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

[Wasp]

Get star players first, bench players second - it's not that effin' hard to understand.

Where are you planning on getting this star player?

Maybe Lebron will choose Toronto tonight????

Christ, do I have to really spell it out for some of you?

If you can't get a star player this year, don't sign a bench guy for $20 mil.

You see how simple that is?

Except it's not that simple. At all. If you don't use the MLE, you lose it. When you're over the cap, the MLE is the only way to add assets to your team aside from a trade or the draft. It is exceptionally rare that you will get a star player with the MLE, unless your team is already on the cusp of a championship (Artest). Anyone acquired through the MLE can be used as an asset in a trade later on. Forgoing your MLE because of some organizational commitment to being bad is not a good idea, ever. Even in a rebuild.

I think YOU are the one who doesn't understand, and needs it spelled out for you.

[basketball royalty]

What? That's a stupid argument. I can criticize wastes of money as I see fit. This isn't the MLB where you can spend to your heart's content. Moves like this, however small, do add up! Especially if the new CBA is as stringent as people think.

Exactly why it is good to sign a rotation player for a reasonable price.

[Condi Rice]

Kwame Brown and Darko were selected in the top 3 of the draft, top 3 picks don't guarantee anything either. Kleiza doesn't change this team much. The Nets tanked and still didn't get their top pick and target and still haven't signed anyone.

And so were Michael Jordan, Lebron and Kevin Durant. Yeah it's no guarantee, but I think if you check the history, top 3 picks are usually better than the 14th overall pick!

Getting as many lottery balls doesn't guarantee a top pick. You can pick anywhere in the draft and get good young players, it's about scouting. You may be looking for a franchise but by tanking you could lose guys on your current team sick of losing too and it's not like people are lining up to sign in Toronto.

Why not tank for high pick, use cap space in deals to land later picks AND use good scouting to make those picks count??

You agree that we suck with or without Kleiza, so then what's the point of signing him?? If our guys are going to be sick of losing, they'll be sick of losing with or without Kleiza. All it does is suck our future flexibility, and make us lose lottery balls.

also, you sound excited that Kleiza will expire around the same time as some of our other players... if you have cap space, you can plan the season before to take on "expirings" so that you can go over the cap in the future.

[whysoserious]

The problem is that we have no franchise player... And the draft is just about the only way to acquire one, especially in our situation.. Continuously adding mid level players will do absolutely nothing for us... Depth does not equal talent, we need 2 to 3 high impact, high potential players, and the best way of acquiring them is through top 10 draft picks..

So Top 10 picks is what we want? I agree that the draft is probably the best place to find a franchise player, especially for an organization and city like ours. What I don't get is this signing has likely not changed the draft position of this team, we're probably still lottery bound and that's without moving Turk or Jose yet.

Also, I don't agree that tanking is the key like some are arguing because you can get a Roy at 7 and Kwame at 1, so if the point is to go to the draft, then so be it. This signing has no impact on our teams overall standings.

[J-Roc]

Unless BC has a way to get rid of Hedo, won't think affect the playing time of Weems?

[gerrit4]

Get star players first, bench players second - it's not that effin' hard to understand.

Where are you planning on getting this star player?

Maybe Lebron will choose Toronto tonight????

Christ, do I have to really spell it out for some of you?

If you can't get a star player this year, don't sign a bench guy for $20 mil.

You see how simple that is?

The only way we ever get a star player is through the draft or potentially through a trade.

I agree it's weird to start signing role players and limiting our flexibility though. The best thing for us (the fans) is a rebuild, getting rid of bad contracts and having the flexibility of building a team around our top 5 pick next year. But the best thing for BC (in the last year of this deal) is to build a winning team without Bosh, exceed expectations and become the franchise saviour again. I'm not saying that will happen, but he doesn't have the time to do a proper rebuild.

Independently of the direction our franchise "should" be going, I like the signing. He's a decent player on an appropriate contract. Compared to what we normally do, it doesn't hurt us as much. If he bombs, 3 yrs 15 mill for a role player should be easy to move.

[SDM]

Saying "it's not your money, why should you care how it's spent?" is akin to saying "you didn't actually play, so why do you care if they lose?"

[Tommy Gun]

Not only will this team be terrible and has zero all-star talent, it has no financial flexibility going forward.
BC's really working on the "Worst GM in the league" award. Loving it. The sooner he's gone the better.

[Vorticity]

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.

The voice of reason ( and the angel of death )

Instead of freaking out by BC's every move, let's just wait until BC is done with all his moves/trades and then decide if we like this team or not.

[darth_federer]

He was very good for the Nuggets in 08. Tough, hard nosed guy. Hopefully the soft Euro crap that people like to spew out stops when we see him play.

[blizzah]

Saying "it's not your money, why should you care how it's spent?" is akin to saying "you didn't actually play, so why do you care if they lose?"

Because people are arguing its too much money.

It doesn't matter how much money the player earns if it doesn't restrict the team from signing more players later on. If the team doesn't use its MLE, it goes away, and you end up with NO ONE

[whysoserious]

And so were Michael Jordan, Lebron and Kevin Durant. Yeah it's no guarantee, but I think if you check the history, top 3 picks are usually better than the 14th overall pick!

Why not tank for high pick, use cap space in deals to land later picks AND use good scouting to make those picks count??

You agree that we suck with or without Kleiza, so then what's the point of signing him?? If our guys are going to be sick of losing, they'll be sick of losing with or without Kleiza. All it does is suck our future flexibility, and make us lose lottery balls.

also, you sound excited that Kleiza will expire around the same time as some of our other players... if you have cap space, you can plan the season before to take on "expirings" so that you can go over the cap in the future.

You still have to fill out a roster, Kleiza is still young and brings some things this team has sorely been lacking. He was signed to a reasonable 4 year deals. His contract on this team is not the problem, it's Turks and Jose and to a lesser extent Bargnani.

Like I said, his expiring matches up with Turk and is still close to Joses, so maybe they stick around for a few years and as expirings are flipped, we're still lottery bound. It's not like it's either top 3 vs 14 with this signing. It's probably more like 8 vs 10 possibly and we have yet to see what other moves BC makes.

[lilstash]

isn't he more of 4 than a 3? The nuggets played him more minutes at the 4

[blizzah]

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.

The voice of reason ( and the angel of death )

Instead of freaking out by BC's every move, let's just wait until BC is done with all his moves/trades and then decide if we like this team or not.

Yup. Everyone on the board was all for "GO BC, PLAY hardball with Bosh. Noah or Nothing. 2 Firsts + TPE from Miami or nothing"

Yet, when Bosh threatens to sign outright, everyone then hates on BC for not getting at least SOMETHING. Talk about friggin bi polar and inconsistency

[Brinbe]

Well maybe we have a trade for Hedo if we get Kleiza. Who knows? We may be bad, but do you really want to be Nets esque bad? That doesn't even guarentee #1 pick. We need some respectable talent to win like 25-30 games. Kleiza is a good piece to add and his hustle will rub off on others as well.

What? Yes? Of course! The Nets may not have gotten that 1st pick, but they couldn't slip past 3rd as well... That's a huge difference. There's nothing wrong with absolutely tanking it, especially when you need an infusion of high-level talent into your roster. Continually getting in that 7-14 range is giving yourself guaranteed treadmill status.

And to be clear, my beef isn't with Kleiza the player, as I know all about him from his time in Denver. He's an okay, rugged player, who can be a good guy off the bench for a contender... but my eyes exploded at that contract. You can get guys on the cheap who can deliver perhaps a little less than what he can off the bench. And he should be coming off the bench, I swear BC shouldn't sell him as the answer @ the 3.

As the worst team in the league you would have a higher chance of getting the 4th pick (36%) than any other pick. And even then, getting a top 4 pick is never a guarantee for anything.

Attendance drops when your team is tanking and basketball isn't an automatic sell in this town. There's no way in hell MLSE would approve tanking unless a draft class similar to 2003 is coming.

Maybe BC is working to move Hedo with this signing. Maybe he's got other moves he's working on. Always reserve judgement until the offseason is over. There's no point picking on details before seeing the whole picture.

Yeah, my fault. And top 4 is still worse the risk... and I'm sorry but I disagree with that 2nd assertion. Having a long-term plan and vision is worth it, even at the risk of slight immediate audience alienation. This team isn't moving anytime soon, even if attendance does dip a bit. Hell, we haven't had a winning season in three years, what difference does 15 less wins make?

And I'd say there's a difference between tanking and rebuilding. Rebuilding doesn't necessarily equate that you're putting out crappy rosters to lose on purpose (tanking) it's just a natural consequence of having a young, inexperienced roster out there. If marketed correctly, (focus on the young gunzzz) I don't see how some people won't buy in, especially if there is a plan for the future.

[Korr]

Saying "it's not your money, why should you care how it's spent?" is akin to saying "you didn't actually play, so why do you care if they lose?"

That's a great point. Why do you care so much if a bunch of guys you don't know and aren't even from Toronto win or lose games?

I'm a Raps fan, but at the end of the day I know the time and money I spend watching them or talking about them is purely for my entertainment.

[notic519]

The rest of the mid-level exception will go to Solomon Alabi

huh???

I may or may not be correct but pretty sure we own his rights and don't need to use the MLE to sign him.

[Shevy]

Not only will this team be terrible and has zero all-star talent, it has no financial flexibility going forward.
BC's really working on the "Worst GM in the league" award. Loving it. The sooner he's gone the better.

That's the worst part. BC will never rebuild in his life, and that is exactly what we need at the moment. This means two things:

1. His job isn't secure at all and he is swinging for the fences.

or

2. His job is secure, and the organization has plan to keep this team always "in it" meaning the playoffs (6-8th seed) so the fans would still go to the games.

[Brinbe]

What? That's a stupid argument. I can criticize wastes of money as I see fit. This isn't the MLB where you can spend to your heart's content. Moves like this, however small, do add up! Especially if the new CBA is as stringent as people think.

Exactly why it is good to sign a rotation player for a reasonable price.

When you haven't gotten rid of the other bloat already present?

[blizzah]

What? That's a stupid argument. I can criticize wastes of money as I see fit. This isn't the MLB where you can spend to your heart's content. Moves like this, however small, do add up! Especially if the new CBA is as stringent as people think.

Exactly why it is good to sign a rotation player for a reasonable price.

When you haven't gotten rid of the other bloat already present?

How do you know there isn't a plan to do that?