kayla Alexander and forwards Nayo Raincock-Ekunwe and Miranda Ayim, Canada pounded the ball inside with success.
Canada got much better production from all three of their WNBAers, who looked uncomfortable at times in the opener.
Kia Nurse made a couple of three-pointers to loosen up the Korea defence; Carleton had a blocked shot and a runout layup on the game’s first defensive possession to set the tone; and Achonwa looked far more mobile in just her second game since suffering a strained knee ligament in a WNBA game last month, finishing with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
That it took them a game to get used to their teammates, their roles and the FIBA game wasn’t all that surprising given the Canadian team hadn’t been together in 17 months because of travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think we’re very fortunate we have a group of athletes and staff that’s been together for a number of years now, have been through some big events — whether it be Olympic Games, world championships, AmeriCups,” Thomaidis said before the Games. “We do have that familiarity with each other, and I think that’s going to be really important considering we haven’t had a ton of time leading up to this.”
That familiarity showed in Canada’s ball movement, always a key to its offence. There wasn’t nearly as much reliance on late-clock jump shots as there was against the Serbs. It was as if Canada found a familiarity that was missing for the first half Monday.
“The cool thing about the sport is that basketball is basketball and not a lot of things change, no matter what system you’re in,” Nurse said even before the tournament began. “There’s only a few habits here or there in terms of defensive and offensive execution that are different, that we might have to change going back into the Olympic or national team setting.
