Your 2009-2010 Toronto Raptors?
We may soon see the Delfino Shimmy again.
Based on what’s been said around the internets, this is what I expect for next season’s Toronto Raptors lineup:
C: Andrea Bargnani, Rasho Nesterovic, Nate Jawai, Patrick O’Bryant
PF: Chris Bosh, Kris Humphries
PG: Jose Calderon, Anthony Parker, Roko Ukic, Marcus Banks?
SG: Carlos Delfino, rookie and/or trade
SF: Shawn Marion re-signed or traded, Jason Kapono?
Here’s Doug Smith’s explanation for the suspected big man rotation:
Did you hear one of the names that popped up during the session [Bryan Colangelo press conference]? Rasho.
And since Bryan brought him up – as an example of the kind of good locker room guy teams need – I can see them having some interest in him this summer. But I also heard Bryan suggest Patrick O’Bryant will be back (there’s some misinformation that his contract for next year is fully guaranteed, which it won’t be until July 1; the Raps can waive him before then and save $300,000, although that seems unlikely.
So, you’ll have Bosh, Bargnani, Hump, O’Bryant, Jawai with contracts and if they bring Rasho back, guess who’s the odd man out?
Yep, if I’m Pops Mensah-Bonsu, I’m not sure I’d be signing any long-term leases around these parts.
I can appreciate those six bigs. There’s some flexibility, with Bargnani and Bosh being able to play 4/5. And although there’s no record of O’Bryant playing forward, maybe he has the tools to do so.
For the guard spots, Colangelo said that he wants Parker and Delfino back. It’s “easy” to see Parker taking the backup PG spot while Ukic continues to develop; and Delfino fills in as the defensive 2 while the Killer B’s do their offensive thing.
That leaves us with the question marks: Will Marion stay? Will anyone take the contracts of Kapono and Banks? Who will we get in this year’s draft?
That last question I’ll explore in future posts, but it’s time for you, dear reader, to attack the roster lists and trade machines:
Who can we get in exchange for Marion, Kapono and Banks? Best comment wins a crazy Montreal postcard.
April 24th, 2009 at 8:04 am
[...] Pete Marasmitch » Your 2009-2010 Toronto Raptors? – [...]
April 25th, 2009 at 7:40 am
This what I would try to do:
Banks and Hump for Earl Watson
Marion (sign and trade) and Kapono and cash in exchange for Nocioni
Watson can give us a potent mix of effective point guards (like the good problem that we had with TJ) and gives Roko all the time he needs to learn from different types of PGs. Watson is effective in short minutes and is capable of running an NBA offence. He has a lot to prove since his demotion in OKC and they want to move him anyways.
Nocioni would give us the toughness and hustle we need. He is what we’re missing. We had a poor man’s version of him in Garbo. Giving up Kapono is a no-brainer since he is a specialist and is a great complement to any package, though his salary is cheap, it’s affordable for the Maloofs to get a shooter that they’ve been missing since Peja. Getting Nocioni out of Marion at the cost of Kapono would be a “fair deal”, much like the TJ for JO deal was.
The Kings would be pretty damn good team next year if they keep their #1 overall pick. Udrih, Martin, Marion, Griffin, Hawes and their bench would look pretty good too.
Or if they get Rubio? Rubio, Martin, Marion, Thompson and Hawes.
We would bring Delfino back and team him with Nocioni and they can both score some points on nights that our B’s aren’t and they are not allergic to the paint. Jose, Delfino, Nocioni, Bosh, and Bargnani. that’s a solid 5.
Draft pick has to be a SF. Our bench would be Watson, Parker, The Rook, Jawai, O’Bryant, Rasho, Ukic with 3 other spots open to fill out with FA’s or draft.
That’s what I think.
April 25th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Ok, just want to change something after thinking about it…
Instead of drafting a SF, go after Stephen Curry at the 2 and he could eventually start for Delfino. This would spread the floor with a dead-eye shooter. And he could play a similar game as Rip so his opposing 2-guard will be spending most of their energy chasing him around on defense rather than exposing his defensive deficiencies on the other end.
He would be the clutch perimeter player we covet.
Jose, Curry, Nocioni, Bosh, Bargnani. Now that is competitive.
April 26th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
While I like Earl Watson, I’m not sure he’d like the Raptors’ PG situation: limited backup minutes behind Calderon, with Ukic breathing on his neck. A guy like him, in his prime, may want a chance to start.
As for Andres Nocioni, Wow, didn’t realize he was making that much money. It seems a bit too much to give up for him, though.
BTW, I disagree that Garbo was a poor man’s Noce. And who knows what Garbo could’ve done had he not broken his leg and got another couple NBA seasons under his belt?
June 5th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
if raps want to be a running team then keep Marion
we have 37mill estimation
watsons is good but wingman or more important now
Bargnani/rasho/o’bryant
Bosh/Pops/garb(if he is convince to come back)
Marion/Graham/delfino
DeRozzan/Daniels/parker
Calderon/ukic/banks
- marquis daniels is a free agent this summer so get him a 5mill contract 1year.
- try to get rasho,delfino,garb back for depth
(they wont cost alot) like 10mil only
- NY will draft either curry or Derrozan and its a win win situation so it doesnt matter between the 2 cause they will get to pick one of them
- sign graham in 3mill and parker will stay even for free!, so give hime around 2.2mil
-Ukic and banks can stay just let them develope unless we the magical deal that sends nash here.
parker can just play backup so the pg is solid
- try to sign bosh to an extention if not, try to prove it this season.
- get pops to a 6mill contract and he will very likely sign that cause he hasnt getting paid in mill before
- burn out kapono,hump,douby,jawaii
- its not on the predicted roster but try to get a hard workin scrapy veteran big who can teach bosh abit and prvides leader ship and it can get them tougher
- Sign Marion!!! if they want to be a running team then get a master like him to help you.
…..
- ur left with 2.1mill but 2010 off-season, we will get back 45.7mill so we can get bosh and some other guy like wade,amare,nash etc.
June 8th, 2009 at 8:32 am
Bruce, I’m not sure if Garbo would ever come back to the NBA. For what it’s worth, I remember Doug Smith saying he looks healthy, so that’s good. Maybe I should send the question to Doug.
Any ideas on how to “burn out” Kapono’s and Hump’s contracts? They might be valuable trade ballast, being potential expiring contracts (ETO in 2010-11).
I don’t think Nate Jawai should be dumped, though, since he’s on a cheap rookie deal and we haven’t seen what he can do yet.
Marquis Daniels is an interesting idea. What do you like about him? It seems like he hasn’t distinguished himself in the last couple seasons.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Here’s Doug Smith’s response to my Garbo question, from his latest mailbag:
Q: Hey Doug, I remember you saying that Jorge Garbajosa looks like the “same old Garbo” playing for Khimki. Do you think he’d ever come back to the NBA? And how do you think he was affected by the whole mangled leg/Olympic qualifiers/insurance lawsuit thing? Thanks for your consideration.
Jeff W, Ajax
A: No, Garbo will never come back to the NBA. And I know people chastise me for saying never but that’s the absolute truth here. Affected? Barely at all. He’s making a great living playing basketball still.
June 21st, 2009 at 5:03 pm
trade kapono for someone cheaper like evans(they did) then trade humphries,douby,jawaii for a solid PG and cash money then if not , let them develop and see if u can trade them in med season if there not performing well and the team isnt wining. like wat jack armstrong says, ” marquis daniels is explosive and just pay him bout 5mill for 1 year cuz thats wat he is gettin paid in indiana.
June 21st, 2009 at 5:05 pm
i heard thaT Garbajosa is ready,he left so he can have a more safer rehab and test in europe so he feals like he can go back