Toronto Raptors - Bring championship to Canada

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Raptors Announce Basketball Staff Additions

The Toronto Raptors annonunced yesterday they have aquired Gage Johnson as their new general manager. Bryan Colangelo will remain team president. Gage will be a GM for a first time in his career. Gage was a president of minor football clubs in USA and was named ABA executive of the year in 2004 while managing Juarez. Gage, 31, also played professional basketball for 8 years in Europe. His career started in italian C2 league but he quickly signed with Euroleague side Unicaja Malaga after 2 years. He also played for Zalgiris Kaunas, Le Mans and Girona before leaving Europe to become a GM in ABA. He ended his career at the age of 27.

Gage will meet media tommorow at 6:00 PM.

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Championship is only goal
Gage Johnson is new GM of Toronto Raptors, team which hasn't won a championship yet in 13 seasons in NBA.


Former GM and current basketball president of Raptors Bryan Colangelo introduces new GM

“ We have a nice group of guys already. Hedo, Chris and Jose are all-star caliber players. We know how tough East is right now, but we believe we can make it.”
Johnson stated.

Raptors aquired Hedo Turkoglu last month. He was a free agent. Raptors were solid team in the past and are very solid now. But they are not contender.
“ I think that we have a chance to get some quality as there are still some free agents out there, like Iverson, Odom, Varejao, Miller and so on. With a players of that caliber we could really become a threat.”
Raptors can still buy a player under Mid-level exception and there are numorous sources near Raptors that they are in talks with former Laker Lamar Odom and former Knick David Lee.

“We are confident and motivated. We want to bring championship to Toronto.” Gage Johnson said.

[Joe the Space Marine]

Good luck.

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Odom to Raptors ?
Raptors may add Lamar Odom as they reportedly reached verbal agreement with 10 year veteran.



Last month Lamar Odom opted out of his contract with Lakers and rejected Lakers new contract offer. He said that Lakers made it clear enough that he is not in their plans with bringing Artest.
Odom was yesterday in Toronto with his agent and reached a verbal agreement with Raptors on a 4 year deal worth around 26 million $. Raptors have a chance to keep Odom in Toronto for 5 years as the contract also includes a team option for fifth year. Raptors will have to waive at least one player as their roster is full. They are reportedly deciding beetween Douby and Evans.

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Raptors aquire Odom, Stackhouse, Hollins and Mihm



Toronto Raptors officialy announced they signed Lamar Odom on a 4 year / 25.92M $ deal. Odom was a free agent previously playing for Los Angeles Lakers.
Raptors waived Patrick O'Bryant.

Later today Raptors sent Banks, Humpries and 09' second round pick to Dallas in exchange for Ryan Hollins, Jerry Stackhouse with his expiring 7M $ contract.
Raptors made another trade today bringing Chris Mihm to Canada in exchange for Joey Graham. Raptors also got 2nd round pick for next NBA draft from Grizzlies.

[Skills]

Nice job picking up Odom, I'd much rather have him than Hedo in real life. Good luck with this, though I have to wonder what your current roster looks like?

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AROUND THE LEAGUE

Raptors Top Power Rankings




After first two games Toronto looks solid. In their first game against Portland, Raptors achieved victory at home, winning 76-83.
Bosh led all scorers with 24 while Bargnani added 19. Calderon had 12 points to go with 8 assists. New additions Turkoglu (11),Odom (9), Stackhouse (4) combined for 24 points.
In game 2 of the new season Toronto totally dominated Kings. Raptors were leading by 25 at the half and played the rest of the game without any of their starters.
Raptors won 96-74 at Sacramento. Turkoglu was top scorer with 16, Mensah-Bonsu and Bosh had 14.
“It's a nice start but we have to get better every night. We have to be concentrated and play at our best. We are very happy with the team so far and everything is OK right now.”
coach Mitchell stated.
Their only concern could be Lamar Odom who didn't fit the team well in first two games scoring 9 and 7 points. Odom looked a bit lost in their system and just coudn't do much in first two games.
He wasn't involved in enough offensive plays and defensively he was below average.
“ Lamar is amazing addition. He has to learn our offensive schemes but he'll be just fine. I have to give him more passes because he's really great player. ” stated Calderon, who is averaging 7,5 assists after first two games. Rookie Derozan also played against Sacramento and had 7 points and 2 assists in only 4 minutes.
“I like that guy. He could be a very good player for our team in the future. He needs some time to grow into real NBA player but he has potential.” Mitchell said.
Defense was a key part for Raptors so far as they only let oponents score 150 points in 2 games this season.

Read more...

Bobcats sign Iverson



Allen Iverson former 76er and Piston signed 1 year deal with Charlotte Bobcats, bringing him and Larry Brown together. Iverson is averaging his career low 14,7 in points after 3 games in Bobcats uniform.
“ We are delighted to have Iverson here. He can lead our way to the playoffs for the first time. We hope he'll stay with us for a while.” Brown said. “He is still a great athlete and a decent addition to this team.”
Iverson signed a 1 year worth 5.59 M dollars.

Read more...

Cavaliers add Hill
Grant Hill also signed a one year deal. He signed with Cavaliers. He will earn 2.71 M dollars this season.

Top 5 free agent moves


Robinson went to Milwaukee, Lee to Wizards

1. Lamar Odom (Toronto Raptors)
2. David Lee (Washington Wizards)
3. Shawn Marion (Orlando Magic)
4. Allen Iverson (Charlotte Bobcats)
5. Anderson Varejao (Portland Trailblazers)

Also worth notice : Hill (Cavs), Andre Miller (Bulls), Nate Robinson (Bucks)

Rate the moves with grades from 1 to 5 (5 the best)

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Nice job picking up Odom, I'd much rather have him than Hedo in real life. Good luck with this, though I have to wonder what your current roster looks like?

Yes but now I have both Hedo and Lamar. My starting lineup is : Calderon, Turkoglu, Odom, Bargnani and Bosh. Bench : Bensah-Monsu, Stackhouse, Ukic, Parker, Mihm, Derozan, Voskuhl.

[Cartar]

That's one long starting lineup.

1. Lamar Odom (Toronto Raptors) - 5
2. David Lee (Washington Wizards) 5
3. Shawn Marion (Orlando Magic) - 3
4. Allen Iverson (Charlotte Bobcats) - 3
5. Anderson Varejao (Portland Trailblazers) - 2
6. Grant Hill (Cavs) - 3
7. Andre Miller (Bulls) - 2
8. Nate Robinson (Bucks) - 2

[Martti.]

That's probably the tallest starting 5 in the league

1. Lamar Odom (Toronto Raptors) - 4
2. David Lee (Washington Wizards) 5
3. Shawn Marion (Orlando Magic) - 4
4. Allen Iverson (Charlotte Bobcats) - 3
5. Anderson Varejao (Portland Trail Blazers) - 3
6. Grant Hill (Cleveland Cavaliers) - 3
7. Andre Miller (Chicago Bulls) - 4
8. Nate Robinson (Milwaukee Bucks) - 3

[Skills]

Whoa, I missed the part where you already have Hedo! Though I have to wonder how you were able to sign Odom considering the real Raps are pretty much broke in real life after picking up Hedo. Nevertheless, that is one stacked lineup! Though if I could make a suggestion, I think you'd be better off like this:

C - Andrea Bargnani
PF - Chris Bosh
SF - Hedo Turkoglu
SG - DeMar DeRozan
PG - Jose Calderon
6 - Lamar Odom

[Lamrock]

The Raptors still had the MLE, since with the Turk signing they remain a little under the cap. While the prospect of the long lineup is enticing, it probably won't work too well, and I would recommend using Skillmatic's lineup since Odom is capable of playing all 5 positions. However, it would probably be a better idea to start Anthony Parker instead.

Good luck with this! Also...

Odom: 3
Lee: 5
Marion: 4
Iverson: 4
Varejao: 1
Hill: 3
Miller: 1
Robinson: 2

[Its_asdf]

I'd have to agree with Heir and Lamrock that making Odom come off the bench would be the most realistic choice of a lineup, but I'm pretty biased towards having Odom start since I love watching oversized match-up nightmares play out of position but dominate their defenders.

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Thanks for comments. Ratrac and martii : The second smallest in this lineup is 6-10, so yes this is a pretty tall lineup.
Skillmatic : I was able to buy Lamar as Lamrock said with MLE. He will earn much more than 5.59M in next 3 seasons though.
Lamrock : I don't know about Anthony Parker starting. But I will definitely try your lineup once this season.
Its_asdf : Yeah, so far my opponents really had problems with our size. Shooters really had probles shooting over Odom and Hedo.

You picked Washington Wizards aquiring David Lee as the best free agent move. Odom deal was second and Marion to Orlando was third.

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Despite Results Raptors Face Many Questions For Future


Where will Hedo play next season ?

Raptors started season with 3 wins in 4 games. Their current performances are great, but future is unknown.
It will depend on Turkoglu. Turkish is in final year of his contract. If he would stay with Raptors they could pull out big moves next offseason
and officialy become a title contender. But it seems that Hedo won't stay with the team as he already stated that he'll test free agency next offseason.
Raptors will have enough money to re-sign Turkoglu as they'll have 14M of cap room but only 7 players on roster for next season with Hollins, Mensah-Bonsu, Voskuhl, Douby,
Mihm, Parker, Turkoglu and Stackhouse becoming free agents, and Turkoglu wanting a big contract. If Turkoglu resigns with Raptors they'll be able to add one more free agent
and add another MLE contract. But if Hedo rejects Raptors offer, Raptors have serious problem. They'll have to bring in SG for 14M $ but there won't be many SG in next free agent class.

If Turkoglu rejects offer and signs with any other team, Raptors are in big trouble. They will have to trade big or they'll lose Bosh which already said that he might stay in '10 but only if
Raptors build a championship team. And Bosh leaving would also mean Bargnani leaving. But these are just worst scenarios Raptors can imagine. They might be able to sign-n-trade one of
next years free agents and practically solve all of their problems. “ We'll try to do the right moves and always get better. We know that next few years will be the most important for this dynasty.
Our only focus right now is playing basketball and winning games. There will be enough time after the season. But we hope we will suceed and win championship this season.” GM Johnson said.

The question is, can this team really do anything this season against Lakers , Celtics, Cavaliers, Pistons, Spurs and Magic ?
Their bench is short and full of unproven players. DeMar Derozan is still young and far from being a star player. Their lineup just doesn't seem good enough for championship. If Raptors do right moves
for the future they will be very very close to title. But we just don't believe they can do it right now, this season. Only time will tell.


by espn.com

[kibaxx7]

1. Lamar Odom (Toronto Raptors) - 5
2. David Lee (Washington Wizards) 5
3. Shawn Marion (Orlando Magic) - 4
4. Allen Iverson (Charlotte Bobcats) - 4
5. Anderson Varejao (Portland Trailblazers) - 3
6. Grant Hill (Cavs) - 3
7. Andre Miller (Bulls) - 2
8. Nate Robinson (Bucks) - 2

If you can re-sign Turkoglu, that would be great for you.