Yes he does. He eats all of their cap space. The whole point of the 4-team TOR/DAL/ORL/MEM trade was to use their cap space in a trade, rather than a free agent signing. If they would have just signed Hedo outright, they would have had to renounce Marion, Parker and Delfino and they would have had to forfeit their MLE and bi-annual exceptions. Wrong again. See above. Toronto has no cap space. Not sure why this is considered a positive. These were two guys Dallas wanted to dump and were thrown in to make the deal work. These are two guys who has PERs of 7.0 and 8.6 last season. Toronto basically picked them up to add bodies to a very depleted roster and weak bench and they gave up two big men (Humphries and Jawai) of their already depleted bench. Jawai hasn't shown much yet, but Humphries is a solid back-up big and a very good rebounder. They don't have any cap space. You can't have both the MLE and cap space. What they have are two exceptions - the MLE and the bi-annual exception. They aren't going to get Sessions as a back-up PG for the MLE. Milwaukee traded Jefferson and let Villanueva walk so they could afford to keep Sessions. Again, not sure why this is a positive. Yes, Bargnani finally showed some improvement over the second half of last season. He proved he can score (which he originally proved his rookie season), but he is still a very weak rebounder and a very weak defender. All of these moves and Colangelo hasn't addressed the Raptors two biggest needs - rebounding and defense (the things that win ball games). In fact, by losing Marion in favor of Hedo, they have gotten worse in both areas. They were a weak rebounding team last season, and gave away their second best rebounder. Marion averaged 8.3 PRPG for them last season and they replaced him with a guy who averaged 5.3 RPG. They were also a very weak defensive team last season and just traded away their best defender for a guy who is a big offensive upgrade, but needs a shot blocking big man behind him to play effective team defense. In Orlando, Dwight Howard had Hedo's back on defense. Who has it now? I seriously doubt it. Bosh wants to win, and he also wants to play with one of his buddies - Lebron or Wade. And, there isn't a chance in hell either one of those guys ends up in Toronto. I'm impressed by the amount of activity, and I'm impressed with their ability to pull of the complex 4-team trade that allowed them to get Hedo and still retain their exceptions. However, I am not impressed with the end result. Their roster is still a mess. Due to poor defense and weak rebounding, they only won 33 games last season. Now, their defense and reboundng is even worse. They have an extremely weak bench and will likely be starting an unproven rookie at SG. Hedo will help them win a few more games. They may have an outside shot at making the play-offs, but will struggle to reach 0.500. If they make the play-offs, they will be bounced in the 1st round - and it won't be close. With the slower pace in the post season, rebounding and defense are even more important. Next summer, Bosh leaves for greener pastures and they have big, long term commitments to Hedo, Bargnani and Calderon - all good offensive players, but horrible defenders and weak rebounders. If you add a dominant bag man and lock down perimeter defender to those three, you could have a decent starting 5. The problem is, dominant big men and all-nba defensive wings don't grow on trees - especially when you have over $30 million a year locked up in Calderon, Hedo and Bargnani. He has basically committed over $100 million to two guys who had below average PERs last season. Now, I'll be the first to admit there is more to a players value than a single number like PER. However, PER tends to favor players who are strong offensively - like Hedo and Bargnani, over players who are strong defensively. If anything, their PERs are higher than their net worth because it rewards their offensive contributions without comparably penalizing their poor defense. Until Colangelo improves their rebounding and defensive, and fills out their bench with passable NBA talent, I'm not impressed with the end results of his very busy summer. BTW, I'm much more impressed with what San Antonio has accomplished this summer. They were a good team and have gotten better. Their moves have actually addressed their needs. BNM
You think the guys around the league who want to win don't know exactly what Turk did? This guy is a gun for hire and he cares not about championships. He left the Magic, could have gone to the Blazers, only to wind up on a team that has no shot in hell of every being in a championship till years after Turk is all washed up. We'll be thanking KP for not paying this guy who has no fire to really win!
Having Bosh call Hedo was a good move and it is a little baffling why Pritchard didn't have Roy or Aldridge contact or meet Hedo when he was here... Maybe they did and we just haven't heard about it? I still think TOR is a crap team, maybe they make the playoffs in the weak EC...but that is a team that is going nowhere.....congratulations, I guess? So while some of you are sitting there and praising Colangelo and lambasting Pritchard, ask yourself this, the fact that the WC is a MUCH tougher conference top to bottom aside, Which team do you think will end up with the better record? Any suckers...err...betters out there willing to "let it all ride" on TOR? Not only do I think POR will have a better record in a far tougher conference, but POR will also likely win 50 games, which TOR won't and has a far better chance to actually ADVANCE out of the 1st round of the playoffs...and oh yeah, actually have a decent future outside of 2 years.... Just wanted to add a little "perspective" around here....
1) the off-season isn't over, so making judgements, at this point, makes no sense 2) BC's moves in Toronto, up to this point, have not been good This is a very silly thread, IMO.
Toronto's moves have been consistent with what appears to be the team concept for the Raptor's. Namely a running SSOL Suns like team. It may not win a title, but it will be a fan friendly basketball team. High scoring and exciting. In that sense, BC has been pretty good this off season.
Turk, an unathletic guy is the cornerstone of a SSOL? When did SSOL turn to be "Same Shit, Only Less"? Turk makes great sense in a half-court pick and roll with a big, bruising center. Who is going to play this role in Toronto? Bargnani?
Though I'm not going to anoint him the next "GM Wonder" because of these initial moves. I want to see what the result of these moves are first.
Well I love the team Pritchard has put together! He's the last person on earth I'd expect a Blazer fan to criticize. He has turned jailblazing shit into solid gold in just a few short years and that's still not good enough? Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. Don't wait till he's left for greener pastures and you're stuck with another Nash before you realize how good you have it.
the guy Colangelo gave their full exception to in 2007, Jason Kapono this is the same GM who drafted Bargnani over Aldridge and Roy... forgive me for not being jealous STOMP
That would be a long-distance-pick-and-roll, since Kapono is with 76ers now... It's nice to see BC being so creative...
ah... I sort of recalled something happening with him so before posting my little joke I checked out his nba.com listing... they still have him in Raptor gear. but thanks for setting things straight STOMP
I didn't say I thought these moves were good over all. I am saying he has a plan and is doing what he can to make it happen. I think his plan is a real loser to be honest.
He won't be the ball handler on this team, Jose will be. Hedo will be the trailer that hits the three ball. Frankly, I think Toronto's plan isn't a great one. But at least they have a plan and doing whatever they think they need to do to make it happen.
Well, then, in this case they have done wonders to turn Kapono's 24 million dollar salary into Hedo's longer, 50-million one. Especially when Hedo is nowhere near as good a 3-pt shooter as Kapono. BC for executive of the year. Book it.
Oh I see...."KP will be conducting business at the summer league games!" Forgot about that! "STupid?"
For the purpose of being a 3-point trailer at twice the price? You might need to lower the level of your sarcasm shield - because some things that should go through... don't.
