Raptors Expected to make bids for Nash, Lin

[DunkinDerozan]

The Toronto Raptors have an ambitious offseason plan, which includes signing either Steve Nash or Jeremy Lin, two point guards also coveted by the New York Knicks.

 

While Nash is from Canada, him signing with the Raptors seems unlikely. Toronto will be in “direct competition with the Knicks” for Nash, the New York Daily News reports, but Nash wants to join a contender—and the Raptors are far from that.

 

Meanwhile, under the Arenas Rule in the new collective bargaining agreement, the most a team can offer Lin is the $5 million mid-level exception and the Knicks can match any offer. The Knicks are the heavy favorite to retain Lin, but Toronto is nevertheless a “potential landing spot” for the second-year point guard, according to the Daily News. The Raptors would have to "back-load" an offer to Lin and hope the Knicks would not match. Should they not be able to land Nash, that’s exactly what Toronto might do, sources tell the Daily News.

 

Read more: http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2012-05-13/jeremy-lin-new-york-knicks-steve-nash-amare-stoudemire-arenas-rule-free-agency#ixzz1umvIwOHM

 

http://www.fanfeedr.com/nba/ny-knicks?id=44cfef24-8455-580c-9277-be42eaeeba74

 

 

Glad to hear that they have interest, but like it says in the article, its a pretty low chance that it will happen. We'll see.

[NomarFachix]

Smart move on both, Canadian boy and a dude who'd kill it in the huge Asian market.

[Sportsguy9695]

great move by the Raptors to bring nash back home. But I would hate to see him go there I hope the knicks go get him

[Built Ford Tough]

There is literally a 0% chance of prying Lin out of New York with a backloaded MLE. I'm still not completely sold on him, either. I give him full credit for that fantastic stretch of games and for basically turning around the Knicks season, but I question how effective he will be next year when he isn't catching teams off guard, playing 4 games in 5 nights or things like that. I hope he continues to be a very good player because he seems like a great dude, but I'm still not sold on him.

 

As for Nash, I put the chances at next to none as well. People think because of the whole becoming the GM of Canada Basketball that he will sign with the Raptors, but I'm not buying it. I just don't see him coming to Toronto to finish out his career, unless they are offering him a contract that he simply can't refuse (which is a possibility). Would he really want to rot away on a team with a likely ceiling of the 2nd round (and even that may be optimistic) for the last few years of his career? It is a possibility given his ties to Colangelo, Triano, the money they have to offer and him being Canadian, but in terms of actually playing basketball it makes little sense for him.

 

The guy I really want to see the Raptors target this summer is Goran Dragic. He has shown flashes of being a really good point guard but has always been stuck behind somebody and never truly gotten a chance to shine. Whether it was in Phoenix or Houston he has impressed every time he had his role increased and I think he is just waiting for an opportunity. He wouldn't cost as much as Lin, he seems like he would fit in nicely with this roster and he is young enough to grow with the Raptors core of DeRozan, Valanciunas, Bargnani and whoever they draft this year.

[DunkinDerozan]

There is literally a 0% chance of prying Lin out of New York with a backloaded MLE. I'm still not completely sold on him, either. I give him full credit for that fantastic stretch of games and for basically turning around the Knicks season, but I question how effective he will be next year when he isn't catching teams off guard, playing 4 games in 5 nights or things like that. I hope he continues to be a very good player because he seems like a great dude, but I'm still not sold on him.

 

As for Nash, I put the chances at next to none as well. People think because of the whole becoming the GM of Canada Basketball that he will sign with the Raptors, but I'm not buying it. I just don't see him coming to Toronto to finish out his career, unless they are offering him a contract that he simply can't refuse (which is a possibility). Would he really want to rot away on a team with a likely ceiling of the 2nd round (and even that may be optimistic) for the last few years of his career? It is a possibility given his ties to Colangelo, Triano, the money they have to offer and him being Canadian, but in terms of actually playing basketball it makes little sense for him.

 

The guy I really want to see the Raptors target this summer is Goran Dragic. He has shown flashes of being a really good point guard but has always been stuck behind somebody and never truly gotten a chance to shine. Whether it was in Phoenix or Houston he has impressed every time he had his role increased and I think he is just waiting for an opportunity. He wouldn't cost as much as Lin, he seems like he would fit in nicely with this roster and he is young enough to grow with the Raptors core of DeRozan, Valanciunas, Bargnani and whoever they draft this year.

 

You're probably right about the 0% chance of getting Lin out of New York thing. He's a RFA, so the only way they could get him without trading is signing him to the max offer. And you know the Knicks would just match the offer anyways. As far as trading, there would be no point. It would take Derozan+ probably. No point in doing that for the Raptors.

 

With the Nash thing, I'm really not sure what to think about it. Its hard to say. I don't think the whole idea of coming to Toronto just because he's Canadian and TO is in Canada argument isn't very valid IMO. It's not like Steve will be coming back home. Hell I'm pretty sure Phoenix is closer to Victoria, BC than Toronto is. Only way I see it happening is if he doesn't get any other serious offers from potential contenders, which in all honesty, is not going to happen.

 

Dragic is an interesting choice. He was unreal in the latter half of the season when Lowry went down to injury. I picked him up on my fantasy team, so i know first hand that he was putting up some great numbers. I believe he was averaging close to 20ppg and 7-8 apg. This signing would most likely drive Bayless out of town though, and i'm not a fan of that. I still have hope that Bayless can play consistently like he did during that stretch in the season where Calderon was hurt.

[Dash]

There is literally a 0% chance of prying Lin out of New York with a backloaded MLE. I'm still not completely sold on him, either. I give him full credit for that fantastic stretch of games and for basically turning around the Knicks season, but I question how effective he will be next year when he isn't catching teams off guard, playing 4 games in 5 nights or things like that. I hope he continues to be a very good player because he seems like a great dude, but I'm still not sold on him.

 

As for Nash, I put the chances at next to none as well. People think because of the whole becoming the GM of Canada Basketball that he will sign with the Raptors, but I'm not buying it. I just don't see him coming to Toronto to finish out his career, unless they are offering him a contract that he simply can't refuse (which is a possibility). Would he really want to rot away on a team with a likely ceiling of the 2nd round (and even that may be optimistic) for the last few years of his career? It is a possibility given his ties to Colangelo, Triano, the money they have to offer and him being Canadian, but in terms of actually playing basketball it makes little sense for him.

 

I actually think the chances of snatching Lin from New York are very good, the only way he resigns with them is if he takes the mini-MLE but the max he can receive is a full MLE from other teams. If Lin signs with the Raptors for the full MLE and the Knicks match then they would be doing so by going over a "hard cap penalty", which would completely [expletive] over their future. So the Knicks either need to convince Lin to take less or possibly destroy their team's future by retaining an above average point guard, the latter being something they'll have to think VERY hard about.

 

The guy I really want to see the Raptors target this summer is Goran Dragic. He has shown flashes of being a really good point guard but has always been stuck behind somebody and never truly gotten a chance to shine. Whether it was in Phoenix or Houston he has impressed every time he had his role increased and I think he is just waiting for an opportunity. He wouldn't cost as much as Lin, he seems like he would fit in nicely with this roster and he is young enough to grow with the Raptors core of DeRozan, Valanciunas, Bargnani and whoever they draft this year.

 

Actually disagree about Dragic's price tag, again Lin can only get the MLE due to him earning a minimum contract last season and Dragic is coming off his rookie contract and and a spectacular end to the season. I can see him garnering about $8 million per year, maybe more if Portland and Toronto push it.

[Built Ford Tough]

I actually think the chances of snatching Lin from New York are very good, the only way he resigns with them is if he takes the mini-MLE but the max he can receive is a full MLE from other teams. If Lin signs with the Raptors for the full MLE and the Knicks match then they would be doing so by going over a "hard cap penalty", which would completely [expletive] over their future. So the Knicks either need to convince Lin to take less or possibly destroy their team's future by retaining an above average point guard, the latter being something they'll have to think VERY hard about.

 

I actually forget that even if he is only making $5M in the first season and around $5.5M in the second that the cap hit will still be around $10M or taking the backloaded portion of the deal into consideration. I don't know why, but I did.

 

I still find it highly unlikely that the Knicks let him walk for nothing. Even if they don't re-sign him, I can't see them just letting him walk outright.

 

Actually disagree about Dragic's price tag, again Lin can only get the MLE due to him earning a minimum contract last season and Dragic is coming off his rookie contract and and a spectacular end to the season. I can see him garnering about $8 million per year, maybe more if Portland and Toronto push it.

 

Sure, the first year or so would only be for $5M, but you are looking at the backloaded portion being in the range of $13M or so in order to truly get the Knicks to not match. Even with the "Gilbert Arenas Provision", the Raptors can still offer him as

 

Compare that to Dragic who will likely get a more traditional contract with traditional raises. Even if you are right and it is $8M per year, it is still less than what a heavily backloaded deal for Lin would be. $32M for Dragic while Lin would be at least at $36M. One million a year isn't a lot, but it is still cheaper and even though I know there are rumors of Dragic getting $8M per, I think $6.5M is more around what he will get. If he gets more, let somebody else have him.

 

 

To be perfectly honest, I'd rather pass on both and just keep Bayless around for $4M a year and give him the entire season to prove his worth as a point guard. They should've done it after last years trade deadline and then for this whole season, but Raptors brass [expletive]ed that up (surprise, surprise) so they really don't have an idea what they have with Bayless. Personally, I think he is more talented and the risk-reward factors into his favour when comparing him to guys like Lin and Dragic, but I don't think that the Raptors suits think of him as a point guard. They seem insistent on turning him into a Jason Terry or Leandro Barbosa clone.

 

Also, with Colangelo going balls to the wall to make the playoffs in his final year of his contract next year, I can't see him taking the time to truly give Bayless a chance.

 

It is worth noting that even though I'd rather see them go after Dragic or simply keep Bayless, I highly doubt Raptors management share those sentiments. I guarantee you they would want Lin or Nash first because it would result in absolutely absurd revenue for the team. Everything from merchandise, advertising, ticket prices, etc... would likely sky rocket considering how they could cash in on the two demographics that these two represent, like IllWill said.