Jermaine O to the Raps

[Rccanes2311]

If JO is back to his old self this makes them a contender for the East. If he's not their screwed plain and simple. To the Raptors fans over here talking trash remember Orlando traded for any injured aging star once and you saw how well that worked out for our squad so be careful what you wish for. To the Magic fans talking about this as if it means nothing, If JO comes back and is the same JO that he was in Indiana then they are just as good if not a better team than the Magic. Unless Howard becomes significantly better at shooting in the off season. This all depends on how much Howard improves he's only person on the team with any real room to grow as a player. Along with this new draft pick and Nelson.

And whats this crap about Shard being able to guard Bosh. Bosh had one bad game against us. He always kills us Lewis can't stop him. Shard and Nelson are our weak links in our lineup on Defense. I just hope Courtney Lee is a good defensive player and I also hope we get a legit PF to help Dwight and cover up Lewis's bad defense.

[Kosta]

Well thats the point. Can he return and be healthy. If Jo is healthy and playing at a high level with a healthy Bosh the Raps are going to win a lot of games. Him being healthy and playing at the level we have seen in the past is not a given.

And that's my point, we don't have significant reason to believe that this will be the case.

I don't hate the deal for the Raptors. In fact, when it was announced, I said that if I were the Raptors, ultimately, I'd probably take that risk as well.

History says Bosh will miss a chunk of games, O'Neal will miss and even bigger chunk.



Then, it's not as if they just added his production on top of what they already have; they lost that of Ford (their PG depth), Rasho, and whatever small impact the draft pick may have given (likely minimal, so you can just ignore it if you like). Not to mention Garbajosa is gone for good, and Parker may be leave as well. Yikes. (Yeah, I know Garbajosa wasn't a factor last year, but many were claiming that part of the reason they would improve is that he would return and help lift them.)

So, like I said, I'd probably take the risk if I were the Raptors, but that's exactly what it is -- a risk.

Had they stood pat, I think they would have done about the same as last season.

By taking this risk, I think they have a chance to improve (they'd have to improve 11 games, just to catch us, assuming we don't improve as well), but the counter risk is that they flop -- O'Neal has a similar year, and they sit with basically the same team as last year minus Rasho, Ford, and a draft pick (and Garbajosa and maybe Parker).

We'll see what happens. Regardless, I don't really see them having a shot to "catch up" to us, unless O'Neal just comes out and completely dominates the defensive end and put us big numbers on offense, and the chances of that, on my scale of likelihood, are slim.

Parker is under contract with the Raptors, he isn't going anywhere.

And Colangelo isn't near done, at least that's what reports are speculating, he said he wanted a 20 ppg wing player and I wouldn't put it past him to find his man. With the addition of J.O, Bargnani isn't even safe anymore. They still have the MLE to work with as well. As of right now, with O'Neal, the Raptors are close to the Magic, with a couple more minor moves, they'll be on the Magic's level IMO. But if Colangelo finds that wing player he wants, they could very well pass Orlando.

[drsd]

Parker is under contract with the Raptors, he isn't going anywhere.

FIBA and the NBA have a reciprocal deal. The reason the NBA must by out Europeans is thus reciprocally required for Parker to go back to Europe. Toronto could in principal change any cost they want to a European club to release his rights; Parker has no say in that fact.

Parker cannot simple move back to the East side of the Atlantic because he wants to.

[MitchellUK]

Parker is under contract with the Raptors, he isn't going anywhere.

Toronto could in principal change any cost they want to a European club to release his rights; Parker has no say in that fact.

Parker cannot simple move back to the East side of the Atlantic because he wants to.

Toronto will not be able to change the buy-out value of his contract on a whim. It will be written into the deal, and would require re-negotiation from both sides to alter. Given that many European teams will pay ridiculous money to players in salary, paying a couple of $m to buy out the original deal will be unlikely to make them flinch, and as I remember, they are not restricted as to the amount they can pay towards buyouts like NBA players are. If Parker or any other NBA player gets an offer from Europe and wants to take it, I would expect them to be gone.