Keeping Carlos

I will miss Delfino next season, but his contributions won't be that hard to replace.

At his best he was a do-it-all wing, but he was almost as inconstant as Joey Graham has been. One night he shoots over 60% then he won't hit a shot for two games.

It would be nice if the Raps could have given him a few more years to see what he's capable of. However, he deserves to make more money than they can offer him.

Oh, I forgot to mention. Between Delfino and Kapono we had the best hair in the league. Oh well.

Franchise, Howland,

Long time reader..Very infrequent poster..

I think the Raps are doing the right thing. I think BC is doing the right thing in changing the roster to mimick Sam, add rebounding and toughness..

I think the problem that hasnt really been talked about is the fact that Bosh is hard to build around..

As a face up 4, he is no real block (spot on floor) threat. With the players in the NBA changing (less true dominant C's) it is hard to find. Think about KG. I am sure we all agree he is better then Bosh. It took him Ray Allen and the Truth to get it done. Going with Jermaine is only good. Healthy, and he plays we will be in the top of the East and a contender. Although Jermaine prefers to face up and shoot J's as well at this point in his career, We still upgrade on Defense. If he isnt healthy, and lets assume Bosh stays in 2010, we will have a lot of $$$ to spend on FA or to trade for a pissed off superstar.

What if Bosh doesnt stay.. We would have essentially two MAX contracts +

Either way, enough to rebuild your team..

I think this is our roster with Jawai, Roko, Hassan, and maybe 1 or 2 more guys.. I love Azbuike, and Pietrus and I def commend you guys on knowing the league and how it fits the raps. There just isnt enough $$$

I think both of those guys are out of our price range..Especially with GS having Cash now.. maybe it is the economy..Who knows maybe stupid ownership said no luxury tax by any means..

Either way this is our roster, great top 5, plus Bargs and Moon and thats a solid nba 7 man rotation..

That means Roko, Humphries, Jawai, Joey, Hassan

might have to play. And if there is an injury one of these guys has to play a lot of minutes. With the short rotation, that means we will probably have to ride our top 7 ( heavy minutes for J.O and Bosh)

I just dont think it is going to work for a rugged, 82 game NBA season..

I think BC tried to build around Bosh, his idea didnt quite work, so he is getting his contracts in order, to rebuild his chest and in 2010 is going to try his hand at building the raps all over again..

LOVE YOU GUYS.. This raps community you have built is a staple of my day!

Coach C

P.S. We do have the MLE to use.. Although I think there is a proven track record of horrible MLE signings, there is an opportunity especially this year with not tons of money on the market, that a guy just might slip through the cracks.. hopefully we can strike it rich and add another Rotation player/s..

I'm giggling at the Jud Buechler comparison.
Jud had the best hair during that era as well. It never moved!
Delfino's toughness will be missed!

Although I like Delfino as a player, he is not the type of player who can’t be easily replaced. He was wildly entertaining when he was on his game but too often although the effort was there, his production dipped precipitously. If the Raps are to beat the mediocre tag, they can’t continue tying themselves long term to such players. I would think he would be looking for a multi-year deal which would eliminate him from future involvement with the Raps. Really, he’s not that good.

Like it or not, the Raps future is in the hands of Bargnani. He has to step up his game next year otherwise the Raps will have taken a major step backwards.

Depending on how Calderon and Ukic's contracts are structured, Raptors will have one to two million to find a 3rd PG or Combo guard who can play the point, and that's all she wrote for unlucky 13 only. The O'Neil deal has set the salary picture for the next 2 years, so it better work.

Depending on how Calderon and Ukic's contracts are structured, Raptors will have one to two million to find a 3rd PG or Combo guard who can play the point, and that's all she wrote for unlucky 13 only. The O'Neil deal has set the salary picture for the next 2 years, so it better work.

In my understanding, we already offered Delfino a QO of $2.75 mill. Does this mean that we still have 2.75 mill to spend up to the luxury tax?
If no, what if Delfino accepts QO? If yes, then we have the money to spend if anything valuable falls through teh cracks.
My impression is that we don't want to sign Delfino for roster problems. We want to go with a wing rotation of AP, Kapono and Moon for the majority of 96' and Delfino would put pressure to take minutes from it. We rolled the dice and decided this is the way to go for the next season comes hell or high water.
The problem is the injuries: any serious injury to one of the 3 players and we are screwed. Delfino is still young and we could have groomed him as our future SG.
This may prove to be the biggest mistake of this summer which could have been avoided.

Well I thank you for that. I was one of the few calling for a Delfino signing. The specifics of "why" do help lighten the blow. I find it utterly ironic though that we would be forced to keep a Graham and let a Delfino walk. Right now I would trade Joey to two fourth round picks and a bag of nachos.

Something else came to me as I finished my last post. Those PER ratings don't take certain things into account, like for instance bad coaching. I don't know anyone, Mitchell included, that could say that Mitchell has done anything of benefit for the development of young players. Add to that, he's also been bad for some older players as well. I've never seen him as a coach, but more a motivator. Either you know how to play the game or you don't. There's very little that he can teach you. I think most will agree that Delfino is talented enough to make a difference. I don't recall Jud Buschler hitting very many three pointers, guarding the other teams best players, or temporarily standing in as point guard. Those ratings are good information, but logically, we should make an attempt to seperate the talented individuals from the Jud Buschler's of the world and provide them with the proper direction.
Thanks again for the article though.

Yeah, this is definitely where the Joey Graham option pick-up bites us directly in the ass (as many of us thought when BC did it last summer). Yes, the guy only makes 2.5, but add that to whatever space is left after we figure out Garbo's cap number and Jose's new deal, and we could get a useful player. Joey is just so terrible it hurts my head.

I'm with mycall on Delfino...he did a lot of things that don't show up in the stats...there were so many games last year where I was yelling at Smitch through my television to put him in so that SOMEONE might actually take a charge or drive to the basket.

I'm also bitter because I was considering a Delfino jersey purchase...there you go MLSE, you won't get my money now!!! :-)

Great write-up, Franchise.

I know I'm going to be in the minority on this, but I think Delfino sucked. He showed up once every 5 or 6 games and was wont to jack shots, completely out of the flow, from 5 or 6 feet back from the 3 point line.

I admired his grit and toughness, but he is easily replaceable.

I agree that losing delfino is not going to hurt. the lack of consitency, from him and the team, was the worst part of watching them last season.

Adams should be able to do a similar job for half the price.

Just throwin' it out there.... starting lineup of:

Calderon
Parker
Bosh (yes... at the 3)
Oneal
Bargs

That's a tall lineup... think Bosh could cover the 3 spot?

Hang on.... I have to go take more crazy pills now... I think the last ones are wearing off.

Vulcanoboy,

I don't think he'd do well covering the 3...but he couldn't be much more of a pylon than Kapono. There might be situations where we see the all-big lineup, though I imagine it would be pretty rare

Of the three bigs, bargs will be best suited for playing the three. He has the size and skill be a serious threat on the offensive end but the question is can he defend the three spot?

We saw Bargnani do a pretty decent job against turkoglu in the playoffs, but what about a more athletic type like luol deng? I'd throw in the elite small forwards like a lebron but that's just not fair cuz he's basically unguardable.

We all know with Mitchell there won't be a set starting line up (how many different ones did we have last year??) so we very well could see the three bigs together starting.

Ultimately, it will all depend on match ups. Maybe we stick kapono in for some outside shooting, bargs in for a little more size, or moon in for some athleticism.

Delfino always seemed like a calmer version of Mo Pete... he was a streaky shooter who took too many 3's, a decent defender, and he made a bunch of crazy circus shots.

Really, if we re-signed him, it would be mainly for insurance if one of Kapono/AP/Moon get injured. If Hassan Adams was just signed, that pretty much covers that spot.

Also - on Hassan Adams: I just checked out his profile on nba.com. That guy must be solid as a brick if he's 6'4" and 220. That's a Dwyane Wade / DeShawn Stevenson frame (almost weighs as much as Bosh!).

please, oh please, let the Joey Graham Project end.

I disagree on Hump. Not sure on his stats or efficiency rating but most games I saw him play he was pretty solid on rebounding, not trying too hard to force the issue on shots, and defending hard, with toughness. Not sure why he gets so few minutes.

I agree that our point guard situation is the weakest, as we have nobody beside Calderon, and Calderon playing 40 min every night is asking for trouble. I don't think we are in too bad a shape in center, as we have JO and Barg. If JO got injured and out for a year and Barg is really a bust, a third string big man is really the difference between 27 and 30 wins, and I will take 27 wins just to get the best lottery pick. A back up big man is important however if either bosh or JO is out for example 12 games, a serviceable big man could mean 3 or 4 more wins and that could translate to a 6th seed or a 7th seed and that could be huge(difference between play Detroit or Orlando).

The point that few people mentioned on this site is that we are paper thin in SG. I mean our SG position is even worse than our PG. We have AP and that is pretty much that. If moon is too slow to guard SGs then Kapono is slower. That is the reason I think BC is going to try everything to sign Delfino. if we can get Azbuike then all is fine but he will ask just as much as Delfino if not more.

PS I think BC picked the Aussie kid so he can keep him playing overseas and not have to pay him playing here, as players off waivers are cheaper. And yeah Delfino is a mo pete clone done to the inconsistent shooting.

Seems like a couple perennial contenders are offerning contracts to Maggette. Both the Celts and the Spurs have offered their MLE over the next couple seasons to Mags. I know it would be cap suicide, but I'm not sure that there's a better value in the league (excluding players on rookie contracts) than a 20+ scorer from the wing for the MLE. Maybe Artest? But what about forgetting about trying to get up to 14 or 15 players, with end of the bench type guys. Throw the entire MLE at Maggette, with the promise of major starting minutes and go for a championship now. At worst, he's an average player making the average salary, even if we hang onto him for a year past the magical 2010 free agency period.

Toronto probably offers more floor time than either the Spurs or the Celts could. The Celts already have Ray-Ray, and with the big three in San An for a while, there probably wouldn't be enough shots to go around - besides, Maggette would suffocate under Pop's system. Toronto could very well be an IDEAL fit for him.

Imagine a rotation of:

Calderone, Ukic
Parker, Adams, Graham
Maggette, Kapono, Moon
Bosh, Hump
J.O., Bargs

That's twelve guys, with three players who averaged 20ppg in your starting 5. Same formula as the Celtics, but with a more efficient pg.

For me, this would be a dream scenario - and likely, that's all it will ever be too, a dream.

Thanks for listening!

I'm a little worried, nobody ever sees the old age wall coming. However it comes very fast and it hits very hard.

He is 33 years old, will the upcoming season be the year he sees a drop off in production? We better hope not because without Delfino there is not a single other 2 guard on this team.

This whole team is one big gamble other than Bosh and Jose.

Will AP's age catch up to him?

Will moon learn to play offence?

Will kopono learn to play defence?

Will JO stay healthy?

Will Bargs develop?

Will Kris and Joey ever "get it"?

Will Roko be able to contribute right away?

Its also important to note than Hassan Adams was cut from a lottary team....don't think he is going to offer up anything much.

Brian has said that he wants a lean roster this year. With JO's injury history and Bosh playing in the Olympics this year its risky business.

Perhaps he wants a lean roster because if he has a big roster than nobody has any idea who sam will bench and who sam will play (sam included).

Few things were better than when Carlos caught on fire and started bombing threes from several feet behind the line. He'll be missed.

If Hassan Adams can play within his limits, he'd be a nice replacement for Delfino. Adams is very strong and explosive and can get to the rim. He's got some defensive capability as well. What he can't do is shoot from the outside with any kind of consistency. On this team, though, there should be enough shooters to make up for that. And if he's half the price, it's moneyball!

Kind of on the fence with Graham... yes he's been inconsistent, but Mitchell has yet to define a set role for him. I'd like to see him get consistent backup minutes and let him play through his mistakes before giving up on him.

wtf - excellent questions. I think that a few of them are answerable right now. While Moon may become incrementally smarter on offense, I can not really see him improving by leaps and bounds. He has been playing ball for many years. His offence is unfortunately limited by not-so-great shooting, and an inability to dribble well. I think that there is very little chance of him improving his dribbling/driving skills much at this point. Even under the supreme tutelage of Sam Mitchell.

Speaking of dribbling, you guys should watch one of the documentary short movies produced by ESPN on Michael Beasley. Watch his dribbling drills. I'm not sold on his intensity/attitude, but man can he control the ball.

Kapono seems to be the consumate professional to me. It's me opinion that his defense is limited by his physical abilities, not lack of effort or practice.

Skywalker,
I could not agree more with your assessment that Sam has not found a role for Joey. This has been an organizational faullt. He was an athletic four drafted to play the 2. And we expect him to learn a new game in 2 years. He may not, "get it", as Sam says, but he seems to be a lot more with it when he's playing as an undersized power forward. I am not sure if he has a clear role yet.
I like Sam. But one thing he does not do well is motivate players not named Bosh. Bosh has a work ethic and ego that takes on the role of being responsible. Most players don't. We've seen Bargnani, a perimeter skill guy, get jerked in and out of the line up due to his poor effort around the basket. The casualty of it seems to have been his shooting. He does not seem to know what to do out there. He used to have a pretty good idea before he got here. Sam needs to get players to work on what they do well first so they can deal with their inevitable struggles with other aspects of the game. Bargnani is kind of useless unless he is hitting his shots, anyway, and the refs call him for fouls everytime a Garnett elbows him in the teeth or nose. Bargs needs some time and loving.

I'll kind of miss Delfino. He was Argentinian, but I accepted him as a fellow Italian. I appreciated how he was one guy who would go to the basket, even if the game was decided or if 5 Raptors had been decked trying to do so.

We need some dirty players. This team needs an enforcer. Ford was playing great before he got smacked down. I think Moon and maybe one other player had been crashed to the floor already that game. Neither Moon nor Ford went hard again. It was the third time in 3 or 4 games that Moon had been smacked down. So,I don't buy that Horford wasn't trying to foul dirty, just not as dirty as he did. I hope BC finds a back up big who is a willing goon. Someone who sends a message to Horford that he is going to kiss parkay if he takes liberties. Someone who will give Bowen a little pay back or give Parker a smack if Bowen sticks his foot under another Raptor.
Is Theo Radcliffe a guy like this? If so, I want him here.

EaseMyPain

Sounds like

We might need a gansta!!! But He is gone.

Davl

I am a huge fan of the JO trade, but it is amazing me how many questions it has created on this roster. With only 2 years left on his contract and his age, should we be trying to capitalize now. If getting JO is a move that is meant to put us over the top, we should be thinking about going all in. There are enough legitimate questions about our roster now that make it hard to say we are really legit contenders for the finals, then what happens in 2 years? We resign JO at reasonable money or just start from scratch? If We do go all in, we have to trade Bargnani AND go over the cap by a little. An extended playoff run would help pay the luxury tax. What worries me with the team as is?

PG - We now have the starting PG we want, but have we set him up to fail? Jose will be asked to play more minutes than ever and injury is definitely a risk. Burn out is another, he leveled off considerably last year after logging heavy minutes when TJ was injured. Also, am I the only one who expects nothing from Ukic? I don't know if this guy is even up for 5-7 minutes a game - and he is all we have to give Iose his rest right now.

SG - A lot of people pointing out how much older AP looked last year, playing more minutes is not going to help. How many games did AP have last year where he was invisible? Hassan Adams was also an undersized PF in the JG mold, I don't think he can cover the quality 2's.

SF - Not too bad with Kapono and Moon, but neither of them will do well backing up AP at the 2, even though they will be asked to. Once again I find myself really hoping JG can actually step in and play a little here, but I've been burned there before.

PF - Bosh is the man, but I'm not as excited as he is about the Olympics. That said, the addition of JO should give Bosh more help than he has ever had. Bargnani will be the first big off the bench and I think this is the role that suits him best. I think Bargs will get a lot of minutes and some freedom to be creative on O, again I am hopeful here. Hump is a great lunch bucket guy and should only get significant minutes if JO, Bosh or Bargs is injured.

C - JO should be brought along nice and slow, if he gets injured there are too many knock on effects. I do think he is healthier than he has been for a long time and expect a return to his all star form here - he also benefits from Bosh. Bargs again will get a lot of back up minutes here to do his thing. Jawai will be in there for garbage time and in case of injuries. I look forward to seeing his game and look forward to having a big the actually likes contact.

Coach - I have been a Sam basher for a long time. BC has built this team to Sam's strengths. It should be hard for Sam to have questionable rotations when we don't have any players to rotate! Our starters all all very smart, so his lacking X&O's also shouldn't be glaring. If we stumble out of the block though, and (BIG AND) MLSE will eat Sam's contract, I think this is Sam's last hurrah (I'd still love to see Dave Blatt). This team does look like a Sam Mitchell team though, and I think Sam won't be the weakness he was this year.

BC - If the purse strings were loosened there is more he might be able to do. Of course Magette would look good, or Pietrus but I am really thinking that there is no way MLSE spends into the luxery tax. He might go all in and trade Bargnani to give us a big 3, but I doubt it. That would leave the future pretty bleak if we failed. I still think there might be some trade out there if we can trade questionable players with decent contracts for decent players with questionable contracts (I still like JG+Hump for Jaric). One route we should look at is the vet's minimum. I think we should be an attractive competitive team. I also don't think we need anyone else who will be new to the league. We could still fit 2 vet's minimum contracts under the cap too. I agree that Ratcliffe would be interesting or maybe Skinner; and to help out our PG situation someone like Darrel Armstrong or Bobby Jackson could help. I just hope he isn't totally done, there are just too many question marks.

PS - Sorry for the long post, but you know how it is when you start on a rant!

Best hair in the league indeed...especially when Bargs had the bedhead style really going and Primoz had that faux-hawk!

Coach C - Thanks for the props and I think you're right unfortunately about our boys Pietrus and Azubuike...both would be nice additions but no money to be had. Really stings as I thought Azubuike was poised for a breakout season if given more minutes and thought Toronto could have been the place where he pulls his "Swing-out Sister."

Many of you have mentioned Bargs as being the X Factor next year and I couldn't agree more. Yes, the club will be dependant on Bosh, Jose and now O'Neal...but it's guys like Bargs and Moon that really could make the difference between another first round exit and some playoff traction.

mycall - I agree that PER doesn't factor in everything but don't think you can blame Mitchell for his work with Delfino last year. Yep, Bargs, Kapono, even Moon were perhaps not always utilized to the best of their abilities but I think Del had his shot. He played a lot of minutes as I mentioned in the piece and a lot of the times finished games for Toronto. His inconsistencies were really on himself I think.

Also, great questions in regards to next year, all ones we'll be discussing in more detail over the summer I'm sure. The JO trade looks great on paper in many respects but yes, now opens up a bunch of concerns for next year at various positions. Health really is going to be key.

We'll be talking more about Adams and Roko in tomorrow morning's piece as well as the whole Maggette situation. Perhaps Corey's taking a pay cut (dropping to the MLE) to go to contenders like Boston or San Antonio but no way he's doing that in Toronto. The Raps still have a ways to go yet before they have that "lure."

Raptors 2008/2009:
What you see is what you get. BC is finished except for a combo guard who can play the point @ the veterns min $700k/1.2mil. The O'Neil trade sets the roster @ 13, with the possibility of some 10 days, if injuries hit. If it dosen't work there is only the trade deadline and any expiring, in February to make changes. BC will not go over the tax limit so no MLE this year.

mycall said: I find it utterly ironic though that we would be forced to keep a Graham and let a Delfino walk.

It made me throw up in my mouth a little too.

Coach C said: I think the Raps are doing the right thing.

Agreed. The Ford situation needed to be resolved and it has been. Now we get to watch the chessmaster work to find guys to fill out the roster. Patience grasshoppers, the wise man is one who moves at his own whim and not at the whim of others.

Coach C said: I think BC is doing the right thing in changing the roster to mimick Sam, add rebounding and toughness..

On this I disagree. On the one hand you are right that BC has moved to add rebounding and toughness, but I don't think he's doing it to please Sam.

I think he's rebuilding the Toronto Raptors into the Phoenix Suns; Calderone has surpassed Ford to become BC's Nash, Bosh is our Stoudamire, and Bargnani was BC's attempt at landing a multi-tool, multi-position All-star talent ala Shawn Marion.

In that light the O'Neal signing can still be read as an endorsement of Sam's 'style', but I see it more as a lack of endorsement for the development of Bargnani as BC's third spoke.

Coach C said: I think the problem that hasn't really been talked about is the fact that Bosh is hard to build around..

Pish posh. It is not
the fault of Bosh. an All-star
in my bad Haiku

Coach C said: There just isnt enough $$$

Do we know if this is true? Does Colangelo have a mandate to stay out of Luxury tax land? Or can he (ala the Leafs of yesteryear) spend whatever necessary to float a competitive team? With the $ doing so well against the greenback, I wonder if BC doesn't nudge them a little to see if they would commit to some extra tax for a year or two if it meant a longer playoff run.

Ktown said: Of the three bigs, bargs will be best suited for playing the three

Agreed. Bosh covers four, O'Neal five.

Coach C said: Think about KG. I am sure we all agree he is better then Bosh.

Which for me is the real issue, not whether Bargnani can give us more, but whether Bosh can. I think he took another step up defensively last year, and to me THE BIG question is whether Bosh can get it up to that next level and be among the elite defensively.

ktown said: We saw Bargnani do a pretty decent job against turkoglu in the playoffs

And I thought he did about as well as anyone really can against Howard. Among the biggest suprises in the playoffs was that Bargs managed to be a contributer without his offensive game in full swing. Should he be at another level? I don't know, guys mature at different rates, and Bargnani may need some growing up to do mentally, but big guys sometimes just take longer to get their game together physically too. Is that an excuse? Sure I guess.

But IMO even if Bargnani never turns out to be the second coming of Dirk Nowitzki, the fact he's learning to play decent defense means he'll be an NBA player.

Will he be the next Dirk? It's becoming more unlikely, but I still have hope his game can be honed into something exceptional.

Is he the next Kwame Brown? No.

WTF then asked a series of questions;

Will AP's age catch up to him?

- Yup. Which is why losing Delfino really hurts.

Will moon learn to play offence?

- I think what we've seen is what we'll get from the Moonwalker.

Will kopono learn to play defence?

- I actually thought Kapono played pretty decent D for the most part during the playoffs, and his hot shooting touch was welcome offensive support. I just want to see THAT Kapono all year.

Will JO stay healthy?

- Who knows. Will Bosh? Will Yao? Will Wade? *(I may just be bitter because the latter two were the pillars of my .500 fantasy team last year)

Will Bargs develop?

- Colour me a hopeful Yes he'll take a step forward.

Will Kris and Joey ever "get it"?

- Kris already does. Joey is painfully out of position, and underwhelming at his natural spot. So, no, he's never going to be that athletic Andre Iguodala type we crave, and in truth he's simply not big enough to be a big. If he had an enforcers mean streak he might be useful, but I don't see it.

Will Roko be able to contribute right away?

- He's an intriguing package of size and skill and comes from a relatively high quality league, so I hope the real question will be whether that means he is a 5-7 guy or something higher. As an eternal optimist I am hoping for more like 12-20.

OK gonna have to wade in here and defend Smitch a bit…

Robert Archibald: I love it when I don’t even have to rebut someone’s argument. The fact that you criticize Sam Mitchell’s coaching, then propose that we bring in David Blatt to coach (Huh!?) speaks for itself. Yes, we should dump Smitch to bring in a guy that hasn’t played or coached in North America in over a decade. Brilliant. Yes a deal for Marco Jaric (you were kidding right? Right?!?) would push us over the top.

Oh and Skywalker, love how you blame Joey Graham’s lack of development on Sam Mitchell! That was a shrewd move I must say. Could it just be that he’s as talented as a bag of hammers and Babcock made a bad pick? Wouldn’t that make a bit more sense?

As for Smitch’s ability to develop talent I will simply point to Jose Calderon. Watch some game tape of Jose his first year in the league, second year and last year. Completely different player now. Why? Well if you go back to Mitchell interviews from Jose’s first year, Jose is successful now because he is doing the things Smitch told him to do. He turns the corner on the pick and role, he takes the right shots at the right time to keep defences honest and he reads the plays better. All credit to Jose for all his hard work and dedication, but these are the things Sam was pointing out since year one.

Also look at Bosh. He’s gone from a bean pole kid glistening with talent to a workhorse, premier power forward. Again, go back to Smitch’s interviews from his early days with Doug Smith. He would constantly compare him to KG (in a good way) and advise him how hard he would have to work, the dedication it would take and what mindset he would have to have in order to be successful as a player and team leader.

Oh and let’s not even go down the Jamario Moon road again. Let’s not forget that it was his first year in the league even though he is 27. There’s a reason he wasn’t in the league until last year. In fact, all things considered, it was Sam that scouted him (or heard about him), recommended that he be brought to the try out camp. Then he turned a guy who hadn’t sniffed the league in 3 years into a quasi-dependable starter for a playoff team. Come on, what else do you expect? OK so Jamario doesn’t drive to the hole… Do you think Sam wasn’t blasting him in the ear every practice and time out to do that? He even admitted he did in interviews post game and was bewildered as to why Moon refused to do it.

No, as far as player development Smitch ain’t the problem.

Gerald Green just signed with the Mavs for the min salary. I recall the HQ advocating Green as a possible FA pickup or via trade. The fact that the Mavs got him for next to nothing hurts a little bit. He was good at trying to get to the hoop, but just never seemed to get out it all together. He reminds me of Moon except willing to attack the rim.

Any chance we could get a guy like Joel Anthony from Miami to come back to Canada? He's been playing really solid for Team Canada (in limited action) but would be an excellent undersized centre. He's proven that he can block shots and get to the offensive glass. Plus, I believe he's a free agent, if HoopsHype is to be believed.

Anyway, just throwing names out there.

from TSN (YUK)

The point guard position is set for the Toronto Raptors, as they have apparently reached an agreement with restricted free agent Jose Calderon.

Calderon released a statement on his website Tuesday, indicating that he has a preliminary agreement in place to return to Toronto:

"Early this morning, through my agents, I reached a preliminary agreement with the Toronto Raptors. I want to thank Bryan Colangelo, Maurizio Gherardini, Sam Mitchell and all of the Raptors family for the confidence that they have placed in me. I am sure that together we are going to achieve big things in the future."

The report also states that the Raptors have signed former New Jersey Net Hassan Adams. The 6-foot-4 Adams will likely see some action at the off-guard or small forward spot. Adams spent last season playing for Basket Draghi Novara of the Italian league.

Adams impressed the Raptors at a recent free-agent camp and reportedly signed a one-year league minimum contract with a team option for a second year, just as Jamario Moon did last year.

"It's a great fit for Hassan," added David Lee, Adam's agent. "He can lock down ones, twos and threes and will bring the Raptors the kind of toughness they haven't seen in a while."

With limited room on the Raptors' roster, Adams signing could mean the end of Carlos Delfino's time with the Raptors. The native of Argentina was acquired from the Detroit Pistons last year for a pair of second-round draft picks.

Delfino, a restricted free agent, has reportedly been receiving offers to play in Europe.

Wow... great points made by all bt will limit my post to the topic.

Am kinda surprised at so many wishing Delfino to be gone.
Inconsistant ? Yes. But still relatively young and really, only got his first taste of playing time last season.
Showed ability to score, rebound, take charges(dives?)ball handling and a competitive spirit.
Comes at an affordable price. Unless Raptors are willing to swallow some tax, we might be letting the best option go.

One thing people need to remember is that between Parker, Graham and Bargs (I think) we have about $12 mil. in expiring contracts which could be valuable for an in-season trade. The other thing to remeber is Garbo's $4 mil. comes off our cap next year too (although we can't trade it as an expiring) which might make the bean counters at MLSE more willing to let BC go over the luxury tax a bit with an in-season trade. $16 mil. worth of tradeable assets, some of which have actual value on the basketball court gives BC some flexibility once the season starts and he has a real sense of how close (or how far) this team is from the elite.

I`ve always been one that thought that the Raps were not the right team for Bargs as it was built around Bosh. Tall, lanky PFs are hard to mesh and I think has hindered Bargs` development. Even if he was the top player in the draft, I don`t necessarily support the adage that you draft for talent, not for need.

Now we have three lanky PFs with skills. Not a bad position to be in, though someone will always be playing out of position while we`re still weaker on the wing. Doesn`t quite add up to me.

Clearly there is a significant difference of opinion when it comes to the value of Carlos Delfino. Though I enjoyed his play during the year, I feel that BC is making the right decision in not resigning him (it is still possible that BC will in fact resign Delfino, but it is highly unlikely do to the luxury tax situation. So, if Delfino is resigned you can ignore everything I write). This is because I don't think he added enough to the team to justify paying luxury tax. To see if my feeling is valid I decided to go all Hollinger and do an in depth statistical analysis.

My basic assumptions are that delfino's strengths are his ball handling, defense and a decent 3-point shot. His weaknesses are his inconsistency and that his not a great finisher at the rim. To see whether or not these are true I looked at his stats on ESPN.com and NBA.com

First Delfino had a PER of 13.62 which was below the league average (which is set at 15). It was good enough for 31st among small forwards and 168th overall in the league. Not bad, but hardly impressive. This is a good base to start from but it hardly tells us much.

To see gauge his ball handling I looked at his assists and turnovers. Delfino did really well in the turnover department. He averaged less than one turnover per game even though he touched the ball quite a bit, which resulted in turnover ratio of only 8.1%. This ties him for 40th in the league with excellent ball handlers, like our very own Jose Calderon. He assist to turnover ratio was almost exactly 2:1, which is decent for a SF. Based on these numbers I think I can safely say that his ball-handling was good.

Defense is very difficult to measure statistically. I decided that looking at steals, blocks and 82games.com's adjusted plus/minus would be the best indicators. According to these measures Delfino is not such a great defender. He average less than one steal a games and blocked a shot about once every 9 games. Not very impressive numbers at all, but some supposedly excellent defenders, such as Bruce Bowen have similar numbers, so it's not very conclusive. Delfino also had the third worst adjusted plus/minus of any Raptor who played significant minutes. The only two worse were Kapono and Bargnani, both of whom are sub-par defenders. I realize that none of these stats is a great measure of defensive effectiveness, but they do suggest that Delfino isn't quite the defender that he appeared to be.

3-point shooting is one area that Delfino definately excels. He shot .382 for the season, which is quite good, though it is about middle of the pack for the Raps last season. Kapono, Parker, Calderon, Dixon and Bosh all shot a better percentage, though Bosh doesn't really count since he took only 25 3-point shots last year.

Looking at Delfino's game logs, his inconsistency becomes quite evident. Several times he followed great shooting night, well above 50%, with absolutely awful ones. Twice he failed to hit a shot after shooting well the game before. Seven times he shot 60% or better from the field, but he also had nineteen games where he shot 25% or worse. For the entire season he averaged less than 40% from the field. Though his above average 3-point percentage and solid free throw shooting earned him a decent true-shooting percentage of .527. These stats illustrate quite well how inconsistent and frustrating he could be.

While Delfino shot quite well from beyond the arc, he did quite poorly once inside it. According to NBA.com Hot spots, Delfino was the worst Raptors from within a few feet of the net with a mark of .489, though Bargnani wasn't much better. Surprisingly Delfino was absolutely awful from mid-range. Not including dunks and lay-ups, Delfino managed a frigid 30% when shooting inside the arc. Fortunately he only took about a fifth of his shot from that range. So, while Delfino was willing to drive to the basket, it didn't often result in good things for the Raps.

Having looked at the available statistic, I believe that I was correct in my initial assumption. Delfino is a decent player, who is quite entertaining to watch. However, aside from his above average ball handling skills and 3-point shooting, he does not offer a whole lot. If it were simply a matter of resigning him to a decent contract, say something in the 4-year 12-13 million dollar range I would be all for it. Unfortunately that is not the case, BC will probably only have about 1-1.5 million left under the luxury tax threshold for next season once all his current deals are made official on the 9th of July and that is not enough to offer Delfino a reasonable contract. So, there is no real choice but to say goodbye to an intriguing yet maddeningly inconsistent player.

Amen Sorael,

I have been meaning to comment on the Delfino situation, but your post essentially hit on most of the points I had in mind! I too would like him re-signed, but at a very reasonable price, which isn't going to happen.