Sunday Thought - To Spend or Not to Spend...or Does it Even Matter?

BC is on the bender of all benders. If he was gambling at a casino we would be having an intervention for him right now as he chances bad bet after bad bet trying with the “If I can just get lucky once I can turn this around, come on hard 8”. How much rope do you think he should get as he has basically boxed himself in by rewarding mediocre players with star contracts based on half a season of play (Calderon and Bargnani) in situations where he was only competing against himself. Add Turk and how poorly he (Turk) and the coaching staff handled the situation and he has some serious problems. Those whispers that Bosh heard at the all-star game were that his team was crap and he needed to leave. That is why he had his “ankle” injury when he did. To see if the team was worth coming back to. JUST A THEORY.

The problem with this scenario is that Jrue Holiday is the PG of the future not Lou Williams. Williams will play the 2 or back up Jrue. I agree it would be nice to get Iggy especially since I think Philly will continue to shop him hard in the offseason but they are doing it to dump salary not swap bad contracts. I think Toronto would have greater luck getting Iggy if they take Brands contract as well. If they do that then Bosh is gone anyways.

NBA draft is only 2 rounds.

The problem with your Maple Leaf theory is that Burke traded away two high draft picks for an injured 40 goal scorer who caps at about 70 points per season. Not exactly the move of a team in rebuild mode. The Raptors are run exactly like the Leafs – Snow the fans by saying your going for it and then come up short or just make the playoffs and bow out quickly, whatever it takes to not have to pay a lot of money to the players. Remember they are owned by a Pension fund whose sole concern is MAKING MONEY. That is why the Raptors will not go hard at the luxury tax. At most they will dip their toes (say 2-5 mil) unless it is clear they could win a championship. Does anyone actually believe Toronto can make enough moves this offseason to do that?

“considering current commitments”
That is the main issue which my viewpoint boils down to. The TJFord-JO-Marion-Turk transaction chain, ate up resources and added salary commitments which hinder flexibility. If we were ready for that next step, and by that I mean legit top four conference contender status, then I would champion a trip into the luxury tax. However, when I look at this roster I just don’t see it. Additional resources would make the short term more appealing, but seeing as most of those dollars would be spent retaining current personnel (ie Johnson), I don’t see how the team itself could make the jump from close to .500 to win totals in the 50s in one offseason.

Another question is if a GM is better off saving the “Spend Over Tax Free” cards until the key components of the team’s core are playing their best collective basketball. Those that see Bargnani growing into his role as a center would agree that he will be better in two years. The same could be said for DeRozan, who would have hopefully polished his ballhandling skills in time for his eligibility for a long term deal. I don’t see the team being close to top four conference contender status until both of the aforementioned Raptors are playing at a higher level then they are now. Same goes for Sonny Weems, and Amir Johnson if he returns to the team.

If Bosh returns, then I would revise my argument to suit the advanced time table for contention the team would be on. However, until he puts pen to paper I will view him as an unknown, and plan around his departure.

If I was MLSE, I would sit back and see how Colangelo works with the various moving parts at his disposal this offseason. The Toronto-bound assets in a potential Bosh S&T will play a part, both in replenishing our bigmen depth and adding / strengthening depth at various positions and skillsets.

1) Even on a team with Bosh, positive veteran leadership (that still has game, sorry Derrick Martin) should be a secondary goal to adding as much talent as possible. A mentor for DeRozan and Weems on the wing, and a veteran bigman who was once a starter, and works his butt off to keep his career going with the end in sight. In our expansion era days, didn’t we have several of those types of bigman types in Ed Pickney, Tony Massenburg, and Popeye Jones. I’m sure any potential Bosh trade partner would have one on the end of the bench they could include.

2) A quick pg that can take advantage of the no-handcheck rules on the perimeter. A look at the draft list doesn’t yield any accomplished pg in this year’s crop. Perhaps we can take advantage of a team where one member of a platoon has eclipsed the other. All you ever hear about with Houston is Aaron Brooks, how would Kyle Lowry look backing up Jarret Jack / Jose Calderon. Minnesota is currently starting Jonny Flynn, with Ramon Sessions backing him up, and Ricky Rubio’s North American adventure a year away from starting. While Sessions is more accomplished (and expensive) then your typical backup, Calderon and Jack haven’t proven they deserve an uncontested reign at the position. While they may be good teammates, it is also telling that neither Jack nor Calderon was able to convincingly wrest the starters title and lion’s share of the minutes, away from the other.

Dealing with resigning our current free agents, adding veteran leadership, and solving the pg conundrum should keep BC plenty busy this offseason. And who knows, if his moves pan out he may be having the luxury tax conversation with ownership earlier then any of us could have imagined in a post-Bosh world.

And now you see why so many of us have been doom and gloom because this is your Raptor team for the next 5 years. Thank you BC, thank you.

And he was already ugly. Something about Spurs and their need to bloody Nash.

The problem is I am not convinced they can land anyone of significance to make it worth going into luxury territory. The last thing this team needs is another 5 year bad contract on a non-playoff team. Right now the Raptors are nowhere near a team worth going into luxury tax territory especially since Toronto fans continue to lineup to bask in mediocrity.