Quote:
Originally Posted by t0rrent98
I don't follow Basketball as much as I follow Hockey, but can NBA teams go and sign undrafted college players like the NHL? I guess it doesn't really matter as teams only have a max of 12 players or something like that.
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Yeah, after a player declares for the draft and goes undrafted, he becomes a UFA. One of the most significant differences is that in the NBA, teams can offer UFAs 10-day contracts, which amount to cheap tryouts for these guys (but the team must have space on the roster, which is limited to 15 players, including injured and d-league players, but not including unsigned, drafted players, such as those stashed in Europe). Typically from this time of the year onward, you'll see a lot of guys getting a shot with 10-day contracts. Alan Anderson came onto the Raptors this way last spring before earning a guaranteed contract this year, and Chris Andersen got a 10-day contract with Miami earlier in the year before he was signed to a contract for the remainder of the season. Currently for the Raptors, they're at 15 contracts, including Haddadi, who has yet to suit up, or even appear in Toronto as far as I know. I've heard that there's visa issues and they can't even release him until they get the visas sorted out. Don't know if that's true, but otherwise I'd expected them to release Haddadi and then start bringing in some 10-day contracts for a look.
I still think they're a long shot for the playoffs. They can maybe reach 38 wins if everything falls into place (17-12 after the all-star break) , but they'll need a couple teams to go on a slide (most likely Philly and Milwaukee) for that to be good enough. That said, the reason I've always been pessimistic about their chances is that they've shown no ability to chalk up unlikely wins, and only a moderate conversion rate on should-win games. They've got a couple unlikely wins since Gay arrived, so it's difficult to use their past results and extrapolate forward.
And I don't know that there's a trade out there that definitely gets them into the playoffs this year. Not to mention, since anything better than eighth is pretty-much impossible, there's no point in any trade that isn't more focused on next year.