2011 Toronto Raptors/NBA/Labour Negotiations Spectacular

[#1PilarFan]

Well, it won't be easy, but yeah it's still doable.

They'd have to drop some salary, but that could be done by amnestying Calderon or Kleiza and making a few smaller moves.

 

[#1PilarFan]

Houston signs Omer Asik to a 3 year, $25m offer sheet.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--free-agent-center-omer-asik-agrees-to--25-million-offer-sheet-with-rockets.html

Apparently, it's very backloaded, with his salary going up to $15m in the third year. I like Asik a little bit, but that's a ton of money for a guy who has only shown brief flashes of being a legitimate starting centre.

 

[PG]

Apparently part of the Raptors' pitch to Nash was a promotional video in which Gretzky urges Nash to do for basketball in Canada what he did for hockey in LA.

 

[L K]

Apparently part of the Raptors' pitch to Nash was a promotional video in which Gretzky urges Nash to do for basketball in Canada what he did for hockey in LA.

And they seemed to offer him an executive position upon retirement as an unofficial part of the package.  I think having Triano on staff still doesn't hurt the Raptors chances, nor does the fact that they seem to be offering anywhere from 2-5 million more than anyone else/season.

 

[Brian Glennie]

Apparently part of the Raptors' pitch to Nash was a promotional video in which Gretzky urges Nash to do for basketball in Canada what he did for hockey in LA.

How much would you guys say Gretzky charges to be a part of something like this?
I'm thinking $150k.

 

[Beowulf]

As a more casual Raps fan just wondering what some of you think about signing Nash? To me, it's a pretty senseless signing. Nash may help the Raps squeak in the playoffs, but there are seemingly too many holes around him for the Raps to be considered anything close to a contender at the moment.

Of course I love Nash and it would be a great marketing move, but as far as I see it, it wouldn't be much more than that.

 

[Kin]

The Raps have apparently reached an agreement with Landry Fields in a move that seems almost specifically designed to make it harder for the Knicks to make a competitive offer for Steve Nash.

 

[maplesyrup]

If they don't match, what then? Can we still fit Nash in?

 

[Kin]

If they don't match, what then? Can we still fit Nash in?

Yeah. What this signing does is make it much harder for the Knicks to work out any kind of sign-and-trade with the Suns which is the only way they could pay Nash anything close to what the Raps are offering(Fields would have been their best asset to offer in any such deal).

This is too much money for Fields but that's almost sort of the point. Phoenix isn't going to want to take Fields if he's got a deal that pays him 20 million over three years and is backloaded like crazy.

 

[maplesyrup]

Ah, cheers.

 

[TimKerr]

If they don't match, what then? Can we still fit Nash in?

Yeah. What this signing does is make it much harder for the Knicks to work out any kind of sign-and-trade with the Suns which is the only way they could pay Nash anything close to what the Raps are offering(Fields would have been their best asset to offer in any such deal).

This is too much money for Fields but that's almost sort of the point. Phoenix isn't going to want to take Fields if he's got a deal that pays him 20 million over three years and is backloaded like crazy.

But I have to ask, do we want Fields on our team? Are we really paying that much to Fields, plus $36M over 3 years to Nash just to get Nash on our team? From what I hear (and granted I am not that informed) Fields is nothing spectacular at all.

 

[Kin]

But I have to ask, do we want Fields on our team? Are we really paying that much to Fields, plus $36M over 3 years to Nash just to get Nash on our team? From what I hear (and granted I am not that informed) Fields is nothing spectacular at all.

I don't know a ton about Landry Fields(outside of him being a good guy who lets his teammates sleep on his couch) but just looking at his numbers I can see why someone might want him on the team. He had a tough sophomore year but as a rookie he shot 49.7% from the field, 39% from 3 point range and put up good rebounding numbers.

So he could be a useful player. Overpaid, sure, but then it boils down to how bad you want to sign Steve Nash.

 

[Kin]

As a more casual Raps fan just wondering what some of you think about signing Nash? To me, it's a pretty senseless signing. Nash may help the Raps squeak in the playoffs, but there are seemingly too many holes around him for the Raps to be considered anything close to a contender at the moment.

Of course I love Nash and it would be a great marketing move, but as far as I see it, it wouldn't be much more than that.

I think it's a move that's hard to judge because, the way I see it, a lot of it has to do with how the current CBA really shakes out. As the luxury tax becomes more and more punitive it's really unlikely that teams like the Lakers or the Heat or(possibly) the Nets who have 3 or 4 big money players are going to be able to supplant those guys with quality role players. If that's the case what you might see over the next few years are teams with big stars vs. teams with tons of depth.

So could the Raptors be a team with a lot of depth that can challenge? Maybe. It sort of depends on a number of things. For starters, if Valanciunas is legit and an impact centre that not only solves a big issue for the team but it lets Bargnani slide over to his more natural position. If the improvement we saw from Bargs last year is legitimate then that would make for a pretty good front court.

If Derozan can take a step or two(he's only 22) and Jones proves to be a real shooter then the addition of Nash could make for a starting 5 that's pretty good. Toss in a coach that seems to get real defensive effort from his players and it could be a good squad going forward.

 

[Beowulf]

As a more casual Raps fan just wondering what some of you think about signing Nash? To me, it's a pretty senseless signing. Nash may help the Raps squeak in the playoffs, but there are seemingly too many holes around him for the Raps to be considered anything close to a contender at the moment.

Of course I love Nash and it would be a great marketing move, but as far as I see it, it wouldn't be much more than that.

I think it's a move that's hard to judge because, the way I see it, a lot of it has to do with how the current CBA really shakes out. As the luxury tax becomes more and more punitive it's really unlikely that teams like the Lakers or the Heat or(possibly) the Nets who have 3 or 4 big money players are going to be able to supplant those guys with quality role players. If that's the case what you might see over the next few years are teams with big stars vs. teams with tons of depth.

So could the Raptors be a team with a lot of depth that can challenge? Maybe. It sort of depends on a number of things. For starters, if Valanciunas is legit and an impact centre that not only solves a big issue for the team but it lets Bargnani slide over to his more natural position. If the improvement we saw from Bargs last year is legitimate then that would make for a pretty good front court.

If Derozan can take a step or two(he's only 22) and Jones proves to be a real shooter then the addition of Nash could make for a starting 5 that's pretty good. Toss in a coach that seems to get real defensive effort from his players and it could be a good squad going forward.

Thanks for that, more promising than I thought. I had not been aware of those luxury tax implications.

 

[Kin]

Thanks for that, more promising than I thought. I had not been aware of those luxury tax implications.

To be fair, those are some pretty big ifs. Valanciunas may be a complete bust. Ross(who I call Jones in the post above for some reason) might be nothing special. DeRozan might not evolve past a 2nd rate Desmond Mason.

But past all that the interesting question is Nash. Nash is being offered a ton of money and really significant term for a guy his age. If he signs with New York it may be a sign that it won't be all that hard for teams like that to add depth. If players are willing to turn down millions to chase a championship as a role player then teams like the Heat or Knicks may have things on lockdown and the Raps only hope will be to draft a big three.

 

[TimKerr]

Thanks for that, more promising than I thought. I had not been aware of those luxury tax implications.

To be fair, those are some pretty big ifs. Valanciunas may be a complete bust. Ross(who I call Jones in the post above for some reason) might be nothing special. DeRozan might not evolve past a 2nd rate Desmond Mason.

But past all that the interesting question is Nash. Nash is being offered a ton of money and really significant term for a guy his age. If he signs with New York it may be a sign that it won't be all that hard for teams like that to add depth. If players are willing to turn down millions to chase a championship as a role player then teams like the Heat or Knicks may have things on lockdown and the Raps only hope will be to draft a big three.

I agree with you here and would love to see Nash on the team. My biggest fear if we sign Nash is that we won't be developing any PG's and the addition of Nash might not let us get a solid one in the draft. Nash is definitely a stop-gap and might help us going forward but we aren;t building down the road with Nash at PG and if I'm the Raptors I want to ensure we have someone solid in that position.

 

[Kin]

I agree with you here and would love to see Nash on the team. My biggest fear if we sign Nash is that we won't be developing any PG's and the addition of Nash might not let us get a solid one in the draft. Nash is definitely a stop-gap and might help us going forward but we aren;t building down the road with Nash at PG and if I'm the Raptors I want to ensure we have someone solid in that position.

I don't think that should be a huge concern. Last year Steve Nash played 31.6 minutes a night. Between concerns about his back and his advancing age, I think the likelihood is that he plays 25-30 minutes a night over the next few years with the Raptors. I think that gives them a ton of playing time with which to work on developing a young point guard.

 

[#1PilarFan]

And here I was making fun of the Asik deal...

Though I like Fields more than Asik. It's an interesting deal because Fields has shown he can do a variety of things at the NBA level and he's young enough to rebound from last year. He also compliments the likes of Bargnani and Calderon or Nash. With that said, we seem to have a bunch of options at SF but not any that are particularly appealing.

 

[#1PilarFan]

Apparently Raps have an offer (or may have had an offer) on the table for Ilysova, who I like, but I'm unsure of whether the Raptors see him as a SF or a PF. That offer may no longer be on the table given the Fields signing. Also, apparently he has a huge offer from a Euro team that he might take.

 

[#1PilarFan]

Apparently the Knicks are close to a S&T with the Suns for the all-Canadian hero, Steve Nash.

Tim Chisholm ‏@timpchisholm
This probably kicks off the Colangelo death watch in Toronto. This is a very public embarrassment for MLSE.