Built Ford Tough

Good signing for the Mavs. The thing that makes this a great fit for the Magic, at least in my opinion I admit I don't watch the Magic a lot, is his ability to stretch the floor due to his solid mid range jumper. The Magic's offense relies on spacing and, while Bass won't give them the same type of spacing that they had last season, he will still be able to help give Dwight space down low to go to work because he is a good mid range shooter. I really think that Bass is kind of an unknown around most places because he didn't get much of an opportunity in Dallas, which is to be expected playing behind a superstar like Dirk Nowitzki, but I think that he can prove to be a very good role player for the Magic next season. His skill set fits the Magic's style of game very well. The money isn't too bad either. Big men are generally overpaid, but if you consider the amount that guys like Chris Anderson (in the final years of his contract) and Anderson Varejao are making, this looks like a steal because Bass is just as good as both of those players. Does anybody know if the Magic plan on having Bass as the starting 4 and moving Shard to the 3 or do they plan on bringing him off of the bench and have Shard play the 4, Carter at the 3 and Pietrus at the 2?

How has Livingston looked so far? I haven't been able to catch any OKC Summer League games unfortunately and was just wondering how Livingston, Harden, Weaver and Ibaka have looked.

Not sure if anybody else is planning on catching any Raptor Summer League games or not, but I figured I would make this thread just in case and if I do end up as the only person that watches the games, at least I can do my best to update you all on how the Raptors roster performs. The Raptors played their first game of the Summer League tonight against the Los Angeles Lakers and ended up losing the game by a score of 85-84. I only managed to catch the second half of the game. The Raptors were led in scoring by Roko Ukic (16 on 5-9 FG and 2-4 3PT), Quincy Douby (16 on 6-12 FG), Patrick O'Bryant (15 on 7-9 FG) and DeMar DeRozan (10 on 5-12 FG). Paul Davis led the team in rebounds with 9. What ultimately cost the Raptors the victory was their inability to hit from the free throw line as they shot 17-28 from the charity stripe. They were doing a good job of attacking the rim and getting to the stripe (they shot double the amount of freebies as the Lakers did) but they didn't make them count when they got there. On an individual level, DeMar DeRozan looked alright in his first game as a member of the Raptors. He showed some nice moves with the ball and had a couple of really nice pull up jumpers from mid range. He played within himself and didn't try to do too much with the ball (although at times his decision making could've improved but that it to be expected). He showed flashes of potential, but watching him tonight reminded me just how raw DeRozan really is and he is definitely going to need time. Raptor fans, we are going to have to be patient with him. On defense he did a good job of moving his feet and contesting shots, but he was matched up with Adam Morrison and Morrison just used his experience to get his shot off. Although Morrison scored 24 points, DeRozan didn't look too bad on defense. He could've played better, but again, we can't expect too much from DeRozan, especially if he is matched up against a player like Morrison who is 6 years older and has played in 130 NBA games. All in all, it was a pretty decent debut for DeRozan, but he definitely showed why he is labelled as a project and raw. Compared to other rookies though, he did not have a bad showing by any means as a lot of the rookies struggled today: Stephen Curry 4-14 16pts Austin Daye 3-9 8 pts Brandon Jennings is 0-3 so far. Tyreke Evans 4-10 So in comparision to them, it doesn't look too bad for DeMar. He is still raw though, that was proven today. Roko Ukic looked pretty good in the second half of the game. He was turning the corner pretty well and getting into the paint effectively. His floater in the lane was his biggest strength during the course of the game as it was looking prettygood. His decision making once he got into the paint could've been better but his jumper looked like it has improven from last season. He was breaking down the Lakers defense and just did a good job of directing the offense. He hit a very nice pull up 3 at the very end of the game to make it a one point lead for the Lakers. His assist to turnover ratio was unimpressive as he had more turnovers then assists (4-3) and I would like to see that improve as the games go along but he looked pretty good. If he continues to add to his game over the course of the summer I don't think that having him play about 10-15 minutes a game as the backup point guard will be too big of a concern (but then again it will be a different story when he plays against NBA caliber players). Patrick O'Bryant had a nice game in the paint and showed a couple of decent post moves. He had a nice turnaround hook shot from about 10 feet away and looked very impressive pulling that move off. Whenever he was working inside the paint he was scoring efficiently and effectively and the Lakers defense didn't have an answer for him, but once he stepped out of the paint he was not the same player. The only two missed shots that he had came from outside of the paint when he started to shoot jump shots. If he plays within himself and doesn't try to do too much, he looked pretty good but once he started drifting further away from the paint his game wasn't as effective. Defensively he did a good job of moving his feet but got burned a couple of times because he was out of position or failed to get a hand up on the shooter. Those three are the only players that I can really comment on because although Douby had a solid game, I didn't really notice him too much on the floor so he must've done most of his damage in the 1st half/early second half (or I just wasn't paying much attention). He had a couple of nice drives that resulted in trips to the charity stripe, but other then that I didn't notice him all that much. Here is the box score to tonights game: http://www.nba.com/summerleague2009/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520900003 All in all, it was a pretty good debut for the Raptors Summer League team. They would've gotten the victory if they were able to knock down their free throws, but wins and losses in Summer League isn't a major concern for me.

The top 5 teams in the NBA next season will be the Lakers, Celtics, Cavs, Spurs and Magic (in no particular order) and to be perfectly honest, I don't think that any other team has a chance of joining this fab five group. The Nuggets and Mavs are both teams that could sneak up and maybe join this group, but I don't think that they will. No other team in the league has a case at all of being mentioned with those 5 outside of the Mavs and Nuggets though. If one of these teams (Mavs or Nuggets) gets hot in the playoffs they could make some noise but as of right now I think that those 5 teams are in a league of their own.

The Rockets have already applied for an IPE and they basically used that to sign Ariza if I am not mistaken. I remember reading about that a little while ago but I am not 100% sure. I will try to find a link for that though. EDIT: Found the link to the article I read: Source (4th Paragraph)

The way I look at it, Calderon is going to be playing 35-38 minutes a game next season so a backup point guard isn't a huge concern of mine (unless he gets injured then I agree that we are [expletive]ed). Ukic is capable of playing about 10 minutes a game if you ask me, but if he does suck and plays crappy next season, the Raptors could always just move Delfino to the point and let him play about 10 minutes a night at point guard (he is more than capable of playing point guard and has shown the ability to do so). I think that the Raptors lack of shooting guard talent is a bigger concern then the backup point guard as of right now, but I can definitely see where you two are coming from with this concern. I just think that Ukic will be capable of playing around 10 minutes a game at the point and even if he proves unworthy, Delfino is versatile enough to play the point and be effective there if you ask me (much like Parker was last season). It all depends on your stance on Ukic though I guess. Having insurance at the point would be nice, but even then, I really don't like Bogans or Murray as the back up point guard anymore than I like Delfino so that would be why I would just rather go with Daniels and Delfino rather then use the MLE on somebody like Murray or Bogans.

NHL 09 is, in my opinion, the greatest sports game ever made. Usually I get way too good at NHL games and after about a month or two I am playing on the hardest difficutly and going 82-0 in my Dynasty modes and blowing teams out like 10-0, but I still manage to get a challenge out of NHL 09 and it is still fun to play. The new additions seem absolutely unreal. The board work is such a fantastic addition because that is such a huge aspect of hockey. Puck battles down low and cycling in the offensive end is actually possible now (or at least it seems like it) and that just adds even more realism to the game. In Be A Pro mode, it might actually be worth playing as a defenseman now because there is actually something that you can master and become good at (although I never really got into Be A Pro mode that much in 09, don't know why). Being able to shoot from your knees is another nice addition that just gives even more of a realistic feel to the game, and the same can be said for batting the puck out of mid air and gloving it down. All of the new features of the game are simply awsome and make for an even better, and realistic, experience playing the game. Honestly, EA could've made minor tweaks and adjustments to their 09 game and I would be fine with it because it was such a great game, but all of these additions are just amazing. This game is going to be unreal and I can't wait for September 8 (I think that is the date at least).

I downloaded the demo on my PS3 and thought that it was pretty sick but debated on whether or not I should buy it. Judging from the responses in this thread, I am guessing that it is definitely worth buying this game though. I'll probably pick it up in a day or two.

I agree that playing against the computer gets boring fast and career mode was a HUGE bust in my opinion, but online play is pretty fun (when you actually find a guy that knows what he is doing and isn't a quitter like 75% of the people are lol). I haven't played it for about the last week or so (haven't played any video games for that long in fact) but for a first crack at a UFC game, THQ did pretty well. There are a lot of things that they can improve on and that is to be expected seeing how it was their first installment, but all in all it is worth the money if you ask me.

The Raptors can do something like this (completely hypothetical, just what I wouldn't mind seeing them do): MLE: Marquis Daniels (or split it between two players like Barnes and somebody else) LLE: Rasho Nesterovic (maybe even the vets minimum) Sign Carlos Delfino using his Bird Rights The Raptors lineup would look something like this: C: Bargnani/Rasho/Pops PF: Bosh/Evans/Pops SF: Turk/DeRozan/George SG: Daniels/Delfino/Wright PG: Calderon/Ukic/Banks (Delfino could come in and play some point as well if needed) Just throwing out a possibility, but I like the looks of that lineup.

I don't even think that they will have to use any of the MLE on Rasho. I could see Rasho coming to the Raptors for the LLE or maybe even the vets minimum. I don't think he will demand anything more than that to be honest.

The reason why he gets 5 rpg is because he is a bad rebounder. He does not have a great nose for the ball when it comes off of the rim and he is out of position a lot of the time when battling for rebounds. On offense, he doesn't have much of a hope of grabbing offensive boards because he is usually out on the perimeter and he averages less than 1 offensive board a game. It has nothing to do with his minutes or not getting any starts (which is a joke considering he started 59 out of the 78 games that he played in last season and 53 of the 78 he played in his sophomore season). He averaged 35 mpg as a starter last season and he still only managed to grab 6 boards a game. For the entire season half of the season last year Bargnani was the second option for the Raptors offensively and was playing around 35 minutes a game (give or take a few minutes) what more do you want the Raptors coaching staff to give him? Should they make him the first option on offense and play 42 minutes a game so that he can "develop"?

There is now way in hell that Anderson is just as important to the Nuggets as Bargnani is to the Raptors. That is just absurd. And for all of you people saying that he took a pay cut, I fail to see it. Just because he is making $3.7M next season doesn't mean much if you ask me because he will be making $8M by the end of his contract in which he will be a 36 year old player and not nearly as effective because his athleticism will start to decline by then. Just because the contract is back loaded doesn't mean that he is taking much of a pay cut to stay with the Nuggets if you ask me, unless you think that Anderson would be getting $8-$10M for 5 years on the open market and I don't think that he would be worth that at all and would be a horrible overpayment (much like the Varejao contract is a brutal over payment). The fact of the matter is that he is still $26M which is about what energy big men like Anderson are worth. I may be wrong, but I just don't think that a 5 year $26M deal for Anderson is much of a pay cut on his behalf. It is great value for the Nuggets for the first year or two, but have fun paying an energy big man that relies completely on his athletic ability $8M when he is 36 years old.

I posted this on NBAD and it was in response to somebody saying that this move shouldn't have much of an impact because Parker is not an impact player and it fits here (because I discuss what I think that Parker will bring to the table for the Cavs) so I am going to copy it here: The Cavs aren't looking for an impact player because they have guys like LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal on the roster (and to a lesser extent Mo Williams). What they are trying to do now is fill in the missing pieces and make the necessary adjustments that are needed to rectify their roster and signing a player like Anthony Parker is one of those valuable, under the redar moves that Championship caliber teams need to make in order to continue to move forward. Parker could prove to be a very valuable asset to the Cavs. He is a capable defensive player, and although his lateral quicks have started to go due to age, he is still a very smart defensive player that will give it his all on the defensive end of the floor. One of the Cavs problems against the Magic is that the Magic's perimeter players were too big and they took advantage of their size and strength advantages over guys like Delonte West and Mo Williams. Having Parker gives them a wing player with good size (6'6 and around 210-220 pounds) who won't get bullied around by the bigger players like West and Williams would. On offense, Parker is a great compliment to players like LeBron James and Shaquille O'Neal. These two will constantly be drawing double teams and having a shooter like Parker on the floor will make them pay for giving him open looks. He won't be asked to create his own shot (which he is capable of doing at times, but not consistently) and will be used in a spot up shooter role, which fits his skill set perfectly. It just gives the Cavs another shooter to space the floor and give Shaq and Bron more room to operate. Parker is also a reliable late game performer and can come through in pressure situations, which is a huge asset to have considering how much attention James will have. Parker can fade to the corner and get some pretty good looks in late game situations and Parker can definitely make those shots count. The last thing that I think will prove to be very helpful to the Cavs is something that Parker showed last season when the Raptors were hit with injuries and that is that Parker is able to run the point and run it fairly effectively. Having that kind of versatility where you can play 3 positions (2 really well and small forward fairly effectively) is huge to have off of the bench and can prove to be very valuable. Like you said, it is not a huge move, but it is not the big moves that make Championship teams. Anybody can realize that going out and signing a superstar player for the right price or making a trade like the Lakers did for Gasol is going to have a huge impact, but it is the little moves that fill the holes in your roster that wins Championships. Take the Spurs for example, they have been heavy contenders for the last 10 seasons and the reason for that is because R.C. Buford makes all of the right little moves to keep them team going in the right direction. This is the same kind of move for the Cavs. I don't think so, but it really comes down to whether or not the Cavs want a bigger player for defensive purposes, or better ball handler on the offensive end of the floor. If they want more size defensively then they will go with Parker but if they want to have another ball handler on the floor then they will probably go with West (although Parker is capable of handling the rock he is not as good as Delonte is).

Pretty decent signing if you ask me. Pargo can be to the Bulls what Ben Gordon was for them a couple of seasons ago and that is an energy, high offense player off of the bench. He is not a point guard and is an undersized shooting guard that doesn't do much outside of scoring the ball but he is definitely a capable scorer. He is quick off of the bounce, can shot, create for himself fairly well and if you are find yourself in a pinch, he can play limited minutes at point guard (but with Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich on the team, I don't think that the Bulls have to worry about Pargo playing the point). He proved two seasons ago with the Hornets that he can be a legitimate player on a good team and can be an asset. Obviously this signing doesn't make up for losing Gordon to the Pistons, but I definitely think that it helps soften the blow for the Bulls. He won't get a ton of playing time, but he can be effective when he does get it. A good signing if you ask me.

They get an extra million dollars in the trade. They are getting Stack traded to them and will undoubtedly buy him out immediately for the $2M that it would require. In the trade they are most likely receiving the $3M max and they will use $2M of that to buy out Stackhouse and then they walk away with an extra million bucks for doing, well, nothing. Pretty sweet deal for them lol.

The best thing about this deal has yet to be mentioned as well. The Raptors now have the option of bringing back the one and only, the greatest of all time, RASHO NESTEROVIC!!!!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just going to mention this. If people are complaining about Bargnani being over paid with his $50M deal then that would mean Varejao making the same amount is one of the worst over payments in the league (might be a slight exageration lol). Despite the fact that Varejao's deal is for 6 years, it would still have to be considered a horrible over payement if you think that Bargs is over paid. Good points on everything that you said though. I completely agree with you when you said that if it looks like Bargnani isn't going to fit on the Raptors after the first two years on his deal then he won't be hard to move because there is bound to be a team that would take a chance on somebody of Bargnani's skill set for around $9M or so. I mentioned the fact that if Bargnani reaches what he is capable of that it would be an absolute bargain so I am not going to get into that anymore.

I posted this on NBAD and it is somewhat repetitive to some of the stuff that you all have already said, but I am too lazy to retype my thoughts so I will just copy it here lol. This is a huge deal for the Raptors. Getting Orlando to agree to do a sign and trade for Turkoglu was something that I thought was impossible and just a Raptor fans wet dream. Awsome job on Colangelo's part in bringing in the Magic to the deal. After a really dissapointing past few seasons in which I was highly unimpressed with Colangelo, I am starting to regain a bit of faith in him. He has had a solid offseason in trading Kapono for Evans, extending Bargnani's contract at a reasonable price and now getting Turk in a sign and trade rather than a straight up signing which enables them to use their MLE this offseason (which they wouldn't have had if they signed Turk outright). Now the Raptors are able to use their MLE to strengthen their bench so that they won't be sending out a bunch of D-League caliber players off of their bench. Their hands are no longer tied and they actually have more than the vets minimum to throw at players and try to bolster their bench. Now they can use the $5.5M MLE and get some depth on the roster. Besides getting the ability to use the MLE (and the other exceptions), the Raptors got a capable bench player in Antoine Wright (Devean Geroge is done if you ask me). Wright, if I recall correctly, is a pretty decent perimeter defender and on offense can do a little bit (although not much). He gives the Raptors a nice player off of the bench and adds some depth to the team. Also, if I am not mistaken, they are able to keep the rights to Carlos Delfino and Pops Mensah-Bonsu (although I think they still have to give up the rights to Parker) so they can go over the cap resigning the two of them and still have the MLE to use on another free agent. Things are definitely looking up for Raptor fans after this move. I am not 100% certain on this point so don't hold me to it lol. I love this move on the Raptors behalf and my hope for this team next season has just dramatically increased. Now, all the Raptors have to do is get the right pieces with the MLE and then they may actually become a good enough team next season that Bosh will want to stick around and resign with them. I don't agree with you, nor do I disagree with you. I just wanted to say one thing that is DeRozan being a starter may not be a bad thing in the long haul. He is not exactly NBA ready and won't be a huge contributor immediately next season so it might be better off for him to just come off of the bench for his first season and have his expectations lowered and not have as much pressure on him. Then again, having a larger role on the team may have sped up his development process but who knows. I like the move of bringing him off of the bench just becase he won't have as much pressure to perform (at least I think he won't) but I can see why you would consider him going to the bench may be a bad move. Also, I could definitely see the Raptors bringing back Delfino and having him as the starting 2 guard and in that case, I would rather see DeRozan come off the bench and have Delfino in the starting lineup.

Oh I agree with you on the second sentence. Before I could deal with his up and down play but no longer can he get away with scoring 20 points one game and then the next 3 games he puts up a combined 10 points. He has to consistently bring it night in and night out now.

I highly doubt that the Raptors could've gotten him for $7M considering the fact that his Qualifying Offer for next season is roughly $8.5M. Do you honestly think that Bargnani would sign an extension for less money that the $8.5M that he would've been making next season? As of right now, Bargnani is over paid but face the facts, big men in the NBA are historically over paid. Like I said in my first post, Bargnani is definitely comparable to players like Emeka Okafor, Sameul Dalembert and Nene and they are making: Okafor: $10.5M this upcoming season and will be making $14.5M by 13/14 Dalembert: $11.36M this upcoming season and $12.2M next season Nene: $10.5M this upcoming season and has an option for $11.6M two years from now. Bargnani is a better player than Dalembert and he will be making less money than him. Bargnani and Okafor are certainly comparable players, and depending on the exact details of Bargnani's contract (% increases and the like) he has a more appealing contract. There is no way in hell that Okafor will be worth the $14.5M that he will be making at the end of his deal. Nene is the best player out of this group (although not by a huge margin or anything) and he is making $11.6M in two years. If Bargnani is over paid then every single one of these big men are as well because the only people that will say that Bargs is not at the very least comparable to of these three players (and better than Dalembert) are haters. Plus, unlike all three of these players, Bargnani is still improving and only entering his 4th season. Bargs is already the best offensive player of these three players (although he is the worst defensively) and if he can improve his defense and rebounding to the point that he is at least average on both areas (he isn't far away from being an average defender, just needs to improve his help defense) than he easily would have a case to being better than all three of them. This contract right now may seem like an over payment because Bargnani has only had half a season in which he proved that he earned this deal, but if Bargs develops like he is capable of and becomes a 22/8 player (not unreasonable if you ask me, maybe the rebounds are a bit of a stretch because he will never be a good rebounder) then would paying him $10M per season seem like an over payment? No it wouldn't, in fact, it would be considered a bargin if you ask me because there would be no way in hell that a 22/8 type of big man would get anything less than $12M on the open market. As of this moment, I can defintiely see where you are coming from by saying that Bargnani is over paid, but it is not even close to being a dumb contract or anything like that and Bargnani would certainly get close to this much on the open market (assuming he doesn't have a terrible season next year) due to his skill set and his potential.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4312517&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines I'm not a huge fan of Bargnani, but this isn't a horrible deal by any stretch of the imagination. Players like Nene, Dalembert, Bynum and Okafor are making at least that much or more and Bargnani is definitely comparable to all of those players as of right now. If Bargnani is able to continue his solid play from the second half of last season and he is able to improve his rebounding and help defense, this deal may actually become a bargain in comparision to how over paid some of the other average NBA centers are. Despite not being a big Bargnani fan, this is definitely a reasonable and understanding move. Wow, aside from the Kapono for Evans trade, I think that is this is the first time since Colangelo's first season with the Raptors that I have not questioned a move tha the has made.

I gotta admit, this is pretty funny. The fact that somebody cares enough to pay somebody $500 to hack an internet message forum is pretty hilarious lol.

Knowing what we know now the obvious answer is Dwyane Wade, but at the time I don't think that anybody thought Wade would become a top 3 player in the league and a bonafide superstar. I completely agreed with the selection at the time and it was the right pick if you ask me. Obviously going back in time I would take Wade though.

The Raptors had to renounce the rights to Marion, Parker and Delfino in order to get far enough under the cap to be able to sign Marion. I don't know exactly how to explain it but I'll try to make it make sense. Even when you are a free agent, you still count against the cap (the exact amount is determined by your previous contract and what type of free agent you are). You will continue to count against the team that you had just played for cap until you sign a new contract or the team renounces your rights. So even though the Raptors didn't have Delfino, Parker or Marion under contract, they still counted against the cap and in order to sign Turkoglu, the Raptors had to renounce their rights to give them the sufficient cap space required to sign Hedo. If they didn't renounce the rights to those three players they wouldn't have enough cap room to sign Turkoglu. I hope that made sense, it is kind of hard to explain because I just became familiar with the whole renouncing players last season and up until then I had no clue what it meant.