Toronto Raptors 2012/2013 season

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Jonas Valanciunas is dominating the weak centers in the summer league, which is nice, but more importantly he looks like he's put on some muscle and looks much bigger. He should be the only untouchable player on the Raptors, he could be one of the best bigs in the league in a few years.

Ross had a good game two as well. Apparently been working on and has improved his handles. Baby steps.

[bluejays]

Summerleague/D-league is just practice time. There are players every year that stand out where you think they're a diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered, but then they're signed and can't play an iota in a team environment. I wouldn't read anything into what's going on over the summer aside from injuries, as it's a completely different game - more based on showcasing your own talent than anything else. Certain guys stand out because of the ####ty competition. Happens every year.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by fleury

Summerleague/D-league is just practice time. There are players every year that stand out where you think they're a diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered, but then they're signed and can't play an iota in a team environment. I wouldn't read anything into what's going on over the summer aside from injuries, as it's a completely different game - more based on showcasing your own talent than anything else. Certain guys stand out because of the ####ty competition. Happens every year.

There's a quote from somewhere about how summer league won't show you who can play in the NBA, but it will show you who can't. I think there's truth to that. If you can't cut it in summer league, you're really going to struggle in the NBA. And there are exceptions, but not many.
That said, there's still a lot to be learned. Looking at Valanciunas, you can see his improved physique and that it fits well with the skills he already has, but also that conditioning may be a problem and that he needs to spend some time the rest of the summer working on cardio, so that he can continue to play at a high tempo without getting winded.
In the case of Ross, it's a much different situation because his role here - as a primary scoring option - is very different from his role with the NBA team as a spot-up shooter. I haven't seen anything from Ross through these two games that really say much at all about him.
With Acy, summer-league has shown that Casey's idea of trying to convert him to a 'power 3' may be a bad idea. He just doesn't look comfortable that far out from the basket, nor is he able to guard even the summer-league-speed SFs that he's been assigned.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by octothorp

There's a quote from somewhere about how summer league won't show you who can play in the NBA, but it will show you who can't. I think there's truth to that. If you can't cut it in summer league, you're really going to struggle in the NBA. And there are exceptions, but not many.
That said, there's still a lot to be learned. Looking at Valanciunas, you can see his improved physique and that it fits well with the skills he already has, but also that conditioning may be a problem and that he needs to spend some time the rest of the summer working on cardio, so that he can continue to play at a high tempo without getting winded.
In the case of Ross, it's a much different situation because his role here - as a primary scoring option - is very different from his role with the NBA team as a spot-up shooter. I haven't seen anything from Ross through these two games that really say much at all about him.
With Acy, summer-league has shown that Casey's idea of trying to convert him to a 'power 3' may be a bad idea. He just doesn't look comfortable that far out from the basket, nor is he able to guard even the summer-league-speed SFs that he's been assigned.

I think you said it best. As for Valanciunas, I hope he continues to work on his cardio along with post dribbling. He's an insider shooter and his move will be his quickness in the paint. He's shown he can bang with the best already, so I'm not too keen on him putting on too much muscle too fast, but I do want to see his interior moves develop. He's a solid talent who wants to work hard; I don't see why he won't.

[Senator Clay Davis]

The Raptors will amnesty Linas Kleiza. Seems like a waste with only one year left on his contract, but I guess the Raptors don't really have any horrible contracts anymore now that Andrea is gone.

The Toronto Raptors plan to amnesty forward Linas Kleiza on Tuesday, a league source told Yahoo! Sports.

Kleiza had previously exercised a player option in his Raptors contract to make $4.6 million next season. The Raptors, however, decided Monday to use the amnesty clause on Kleiza, a source said. The move will save Toronto from a luxury-tax hit, although the franchise still has to pay Kleiza's salary.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--ra...084703294.html

[octothorp]

Yeah, I think it makes sense, since it gives them a shot at staying under the tax this year (which they'll probably go over next year, but staying under this year gives them an extra year before the repeater rates kick in). I really liked LK, but he just couldn't stay healthy during his years here.

[St. Pats]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

The Raptors will amnesty Linas Kleiza. Seems like a waste with only one year left on his contract, but I guess the Raptors don't really have any horrible contracts anymore now that Andrea is gone.


http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--ra...084703294.html

The whole idea is it lets them take back more salary in a trade without going over the luxury tax. To me sounds like prep for a another deal. At the very least creating flexibility for that deal.

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by St. Pats

The whole idea is it lets them take back more salary in a trade without going over the luxury tax. To me sounds like prep for a another deal. At the very least creating flexibility for that deal.

I don't know about using the amnesty on Kleiza. Now, I'm not sure what Landry Fields' tradability is, but he'd be the first on my list. Kleiza's actually a very useful player at the price he is. Fields is useful, but not at that length or price. Not a fan of this assuming Fields has little to no trade value.

[bluejays]

Just noticed Mike Miller was amnestied by Miami. In a year we wouldn't be taking, I'd like to have him on my team.

[Chump]

Originally Posted by fleury

I don't know about using the amnesty on Kleiza. Now, I'm not sure what Landry Fields' tradability is, but he'd be the first on my list. Kleiza's actually a very useful player at the price he is. Fields is useful, but not at that length or price. Not a fan of this assuming Fields has little to no trade value.

Fields was signed after the lockout so he's not eligible to be amnestied.

[kmart]

DJ Augustin has just reached a deal with the Raptors. Short term fix at the back up PG spot, which was much needed. Plus a guy who can potentially steal Chubby Lowry's spot.

I like the fact that Ujiri hasn't dished out any long term contracts, they're mostly 1 year deal and if they're 2 years they come with an option.

[kmart]

Originally Posted by fleury

I don't know about using the amnesty on Kleiza. Now, I'm not sure what Landry Fields' tradability is, but he'd be the first on my list. Kleiza's actually a very useful player at the price he is. Fields is useful, but not at that length or price. Not a fan of this assuming Fields has little to no trade value.

Kleiza useful at 4.5 million

[bluejays]

Originally Posted by kmart

Kleiza useful at 4.5 million

I honestly do think that...when he's healthy of course.

[pria(kin)16]

Wiggins was asked where he wanted to play. Perhaps not suprisingly, Wiggins chose the Toronto Raptors (at the 2:20 mark of the video below) as his preferred destination.

http://www.thescore.com/home/article...lay-in-toronto

Get it done Ujiri!!!

[octothorp]

Raptors are shutting down JV for the rest of summer league so that he can go get ready for Eurobasket with the Lithuanian team. Makes sense, since other than any hopes of a summer-league championship, there's little reason at this point to continue to play him.

[Jason14h]

Get it done Ujiri!!!

Unfortunently there is nothing this team can do to be so bad to get the #1 pick. And whoever gets #1 will not trade it.

More like "Get it done David Stern" cause a rigged lottery is out best chance!

[Gord Wappel]

Its dawning on me that all is positioned as well as can be.
If Lowry is great and healthy and team meshes then they make playoffs.
If it isn't headed that way then they can trade Lowry - an easy to trade contract
and the two backups PGs added cannot hep but influence the loss column towards a decent pick... even if they play better than expected.
Very clean in a minimalist fashion.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Jonas named Summer League MVP if anyone cares.

[drew24]

What is with Quincy Acy going for 28 points and hitting 2-4 threes? Is he going to be a rotation player this year? That stat line seems totally different from the guy I know. After his junior year at Baylor over half of his baskets were dunks.

[octothorp]

Originally Posted by drew24

What is with Quincy Acy going for 28 points and hitting 2-4 threes? Is he going to be a rotation player this year? That stat line seems totally different from the guy I know. After his juniour year at Baylor over half of his baskets were dunks.

Yeah, good question. I missed that game other than the highlights, and he looked decent but not that good in the other summer league games... at times his long jumper looked absolutely painful. Nice form, but barely grazing the rim. As far as Raptors big men go, I actually like his form a lot more than Amir's shot, which always starts at his knees and takes forever to release. Acy gets it off relatively quickly in rhythm.
He's obviously putting in the work, and I can see him working really nicely as a pick-and-roll/pick-and-pop option. Buycks/Acy could be the new Calderon/Johnson in terms of a second-unit P&R combo that's really effective against bench players. At the same time, his grit/hustle role has been superseded by Hansbrough to some extent. Can the Raptors put Acy and Hansbrough out as their second unit big-men, or does that give up too much size? Or can they put Acy at SF and have Acy, Hansbrough and Grey out there? I like the fact that other than Grey, (and Fields, pending his arm recovery) everybody on this team can space the floor.