The AltRaps Blog

The Raptors will not have a chance to work out draft prospect Darrell Arthur today.

The Kansas power forward, citing a hamstring injury, has pulled out of a scheduled workout at the Air Canada Centre this morning.

Arthur was the only one of six players who will be in town to work out who had a legitimate chance at being Toronto’s pick at No. 17 in the June draft.

- Toronto Star

Garbo’s as good as gone and you have no idea how much we’ll miss him.

Funniest guy on the team (maybe a tie with Rasho), fine player, good person but, you know what?, it’s time.

With all the stuff swirling around him, playing last summer’s Euros when the team didn’t want him to, the lawsuit against the federation over the insurance money, the fact he’s will have played only seven NBA games in 18 months when camp rolls around, his desire to play in Beijing this summer, sort of had a sneaking suspicion in the back of my mind this day might arrive.

Financially, it’s not a huge boon to the Raptors, although there will be some luxury tax help when they finally come up with a buyout number, but it won’t give them any extra room to chase free agents, they’ll still just have the mid-level exception.

On the court? Well, I don’t think anyone had any idea what Garbo would have brought to camp so if there were no expectations, he’s not going to be missed a lot. If he’d been the 2006 Garbo, tough, smart, a defensive anchor, that would have been great. But if he’d been less than that, I’m not sure how big a role he would have played.

It bites when things come to an end, it especially bites when they come to an end because of an injury; this departure bites an awful lot.

- Toronto Star

With the NBA draft two weeks away, the Toronto Raptors are roughly halfway through their player evaluations – and not all that closer to pinning down exactly whom they plan to pick with the 17th overall selection.

The good news is that as players have filtered through – the Raptors will be conducting their third of likely six group workouts at the Air Canada Centre tomorrow – the one aspect of the draft that is clearer than ever is that the club is confident this year’s crop is deep in NBA prospects.

“We think we’re going to get a good player there,” club president and general manager Bryan Colangelo said.

The problem is they’re just not sure who will be available. “The picture changes every day as we sort through more information,” Colangelo said.

Greene, a 6-foot-10 forward with strong shooting and scoring skills, is expected to work out in Toronto next week. One league source described Greene as a player with considerable potential, but one who probably relies too heavily on his perimeter shooting at the expense of other aspects of his game.

According to league sources, it’s expected the pool of players likely available, and of interest to the Raptors if they choose to add depth to their frontcourt, would include JaVale McGee, an athletic seven-foot sophomore from the University of Nevada who is considered a bit of sleeper; Robin Lopez, a seven-footer from Stanford noted for his defence; Marreese Speights, a 6-foot-10, 250-pound sophomore from Florida; and Alexis Ajinca, a seven-foot, 220-pound forward from France with superior shooting and shot-blocking skills.

If the decision is to go with a wing, the Raptors’ list would likely include Nicolas Batum, a 6-foot-8 19-year-old from France, Chris Douglas-Roberts from Memphis and Brandon Rush from Kansas, in addition to Greene.

- Globe and Mail

So the word is Garbo is on the way out. No real surprise here, I mean, the writing has been on the wall since the season began, and MLSE launched that lawsuit against Spain. What kills me though, is that instead of packaging him with a couple of the other expiring contracts for someone that will help, BC is going to buy him out, get nothing in return (Morris Peterson anyone), and potentially pay a 50% premium to replace him

WTF man?

- RaptorsTalk

The unfortunate thing here is that the Raptors really could of used Garbajosa, as in his rookie season he brought the hustle, energy, and muscle at the PF spot the Raptors lacked last season.

But it appears that egos also may have gotten in the way as well, as Colangelo and the Spanish basketball federation have been at odds ever since the Raptors made them take out a $1 million dollar insurance policy to allow Garbajosa to play for Spain at the World Championships.  To do this, Garbajosa elected not to have surgery on his broken leg, as surgery would have put him out past the World Championships.

Garbajosa played, after Spain bought the insurance, and Garbajosa came back last season but only played in 7 games, and had surgery not a month after the season had started on the same left leg that was broken last season.  Coincidence…I think not.

- Raptors Den

So basically, the bottom line is this: Toronto obviously does not want to be paying a player who isn’t fit to play for an extended period of time, so the most logical and prudent thing to do is negotiate a buyout - as opposed to an outright release (the Raptors would be responsible for the balance of Garbajosa’s contract in that scenario).  It’s extra money they can use for other contracts and/or for their first-round pick in late June.  A smart move by Toronto, in the grand scheme of things.

- Slam Dunk Central

From the Raptors’ perspective, this doesn’t help them in the free agent market. It may bring them down another $1-2 million from the luxury tax threshold, which is good because they’re getting very close to it – especially if and when they sign Jose Calderon to his new deal. Clearly, their frontcourt is fairly stacked with Chris Bosh, Andrea Bargnani, Rasho Nesterovic and Kris Humphries. I wouldn’t mind seeing Hump get more opportunities next year and I’m hoping my prayers are answered for someone to take Rasho’s expiring $8.4 million off the Raptors’ hands. To put things in perspective, the Raptors are losing a player they never really had anyway since he went down in March of 2007. I’m sad to see him go but it’s time for the team to cut their ties and move in a new direction. I wish this affected the amount they could spend on free agents but unfortunately, all they have is the mid-level exception, which still has to be calculated. My estimate is that it’ll end up being around $5.8 million next year.

- Raptor Core

By the way, good luck wresting him away from the Raptors. My memory is a little fuzzy, but I don’t remember too many success stories of teams signing a medium- to big-name restricted free agent to an offer sheet that the player’s previous team didn’t match. The three that jump to mind are Denver’s offer to Manu Ginobili (which the Spurs wisely matched), Miami’s offer to Elton Brand (which the Clippers wisely matched) and Utah’s offer to Corey Maggette (which the Clippers wisely matched). You either have to overpay to get the other team to balk or hope that they’re completely inept and don’t match the fair offer sheet the player signed. That, or wait a year and hope that they become an unrestricted free agent.

If I’m running the Raptors, I’m locking Calderon up to a five-year deal in the $7 M-$9 M per year range. He’s still flying a bit under the radar, so his market value isn’t as high as it will be next summer.

- The Scores Report

Let’s look at the 2003 class and see which players NBADraft.net compared them to at the time:

Chris Bosh = Tim Duncan/Kevin Garnett (Proven to be more KG than TD.)

T.J. Ford = Kenny Anderson (When T.J. decides he wants to pass, this makes a lot more sense. Just don’t ever use this comparison around anyone from New York or you’re gonna hear about it for hours.)

Carlos Delfino = Manu Ginobili (Delfino does have the physical tools to be closer to Manu than he is.)

- Dime

It’s been an up-and-down summer for Justin Hawkins, but somehow the former New Mexico State University swingman has kept a level head and is still on track to pursuing an NBA career.

Since the Portsmouth, Hawkins has worked out for the Sacramento Kings, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers. He said that he is scheduled to workout for the Washington Wizards today and the Charlotte Bobcats, Houston Rockets and Toronto Raptors next week. Since hiring an agent after the college season, Hawkins has been able to schedule workouts based on teams that have interest in him as the June 26 NBA Draft approaches.

Between workouts, Hawkins has been training in Houston with former NBA player and coach John Lucas. Hawkins said Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith and former first-round pick Gerald Green are also working out with Lucas.

- Las-Cruces Sun-News

Toronto Raptors - The third-worst rebounding team in the league lacked a dominating man in the middle last season. After being bounced around by Dwight Howard in the first round of the playoffs, it’s time for the Raptors to find a board crashing big man with their only pick in the draft.

- HoopsWorld