Yahoo: Raps sign Linas Kleiza to 4 year 18.8M offer sheet

[whoknows]

Good signing, this soft team needs toughness!

Linas is young and gritty, he can score with ease and can play 3/4 position.
Great asset, tradable contract as well.

[track kingz]

I think this makes it obvious that Hedo is going to the heat with Bosh, and lebron is NOT gong there

















right?

[rdtx2005]

You know what throw's a rebuild off, another Turk. If we bring in any older players with long term deals, they better be instant game changers, I agree with that. But isn't acquiring young good assets a fundamental part of rebuilding. You realize it takes too long to do threw the draft at one player a year. You can even draft a 4 players, before the first one's contract is up.

Klieza is only 25.. if you haven't noticed already.

[Vik Rude]

I like this.

*It's a deal below the MLE
*He's in his mid's 20's
*He fills a need at the 3
*He's tough

What need do we have at the 3? We're paying a guy 50+ million to play that position, unless we move him there's no need to fill that position and we're also trying to do a sign and trade with Miami for a potential player who also plays the 3.

What need do you exactly see?

[Rhettmatic]

People just hate everything right now. 90% of the forum has no idea what they want from this team.

They want to rebuild, but they also don't want to suck. They want good players but they want to tank. Most have no clue.

I agree that a lot of the people calling for a rebuild will complain when we lose a lot.

Not me though, Ozzy. You can hold me to this. I'm ready for those Ls.

[Mars Blackmon]

Maybe this means Turk is gone, and that Beasley will be accepted in a S&T as our starting SF?
Kinda makes sense don't you think?



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[basketball royalty]

Pretty good pick up IMO. I think he would make a solid 6th man type. A guy who can score off the bench. Hopefully there are more moves to be made though.

[The Duke]

This does not mean Turk is gone (or a deal is in place)

I think Denver matches personally.

[phailing101]

Kleiza's a very good role player if Denver doesn't match. He brings good length and he's tougher than alot of our current players.

Its a little pricy IMO but given the price tags in today's market, that's all you can do.

[C Court]

Lil Ozzy is 1000% correct. You guys hate everything right now, so the reactions here are predictable.

Here's my take:

Not a great move. Not a horrible move.

This could very well be a precursor to the trading of Hedo, so I'll reserve judgement for awhile. Also, this is another sign that Beasley's not headed to Toronto either.

Kleiza is a scrappy, 25 year SF who is a solid 6'8" and 245 lbs and only 25 years old. As I recall, Denver wanted to keep him, but salary cap issues sent him to Europe last season. Joey Graham eventually took his roster spot if I'm not mistaken.

Playing behind Melo, Kleiza didn't get a ton of minutes, but when he played ... he produced. A few years ago he got 30 mpg in the playoffs (granted a small sample) and put up 14/6. On the plus size, he's low maintenance and he's not afraid to bloody his nose and his on-court mindset is exactly what any team needs. Linas is not going to be pushed around.

He's getting less than the MLE, so its probably fine.

On the downside, we will now be forced to endure more Lithuanian nonsense from Leo!

[chimpston17]

The only true sf we have is turkoglu, and dont even know if he'll be back with this team. Kleiza has a rep for toughness and can shoot the 3 pretty well (which our 2 guards cannot). Im not sure why anyone has a problem with this, pretty much as good as we could hope for with the MLE

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

You know what throw's a rebuild off, another Turk. If we bring in any older players with long term deals, they better be instant game changers, I agree with that. But isn't acquiring young good assets a fundamental part of rebuilding. You realize it takes too long to do threw the draft at one player a year. You can even draft a 4 players, before the first one's contract is up.

Klieza is only 25.. if you haven't noticed already.

You're assuming I'm saying Klieza is another Turk? I'm saying it's a good deal because he's not another Turk. Maybe re-read. He's no more another Turk than Alabi is another Shaq.

[whysoserious]

First of all, I absolutely do not think we'd be able to eke out an eighth seed. I just believe Colangelo might try, and would forsake the future to do so. (I hope this doesn't happen).

Secondly, it isn't better. There's no good reason to try to take a run at anything this year. Even Colangelo should see that it would be futile.

I think the playoffs are the goal every season and so it should be.

The thing is, people say we're going to bad based on our current team and they're probably right, does adding Kleiza change that? He's signed to a 4 year deal, which brings in his expiring around the
same time as some other guys currently on this roster which means he'll be valuable at that time if he's not traded by then. He's still young too.

Our young guys are still going to be getting major minutes so nothing has changed there yet which means we are in rebuild mode. If we don't get our pick back in a S&T, squeezing the playoffs might be good cause Miami gets a middle pick and we don't have to worry about if we were bad later and gave a lottery pick to a contender.

[Harold_and_Kumar]

I really like this move.

[KingstonRaptors]

Kleiza was an aggressive player who didn't shy from contact when he played with Denver. Didn't really watch him after he left. If he signs and is the same player, I like it. Hedo doesn't need to be moved, Kleiza isn't a starter.

[rdtx2005]

This does not mean Turk is gone (or a deal is in place)

I think Denver matches personally.

and pay double the salary in taxes?

i don't think so.

[MrBojangelz71]

I like this.

*It's a deal below the MLE
*He's in his mid's 20's
*He fills a need at the 3
*He's tough

What need do we have at the 3? We're paying a guy 50+ million to play that position, unless we move him there's no need to fill that position and we're also trying to do a sign and trade with Miami for a potential player who also plays the 3.

What need do you exactly see?

Ummm you are obviously not seeing to clear yourself.

1st off Beasley is more of a 4 than a 3 and by the sounds of it we aren't interested.
2nd Can Hedo play 48 minutes? Is Hedo in our long term plans? Does Hedo even want to be here? Is Hedo the tough gritty player that is at a young age that can be part of a rebuild????

NoNONoNO and NO.

Open your eyes before you question someone else about not seeing things straight.

[Randle McMurphy]

People just hate everything right now. 90% of the forum has no idea what they want from this team.

They want to rebuild, but they also don't want to suck. They want good players but they want to tank. Most have no clue.

I want to rebuild and tank this year because attempting to win anything would be futile. That's pretty simple, no?

[basketball royalty]

This does not mean Turk is gone (or a deal is in place)

I think Denver matches personally.

I would think so too. How long do they have to make their decision?

[Benjammin]

If I were a Raptors fan, I would hope that the Nuggets match the offer. If the Raptors were in a different place in their life cycle towards winning, this wouldn't be a bad move. However, adding Kleiza is not going to make that big a difference and it will further junk up Toronto's cap. It's a band-aid type move to try and compete for a playoff spot.