Why the Raptors should sign Big Daddy Pops and not Carlos Chuckfino.

Before you go on to read this understand that I am a fan of Carlos, and do believe Carlos is a better overall player. But I will be looking at how Mensa Bonsu will make more sense to be on this roster then Carlos next season. Two weeks ago, I was on the Delfino bandwagon back to Toronto, but after many complications and roster changes, it just makes more sense for the team and the MLSE to go after Pops.

Ok first, let's examine Carlos for what he brings to this Raptors squad. Well he brings a jump shot, inconsistently of course, but he has a jump shot. He's a prime defender, no Bruce Bowen, but he can keep in front of his man, force the turnover and makes smart plays. The biggest asset he brings to the squad would have to be his rebounding skills. He is a SG who gets after it on the boards. Something every team needs and wants. So that all looks good on paper until you read the fine print of the contract:

Carlos will bring everything above every second game. He may bring to you a wild array of shot selection, or he may get frustrated with his lack of playing time if you don't utilize him. So keep him happy, and since Russian and Europeans teams want him we have a price tag of 5 million plus per year.

Ok, I'm sorry but AP left for a bit more than 2 mil a year and is everything you are with consistency and a way better jump shot. The price tag is as big as a turn off as walking in on your parents in bed. All joke aside. Let's be real here, if Carlos is going to push us up until luxury taxes, why take the chance. If I recall the plan is to keep Bosh here, not overpay players so then we will not be able to afford to keep Bosh.

Alright, so now then I am done breaking Carlos apart, let's looks what we have acquired that fill the voids. Well we have Antoine Wright, someone who everyone is seriously underestimating. He brings it with defence intensity. Last season Rick Carlisle said he was the best defender on the Mavericks squad who won 50 games. He guarded the likes of Kobe and Lebron night in and night out. When we already have a man who defends at that position, signing Delfino for that much doesn't make much sense, right? Well it gets better. We have DeRozan who has a promising future, and we don't want to take the Bargnani approach again and stunt his development. Anyone who hasn't seen him, just do a quick youtube search and he will blow your mind. This kids plays above the rim, and will become a valuable asset. Why stunt his growth. Oh, and another this we have a combo guard, Mr. Jack, who can play minutes at the two, and not to mention we brought in pure shooter in Marco.

So far we have all the holes that Chuckfino fills filled, so this is where Pops comes in. You want defence? You got defence. You want rebounding? You got rebounding. You want intensity? You got it! Pops is that guy who brings it night in and night out, regardless of how he feels. This guy has worked the offseason to fit into the Raptors rotation and has trained himself and his body to play the SF position. That's dedication. He rebound and plays defence at the SF of PF position something we drastically need. We do not need any more combo guards, or inconsistent players. We need a guy who will come in anytime of the game and completely change the tempo of the game. He get's after everything, and yes sure Delfino may be a better players, he doesn't have what this team is missing. We have lots of competition for the starting two position, What we need is that man who comes in brings that spark off the bench and gets after it on the boards. Unless of course, you think that Evan throwing some elbows around or Rasho with his soft lay ups will change the tempo of the game :P .

Personally, I would love to see this lineup in a game to change the tempo completely.

PG - Jack

SG - DeRozan

SF- Wright

PF - Pops

C - Bosh

Did I mention his price tag is closer to one million per year, Now doesn't that make you love Raptors basketball?

Cheers,

Dustin

Now What? - With Turk official this is my approach.

No more speculation. It's almost as official as it can get. Hedo is going to be the starting SF come opening game next season for the Raptors. The only question is, with limited cap room and options what does BC do? Here is something similar to what I believe he will do...

First and foremost, let's take a look at the money we still possibly have. We have the MLE and BAE. (This is only if the MLSE tells BC he can use the money and put us into luxury tax). So we have about 5.5 Mil to play with the MLE and 2 Mil for the BAE.

First let's look at the MLE. I honestly believe that once we renounce Delfino we will still bring him in. BC really wants this guy in Toronto and was said to be close to having his contract a done deal. So this puts us in a situation to use some of that MLE on him. I think we can get somewhere between 2.5 and 3 Mil a year on him. If the MLSE gives BC the go ahead then I expect this will be the only part of the MLE he will be using. No sense in bringing in a guy just because. We do not want to be too far over in luxury taxes and then kill our future like the Knicks.

After that I expect us to use the Bi-Annual exception (BAE) on Rasho. Now Rasho did have a huge contract, but his value is also diminishing. With a home already in Toronto 2 Mil for the next few season sis probably fine in his books. He wants back here and so does the organization. There will probably be a bonus somewhere down the line but I think Rasho will retire a Raptor.

Next thing that will happen is Humphries is going to get traded. Hump is our biggest piece of bait right now outside of our core. Rumour around is that it will be for a draft pick. Now if that were to happen then we would not use the MLE at all and sign Delfino is a second. BC will try all he can to stay away from putting us into luxury tax.

Now of course we have the Vets minimums we can use. I suggest that we do the following:

1. Sign Jamario Moon to an offer sheet - There is no reason why we don't try. He is restricted, would love to come back to Toronto and the fans would love him back in Toronto. I am sure that if Moon would not be at the top of Miami's to do list.

2. Offer Matt Barnes and/or Dahntay Jones the vet min - This brings us two different styles of games. If we bring in Delfino he will probably get a lot of minute behind Jose at the point. That leaves us with filling the SG and SF void. Our bench is weak, and having the first man off the bench Douby will not cut it. Denver has no intention of bringing back Jones, and Jones will not want to be the 3rd SG off the bench next season. I highly see one of these players being a Raptor next season.

3. Sign Maceo Baston to the vet's min - This guy has already shown us he can play, so let's bring him in as a backup plan. Someone gets hurt, Maceo will play. Someone has an off game, Maceo will play. This guy has lots of chances to get minutes and he has proven to his that he can play.

Here is my fantasy team next season come opening day -

PG - Jose/Delfino/Ukic

SG - DeRozan/Barnes or Jones/Douby

SF - Turk/Moon/Pops

PF - Bosh/Evans/Baston

C - Bargnani/Rasho/POB

Cheers,

Dustin

The Raptors rumour mill - 13 UPDATES! (Kleiza the newest Raptor?!)

Well recently there have been a lot of rumours floating around Raptor land. Some of it has some truth but most of it has no mean what so ever. So let's check out what seems real and what seems fake!

1. Raptors aiming to trade Dooling for Humphries - This rumour got started at the famous raptorschat.ca site. You can still check out the thread. The guy said he heard it from a friend who is a taxi driver. He said the taxi driver overheard Colangelo say Doolings name a bunch of times on the phone. He probably was saying to the taxi driver,"stop drooling!" haha

2. Raptors make qualifying offers to Delfino and Pops - Let's clear this up right away. Other teams can still make offers to these players. The Raptors gave them qualifying offers to retain their rights. They can match any offer that is put on the table. We all know BC wants Delfino back, but it is looking like Pops may just come out as a bailout in case some he has up his sleeve doesn't pan out. *cough*Rasho*cough*

3. Bye-Bye Joey - The Raptors did not get offered a qualifying offer. With this being said, unless BC gets desperate it is safe to say Joey Graham will not be a Raptor next season. Him and Charlie V where both drafted the same year, to the same team and now don't receive qualifying offers. There must have been something in the hats.

4. Anthony Parkers Offered A Two Year 10 Mil Dollar Contract From Olympiakos - Looks like AP is gone for good. The team is said they will match any offers made from NBA teams. AP was a great man and a great shooter. It looks like the Raptors are really going to drop from being one of the best 3 point shooting teams in the NBA to a mediocre 3 point shooting team. It is also rumoured that he may be joining the Celtics next season. Very unlikely he will be a Raptor come opening day.http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/60254/20090701/boston_interested_in_anthony_parker/

5. DeRozan to enter dunk competition next season! - Believe it or not the kid is already talking about going in the dunk comp next season in his rookie year. This kid is ballsy and I am loving it right now. He posted on his twitter for any fans out there that have dunk ideas to make a video and put it on youtube for him to see. You can also tweet Pops if you would like to.

6. Raptors show slim intrest in Ariza - According to Ariza's agent BC and co have showed interest in the stud defensive player from L.A. chances are he is going to resign with Lakers, but anything is possible!http://www.pe.com/sports/basketball/lakers/stories/PE_Sports_Local_S_lakers_30.3cd2531.html

7. With Charlie V out of the Picutre the Raptors turn their focus to Linas Kleiza - Kleiza was one of the main free agents that BC approached the eve of free agency. It makes lots of sense. We need a scorer off the bench and Kleiza will provide that. He will also come cheap and we can use the MLE money on him. I think he will be a big factor next season as the first man off the bench if he comes to TO.http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/

8. Lebron and Bosh want to sign with the same team when free agency comes along, I'm betting it's not TO. Could Bargnani be the man down the road? By the looks of things BC has a lot of convincing to do to keep Bosh in town.http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/60196/20090630/source_lebron_bosh_plan_to_play_together/

9. Raptors are interested in Bellinelli according to Doug Smith - Now this would only happen in a trade scenario. This would only happen if Kleiza did not pan out. So let's just assume he will for now.

10. Raptors could generate a sign and trade possibility with David Lee. - Now let's clear this off at the bat. No one has publicly said that this might happen. This is a possibly which Toronto is one of the only teams who could do this. Click the Link and you will understand.http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/15830179

11. Ukics unhappy being in Toronto. According to various sources from Greece, Croatia and the US, Olympiacos has made an offer to Roko Leni Ukic, worth 3,5 million euros for two years. This could be baiting teams on. Wait who I am trying to kid Ukic was stuck with us. He is our main backup for now so I think he will live with it. If not, does anyone really care?http://www.talkbasket.net/news/olympiacos-offers-ukic-a-contract.html

12. Delfino is almost certainly a raptor as well! - Well that's good news for Raps fan. If anyone remembers Delfino he was an all around stud; this guy could get to the rim, play Defence and nail the 3. I expect to see a lot of him playing the 1 and the 2 this season.http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/

13. BC want Turk!...Not - Some reports came out today saying that the Raptors are preparing to offer Turk 60 Million for 5 years. Mind you how ridiculous that sound people still believed it. So here I will clear it up for all you believers. The Oregon paper was saying that the Raptors are a team that COULD make that type of offer to Turk. Not that they are planning to. In other words if they terminated all the contracts they could and used the early bird terms then they could sign Turk for that much. But it it not going to happen unless BC get's desperate. http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2009/07/turkoglu_coming_to_portland_fo.htmlWell

I hope this clears things up for Raptor fans, as it did for me.

Cheers,

Dustin