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Old 01-17-2017, 02:13 PM   #232
octothorp
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Originally Posted by Imported_Aussie View Post
Ross + ??? gets Ibaka though?
??? has to be at least a 1st round pick, but does Toronto have to add more, such as a cost-controlled asset like Siakam, add money now in Patterson/Sullinger to take money for 2 years like CJ Watson?

And that is for a rental, who if they re-sign both Ibaka and Lowry, launches this team way into the luxury tax (though I am not 100% on whether they get Ibaka's Bird rights)

it would make a very good roster, but does it beat Cleveland?

Lowry, DeRozan, Carroll, Ibaka, Valanciunas, with Joseph, Patterson and Powell the first 3 off the bench and Sullinger as a wildcard

After considering it all, I would say if Powell covers Ross, then a deal moving Ross + Siakam OR next years 1st would be solid, but likely not enough for Orlando to take it seriously, but adding both means that if Ibaka doesn't return, then the hole at PF is filled either by signing Patterson to a deal that they may regret, or whoever comes in on a veteran min. deal, if they can even attract someone like that to a team that has to go through Cleveland.

If there is a deal there, hard to say if they would even be willing to pull it off
Here's why I think Ross+Siakam or Ross+Poeltl is a doable framework: to get Ibaka, they traded away a good young 3-and-D wing, and a promising PF rookie in Oladipo and Sabontis. (Ilyasova was basically a salary-matching throw-in who never really fit in Orlando, either.) A package with Ross and either rookie allows them to essentially hit a reset on the Ibaka trade. (And no, Ross isn't as good as Oladipo but he's literally half the price and is well-suited to Vogel's style, except that Vogel's a big sucker for wingspan.)

Raptors would get Bird rights on Ibaka. Paying well into the tax to keep the group together for a few years is a solid investment. They can potentially keep Lowry and Ibaka and Patterson this offseason and would still be well under what Cleveland is paying this year. The repeater rate tax makes it doable for teams to jump way over the luxury tax for a few years at a time without serious consequences. For Cleveland, their repeater rate kicks in next year. The Raptors have essentially a three year window right now when the best payroll strategy is going to be to get the best talent regardless of cost (as long as you keep a strategy for shedding it later).

And it still might not be enough to beat Cleveland, but it's their best shot. I said before that a lineup like Millsap/Patterson/Carroll/DeRozan/Lowry is the one that does the best job of neutralizing Cleveland's most deadly lineups, and swapping in Ibaka is similarly good. And I do like Ibaka better as a long-term piece more than Millsap.

Last edited by octothorp; 01-17-2017 at 02:17 PM.
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