Woj: Raptors re-sign Gray (2yr/5M total)

[T-Ross the Boss]

this butt head tries to keep us in a perpetual losing franchise, and gloat about tax flexibility every year...

And the fans swallow it up every year.

[C_Money]

I expect Val to easily win the starting Center job since Aaron Gray is about as bad as it gets for an NBA player.

[Three34]

Gray got the cap room MLE. It was because he agreed to sign for this long ago that Toronto were able to renounce him before.

[Omar CominYo]

Great. Gray's a 3rd string center who will start for us, and Fields is a guard and 6th man who'll start at SF. Who's next? Jamaal Tinsley as our backup PG?

Not so fast. The Fields nightmare continues!




According to his agent Mark Bartelstein, G/F Alan Anderson has re-signed with the Raptors.
There are no specific details about the length of the contract, but Anderson is set to return to Toronto on the veteran's minimum salary, where he averaged a career-high 9.6 ppg and 2.0 rpg and 1.4 3PMg in 17 games last season. Anderson actually started 12 games at SF last year for the Raptors, however Toronto plans to try DeMar DeRozan at SF this season after signing Landry Fields to play SG. Anderson will probably need an injury to be fantasy-relevant.


Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter


Hope he's wrong.

n f***in way.... We're gonna try and play both of those guys at their weak positions?

[RapsFanInVA]

Great. Gray's a 3rd string center who will start for us, and Fields is a guard and 6th man who'll start at SF. Who's next? Jamaal Tinsley as our backup PG?

Not so fast. The Fields nightmare continues!




According to his agent Mark Bartelstein, G/F Alan Anderson has re-signed with the Raptors.
There are no specific details about the length of the contract, but Anderson is set to return to Toronto on the veteran's minimum salary, where he averaged a career-high 9.6 ppg and 2.0 rpg and 1.4 3PMg in 17 games last season. Anderson actually started 12 games at SF last year for the Raptors, however Toronto plans to try DeMar DeRozan at SF this season after signing Landry Fields to play SG. Anderson will probably need an injury to be fantasy-relevant.


Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter


Hope he's wrong.

n f***in way.... We're gonna try and play both of those guys at their weak positions?

Calm down. SG and SF are interchangable offensively. Defensively they'll guard whoever they match up best with. I don't understand where Woj got that information. Casey always refers to these guys as "wings" because he doesn't believe in those positional definitions.

[StMikes31]

this butt head tries to keep us in a perpetual losing franchise, and gloat about tax flexibility every year...

And the fans swallow it up every year.

you and mufasa should go on a date

[HolyMage110]

Im wondering what Amir's future holds.

[StMikes31]

Im wondering what Amir's future holds.

He's staying. Good rotational big and can spot start if injuries occur. You can never have enough bigs.

Bargs, Ed, Amir, Val, Gray, Acy is half decent.

[J-Roc]

Great. Gray's a 3rd string center who will start for us, and Fields is a guard and 6th man who'll start at SF. Who's next? Jamaal Tinsley as our backup PG?

Not so fast. The Fields nightmare continues!




According to his agent Mark Bartelstein, G/F Alan Anderson has re-signed with the Raptors.
There are no specific details about the length of the contract, but Anderson is set to return to Toronto on the veteran's minimum salary, where he averaged a career-high 9.6 ppg and 2.0 rpg and 1.4 3PMg in 17 games last season. Anderson actually started 12 games at SF last year for the Raptors, however Toronto plans to try DeMar DeRozan at SF this season after signing Landry Fields to play SG. Anderson will probably need an injury to be fantasy-relevant.


Source: Adrian Wojnarowski on Twitter


Hope he's wrong.

n f***in way.... We're gonna try and play both of those guys at their weak positions?

Funny, when I first read Woj's story, I was shocked he would know how Alan Anderson is. But then he goes on to say DeMar will play SF and Fields at SG, so Woj shows he doesn't know that much about the Raps.

[Parataxis]

But Colangelo does make the deals that put players on the team and those are the players Casey has to use. Jonas may make a "major contribution" but that is intentionally vague. I'm not saying Jonas can't play 20 mpg his rookie year and play relatively well, I think it might be in his best interests - and ours - to limit his playing time until he learns the game better. But as we've said, we are in win-now mode, with an eye on the playoffs, yet Colangelo hasn't acquired the type of players we need to make a legitimate run at the playoffs. We are attempting to make the playoffs with only 2 guys who are starting calibre players on playoff level teams, Lowry and Bargnani.

How are we even remotely in 'win-now' mode? Did we sign an aging star on the decline? Did we trade away prospects for a one-year rental player?

No, and no.

We're fairly clearly not all-in this year. If anything, we're a team built to have year-on-year improvement. Look at our roster : mostly young guys on multi-year deals. That's not a win-now team, and it doesn't look like anybody is trying to make it one.

Just because we're not tanking, doesn't mean we're in a win-now situation.

[RapsFanInVA]

But Colangelo does make the deals that put players on the team and those are the players Casey has to use. Jonas may make a "major contribution" but that is intentionally vague. I'm not saying Jonas can't play 20 mpg his rookie year and play relatively well, I think it might be in his best interests - and ours - to limit his playing time until he learns the game better. But as we've said, we are in win-now mode, with an eye on the playoffs, yet Colangelo hasn't acquired the type of players we need to make a legitimate run at the playoffs. We are attempting to make the playoffs with only 2 guys who are starting calibre players on playoff level teams, Lowry and Bargnani.

How are we even remotely in 'win-now' mode? Did we sign an aging star on the decline? Did we trade away prospects for a one-year rental player?

No, and no.

We're fairly clearly not all-in this year. If anything, we're a team built to have year-on-year improvement. Look at our roster : mostly young guys on multi-year deals. That's not a win-now team, and it doesn't look like anybody is trying to make it one.

Just because we're not tanking, doesn't mean we're in a win-now situation.

Some posters see the world in black and white. Good luck explaining that a middle ground exists. Actually I know exactly what they'll say. If you're not tanking and you're not in "win-now" mode then clearly you are on a treadmill. Those are the only three options.

[hillbilly hare]

But Colangelo does make the deals that put players on the team and those are the players Casey has to use. Jonas may make a "major contribution" but that is intentionally vague. I'm not saying Jonas can't play 20 mpg his rookie year and play relatively well, I think it might be in his best interests - and ours - to limit his playing time until he learns the game better. But as we've said, we are in win-now mode, with an eye on the playoffs, yet Colangelo hasn't acquired the type of players we need to make a legitimate run at the playoffs. We are attempting to make the playoffs with only 2 guys who are starting calibre players on playoff level teams, Lowry and Bargnani.

How are we even remotely in 'win-now' mode? Did we sign an aging star on the decline? Did we trade away prospects for a one-year rental player?

No, and no.

We're fairly clearly not all-in this year. If anything, we're a team built to have year-on-year improvement. Look at our roster : mostly young guys on multi-year deals. That's not a win-now team, and it doesn't look like anybody is trying to make it one.

Just because we're not tanking, doesn't mean we're in a win-now situation.

We are in win now mode because the guy making the personnel decisions is trying to save his job.

To wit, we traded our 2013 pick with only top 4 protection for a young veteran starting PG, i.e. in order to "win now". You tell me.

The rest of your rhetorical questions mean next to nothing. What has signing an aging star on the decline got to do with it? Other than the fact that it's Colangelo's specialty. But this time he signed a young 6th man wing who is the kind of guy contending teams to "put them over the top", i.e. the "last piece in the puzzle", and other cliches that I'm sure you'll like. But a guy like Fields has most value for a contender or a playoff team, and we are clearly shooting for the playoffs.

As to trading prospects, we very obviously traded away a prospect for Lowry, who I have no idea how long he's going to stay here, but let's hope for 7 years. But we did trade away the prospect that we might've drafted as high as 5th next year. You tell me.

We drafted what our management says was the most NBA ready guy, i.e. Ross. He was not the best prospect at that draft slot, as that was Drummond. You tell me.

Like it or not, we are shooting for the playoffs, and part of that is in order to save Colangelo's job. To even suggest otherwise is pretty naive. But I know, as a win now team it's not all that pretty, is it? But that's down to our GM.

[DreamTeam09]

I wouldn't consider Lowry a win now move, I mean fine we should win more games now then we would with a rookie, but Lowry is only 26.

As for Drummond, why would we draft a big who is a project, when we had 3bigs signed and our draft pick from the previous yr who is a big prospect on the roster??? We picked ross because we thought he was the best wing prospect left for US. I'm sure they thought Lamb could blow up but I also think they didn't see him as the best fit, which is perfectly fine with me.

Your being a little closed minded I think if you think BC only made all these moves cause he only has 1yr left on his deal. We needed a PG / we needed a wing player in the draft. Everyone could see that....

[BorisDK1]

We are in win now mode because the guy making the personnel decisions is trying to save his job.

To wit, we traded our 2013 pick with only top 4 protection for a young veteran starting PG, i.e. in order to "win now". You tell me.

The rest of your rhetorical questions mean next to nothing. What has signing an aging star on the decline got to do with it? Other than the fact that it's Colangelo's specialty. But this time he signed a young 6th man wing who is the kind of guy contending teams to "put them over the top", i.e. the "last piece in the puzzle", and other cliches that I'm sure you'll like. But a guy like Fields has most value for a contender or a playoff team, and we are clearly shooting for the playoffs.

As to trading prospects, we very obviously traded away a prospect for Lowry, who I have no idea how long he's going to stay here, but let's hope for 7 years. But we did trade away the prospect that we might've drafted as high as 5th next year. You tell me.

We drafted what our management says was the most NBA ready guy, i.e. Ross. He was not the best prospect at that draft slot, as that was Drummond. You tell me.

Like it or not, we are shooting for the playoffs, and part of that is in order to save Colangelo's job. To even suggest otherwise is pretty naive. But I know, as a win now team it's not all that pretty, is it? But that's down to our GM.

I still think you're missing the point that there is a lot of grey between "black" (win now) and "white" (tank hard). The Raptors are making a push to put a competitive team out there right now and put together the pieces that either comprise a good team or who can be moved to get those pieces. This team is not in a position to add one player who will immediately make everything alright and they're not trying to do that yet. They're trying to become as competitive as they can for now right now.

The only future piece they gave up was the draft pick for Lowry, which frankly was okay value for both sides. The larger problem is that Colangelo doesn't go out and get additional picks; if it was just him giving up one first-round pick, I wouldn't care that much but it is a bit worrisome that we never get additional ones. We had been screaming for a legitimate young-ish starting point guard for six years now, and we got one. At the cost of a mid- to late-lottery pick in a crappy draft class? Great value. We'll take that and run, no question.

As far as bewailing Ross, let's let a few years go by before we get terribly bent out of shape. it's entirely possible we're looking at a backfill for DeRozan with that pick. His athleticism is kinda weak, but his college production was everything you'd expect a guy who was going to be a complimentary starting wing player in the NBA to be.

[J Dilla]

I wouldn't consider Lowry a win now move, I mean fine we should win more games now then we would with a rookie, but Lowry is only 26.

As for Drummond, why would we draft a big who is a project, when we had 3bigs signed and our draft pick from the previous yr who is a big prospect on the roster??? We picked ross because we thought he was the best wing prospect left for US. I'm sure they thought Lamb could blow up but I also think they didn't see him as the best fit, which is perfectly fine with me.

Your being a little closed minded I think if you think BC only made all these moves cause he only has 1yr left on his deal. We needed a PG / we needed a wing player in the draft. Everyone could see that....

I dunno, for the past two drafts BC always talked about never drafting for need and grabbing the best player available. He did that with Ed Davis and Jonas Valancuinas when we've always been stacked with bigs. Terrance Ross was a reach at 8.

He could've selected Kawhi Leonard, Knight, or Kemba Walker last year and drafted Andre Drummond this year to satisfy this franchise's infatuation with drafting bigs. Andre Drummond is as much of a project as Jonas is.

[BorisDK1]

I dunno, for the past two drafts BC always talked about never drafting for need and grabbing the best player available. He did that with Ed Davis and Jonas Valancuinas when we've always been stacked with bigs. Terrance Ross was a reach at 8.

He could've selected Kawhi Leonard, Knight, or Kemba Walker last year and drafted Andre Drummond this year to satisfy this franchise's infatuation with drafting bigs. Andre Drummond is as much of a project as Jonas is.

Come on, now. Drummond is obviously a far further undeveloped project than Valanciunas is. Valanciunas already has identifiable skill sets and has a base level of success; Drummond has neither.

I'm not saying Drummond is going to be a bad player, but to think that he and Jonas are at the same developmental stage is like saying Bargnani and Dirk are basically at the same level.

[J Dilla]

Valanciunas already has identifiable skill sets and has a base level of success; Drummond has neither.

In Europe, yes. When they come here, its just not the same. I hope I'm wrong.

[bumbleboy]

Aaron Gray, Raptors strong man. I was wondering, before this signing became official and after the Johnson trade, when such a slight roster had been put together? Kleiza #2?

[hillbilly hare]

We are in win now mode because the guy making the personnel decisions is trying to save his job.

To wit, we traded our 2013 pick with only top 4 protection for a young veteran starting PG, i.e. in order to "win now". You tell me.

The rest of your rhetorical questions mean next to nothing. What has signing an aging star on the decline got to do with it? Other than the fact that it's Colangelo's specialty. But this time he signed a young 6th man wing who is the kind of guy contending teams to "put them over the top", i.e. the "last piece in the puzzle", and other cliches that I'm sure you'll like. But a guy like Fields has most value for a contender or a playoff team, and we are clearly shooting for the playoffs.

As to trading prospects, we very obviously traded away a prospect for Lowry, who I have no idea how long he's going to stay here, but let's hope for 7 years. But we did trade away the prospect that we might've drafted as high as 5th next year. You tell me.

We drafted what our management says was the most NBA ready guy, i.e. Ross. He was not the best prospect at that draft slot, as that was Drummond. You tell me.

Like it or not, we are shooting for the playoffs, and part of that is in order to save Colangelo's job. To even suggest otherwise is pretty naive. But I know, as a win now team it's not all that pretty, is it? But that's down to our GM.

I still think you're missing the point that there is a lot of grey between "black" (win now) and "white" (tank hard). The Raptors are making a push to put a competitive team out there right now and put together the pieces that either comprise a good team or who can be moved to get those pieces. This team is not in a position to add one player who will immediately make everything alright and they're not trying to do that yet. They're trying to become as competitive as they can for now right now.

The only future piece they gave up was the draft pick for Lowry, which frankly was okay value for both sides. The larger problem is that Colangelo doesn't go out and get additional picks; if it was just him giving up one first-round pick, I wouldn't care that much but it is a bit worrisome that we never get additional ones. We had been screaming for a legitimate young-ish starting point guard for six years now, and we got one. At the cost of a mid- to late-lottery pick in a crappy draft class? Great value. We'll take that and run, no question.

As far as bewailing Ross, let's let a few years go by before we get terribly bent out of shape. it's entirely possible we're looking at a backfill for DeRozan with that pick. His athleticism is kinda weak, but his college production was everything you'd expect a guy who was going to be a complimentary starting wing player in the NBA to be.

The pick could be 5th, not just mid to late lottery. No draft class is crappy. People and GMs who say that are just lazy.

Lowry was a great addition, no doubt about that. He is in fact the only borderline impact player that Colangelo has added in his 6 years here. While losing the one bonafide impact player and All-star that he inherited from the previous regime.

Colangelo's problems are many and varied, not getting additional draft picks is just one of them. In a nutshell, though, his problem is that he has been unable to add real talent to the team. And that, despite all the assets he inherited. Terrible job.

Who's bewailing Ross? He looks like a solid player, but certainly wasn't the best prospect available when we drafted. He was called, by our GM, an NBA ready guy. One of the big reasons he was drafted.

I never use the term "tank", which most people misuse and it becomes a meaningless cliche. I think you and others are missing the point about the phrase "win now". In that it doesn't actually mean that a given team will really "win now", but that they are going to try to. Teams who have to let it be known that they are in win-now mode are not usually very good teams, so maybe they are trying to scare other teams or something. Our GM has made it clear that we are going to try to make the playoffs this season, and he has passed said info on to the press so that they can start churning out the news too.

As others have said, the additions to the team look very clearly designed to be more competitive, i.e. win more games than last year and make the playoffs. It's not exactly the greatest job in history in putting together a win-now team, but it's still a big step up from the last few years. Fields is kind of blah and so is Ross, but they were the options available to us and our GM who is trying to save his job right now. Nash would've offered a lot more job security, but it was not to be. We've gone from pathetic to mediocre, which may not seem like much but it is a big improvement.

And make no mistake about it, if Colangelo can add that one big player who will immediately "make everything alright" (whatever that means), then he most certainly will do so. e.g., Nash. He went hard after Nash, perhaps even signing Fields in order to increase our chances of getting Nash. Which sort of supports my point re. Colangelo wanting to win now. No? I think that if he can swing a deal for Igoudala he will, like tomorrow.

[StMikes31]

We are in win now mode because the guy making the personnel decisions is trying to save his job.

To wit, we traded our 2013 pick with only top 4 protection for a young veteran starting PG, i.e. in order to "win now". You tell me.

The rest of your rhetorical questions mean next to nothing. What has signing an aging star on the decline got to do with it? Other than the fact that it's Colangelo's specialty. But this time he signed a young 6th man wing who is the kind of guy contending teams to "put them over the top", i.e. the "last piece in the puzzle", and other cliches that I'm sure you'll like. But a guy like Fields has most value for a contender or a playoff team, and we are clearly shooting for the playoffs.

As to trading prospects, we very obviously traded away a prospect for Lowry, who I have no idea how long he's going to stay here, but let's hope for 7 years. But we did trade away the prospect that we might've drafted as high as 5th next year. You tell me.

We drafted what our management says was the most NBA ready guy, i.e. Ross. He was not the best prospect at that draft slot, as that was Drummond. You tell me.

Like it or not, we are shooting for the playoffs, and part of that is in order to save Colangelo's job. To even suggest otherwise is pretty naive. But I know, as a win now team it's not all that pretty, is it? But that's down to our GM.

I still think you're missing the point that there is a lot of grey between "black" (win now) and "white" (tank hard). The Raptors are making a push to put a competitive team out there right now and put together the pieces that either comprise a good team or who can be moved to get those pieces. This team is not in a position to add one player who will immediately make everything alright and they're not trying to do that yet. They're trying to become as competitive as they can for now right now.

The only future piece they gave up was the draft pick for Lowry, which frankly was okay value for both sides. The larger problem is that Colangelo doesn't go out and get additional picks; if it was just him giving up one first-round pick, I wouldn't care that much but it is a bit worrisome that we never get additional ones. We had been screaming for a legitimate young-ish starting point guard for six years now, and we got one. At the cost of a mid- to late-lottery pick in a crappy draft class? Great value. We'll take that and run, no question.

As far as bewailing Ross, let's let a few years go by before we get terribly bent out of shape. it's entirely possible we're looking at a backfill for DeRozan with that pick. His athleticism is kinda weak, but his college production was everything you'd expect a guy who was going to be a complimentary starting wing player in the NBA to be.

The pick could be 5th, not just mid to late lottery. No draft class is crappy. People and GMs who say that are just lazy.
Look up the 2000 draft class.

Lowry was a great addition, no doubt about that. He is in fact the only borderline impact player that Colangelo has added in his 6 years here. While losing the one bonafide impact player and All-star that he inherited from the previous regime.

Colangelo's problems are many and varied, not getting additional draft picks is just one of them. In a nutshell, though, his problem is that he has been unable to add real talent to the team. And that, despite all the assets he inherited. Terrible job.

How many draft picks do you want him to add per year? They aren't cheap. We've drafted well. Derozan, Bargnani, Lowry are all talents on this team. Not all-star talents but that's to be determined as Derozan is still young, Lowry caught some all star talk last season and if Bargs didn't get injured last season and kept playing at high level, he would have gotten consideration. To say we have no real talent is a joke.

Who's bewailing Ross? He looks like a solid player, but certainly wasn't the best prospect available when we drafted. He was called, by our GM, an NBA ready guy. One of the big reasons he was drafted.

The reason why Ross was drafted was because 1) shooting 2) can defend or at least has the tools to at NBA level. Drafting another big didn't make sense in Drummond who would have taken 3 seasons to see some results. Plus we already have Val to develop. No point. Rivers needs the ball in his hands to make something happen. We decided to go in a different direction with going after Nash and then trading for Lowry. Better move imo since we want to make the playoffs sooner rather then later. Lamb could have been the pick but they went with Ross. They probably think Ross is a better fit playing with Derozan which is understandable. Time will tell. Calling Ross not the best prospect available is premature, let a year play out.

I never use the term "tank", which most people misuse and it becomes a meaningless cliche. I think you and others are missing the point about the phrase "win now". In that it doesn't actually mean that a given team will really "win now", but that they are going to try to. Teams who have to let it be known that they are in win-now mode are not usually very good teams, so maybe they are trying to scare other teams or something. Our GM has made it clear that we are going to try to make the playoffs this season, and he has passed said info on to the press so that they can start churning out the news too.

As others have said, the additions to the team look very clearly designed to be more competitive, i.e. win more games than last year and make the playoffs. It's not exactly the greatest job in history in putting together a win-now team, but it's still a big step up from the last few years. Fields is kind of blah and so is Ross, but they were the options available to us and our GM who is trying to save his job right now. Nash would've offered a lot more job security, but it was not to be. We've gone from pathetic to mediocre, which may not seem like much but it is a big improvement.

And make no mistake about it, if Colangelo can add that one big player who will immediately "make everything alright" (whatever that means), then he most certainly will do so. e.g., Nash. He went hard after Nash, perhaps even signing Fields in order to increase our chances of getting Nash. Which sort of supports my point re. Colangelo wanting to win now. No? I think that if he can swing a deal for Igoudala he will, like tomorrow.