Deal's as done as it can be right now

Nothing's official until it's official, he said in his best Yogi Berra imitation, but it sure looks at the moment like the T.J. Ford-Jermaine O'Neal trade is going to go through.

The concerns both Toronto and Indiana had with the health of the principles -- Ford's neck and back and O'Neal's knee -- have apparently been eased and only some major last-minute snag or case of cold feet can scuttle the trade now.

The Raptors will also send the 17th pick in Thursday's draft, Rasho Nesterovic and another bit part to the Pacers in the deal that's been talked about in the media since Monday morning.

Bryan Colangelo had told us he had "four or five" conversations going about Ford but a couple of team sources said he liked the O'Neal deal best because of the impact it will have on the court immediately and on the bottom line a couple of seasons from now.

O'Neal will make $44 million (US) over the next two seasons but will come off the books and give Colangelo a boatload of money to throw at free agents following the 2009-10 season.

Neither side is talking, of course, because nothing can be finalized until T.J.'s base-year compensation tag comes off the books on July 1. For that reason, Toronto will make the 17th selection in tonight's draft based on what the Pacers tell them to do.

Comments

[Jonathan]

Would have been nice to have had some mysterious young talent to look forward to at the draft, but hello Jermaine O'Neal!

[dean edwards]

I am not so sure how this is positive for the Raps.....

They will lose three players for one, and now only have the mid level to try and get a swing player and NO draft pick this year at all, 1st or 2nd round. Now add the lose of Carlos and what is BC thinking. That is 4 roster spots to be filled with about 5 million dollars. Ouch. This team didn;t get better, it just got a lot worse.

[tim]

oh yea, 2 years

do you see him wanting to staying (after the 2 years) for less? errr.

Blogger's note: Two years is a long, long time. Who knows what transpires

[SAM]

this is a great trade for both teams

[Thane]

Draft night is always full of intrigue; could the Pacers instruct the Raps in the selection, and then back out of the deal? Or is there likely to be some kind of enforceable contract signed, even if the trade isn't officially made?

For the record, I love the deal if the pick isn't included; with the pick, it seems far to much - maybe a second rounder next year, but a 1st rounder, and two starters? ouch.

[Tamir Bar-Haim]

wow...let's make sure Dr James Andrews is on-call for the next 2 years. Certainly an interesting gamble for BC, and I'm curious to see how we fill out the rest of the roster spots.

Doug - do you see the Raptors somehow buying a 1st round or 2nd round pick?

Blogger's note: They are trying to get more picks, yes

[AJ]

i like this trade....i am just a bit loomy about the backup point guard position for us....any free agents we could get....(eddie house doesnt count cuz hes a shoot first pg)...any one else... udrih is too expensive ( and prolly a starter now)....who else? think utah has 1 extra as they have ronnie price and jason hart...although, i dont like hart's jump shot

[jk]

crap....O'Neal is the most overrated player in the NBA and this deal sucks....Craptors...

[jason]

2 backups and a first-rounder for a proven all-star, I like it

[Nawid]

O'Neal is a good player but his knee concerns me. I am just wondering who is the other player that will be dealt in this trade with TJ and Nestrovic to match up Jermain O'Neal's salary. How much Toronto can spend now to sign any other players ?
Thanks

[Tristan]

Doug - PLEASE tell me that the other "bit" part is NOT Kris Humphries. That would make the trade unimaginably bad. Otherwise, it's just pretty bad.

Blogger's note: It's not

[Steve Gosse]

Thought this one was going to get away.

This deal has to potential to be great. With great risk comes great reward.....hopefully.

Fair deal for both teams IMO

[Tristan]

Hey Doug. Why would the Raptors need to include another salary?If they do the trade after July 1, they are trading 16.4 Mill for 21.35. That is within the 25% range. What gives?

Blogger's note: Not entirely sure, there may be other cap machinations we're not yet aware of. I don't know, frankly

[shawn q]

Doug - could the deal not have gotten done without the 17th pick?? Part of me think the Pacers played hardball for that 17th pick...

Blogger's note: That was a key to making the deal

[Kevin]

Is this binding? (Can either side back out between now and July 1?)

Blogger's note: Anything can happen, I guess. But I doubt anything will

[Roger]

Wow - Assuming this goes through, will a scoring/slashing small forward be sought after in addition to this, or do things stop here. Am wondering if anyone asked BC about this at the press conference?

Blogger's note: At the press conference, no one knew anything was coming so quickly

[Andy H.]

Doug, can you confirm that Jermaine's $21 million contract is off the books the same year as "The Mega Free Agent" summer where Lebron, Wade, Bosh, and many others are all FAs?

If it is, I love this deal. Gives Raps a matchup difficult lineup and a great trading chip/mega cap space for that 2010 summer.

Blogger's note: Yes, it is; and it's about $23 milllion, actually

[Mike]

All I can say is hooray, settling the point guard situation and finally acquiring another all-star calibre player who get some boards, this is awesome I can't wait for this to be official.

[Gali]

as I was saying in previous postings, I am really disappointed by this move. Colangelo lost his touch.

O'Neil is a nice player (even when healthy) but his game will take away from Bosh and vice versa and also we will have a terrible weakness on dribble penetration.

O'Neil also means that if it doesnt happen this year (or next) this team will be toast. It almost sounds like an Olawjuan (spelling) signing of damage goods which cost this team so much since.

I was not a TJ fan (was surprised when they signed him after showing suspect team game) but we can go after some power swingman (did they talk to the clips about Corey? or Sac for Artest?).

I know my posts sound too negative but with Mitchell at the helm (which means the only play he knows is pick and roll with the PG) it will be one play that they'll run for Bosh and one for JO....real exciting.

To all of you who disagree with me- we'll see you in 09 and see where this team is (are they better than Boston, Cavs, Detroit, Orlando, Washington, and Atlanta, and even NJ now that they have Devin and a balanced team?). But the best example is Denver, they have what seems on paper as great talent and balance (Camby at center, Martin at PF, Anthony as a 3, AI at the 2, and solid PG) but they just cannt play together....

Actually an interesting trade could have been with Washington, considering the latter had trouble with Arenas after he came back (they played better without him and they are in a need of a PG who can shoot and push the ball).

Good luck to us...

[Brad]

hey Doug. Thank you for keeping us up to date on all the exciteing trade talks. you stated that the TJ ONeal deal cant be finalized untill july 1st, so toronto will be picking 17th for indiana. I am wondering whats stopping indiana from changing their minde about the deal after toronto has selected a player of their(indiana's) choice in the draft.

[Pete]

A lot of people are concerned about O'Neal's knee and his declining numbers, but I don't think we should be concerned at all. With CB4 being the main guy, all we need from O'Neal is about 15 and 10 every night. He's also a better defensive presence than Rasho. Bottom line is, we now have a very unique front line - O'Neal being the traditional post guy, Bosh being the inside and out guy, and Bargnani from the bench being the sharp shooting big man. Even if J.O. breaks down completely due to the knee, we will get rid of him at the end of 09 season and save a boat load of money. I love it.

[Alireza]

Very nice move by C.B. I think not only can O'neal play if healthy but also his play-offs experience can be a big leadership factor. Moreover, Bargnani can learn a thing or two from him.
Now we need a cheap two gaurd (a Jermario Moon catch), then we can say "Bring on the Celts, baby".

Go Raps Go!

[Mike Ulangot]

I like this deal for the Raptors. A lot of people talk about the bad that comes out of this trade (on the court) so i was wondering , considering everyone stays healthy and J.O. gets back to 100%, how far can the Raps go next season? Personally, I think that both Bosh and O'neal will average at least 15pts and 10 rbs plsu Calderons 15 and 10 assists. Any thoughts?

[James]

This trade makes me feel a bit queasy. I can't believe we are putting all of our tradeable eggs in one oft-broken basket!! Now 3/5's of our starting lineup is stellar, but we have no depth.
Where are we going to get our bench depth from? We have no draft picks, the MLE, and no cap space for the foreseeable future. BC better be sweat talking some good FA's in July.
Mr. Smith, do you see any further moves before the draft, or are we going to be sitting on the sidelines again this year watching potential stars fall to our competitors?
Is BC getting any heat from MLSE to win now? This seems like a "race for the finish" type move, not a "building a contender" type move.

[Robert]

I have got to say that I'm not really in favour of this trade, unless there was really no other trade options for TJ - but based on Colangelo indicating that there were 4 potential trades for TJ, 2 of which were serious, that's unlikely. Yes, both TJ and O'Neal have been injured and both have risks associated with them. And yes, the Raptors arguably get the best player in the trade - which is one of the factors to consider in evaluating a trade. But, my biggest concerns/issues with this trade are the following:

1. Colangelo and most analysts and fans suggested that the team's biggest need was a scoring wing player who could also address their perimeter defense weaknesses. This trade does not address that situation.

2. The Raptors have now traded their 3 biggest assets that were available (excluding Bosh and Calderon who they weren't going to trade) in a trade for one single player. In my opinion, the Raptors had an opportunity to pull off 2 fairly significant trades by using TJ, Rasho, their first round pick and 1 of Moon/Parker/Kapono. Most Raptors analysts had envisioned that TJ and some other pieces (Moon/Parker) could be traded to fill the Raptors wing needs - example for a player like Maggette. That would leave Kapono, Rasho, the 1st round pick and 1 of Moon/Parker available to make 1 more significant trade - either for a big man - like Chris Wilcox - or some other player. Or perhaps, Rasho and some filler could have been traded to Phoenix for Diaw - as has been rumoured. While I know that this is all speculation, I strongly believe that they could have made 2 fairly significant trades with the 3 pieces headed to Indiana for O'Neal. In my opinion, a lineup of Bosh, Calderon, Maggette, Diaw and Bargnani would be better then the addition of O'Neal alone to the Raptors lineup - especially in light of O'Neal's injury issues. As it stands now, unless Colangelo can pull off 1 more significant trade using some combination of Kapono/Moon/Parker and next year's pick - which in my opinion is unlikely, the Raptors may be better but not significantly better - especially in light of O'Neal's injury issues and since they still have not addressed their needs at the wing position.

3. I would have much preferred that the Raptors used the same pieces to make a trade for Shawn Marion if he was available - after all he would address all of their needs - a rebounder, scorer and defender at the wing position. The same package for Marion, if he was available, who doesn't have injury issues, seems to me like it would have been a good trade from Miami's perspective since they address their PG needs, get a centre with an expiring contract along with an additional 1st round pick.