Rasho's contract next year

[DarkKnight]

You realize that Rasho has alot of power in this situation. If he doesn't want to become trade bait possibly to end up who knows where on some team that just wants expiring contracts, he can just opt and sign with whomever he wants over the summer, and the Raptors get nothing for him.

I'd say that's pretty much the best possible scenario for the raptors, but its not gonna happen. Rasho might be worth 3-4 million on the open market...I don't see him throwing $5 million because he doesn't feel like being involved in trade talks.


So for 09/10, the raps have to pay:

Bosh 15.8
TJ 8.5
Kapono 6.2
Bargnani 6.5

It is speculated that Hump will make about 3-4 next year, so lets put him at 3.5

They then have to figure out what to do with Moon/Parker/Delfino/Graham. If they are truly looking to sign an expensive swingman, you would have to assume he's going to play 33-38 minutes, so you really only need to keep 1-2 of these guys with Kapono on the roster. I would say that keeping Parker and Delfino makes the most sense from a basketball perspective. Say Parker at 4.5 million (same as 08/09) and Delfino at 5 million (100% increase). They would also have to sign Jose, who I'm going to say gets 7 million in year two but with escalators. This would give us some flexibility.

That would be 8 guys under contract (2 pgs, 3 swingmen, 3 bigs) for a total of 57 million. Assume it takes about 4 million bucks to fill spots 10-15 on the roster, and you have 61 million without this new addition. On average over the last 5 years, the cap has risen 3 million per year, so for 09-10 it would be at about 62 million. That means:

No FA signings! Except for MLE/ LLE type stuff.

I would say that the Raptors only real chance to compete in the free agent market is actually this summer rather than next. It would probably need to be sign and trade unless they find a way to move some combination of Rasho/Garbo/Baston/Joey for nothing. You'd package, say Rasho and Joey with this years #1 and a future #1 and try to pick up and extend a big-time wing player. Then you can re-sign Calderon with Bird Rights.

Calderon's contract essentially prevents us from having cap room in 09/10.

[Doyle]

If the Raps are going to aquire a big name it is going to be in a trade with their expiring contracts next year. To get cap space the Raps have to give up almost everyone to sign 1 player.

[lmaonade]

rasho is currently getting paid more than webber! if he signs webbers contract then i'd keep him.

[rocket2981]

All our players have reasonable contracts maybe except for Kapono who is set to make 6.2 million in 08-09. No team is going to trade an expiring for Jason Kapono.

Kyle Korver just been traded for an expiring AND a 1st round pick, Kapono is arguably better than Korver.

[rocket2981]

-= original quote snipped =-



I agree with yt_boi on the 40 million part, but not when it comes to the "likely additions" part. I would estimate Jose's contract to be 7.5 instead of 8.5, unless Jose get voted in as an all-star.

And with Roko, he is a second rounder, and as far as I know, few second rounder ever makes over a million. Furthermore, the draft pick of 08/09 can very well be an euro pick who will not be on the Raptor's roster at that time.

So, if we chose not to keep Delfino and opt for a one year filler instead for the duration of 08/09, based on my speculation, the Raptor's salary would be 48.5 million by 2009/2010. Then by yt_boi's estimated salary cap, we would be 13 million under the cap, which is enough to land us a top-notch all star.

I think it makes more sense for us to get rid of Delfino, for if we are going to add another all star player, it probably would be a swingman, thus overlaps Delfino's position. Moreover, this gives us more flexibility with Bargnani, too. The Raptors has the team option on him at around 6.5 million in 2009/2010, so in case that Andrea doesn't pan out, we would have a total of 19.5 million to fix 2 positions. It is a far more desirable situation in my opinion.

I think Delfino is becoming more and more important to this team so I don't see him go anywhere next year. Parker is more likely to go because he's older and not as good a defender as Delfino. I like AP a lot but he's gonna be 34 and an expiring, he could go this summer with Rasho and/or Garbo to a team looking for cap space in the summer of 09. As Darknight brilliantly wrote it, our chances to have cap room in 09 are pretty slim so we better make our move this summer or at next year's trade deadline.

As for our 1st rounders (08 and 09), we are likely to select a good rotation player who will play for 4 cheap years or we can add 1 of those pick to sweeten a potential deal...

[Buyaka]

This summer will be interesting. I guess, it depends on Andrea's development during the 2nd half and what BC thinks of our readiness towards a tittle push by 09/10 season.

[omeloon]

I wouldn't get too excited about Rasho becomming an ending contract in two summers. Ending deals are overrated, and are not as valuable season to season. They should be valuable this year with all the struggling teams that used to be good and with all the disgruntled stars... yet Kwame (same basic deal as Rasho) and Orlando have been able to get nothing thus far for their ending deals. GS and the Suns both have pretty big trade exceptions, and no one has been that interested in offering them salary.

Also there will be a lot of expiring deals (unlike this year), so their trade value shouldn't be high BECAUSE they are ending deals.

Expiring the same year as Rasho...

Zaza ($4 mill)
Raef ($12.7)
Wally ($11)
Odom ($14.6)
Rasheed ($13)
Iverson ($22 mill)
Bobby Jax ($6.1)
Andre Miller ($10)
Desmond Mason ($5.3)
Marbury ($21.9), Rose ($7.6), James
Jason Kidd ($21.3), Jason Collins ($6.2)
Marquis Daniels ($7.3), Jeff Foster ($6.2)
Bibby ($14.5 mill) and Artest if he doesn't opt out this summer (8.5)
Snow ($7), Drew Gooden ($7.1), Donyell ($5.95), Damon Jones (4.4)

Our ending contracts are nothing special, I wouldn't get excited

[silverhill27]

I wouldn't get too excited about Rasho becomming an ending contract in two summers. Ending deals are overrated, and are not as valuable season to season. They should be valuable this year with all the struggling teams that used to be good and with all the disgruntled stars... yet Kwame (same basic deal as Rasho) and Orlando have been able to get nothing thus far for their ending deals. GS and the Suns both have pretty big trade exceptions, and no one has been that interested in offering them salary.

Also there will be a lot of expiring deals (unlike this year), so their trade value shouldn't be high BECAUSE they are ending deals.

Expiring the same year as Rasho...

Zaza ($4 mill)
Raef ($12.7)
Wally ($11)
Odom ($14.6)
Rasheed ($13)
Iverson ($22 mill)
Bobby Jax ($6.1)
Andre Miller ($10)
Desmond Mason ($5.3)
Marbury ($21.9), Rose ($7.6), James
Jason Kidd ($21.3), Jason Collins ($6.2)
Marquis Daniels ($7.3), Jeff Foster ($6.2)
Bibby ($14.5 mill) and Artest if he doesn't opt out this summer (8.5)
Snow ($7), Drew Gooden ($7.1), Donyell ($5.95), Damon Jones (4.4)

Our ending contracts are nothing special, I wouldn't get excited

I disagree. The Suns and Golden State don't want to use the trade exceptions because they are near or at the luxury tax range. Also, most of those teams that you listed with the expirings will have tons of capspace (Portland especially) in 08-09 while we don't. The only possible way i see us getting over the top is by packaging Nesterovic, a point guard (only if Ukic performs well) , and picks next trading deadline. If Golden State got Baron Davis for only Dale Davis' expiring, think about who we could possibly get for Nesterovic and Calderon.

[omeloon]

The Baron Davis situation was a different situation though. He had his fair share of injury problems, and the team had the chance to get nicely under the cap by getting rid of him. How many teams are going to want to start completely over like the Wolves, Hornets, and Suns did. The Nets, Clippers, Kings, and Pacers are only teams I can really think of. VC, Kidd, Magette, Bibby, and Jermaine O will be the kind of guys being shopped. Would Bryan really go after any of those guys? Guys like Gasol and Jefferson will demand a lot more than ending contracts and mid round picks.

[omeloon]

Also, if a star is available, I'm pretty sure the Kings, Knicks, and Cavs would and could make a better deal involving young players, picks, and ending deals. Knicks and Cavs will definitely be more willing to make a major push for a star than us.

[DarkKnight]

I don't know about the Cavs...would can they trade that is attractive? Pavlovic and Varejao are BYC players on brand new contracts. Damon Jones is a malcontent, Hughes' contract is enormous, Gibson is too young and cheap for them to consider giving up. I think Cleveland is pretty much boned at this point.

The knicks have some interesting pieces, but the way that team is performing casts a pall on all of them. They really only have 2 players I would take on my team...Lee and Crawford.

[omeloon]

I don't think Varejao will be BYC when Gooden, Snow, Jones, and Donyell are ending deals. Could be wrong. Gooden will have more trade value than Rasho, that's for sure. Draft picks shouldn't be that different.

NY will likely have a top 5 pick, Balkman, Nate Robinson, and/or David Lee to attach to their huge ending contracts... so they can definitely put together a much more attractive package for rebuilding than us.

[silverhill27]

You never know. Come next year who knows whose going to be availble. Although I feel that a core of Ford Calderon Bosh and Bargnani can make us a top ten team for many years, I just don't think that we can be a top five team with just those players. Because of our lack of capspace, the only way we can add another piece is by using Nesterovic's expiring and packaging him with picks, prospects and Calderon (only if we get a really good player in return)