The AltRaps Blog

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.

- Josemanuelcalderon.com

The Raptors’ president and general manager was expected to reach out to restricted free agent point guard Jose Calderon as soon as he could last night, taking the first step to getting the three-year veteran under a long-term contract.

“You take care of priority No.1 and then you let the rest of the pieces fall into place,” Colangelo said yesterday.

The Raptors aren’t expected to be major players in the free-agent sweepstakes, other than by taking care of their own. Calderon is by far the No.1 item on Colangelo’s to-do list, especially after the trade of T.J. Ford to the Indiana Pacers last week.

“There’s going to be a finite number of dollars to work with under the tax level,” said Colangelo.

But because those numbers won’t be official until July 9, teams are sort of flying blind. There are good estimates about the cap (somewhere around $59 million is one figure being bandied about) and the tax (some teams think it’ll be between $71 and $72 million) but nothing is official until the league says it is.

“There will be a lot of uncertainty until they finalize those numbers,” said Colangelo.

The Raptors, before Calderon signs, will have a payroll a bit more than $61 million. Depending on what he signs for – $8 million a year isn’t out of the question – Toronto doesn’t appear to have much to spend on other acquisitions.

“There’s still going to be some uncertainty and it’s finding a balance,” said the general manager.

The Raptors have two restricted free agents – Calderon and Carlos Delfino – and Primoz Brezec’s contract is up and he’s entirely free and does not factor into Toronto’s plans. Delfino is destined to play elsewhere because of the financial constraints the Raptors have and because they like the pared-down roster that’s been created by the four-for-two trade involving Ford and Jermaine O’Neal and the buyout of the final year of Jorge Garbajosa’s contract.

- Toronto Star

But as one Western Conference team executive put it Monday: “You have to figure [Calderon] will be looking for at least what T.J. [Ford] got and go from there.”

Since Ford – whom the Raptors traded to the Indiana Pacers to make way for Calderon as the starter in another deal that can’t be officially confirmed until July 9 – negotiated a four-year, $32-million (U.S.) deal prior to the 2006-07 season, it seems reasonable Colangelo will have to find $40-million over five years to pay Calderon.

The only wild card is if another NBA team tries to blow the Raptors and Calderon away by offering a monster deal in the $50-million to $60-million range.

Fortunately for the Raptors, only a handful of teams have room under the projected salary cap to make a real run at Calderon – and Colangelo’s loud and consistent message that he will match any offer has likely made them shy away.

“We want to taper down the roster,” Colangelo said. “We want the talent to be more concentrated, so guys can have more consistent roles.”

One spot will likely go to either Hassan Adams or Tamar Slay, NBA veterans who shone at the Raptors’ recent free-agent camp.

Adams, a former New Jersey Net, may have the inside track. His defensive versatility – he can guard point guards, shooting guards and small forwards – will make up for the likely departure of Carlos Delfino, who may be too expensive for the Raptors next season.

Another roster spot will go to a third-string point guard who can play some shooting guard. And the last will go to Nathan Jawai, a 6-foot-10, 280-pound Australian who will land in Toronto as the final piece of the Ford-O’Neal trade.

One NBA executive whose team worked out Jawai and interviewed him described him as a “project” but one with strong character and surprising feel for the game even though he’s a late convert to basketball.

“There’s a lot of upside there,” the executive said. “Big, big hands, strong body. He was rookie of the year in Australia’s [National] Basketball League and that was his first year of serious competition. He’s got a chance.”

- Globe and Mail

Remember, O’Neal doesn’t have to be forced into the low block. He doesn’t need shots. Good coaching can make sure Jermaine doesn’t shoot too much, or isn’t asked to do things he shouldn’t. Yes, Sam Mitchell was prattling on about Chris Bosh and JON averaging a combined 40 points and 20 rebounds, but it’s also late June, and things tend to get out of hand at this point in the summer. Even O’Neal, blessed with a sound offensive outfit for once, will know that he probably needs to keep his shot attempts in the low double-digits.

Should Mitchell force-feed the guy, then it might be enough for Colangelo to finally convince his bosses to eat the remainder of SMitch’s contract and move on to a coach who knows what he’s on about. And even before that, any bit of inefficient offense will be more than made up for by O’Neal’s defensive strengths. The guy is that good, even without leaving the floor.

And, really, what did the Raptors give up? Sure, they’re taking on a big salary, but they sent just as much salary off the team to get O’Neal as they brought in, and it’s a move that will end up saving cash should O’Neal go elsewhere when his contract is up. The team dumped a point guard that it didn’t need while sending out a solid center for a massive upgrade.

Eliminated the superfluous while turning a trade-in into something special, all for the price of having to go out and find a backup point guard later this summer. I’m having a hard time finding fault in that, even if O’Neal misses 25 games.

While we’re at it, these weren’t really rip-jobs. They were solid pieces that didn’t say anything that wasn’t true, or that shouldn’t be considered. I fully concede that the gaseous cloud may never have existed.

That said, we’re awfully close to underrating O’Neal nearly as much as we overrated him in years past, and that’s just as criminal. I’m not saying Feschuk and Grange are leading the charge, far from it, but I am saying that I’ve seen this stuff before, and there’s no reason why we should be able to find a nice middle ground.

- Ball Don’t Lie

Despite the team’s poor W-L record, on the eve of the 2006 Draft, there were a number of positives already in place that SHOULD have ensured a gradual and steady rise through the ranks of the Eastern Conference over the next few seasons EVEN IF Bryan Colangleo had NOT been hired as the Raptors GM (i.e. Feb/2006), including:

- Khandor’s Sports Blog

The Raptors shopping list is pretty basic. A back-up point gaurd that is experienced would be nice. Damon Stoudmire would be a excellent option and he does like Toronto already so it is not a case of selling him on the city or the idea of living in Canada. Another option could be Chris Duhon of the Bulls who at one point had signed an offer sheet with Toronto as a restricted free agent. This was prior to Bryan Colangleo under the Rob Babcock era. But much like Morris Peterson once signed an offer sheet with the Hornets when full free agent rights came his way he still considered the Hornets as an option and of course did sign with them last year. These are just 2 of several options the Raptors could use to fill the role of back-up to Jose Calderon. Many seem to think that Roko Ukic can be that option. But having never played an NBA game in his life it is wishful thinking. Jose himself struggled in his first year in North America. At some point Ukic could be that back-up point guard for the Raptors. But it will not be in November of 2008.

So get ready for a lot of changes as the Raptors look to make the push to that next level. They do not want to be a franchise that is just happy with making the playoffs and going down to defeat every year in the first round. That is not acceptable to the fans or Bryan Colangelo. This is also something Sam Mitchell knows and if he wants to remain here with the Raptors from start to finish in it’s growth to contender, he too will need to continue to improve and develop in his job and role as well. It is great for any fan of any franchise to honestly have reason to believe that the franchise that they cheer for will not just accept being good enough. That is not a concept in Bryan Colangelo’s vocabulary. He wants to WIN and not just win enough to make the playoffs but to win ultimately in the sense of a championship.

- Dino Nation Blog

Dwyer does bring a good point up, it’s up to Sam Mitchell to use Jermaine O’Neal effective and if he can’t, the Raptors should eat the rest of Mitchell’s contract and get themselves a coach that knows how to use what he’s given. The Raptors have to make sure that Jermaine O’Neal’s offensive game complements Bosh and doesn’t take anything away from it. Bosh should never be starved of shots and O’Neal’s role should be well-defined enough so that combined with Bosh they can create a threat which will open up the rest of our offense, not create two black holes. Last season’s player utilization was hard to watch with the sub patters of Kapono, Bargnani, Humphries and Rasho all open for criticism. Not to mention how Sam got away with Kapono hitting only three threes in two months. Ugh, disgusting. Colangelo will not stand for anything similar with Jermaine O’Neal since he’s on a short two year contract in which results are expected.

- Arsenalist

BRYAN COLANGELO

Kudos to you big man! Kudos to you! I know I have been pretty harsh in my assessment of your reign up until this point, but you did it. Right or wrong, for better or for worse, you went in to this offseason like a fighter in a championship fight who was losing the fight entering the 10th round…you came out swinging… and with the mentality of “either I’m going to knock this guy out, or get knocked out trying.” You told Garbo to take his ball and go home for being such a jack ass for the last 18 months and while that contract could have helped us (maybe?) in a trade, I gotta say, I like the fact that you were decisive and sent a message that no one was going to push you around (it makes me wonder how he would have handled the Alonzo Mourning debacle from a couple of years ago).

Your trade for JO has left nothing up to the judges - there will be no one going to the scorecard. Either it will be an enormous success or a complete disaster. Whether you like the trade or not (and as you know, I love it) you gotta admire the moxy, and you gotta respect that kind of bravado. This IS the Bryan Colangelo that everyone told us we would be getting when he came here as GM, but we just never had the chance to see it before with his signings of AP, and Garbo, and trading for for guys like Rasho and Humphries. Now the REAL Slim Shady has finally stood up.

- RaptorsTalk

To that end, the Clippers took the first steps in filling their gaping hole at point guard. Coach Mike Dunleavy met late Monday with free-agent Beno Udrih, of the Sacramento Kings, in New York to discuss a multiyear deal.
They also contacted the Raptors’ Jose Calderon, who is a restricted free agent, meaning Toronto can match any offer made to him. Baron Davis, who opted out of his contract with the Golden State Warriors, is also of interest.

- Los Angeles Times

Carroll, a 6-2 guard, went un-drafted in last week’s annual two-round NBA selection of college talent. Jaycee spent this last weekend in Evanston as his agent, Brad Ames of Chicago, worked on getting his client an NBA free agent deal.
Jaycee said three NBA teams – the Nets, Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors - all tendered offers. Carroll said he decided on New Jersey late Sunday evening, June 29.

- Uinta County Herald

2) Toronto Raptors—The addition of Jermaine O’Neal is either going to be a hit or miss for the Toronto Raptors. In my opinion the Raptors got the worse end of this trade. Although they got better in size they got nothing at the guard position. I don’t think Jose Calderon is the their man at point guard but if O’Neal can stay healthy whether he comes off the bench in replacement for Bosh or starts, he could help guide the Raptors to another playoff berth.

- Bleacher Report