(TSN) Carroll: "Raptors blew me away with their presentation"

[mtcan]

Someone tweeted somewhere that Phoenix still needs to clear out salary to take on Lamarcus...and having dump Markieff Morris as part of it. That's where having cap room comes in handy.

Let's say...hypothetically...we didn't chase Demarre Carroll. Let's imagine that Sacramento called Masai to talk about clearing cap room and Masai agreed to take on Jason Thompson and Carl Landry along with Nik Stauskas and a first round pick.

Let's also say...we got in on Phoenix trying to clear cap room out to sign Lamarcus Aldridge. I'll take PJ Tucker and Markieff Morris for a couple of second round picks.

Lowry/Wright/Bynum or whatever 3rd string PG
Derozan/Stauskas/Ross/Powell
Tucker/JJ/Bruno
Morris/Patterson/Landry
Valanciunas/Thompson/Bebe

All that plus another first round pick in the future.

Summer retool complete. That's what you can do with cap room...if the right opportunities arise.

[Asif16]

Someone tweeted somewhere that Phoenix still needs to clear out salary to take on Lamarcus...and having dump Markieff Morris as part of it. That's where having cap room comes in handy.

Let's say...hypothetically...we didn't chase Demarre Carroll. Let's imagine that Sacramento called Masai to talk about clearing cap room and Masai agreed to take on Jason Thompson and Carl Landry along with Nik Stauskas and a first round pick.

Let's also say...we got in on Phoenix trying to clear cap room out to sign Lamarcus Aldridge. I'll take PJ Tucker and Markieff Morris for a couple of second round picks.

Lowry/Wright/Bynum or whatever 3rd string PG
Derozan/Stauskas/Ross/Powell
Tucker/JJ/Bruno
Morris/Patterson/Landry
Valanciunas/Thompson/Bebe

All that plus another first round pick in the future.

Summer retool complete. That's what you can do with cap room...if the right opportunities arise.

We could still try for both even with carrol signed. Either Morris or Tucker can off the bench making us that much deeper.

[Skeezo]

Were the raptors problems last year scoring on most nights? ...No... they have enough scoring. What they lack is Defense And Rebounding. So like i said i think Masai strategy is getting as many defenders as he can to add around our core.
Im not agreeing or disagreeing with it just saying how i think masai is looking at our team right now.

We just lost our best defensive player/rebounder to Boston for 2yr/12m per (2yr TO)... Is Carroll at 15m going to make up for all of that? I am aware the offseason is nowhere near complete so obviously moves will be made but how people assume that we are all of sudden better is premature...

All this 3-D talk, and that these players are worth more now the way the league is evolving... Eerily similar to 6 years ago, when the rave for Point Forwards who can pass and manage the floor... That's why Hedo Turkoglu was going to be a difference maker for us... Lol!

As I have been saying since the deal was made... Not against DC, I think he is a fine player and can contribute the team... I'm not yelling about a flawed core, nor do I feel we should simply tear down... I presented graphs and data which show my arguments and logical reasoning for my conclusions. That conclusion is we overpaid for DC... Not slightly overpaid... Overpaid! By like 3-4m per year overpaid... Guys can say teams were ready to offer 14m/15m deals but we don't know that & neither do the reporters...

Agents obviously have an idea of who's going to offer what & there's a reason why the Raptors were the first meeting... There's also a reason he he decided not to even have any other meetings with teams cause they probably weren't even in the ballgame? Seriously think about it for a second, you're a Free Agent and you have at least 5 teams wanting to meet with you... You shut it down after the first one??? Unrealistic...

DeMarre Carroll's Agent: "DC you sign this deal before there are any second thoughts on these these crazy Canucks... You see our next best offer is ummmm Detroit... Yeah there offer 3yrs/42m (14m), might give the 4yr but it's Detroit... Phil in NY wants us but he's not losing his mind giving crazy offers which is so un-NY-like but their willing to go 4yrs/48m (12m)... After that everybody has got us in the M.Ellis category around 11m per... Still better than that sucker Ariza... Don't worry no meetings with Houston"

Like you said yourself no one knows what they were willing to offer so how do you know the offers? ...Lol If he can help the team why complain? isnt the point to get better? Its not YOU paying in the first place so why complain?

And who is to say he wont earn that contract? this board is the same people saying Amir was overpayed when we signed him and look how that turned out.
Let the man play some games first before saying hes overpaid sheesh.

Can't believe how many times I have had to say this...

#1 We are paying... It's our cable, internet, and cell bills that keep going up to pay these astronomical TV deals... It's our tax dollars that get spent to partially help the building of stadiums, and practice facilities... It's our money that is spent on the rising costs of merchandise, tickets, & concessions...

#2 I don't need to know the offers specifically, I just know ours was more & probably by a considerable sum when you look at what the Tier 2/3 Wing Players & Hybrids are getting paid & by the fact he refused to meet any other team after the fact.

#3 The point is to get better, but as I stated unless we find a viable replacement for Amir Johnson, I beg to differ that we are any better of a ball club today with DC. At which point your just spending money to spend it, which is fine if you are only doing it on a year by year basis you land a big fish (this is what Boston is doing by the way) but you don't spend frivolously and lock into it for 4yrs...

#4 Here is my record on this board for some of our notable free agent signings, right after it was signed

Kapono - Hated It
Johnson - Little Leary, but defended it, didn't think it would turn into the value contract it did but also wasn't worried cause final year was a team option and he was still only 23yr old
DeRozan - Felt the same way as I did Johnson... Little Leary but defended it positively cause again he was like 22yrs at the time
Bargnani - Didn't like it, but didn't denounce it either... Hoped it could turn into a really good deal.. Wrong!
Fields - Hated it right from the jump, and denounced it
Hedo - Hated it right from the jump, and said so
Lowry - Thought it was a slight overpayment, but not disgusted... I was looking for 3yrs/30-33m... I'll eat crow on that one
Carroll - Horrible overpayment... Like the player fine, this isn't a slight to him as a player it is a slight to our allocation of resources. I'm cool with Carroll but 4yrs/48m (12m) with Team Option on the final year is the absolute highest I go... At 29yrs old and having your best season at less than 16 PER, the chances of earning or outperforming 15m contract even in a 100m Salary cap world is doubtful...

Some people may say so what what's 2-3m more to land the player? Well 2m here, 3m there, another 1m over there or if a deal runs a year longer then it should... All of sudden you have an opportunity to gain a player you like but you need like 6m in space to get him... Now were forced into a trade that relinquishes assets to gain that extra 5m-10m in space... The money all adds up, it matters... My problem isn't with the player... My problem is the allocation of dollars and percentage of the cap you are giving to a player that will never be better than the 5th/6th best player on a contending team

[yodude]

I'm sure Masai was trying to get a star player and I can respect going out and meeting with Lamarcus Aldridge. But when the star players aren't available on the free agent market...it's ok to sit back and reevaluate the options. Like I said...let's improve the talent at the top of the roster before we add role players. I can understand it if Cleveland or Golden State decided to spend 60 million on Carroll while they have their superstar talent locked up and need to fill a hole. When Toronto does it...I'm questioning whether management is really viewing the roster for what it really is. Are they really content to build around Lowry, Derozan and Valanciunas?...because it sure seems that way. What young blue chip talent do we have that might add to/improve that core? None. Sorry...no offence to Bruno but he's still a long shot from making anything of himself. Bebe? Same thing as Bruno. Wright and Powell will make good D-league starters/big league backups. I'm sorry...but Demarre Carroll isn't a star and he isn't a blue chip prospect. But somehow he does make $15 million per year for a team that has never made it out of the first round of the playoffs.

May I ask how we are suppose to acquire young talent to improve the core? And can you list some young, blue chip players (realistically) that we can get to improve this core? Without trading Demar, Val or Lowry?

I didn't rule out trading Demar, Val or Lowry. But in terms of acquiring blue chip players...see what Philly did with Sacramento a few days ago. Stauskas is a great pickup along with a first round pick and the right to swap first round picks twice? That's what you do when you have cap room. Not saying that those opportunities are always available...but damn...what a deal for Philly.

Well, if we are going to trade Demar, Lowry or Val, it would lead to tanking, or even more treadmilling. And also, Philly didn't just get picks and Staukus...They got 2 big men who took up around 9-10 mil in cap space. Staukus is around 3mil as well, so Philly basically took in 12mil of cap space to get 2 big men who don't provide much of anything, and Staukus and a 1st rounder with swap rights. Sure, the two assets are nice, but losing cap space for a package that doesn't really help us in anything is pointless. If we were to do that, We would have 13mil left, and we'd still be desperately in need of a PF and a 3+D guy...Like I said before, Masai is taking the approach of slowly acquiring future picks, while filling in our needs. I'd rather take that route than acquiring young players (who usually have low upside), plus picks while taking up cap space. This route will lead to treadmilling or possibly even tanking, depending on how good our team really is. In order for us to get better, we need to continue to add pieces that can help us so we build a winning culture to somewhat attract free agents, or tank to try to get a superstar. Pick your poison.

[mtcan]

May I ask how we are suppose to acquire young talent to improve the core? And can you list some young, blue chip players (realistically) that we can get to improve this core? Without trading Demar, Val or Lowry?

I didn't rule out trading Demar, Val or Lowry. But in terms of acquiring blue chip players...see what Philly did with Sacramento a few days ago. Stauskas is a great pickup along with a first round pick and the right to swap first round picks twice? That's what you do when you have cap room. Not saying that those opportunities are always available...but damn...what a deal for Philly.

Well, if we are going to trade Demar, Lowry or Val, it would lead to tanking, or even more treadmilling. And also, Philly didn't just get picks and Staukus...They got 2 big men who took up around 9-10 mil in cap space. Staukus is around 3mil as well, so Philly basically took in 12mil of cap space to get 2 big men who don't provide much of anything, and Staukus and a 1st rounder with swap rights. Sure, the two assets are nice, but losing cap space for a package that doesn't really help us in anything is pointless. If we were to do that, We would have 13mil left, and we'd still be desperately in need of a PF and a 3+D guy...Like I said before, Masai is taking the approach of slowly acquiring future picks, while filling in our needs. I'd rather take that route than acquiring young players (who usually have low upside), plus picks while taking up cap space. This route will lead to treadmilling or possibly even tanking, depending on how good our team really is. In order for us to get better, we need to continue to add pieces that can help us so we build a winning culture to somewhat attract free agents, or tank to try to get a superstar. Pick your poison.

Trading Demar, Lowry or Val doesn't necessarily mean tanking...for the right deal. Right now...the team is tread milling. Two first round playoff exits with the latest exit being a sweep by a lower seeded team (both playoff losses being to lower seeded teams, mind you...) means that this existing core has plateaued. Adding Demarre Carroll is a treadmill move. Deny it all you want. This is Masai Ujiri saying that despite losing to aging, overpaid Brooklyn in 7 and then getting our asses handed to us in embarrassing fashion by Washington...that Lowry, Derozan and Val are talented enough to win. And that's simply not true. The talent in this core is not enough. Don't spend time and money courting role players when your best players aren't good enough. This is a textbook definition of a treadmill move. I can't defend it. And I was on the side that thought Masai was doing a good job...until this offseason. I like Demarre Carroll as a player, but he's going to be expected to do much more than he's capable of...because of how much he's getting paid and that's not fair to him.

And I'm well aware of what Philly got in the trade...but taking on 12 million for 2 useful big men off the bench (or starting even) and a lottery pick from just a year ago who's a lights out shooter (and Canadian!) is worth spending the cap room. Would I rather have Landry and Thompson for a combined 24 million over the next 2 seasons along with a talented young player in Stauskas and a first round pick over 60 million in Demarre Carroll for the next 4 years? You bet I would. We have 9 million left of cap room to spend to fill out the rest of the roster.

If we weren't going to land Lamarcus Aldridge...we were better off holding on to the cap room instead of throwing money at 2nd/3rd tier free agents like Wes Matthews and Demarre Carroll. This is not responsible evaluation and spending.

And like I keep saying...if you really want to retool the core in short order...why not miss the playoffs this year? Let's have our own pick be a top-10 pick to along with the Knicks/Nuggets pick which would hopefully also be a top 10 pick. Add 2 potential stars and change the direction of the team in one offseason.

[Kenyon009]

I don't think the raptors are better than last year at all.

Valanciunas/BB
JJ/Patterson
Carroll/Daniels?
Derozan/Ross
Lowry/Wright

[Asif16]

I don't think the raptors are better than last year at all.

Valanciunas/BB
JJ/Patterson
Carroll/Daniels?
Derozan/Ross
Lowry/Wright

Lol bruh the season isnt starting tomm. You realize that the offseason isnt done yet right?? It basically just started.

You crazy if you think thats gonna be roster at the beginning of the season.

[Kenyon009]

I don't think the raptors are better than last year at all.

Valanciunas/BB
JJ/Patterson
Carroll/Daniels?
Derozan/Ross
Lowry/Wright

Lol bruh the season isnt starting tomm. You realize that the offseason isnt done yet right?? It basically just started.

You crazy if you think thats gonna be roster at the beginning of the season.

The moves so far have been redundant. I was expecting big changes, someone like JV, Lowry, or DeRozan to be moved. If that was gonna happen it would have been done at the draft. It's more and more obvious that Masai is just plugging up some holes and throwing out some trash. He however is not making big changes.

[Scase]

Wilson Chandler is not the defensive player Carroll is simple as that. DC is a defensive stopper. IMO we are getting all the defenders we can get, and leave the scoring to Lowry DD and JV.

Leave the scoring to a PG that can't play a full season, one of the most inefficient 2 guards in the league, or the least utilized player on the team.

Fantastic outlook.

Were the raptors problems last year scoring on most nights? ...No... they have enough scoring. What they lack is Defense And Rebounding. So like i said i think Masai strategy is getting as many defenders as he can to add around our core.
Im not agreeing or disagreeing with it just saying how i think masai is looking at our team right now.

Most nights? How about the 4 most important ones of the season.



Yeah that seems like offense certainly wasn't an issue. DD TS% .463 KL TS% .433 Even JV wasn't shooting well TS% .542.

Christ the only 2 players that shot well were Amir TS% .671 and 2pat TS% .713

But, yeah you keep thinking that our only problem is defense. We lost Amir, one of our best defenders and picked up a defender that isn't much better offensively. This was a lateral move. Period.

[Peja Stojakovic]

lol this was the top youtube search result for demarre carroll raptors interview

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6wTZpZd33I[/youtube]

raps need to fire leo and hire this guy