Built Ford Tough

Leafs re-signed Kulemin the other day. 2 years with a cap hit of $2.8M. I like the deal. I doubt he ever has another offensive season like he did two years ago, but I also don't think he will have as poor of an offensive season as he did last season either. I think he should be good for 15 or so goals a year. Add that to his excellent defensive play and board work and I really like this contract. The only downside is that he will be a UFA his next contract now.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/blog/eye-on-college-basketball/19626636/wiggins-grabs-title-of-best-amateur-player-in-world-by-default http://www.zagsblog.com/2012/07/20/after-win-over-randle-wiggins-says-hes-no-1/#more-77149 Supposedly Wiggins had 24 points and 8 boards in the 2nd half (and overtime) and scored all 8 of CIA Bounce's points in overtime. Dude is filthy.

What are your guys thoughts on jersery advertisements and the increased usage of instant replay?

He joined Breen and Frazier on commentary during the Raptors/Knicks SL game (which is where all those quotes came from) and it was actually a pretty entertaining couple of minutes. You could tell that he was fed up with all of the fat/out of shape comments and he got a bit heated when they were brought up. Went off on a bit of a tangent that I found pretty awesome. He seemed very stoked about coming back to the Knicks, though.

Really like the work that Davis and the coaching staff have done in rebuilding his jumper. It looks a lot better than what we saw from him the past two years. He doesn't shoot across his body anymore nor does his free throw shooting have a hitch anymore. He shoots it in one fluid motion and just looks significantly better. Him shooting around 72% from the free throw line in the SL did not look like a fluke to me. I think the mechanical improvements that they made are going to result in him being a much improved free throw shooter this year. Not only that, his elbow jumper looked a lot better as well. I know the defense in SL is poor, but I was impressed by his ability to stick those elbow jumpers. I'm actually very impressed at how much ED has improved as a shooter in just 3 months since the season finished. I'm looking forward to seeing what else he can add to his game during the rest of the offseason since this really is his first real offseason being able to work with the team. I liked what I saw from Joseph today as well. If only he could play some point, I would love him as a 3rd string point guard but I just don't think he has it in him at this point in his basketball career. I think him going overseas for a year or two and then looking to make the jump back to the NBA will be the most likely course of action. I can definitely see him in the NBA a few years down the road. Other than that, nothing really stood out to me. Ross was bad and hardly played (looked like he tweaked his lower back or maybe a hamstring) and Uzoh was a train wreck (don't care what his stats showed, dude was awful). I think Uzoh effectively played himself off of the roster with his pathetic SL showing.

Everybody that is involved in the whole "bandwagoning" or "frontrunning" take it elsewhere. It has absolutely nothing to do with this thread and more than half of this thread has been discussing that. Make a new thread, take it to PMs, I don't care. Just leave it out of this thread.

Like this move for Boston.

Gotta love the timing of this Weber offer sheet. - Owners make a new CBA proposal with a key component being a maximum of 5 year contracts. - Less than 48 hours Weber is offered a 14 year deal.

Raptors final Summer League game is about to start. Playing the New York Knicks. This will be the first full game I've been able to watch (probably watched about 8 quarters between the other games they've played) so I guess better late than never to watch a full game.

Can his credibility get any lower? EDIT: My bad, read the sentence wrong.

Using the amnesty on Calderon when there is no other free agent that would significantly improve the team would be a gigantic waste of the asset that the clause represents. Shop Calderon for a small forward (who knows, maybe if Philly gets really desperate to dump salary they would deal Iguodala for Calderon's expiring or something) and if that fails, keep him as a backup. If he really wants out that bad, tell him to take a significant hit on a buyout. It is much more valuable to save the amnesty clause for the future in case they need to use it on Amir or Kleiza to free up some money to sign a player. The decision not to use it on Calderon this year was undoubtedly the right one. It would've been a huge waste.

Totally forgot to mention in my first post that I hate the idea of giving a guy like Lucas a multi-year deal. If it was a savy veteran backup point like an Earl Watson or something, sure, I'd be fine with giving a guy like that a multi-year deal to be the backup point guard. However, Lucas is hardly that type of player. I could easily see his shoot first, shoot second and pass third playing style becoming very annoying as time goes on. Of course, that is just me. I've always liked having a steady, calming influence as my backup point guard. A guy who is reliable, can come in and run the offense and you know what you will get on a nightly basis over having boom or bust type of backup point guards. Lucas definitely falls into the latter catagory.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/8178374/source-toronto-raptors-close-deal-john-lucas-iii Is this insurance in case of a future Calderon deal or does this mean that the Raptors are close to dealing Calderon? UPDATE: Signed a 2 year, $3M deal. The 2nd year is a team option.

The strange thing is its not like Coach K had Rivers playing the point in college anyways. He was a 2 guard through and through. Sure, he had the ball in his hands quite a bit but Curry and Cook were clearly the point guards when they were on the floor (even though their numbers wouldn't exactly suggest that they were). It would be one thing if he actually played the point in college and you are simply trying to continue that, but it is another when he never even played that position, is clearly suited to the 2 and you still are trying to mold him into a point. As for your second point, that is another head scratcher. They had a very solid, reliable veteran point guard in Jarrett Jack and they just dumped him, presumably so that Rivers could be the starting point guard. His contract was more than reasonable ($5M expiring, I believe) and yet they just got rid of him for nothing. That would suggest to me that they have no plans of bringing in a PG prior to the season. It isn't even necessarily the turnovers. That isn't to say he won't have plenty of those because he will. Hell, he was getting flustered against a trapping Portland Summer League defense that resulted in at least 3 turnovers that I saw. It is more the fact that he just looks confused out there. He has no feel for when he should shoot or pass and as the game went on you could see him reverting back to his natural instincts of shoot first, shoot second, shoot third and pass fourth. Even when he did have a drive into the paint where he forced the defense to collapse on him and actually did kick the ball out, he never managed to get the ball into the shooters pocket for an in rhythm jump shot. He just does not have a point guards feel for the game and that would worry me a lot more than the turnovers. You can live with turnovers if the guy is making shit happen out there, but you can't live with a point guard who has no point guard instincts.

http://www.bigeast.org/News/tabid/435/Article/235666/BIG-EAST,-Syracuse-University-Reach-Agreement-on-Syracuse-Departure-From-the-BIG-EAST.aspx The Syracuse move to the ACC has been in the works for a while now and most people knew about it, so that part isn't really news. However, last I heard there was a bit of controversy on when Syracuse would be moving to the ACC. I read one thing earlier that said it would be 2015, another one that said 2014 but now it is officially 2013.

I think it would be $43M actually.

You can only amnesty a player who was under contract before the new CBA, so while that is a good idea in theory, it is against the rules. EDIT: I should also point out that said player had to be under contract for your team prior to the lockout as well.

Traded to Sacramento for a 2nd round pick in 2014. That is actually a better return than I thought. Not to say it is anything of note comming back, but I thought the best case scenario would be one of those imaginary 2nd rounders where the protection on it makes it so you never actually get it. Assuming Sacramento doesn't turn it around within the next two years, the Raptors may actually be getting a pick that is only 7-8 spots lower than the 1st they dealt for him (28th overall in 2010, I believe) which isn't bad. Still, it is basically nothing like I figured.

Does anybody (other than the Hornets, I guess) actually think that this is a good idea? I've seen plenty of Rivers games and not once have I ever seen anything that suggests to me that he is capable of playing the point. I know it is only the Summer League (and one game at that) but Rivers has shown no point guard instincts in the game against Portland either. I just don't understand why you draft a guy like Rivers and try to force him into a role that clearly does not suit his game. Just because a guy has a tight handle and can shake his man doesn't mean he is a point guard. Ultimately I think he becomes a Jamal Crawford 6th man type of player, but I was just curious if anybody actually thinks that he has any future playing the point.

http://www.torontosun.com/2012/07/15/calderon-may-stay-for-now-raps-lose-in-vegas I honestly think Johnson is as good as gone and would be floored if he is back witht he Raptors next season. With all of the "rumors" (and I only say that because none of it has actually been confirmed, but with how frequently his name is brought up, you know that at least some of them are true) and controversy around him last year it was clear he was on a thin leash. Drafting Ross and signing Fields made it even more obvious that Johnson was on the outs. The problem is, what exactly do they expect to get for him? His value is probably next to nothing. Best case scenario is you get a $3M TPE for him. UPDATE Dealt to Sacramento for a 2014 2nd round pick.

I know it is only 2 Summer League games, but my all of my criticisms of Ross are proving to be 100% on the money. Aside from a step back jumper, he can't create his own offense. He is a two, three dribble max, type of player. He has no real in between game. It is either three point shot or an attempt at the rim (off of a cut or something). Is a complete system player who needs offense created for him. He will be a solid role player, but I can't help but think that he will be a more athletic prime Mo Pete. A decent player, but hardly anything to get excited about. Of course, I could be way off and when he plays with actual talent and not guys like Ben Uzoh he may thrive, but even then, that goes back to him being 100% reliant on others for his offense. I do like his defensive awareness, though. I expect Casey will be able to mold him into a good defensive player. At the end of the day, it is the Summer League so I'm not going to write him off or anything like that. Even if I hated the pick at the time, I'm not going to make a hasty decision based on two Summer League games.

I don't know. I think Phoenix is going to be in a very, very similar situation as they were with Nash. Too good to get an impact player in the draft but not good enough to make the playoffs (or, get swept in the 1st round). Gortat/Lopez Scola/Frye Beasley Mayo Dragic/Marshall That screams treadmill team to me. On the bright side, they would be a teadmill team with most players who are relatively young as Scola is the only guy who you could argue is on the wrong side of his prime years. Despite that, I still don't see a very bright future for this team unless something comes totally out of left field.

6'4 guard from Toronto. Played at Oregon (after transfering from Minnesota) and averaged 17/4/3 on 47% shooting and 42% from deep this past year. You would probably know him better as Cory Joseph's older brother or Kris Joseph's cousin, though.

He made 76 and nearly shot 40% from 3 this past year. He is shooting 36.5% from deep over the past two years. His mid range jumper still sucks, but he has actually developed a solid three point shot over the past few years. 52 or something like that.

Well, unfortunately for you, Holloway isn't on the roster. Devoe Joseph is, though. Really though, none of these players who aren't already guaranteed roster spots are likely to even get any sort of second look with Uzoh being the only exception. I'm kind of surprised that Alabi didn't get an invite. I seem to recall hearing Colangelo say that despite his contract being up, he would get a summer league invite and be given a chance at earning another contract. I wonder if something happened to make Colangelo change his mind.