With the draft behind them, the Toronto Raptors can now put their focus on retooling the roster with big name credibility – namely Paul Millsap.
The Toronto Raptors entered the 2016 NBA Draft with clear expectations to market their lottery pick for a more established player. Their first target was Paul Millsap of the Atlanta Hawks the day before the draft (which I covered earlier), and Oklahoma City Thunder forward, Serge Ibaka on draft day. Atlanta didn’t bite, and the Thunder was asking too much for Ibaka and opted to send him to the Orlando Magic instead.
While Ibaka might be out of play, the door might be still be open for Millsap to become a Raptor, provided of course that the Raptors are creative.
Related Story: How The Raptors Can Be Creative This Offseason
The current depth chart of the Raptors post-draft looks like this:
PG: Kyle Lowry/Cory Joseph/Delon Wright
SG: DeMar DeRozan*/Terrence Ross/Cory Joseph/Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carroll/Terrence Ross/Norman Powell/James Johnson*/Bruno Caboclo
PF: Luis Scola*/Patrick Patterson/DeMarre Carroll/James Johnson*/Pascal Siakam**
C: Jonas Valanciunas/Bismack Biyombo*/Jason Thompson*/Jakob Poeltl**/Lucas Nogueira
* Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA)
** 2016 Draft Pick
Outside of DeMar DeRozan, it doesn’t seem like any of Toronto’s free agents will be returning, and all for different reasons. Luis Scola seemed overly spry at the start of the season, but wore down as the year progressed along with his production. James Johnson has been on the outs with Toronto seemingly since the 2014-15 season. Jason Thompson didn’t really do much of anything. And finally, Bismack Biyombo had a coming out party in the postseason and while the Raptors want him to return, the simple fact is that they won’t have enough money to make that happen.
This is where the creativity happens. In my previous report, I had the follow trade scenario to acquire Millsap:
Our ninth pick turned into Jakob Poeltl, and boy is he a keeper. You could even say we’re happy about him! So with Poeltl in the fold, he’s no longer on the table.
The best alternative would be initiate a sign-and-trade agreement with Biyombo, which would mean the end of his short stay in a Raptors uniform. A few complications arise. One, Paul Millsap is owed a little over $20 Million for next season. Two, the Raptors are still close to the salary cap limit should they resign DeRozan. And three, the Hawks don’t know the immediate future of centre Al Horford, who is also a UFA.
We’ll have to make a few assumptions here. For one, we’ll assume that DeRozan resigns with Toronto at a near max deal, at roughly $16 Million per year for three seasons with a player option for a fourth. Secondly, we’ll assume that Horford resigns with the Hawks, even though it wouldn’t make much of a difference in terms of dollars and cents. We can assume that his new contract would be max territory, so we’ll assume a $20 Million per year deal. Terrence Ross’ new contract kicks in on July 1st, paying him $10 Million per season. Biyombo’s fair market value has been estimated at approximately $16 Million per season, so we’ll go with that. And we’ll also assume that Atlanta isn’t trying to tear the whole team down into full rebuild mode.
With that out of the way, we can project that the estimated committed salaries for the two teams are about $85.65 Million for the Raptors and $61.5 Million for Atlanta, with Biyombo’s $16 Million contract hanging in the balance. The salary cap is expected to increase to $94 Million this offseason. With all those variables, here’s the new sign-and-trade proposal:
Related Story: Raptors: What Paul Millsap Could Bring to the Team
The first notable change is who’s being offered. By adding Biyombo to the mix via a sign-and-trade agreement of $16 Million, Ross’ $10 Million deal would push Toronto’s outgoing salary to $26 Million. By removing Ross and adding Nogueira ($1.9 Million) to the deal along with Patterson ($6.05 Million), who tips the value of the trade more than Ross would, the outgoing salaries would total approximately $23.95 Million, a difference of $2.05 Million. While the savings might be beneficial to the Raptors, the Hawk might not want to take on the extra cap dollars, especially for an inconsistent player like Ross. With Millsap’s $20 Million contract on the Raptors’ payroll, there’s still a saving of approximately $3.95 Million, which would give Toronto much-needed flexibility… if they weren’t above the cap with this move.
By not adding Ross to the deal, the Raptors would sit at approximately $97.7 Million in committed salary, which is over $3 Million over the projected salary cap. To accomplish our task, we would still need to move Ross to a team that could utilize his skills and in return give the Raptors a useful option at the 2-guard and/or small forward position. The trade in question could be with the Memphis Grizzlies for a certain former Raptor:
Let’s face it: the Grizzlies are on the brink of a rebuild with Mike Conley reportedly not interested in returning and the team not likely to pick up Lance Stephenson’s team option. Ross would be a welcomed addition to the “Grind House” with long range capabilities and guard multiple positions when he’s committed. Vince Carter on the other hand, has stated that he has at least two seasons left in him and it would be very apropos for him to close out his career with the team who gave him his start in the first place. Carter has expressed and hinted on multiple occasions that he’d welcome a return to the land of the Six, he would also be a great fix on a contending team who were two wins away from the NBA Finals.
Pulling off this three-team trade would keep the Raptors under the salary cap, and keep them highly competitive in the ever-improving Eastern conference.
The updated depth chart would look something like this:
PG: Kyle Lowry/Cory Joseph/Delon Wright
SG: DeMar DeRozan/Cory Joseph/Norman Powell
SF: DeMarre Carroll/Vince Carter/Bruno Caboclo
PF: Paul Millsap/DeMarre Carroll/
C: Jonas Valanciunas/Jakob Poeltl
Although the trade would still leave the Raptors rather thin at the power forward position, with the extra cap space they have remaining, they would be able to pick up an inexpensive player to cover off the shortfall. Millsap would be a much-welcomed addition to the Raptors roster and should he stay long term, would keep Toronto in the upper echelon of not only the Eastern Conference but the NBA as well. Atlanta narrowly escapes a rebuilding season and also remains competitive while Memphis gets to hold on to their “Grit and Grind” philosophy for at least one more season.
Next: Paul Millsap To The Raptors?
All stats are provided by Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise stated. NBA Draft information and stats are provided by NBADraft.net unless otherwise stated. Matthew Allman is a staff writer for Raptors Rapture. For more coverage on the Toronto Raptors, follow Matthew on Twitter @ShadowRapsFan and also follow @RaptorsRapture for the latest in Raptors news.