The AltRaps Blog

Not too many people over here have ever seen Nathan Jawai in person, let alone seen him play basketball.

So we turn to someone who’s actually been on the same court as the Aussie Shaq to offer this assessment:

“He’s a beast, man. He’s a monster.”

That comes for Canadian national team veteran David Thomas, who’s played about a decade Down Under and is uniquely familiar with Toronto’s second-round draft pick.

“He’s dunking everything in the paint in our league.”

I’m sure we’ll all learn a lot more about young Jawai when training camp opens (we need good stories to fill oft-boring days) so here’s one angle we’ll have to pursue, courtesy Thomas.

“The story was, they found him off the coast of Australia playing basketball barefoot … that’s what we had heard in Australia… He comes from an area that’s not well off.

“Great kid, humble, good head on his shoulders.”

- Toronto Star

NBA: The key free agents available (just to talk to) on Tuesday

- National Post

The Raptors will be one of those teams doing very little, if anything at all.

After the trade for Jermaine O’Neal goes through on July 9 and they sign restricted free agent Jose Calderon then or shortly after, Toronto will have precious little room to negotiate without moving into luxury-tax range. That number is not set yet, but expect the Raptors to have very little money to address their needs, a backup point guard and depth on both the wings and up front.

- National Post

Looks like our old buddy Carlos Delfino will be one and done in Toronto. The Toronto Star reported over the weekend that with Jermaine O’Neal’s $21 million contract now on their books, the Raptors are perilously close to being over the luxury tax threshold. Thus, giving long-term security to a player like Delfino may not be in the plans.

Delfino is a restricted free agent, but his most lucrative offer may come from a team in Barcelona.

- Detroit News

After the first practice of the U.S. Olympic basketball team, Chris Bosh was seated in a folding chair about 10 feet from Deron Williams and marveling at how two guys who grew up about 30 miles from each other in the greater Dallas area are now part of the national team.

How would he have assessed the odds of that happening a few years ago?

“Slim to none,” Bosh said, laughing. “You don’t even think of those things when you’re in high school. But it’s really cool for us to have played against each other in high school, and now we have the opportunity to play together and win the gold medal.”

Bosh and Williams will play key roles in the Beijing Olympics and both give U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski flexibility because they are so versatile. The U.S. team, which will be in New York for promotional appearances today, is carrying only one true center in Dwight Howard, so the Raptors forward will back up Howard.

Bosh also has a score to settle with the rest of the world. He was part of the 2006 team that lost to Greece in the World Championships in Japan.

“We took everything serious,” Bosh said. “Our preparation wasn’t the best [but] we all learned from it. Now we don’t underestimate anybody. We know that we have to come out and play extremely hard every game.”

- Star-Telegram

Toronto Raptors

Second round: Nathan Jawaii, PF 6-10, 270, Australia (trade)

The Jermaine O’Neal trade was a risky one as he’s owed nearly $40 million over the next two years and has been extremely injury prone over the past few seasons. If he can stay healthy, he could turn out to be an excellent addition for the Raptors, as he’s proven that when healthy he’s one of the top interior forces in the game. T.J. Ford had a solid season, but they probably moved him at the right time as some feel he was a bit of a disruptive force and faded in important situations. Jawaii is an interesting big man, who despite playing in Australia has a fairly polished offensive game. Can he find the same success against NBA level athletes?

Grade: B.

- FoxSports

However while the pay for Jose should go up, this of course means that so should Toronto’s payroll. For a club already approaching luxury tax range, Bryan Colangelo may have to get very creative when looking to fill out the remaining roster spots on the team. One of our readers from Spain suggested that Colangelo may dip into the overseas market again for some help and that’s indeed possible. Some free agent camp invitees to fill out the last spots on the bench is also quite feasible.

BC will have to act fast however as some of those participated in last weekend’s camp are already being snatched up. John Lucas Jr. is reportedly signing with the Timberwolves for next season and we’ve already reported how others like Rod Benson will be participating with other clubs’ this summer in the Vegas League.

On top of this as we’ve recently discussed, there are still some major holes in the 8 to 10 spots on the bench, spots that could be very important if injuries arise.

Post-draft, I looked at breaking down the financial situation for the Raptors based on my best guestimates but Saturday in the Toronto Star, Doug Smith did an even more accurate job of looking at spending room for the 2008-09 season. His cap and luxury tax prediction and came in a bit higher than mine, but the space he predicted the Raptors will have to work with is about the same as what I worked out, meaning about $5 Million and change. Can Toronto keep Carlos Delfino and still add a back-up point guard and big man? Highly doubtful. Then what positions should they tackle first?

To tackle that question, RaptorsHQ brings you its team-by-team breakdown of who’s available and who might be a good fit for next year’s club:

- RaptorsHQ

The general rule of thumb in the NBA is that the team that gets the All-Star in a trade is the team that comes out ahead. This rule is consistent with the idea of “Bobby Layne Rigidity”, offered by Walter Neale in a 1964 article (appearing in the Quarterly Journal of Economics and titled: “The Peculiar Economics of Professional Sports”).   According to Neale - as the name Bobby Layne Rigidity implies — a team cannot replace one good quarterback with two poor signal callers.

Likewise, it’s difficult in the NBA to substitute a collection of non-stars for one star player.  As noted previously in this forum, the Pareto Principle appears to hold in the NBA.  In other words, roughly 80% of wins are produced by 20% of the talent.  Consequently, when a team loses a major wins producer, it tends to suffer.

Of course there is one exception to this story.  If the player in question is an “unproductive star”, then the issue of Bobby Layne Rigidity goes away.  For example, the 76ers lost Allen Iverson - a “star” player who is not quite as productive as popular perception indicates - and actually improved.

Similarly, one suspects the Pacers loss of Jermaine O’Neal should also lead to additional victories. To see this, let’s first consider the career of J. O’Neal.

If the analysis Doerr and I offer is to be believed, the Pacers are right now strong candidates to return to the post-season in 2009.  Of course we will know more when the roster of the Pacers - and every other team - is finalized. At this point, though, the evidence suggests that losing O’Neal was a good move for the Pacers.

Does this mean that this trade is bad for the Raptors?  I will try and answer that question in my next post.   And that answer is not as clear as one might think.

- The Wages of Wins Journal

Would you take a chance on a maligned former star like Steve Francis or Stephon Marbury? Toronto could up the risk ante by having a team of guys out to re-establish themselves as guys like O’Neal, Francis and Marbury were all not too long ago amongst the creme of the NBA crop.

Or, what about looking at someone who has yet to prove himself, but who still has all the talent in the world to be a successful NBA player. Someone like oh I don’t know, Shaun Livingston?

- RaptorsHQ

Toronto took the biggest risk by adding often-injured Indiana forward Jermaine O’Neal for guard T.J. Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic and the No. 17 pick, Georgetown center Roy Hibbert.

If O’Neal is healthy, how well will he fit next to Raptors forward Chris Bosh? Two 20-point scorers posting up at the same time is an unusual concept. If O’Neal is injured again, Toronto won’t have much size beyond Bosh.

- Daily Herald

Canada’s only NBA club has selected another American as its new play-by-play voice for national television, sources told Metro yesterday.

Matt Devlin, who spent this decade serving three-year stints as the voice of the Memphis Grizzlies and Charlotte Bobcats, has been hired by the Toronto Raptors to succeed Chuck Swirsky, according to the sources.
The sources also said they expect the Raptors to announce the hiring of Devlin within seven to 10 days.

Swirsky was a U.S. citizen when he was hired by the Raps 10 years ago, although he obtained his Canadian citizenship last winter. Swirsky recently switched NBA allegiances and will be the Chicago Bulls’ voice next season.
At least four Canadians were competing against Devlin for the Raps’ job, the sources suggested.

Mike Inglis, a Torontonian who was the club’s first play-by-play voice, had expressed a desire to return after a decade as the Miami Heat’s voice. Adnan Virk, an anchor for The Score and occasional basketball reporter for the Canadian network, also was a candidate, as were Canadian brothers Paul and Mark Jones. Paul has been the Raps’ radio voice while Mark covers various sports, including basketball, for ESPN.

Devlin’s background includes play-by-play work with TNT and Fox.

- Metro