Team Mao

No

No.

Let's try to be realistic in what the Raptors players are worth. How many teams are going to be willing to pay Rasho 8 mil per for 2 seasons? Why wouldn't they just let Wallace walk and spend that capspace on someone else? I understand that this is a message board, but shouldn't things be somewhat grounded in reality?

Gerald Wallace, Rashard Lewis, Shawn Marion, etc. are not coming to Toronto without Bosh or Bargnani going the other way.

butr

I was not proposing those deals per se, merely what we have to offer and thus why its so hard, there are hundreds of possibilities.

Re your post, yes an no. Charlotte is one cheap franchise. Humph + JG in with a conditional 1st might look awful nice compared to NOTHING at all for Wallace. Remember he is an UFA and they are still building. IE CHA has little leverage. Look at their coach. I'll be surprised if they even come near the cap this offseason.

speedythief

There are basically four teams this summer with Gerald Wallace cash--Milwaukee, Memphis, Orlando, and Charlotte. Milwaukee is paying Bobby Simmons and they need to re-sign Mo Williams or find another point guard; Memphis has Rudy Gay, Mike Miller, and they also need a point guard; Orlando is dysfunctional but they could use him; Charlotte could keep him but they seem cheap as hell these days.

Team Mao

They may be cheap, but there are going to be much better offers for a guy who IMO is just as good as Josh Smith.

ballocks

most tradeable pieces we have this summer:

1) a point guard
2) rasho
3) dixon
4) humphries
8) mop

i like mop and everything but i can't lie to myself. if we managed to get anything from anyone (should we choose not to re-sign him ourselves), i'd be flabbergasted. it wouldn't make much sense to me- but it doesn't always have to make sense either, that's true.

if this talk about calderon's extension is legit, option number 1 flies out the window. to me, that would have to imply that we have something on the back burner for a wing, but given the limited trade possibilities that that would leave us, i just don't know who this wing could possibly be. then consider that mop's probably on his way out, too- who is this wing? are we targetting someone with the mle? (what mle?) maybe. but who the (heck) would that be?

rasho wouldn't fetch much, although his contract is not long and he's still serviceable (no question). so much so that i think we still need him, too- this talk about starting andrea at the 5 is a little premature, i think. i feel andrea only got more perimeter-oriented as the season wore on, and while that wouldn't necessarily preclude him from playing a laimbeer/memo(/'yell?)-style game down low, i don't know if that would be the best way to improve our rebounding/defensive woes. or maybe i'm just biased- i've always felt that he could play on the wing with competent bodies inside (like rasho). sticking him 'down there' to start games would be like shoving a round peg into a square hole. but i digress.

the point is that without rasho, i think we'd be worse off in several ways. but maybe i've stumbled upon the answer to my question in a roundabout way: could andrea be the wing we're looking for? that could possibly justify signing calderon long-term right now, letting mop walk, and not worrying about improving the team via s&t and/or free agent signing.

listen, i doubt it. i haven't heard a word about it. if anything, i've heard the opposite. but it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility. and to tell you the truth, "if i were the gm", that's probably what i'd do.

peace

ColinBeehler

Something to consider is that, the starting line-ups we all talk about aren't really based on everyone's offensive game. When I think starting Bargnani at C, I'm not saying force him to turn into Rasho with more range. I'm just saying, he could be the guy to gaurd D-Ho, Curry, Kedrick Perkins and Duncan down the road. He still can play his perimeter game offensively and give Bosh more room to operate. This isn't a video game, the centre isn't always stuck plodding around the key in real life.

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seifer0406

I paused for a second when I saw Kendrick Perkins mentioned with Duncan, Curry, and Howard.

seifer0406

The thing I like the most about Rasho's game is his passing ability and general savvy on offense. It's not worth the 8 mil we're paying for him, but the price tag aside, it's hard to find a 7 footer that's not an allstar and has the basketball IQ that Rasho has.

That said, I don't mind keeping Rasho around for the remaining 2 years or at least the upcoming year. Having him around provides insurance for the Raptors when they face teams that have a big center. Moreover, his 8.4 million expire contract will be a major trade asset after next year. I would think BC will be able to use that money to get us an impact player that will get us over the hump.

Porn_Player

Yeah I really like Rasho's overall game, he his one of the better centers this team has EVER had. It is nice to know we have a reliable player on court at the 5. Rasho will be around next year I hope and his expiring contract is going to look mighty fine to some team looking to relieve cap space which means we get a pretty solid (8 mil a year worth) player back.

__________________

butr

Re Mo. I'd don't necessarily disagree. The situation I see is in a package or on his own to a team that wants him, but also wants to maintain the use of the MLE, as I figure that is what Mo will earn for himself.

ballocks

yeah, i'm just not expecting any team to want a second mle- especially if it'll come at the cost of trading someone away (particularly someone whom colangelo feels would be of value to us).

i mean, i'm a mop fan. but i just don't think he'll command that sort of interest on the market this summer, so i won't hold my breath. if BC does find something, anything, i promise to get a face transplant to look like the man.

peace

butr

Perhaps BC has been overly optimistic, but I've heard him talk about Mo and a S&T in the same sentence at least twice. Regarding other teams, I look at it more like an extension of where Mo is now. A swing worth about 5 mil per on the Raps. If a team wants to re configure itself, get a wing via trade with TOR and upgrade somehow else by the MLE, this is an option.

You speak about giving up an asset like it is a horrible option. I'm sure there's a GM out there that doesn't really care for one of his players, but that player rates pretty high with BC.

I know what you are saying, but how does Hoffa for Humph look now?

ballocks

i think we've all heard him talk about it, true, but i think that was done more to (try to) set an expectation around the league than it was because he actually expects to find a partner. i think we talked about this a few weeks ago- what harm is really done by putting it out there, by saying that it could happen (and reiterating the same point over and over in basically every interview)? none. i think that speaks to colangelo's marketing talents/instincts/even fire because i sincerely doubt that either babcock or grunwald would've tried the same tactic. i think they would've waved the white flag, and early: "peterson's gone. we're moving in a different direction." imo, colangelo doesn't give up so easily- and really, why would he?- and i give him points for that. no harm done.

or maybe you're right- maybe someone will actually want to sign mop to a sizable contract in return for simply divesting themselves of some unproven/problematic talent. could happen, who knows. but this player would have to seem like a serious headache to the team we trade with, while still appearing like a useful talent in disguise to bryan colangelo (i.e. player x > morris peterson, at least in colangelo's opinion). i think the chances of that are pretty slim- but again, certainly not zero. the sheer fact that we're talking about it is a good thing, imo.

peace

ColinBeehler

Alright... If I were Raptors GM, I would:

-Trade Jose Calderon, Juan Dixon for Josh Childress(signed to a 6 mil contract) and the