Raptors & Free Agents – a precious few I like
By Brian Boake
The roster is nearly built for next season’s Toronto Raptors. While we’ll be making trade proposals throughout the summer, we take note of free agency.
July 1 marks the commencement of NBA free agency, with all indicators pointing to a crazy couple of weeks. There’s also a strong possibility a great deal of dust will have settled in the first few days, so I’m not wasting any time putting my thoughts on (virtual) paper.
The Toronto Raptors are expected to use up most of their salary cap room to re-sign DeMar DeRozan to a max or near-max deal. As we’ve discussed recently, there won’t be enough gelt left to bring back Bismack Biyombo, but there might be a few players of interest the Raptors can make offers to.
Using RealGM’s listing as my guide, I’ve scanned through the listings. Here’s some thoughts:
In their “Playmaker” group, there’s no one I like enough to bother with. Either they aren’t my kind of player, like Norris Cole, Brandon Jennings, or Jordan Farmar, or there are other issues, like age or career underachievement.
Besides, the Raptors aren’t in crying need of ballhandlers. We’ve got Kyle Lowry and Cory Joseph playing the bulk of the minutes, with Delon Wright and perhaps even Norman Powell pushing them.
I won’t spend a lot of time on “Post Players” either. We just added one (or two, if Pascal Siakam makes the team) and there’s a tendency for big men to get overpaid. Dwight Howard just opted out of his Houston Rockets deal. He’s turning down more than $23 million in the hopes of getting more. I wouldn’t pay that guy what Jonas Valanciunas is getting next year, which is just over $14M. Howard’s demands are all too typical of low post giants. Good luck to you, Dwight and the rest (which includes Tyler Hansbrough, Jeff Green, Udonis Haslam and a bunch of others who will be lucky to get veteran’s-minimum offers) but we’re covered.
That leaves the free-agent market’s sweet spot: “Wing Players”. Here we find DeMar, Nicolas Batum, Kent Bazemore, and the biggest prize in the Crackerjack box, Kevin Durant. There are also some players like Dwayne Wade, LeBron James and Manu Ginobili who are tightly bound to their current teams and unlikely to go elsewhere.
While coach Dwane Casey doesn’t have the final say, nor should he, I suspect his preferences will go a long way in deciding which free agent(s) Masai Ujiri will pitch to. Coach will surely want a low maintenance 3-&-D man who’s a solid teammate for the many kids on the team.
Nicolas Batum certainly qualifies on all those counts, though he’s more 3 than D. Sadly for us, but
not for him, he made over $11 million last season, and he’s sure to command more. Pass.
Kent Bazemore was underpaid last year at $2 million, and he’s guaranteed to cash in now. He seems to want to remain an Atlanta Hawk, but he’s still of interest. Call his agent.
Tayshaun Prince has been around a long time (maybe too long) but might be worth a camp invitation.
Luc Mbah a Moute has played for five teams in eight seasons without ever breaking into double figures in scoring. Yet last season he started 61 games for the Los Angeles Clippers. Yes, I know they were missing Blake Griffin…but they couldn’t find anyone else? Anyway, he’s a quality person who wouldn’t cost much. Luc is one of those rare players who contributes without the ball.
Alan Anderson was a useful veteran off the bench in a stint with the Raptors a few years ago. However, there were indications he and Casey didn’t get on for some reason, so I doubt he’s under consideration.
Are you excited yet? Me neither. Masai may consider his work done after nailing down DeMar, then signing the draftees.
Is there anyone I’ve missed whom you like? Drop us a Comment.