Ole, Ole, Ole. Jose's deal is done

STEVE RUSSELL/TORONTO STAR

Jose Calderon and his signature moves are staying in Toronto.

Got the flags out? Fireworks ready? Beverages cooled and the barbecue have lots of propane?
Happy Canada Day!

Well, that sure didn’t take long.

Jose’s coming back.

"Early this morning, through my agents, I reached a preliminary agreement with the Toronto Raptors,” Calderon said in a message posted on his website Tuesday.

"I want to thank (president and general manager) Bryan Colangelo, (assistant GM) Maurizio Gherardini, (coach) Sam Mitchell and all of the Raptors family for the confidence that they have placed in me. I am sure that together we are going to achieve big things in the future.”

Getting Calderon under contract was the biggest task Colangelo faced, as well all know.

He was going to call over to Spain right after midnight last night and that call was obviously expected and welcomed.

"When two parties want to reach an agreement, you can reach an agreement very fast," Calderon's agent, Alvaro Tor said this morning in a telephone conversation from Spain.

Of course, Jose wouldn’t say on his blog how much the deal’s worth or how long it’s for but I’d be shocked if it was for less than $8 million a season and if it didn’t run for four years with maybe an option of a fifth. But that’s just deductive reasoning, no one who’s in a position to know has ever mentioned those terms.

Guess we’ll find out soon, though, ‘cause that’s what we do.

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What’s it all mean?

Not much that hasn't been said, given that we all expected it forever.

It does, as we’ve mentioned, oh, about a billion times over the last five or six days, take the Raptors out of any significant role in the rest of free agency.

So that means, given the tax concerns and the current payroll that all those questions about Mickeal Pietrus, Bostjan Nachbar, Ron Artest, Chris Duhon, Corey Maggette are answered easily:

No. No. No. Not going to happen. Isn’t possible. Put it out of your mind.

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Told you to check back.

Not only have the Raptors reached an agreement with Roko Ukic, according to a league source, they've also got Hassan Adams to agree to a contract. Adams, who had a cup of coffee with New Jersey in 20006-07 and played in Spain last year, was discovered at the free agent camp in June, making him this year's version of Jamario Moon.

So, all the wheeling and dealing is done for now. All that's left to do is make all the moves official, sign Nathan Jawai and the summer's work is done.

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Here’s one from the mail that’s pretty topical:

Q: Hey Doug, how helpful will Jose Calderon be as a mentor to Roko Ukic this upcoming season seeing as they share similar paths getting to the NBA, playing the same position and making the transition from the Euroleague to North America. What are the hardest things Ukic will need to adjust not only personally but just as a young point guard making the jump to the NBA. Also wondering if you could shed some light or your thoughts on the recent wave of European teams seemingly trying to lure players back with more money. Is the NBA concerned about this? Thanks for your insightful coverage.

Zack R, Etobicoke

A: Calderon is going to be invaluable to Ukic, absolutely. You can see a lot of similarities between what Ukic is going to have to go through and what Calderon’s already dealt with, although the one major difference will be that Ukic is much more fluent in English than Calderon was and that’s got to help.

What Calderon does that’s under-rated is have a good sense of the game, he knows what weaknesses to exploit, how to handle an offence so everyone gets involved and if he can impart some of that to the kid, it’ll be huge.

Ukic’s biggest adjustment is going to be handling the speed of the game and the overall calibre of the competition. European basketball is a lot of things but two that it isn’t are quick like the NBA or as deep in talent. That’s going to be the measure of Ukic, how he handles those two things.

As for the European clubs luring players back, I have to say I’m not surprised. With the exchange rate, the creature comforts they can offer (most deals include housing and transportation) and the fact they want to “strike back” at the NBA for taking its best young players as one executive told me recently, teams over there are being more aggressive.

I think what you’ll see is marginal NBA-talent Europeans heading back earlier than they might otherwise and you’ll see good North American-trained NBAers maybe extend their careers by a year or two living the high life in some gorgeous European locale.

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A word about Canada, by the way.

We’re a nice people, generally. Too polite at times. Like last night in Hamilton.

Amid a couple hundred or so flag-waving, drum-banging, wildly-cheering, passionate fans from Lebanon sat about 800 Canadians, cheering only in reaction, rather than in action.

Don’t get me wrong, it was a somewhat surprisingly large turnout and it was nice for the national team to have a crowd to play in front of but, really, you’ve got to do better tonight and back here on the weekend.

It’s been forever thus, of course, visiting teams are treated to raucous cheers, Canada gets support but nothing over the top.

But just because it’s been that way forever doesn’t mean it has to be that way in the future.

End o’ rant.

Happy Canada Day.

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We’ll check into the mail real fast

Q: I was reading up about Nicholas Batum, and it says that he hasn't missed a game in two years. What kind of injury and/or flaw could he have had that made Toronto completely stop considering him?

Thomas N, Milton

A: It wasn’t an injury, per se. It was an abnormal result to one of the myriad tests they put people through that put a red flag from the team’s medical staff, I’m told.

And maybe it turns out to be nothing but it certainly wasn’t something the Raptors wanted to take a risk on.

Comments

[Kevin]

I'm looking at what other people are writing about starting and bench lineups.

For the bigs I think you will always see either Bosh or O'Neal on the floor during meaningful minutes. When one of them sits down you will Bargnani or Hump. I can't see those two on the floor together without an injury or foul trouble for the starters.

[Kelsie]

BC will have to acquire a veteran point guard prior to the season opener. If Calderon was to get hurt you would not want to insert Ukic into the startig line up as a rookie from another country trying to learn to the play the point in the NBA.
What do you think Duhon's asking price is?

Adams is a decent player and has been that way since he left Arizona(college), however defence is not something I have heard as one of his strengths and although he is definitely an energy guy at 6'4 he is hardly a defensive stalwarth. Did someone from the Raptors brass indicate he was a good defender? I'd love to have a debate with whoever suggested that.

Blogger's note: Couple of people suggested he's not a bad defender, when I see them again, I'll pass on your concerns. :)
Duhon? I have no idea what he'd be looking for, I bet he's one of those guys who gets picked up at a relative bargain later in free agency

[Geeve]

Kelsie,

One more reason to go after Hart from Utah :) The best part, he plays D & is pass-first.

[Kelsie]

I know you are on top of basketball happenings in this city, just wanted to throw a few things out there and get your opinion.

1) Do you think it's a coincidence that AP is getting offers to play in Europe but his agent reiterates that AP wants to retire in Toronto, around the time when free agency and trading is heating up? We would be better off with a creater at the 2 or 3 spot and AP and Kapono are only options to try and acquire it via trade because we can't afford to sign anyone. I thought it was good timing for AP and takes his name from any potential trade with an lucrative overseas offer available to him.

2) Do you think Sam changes the teams style of play? TJ out, JO in, means slow it down and let the bigs go to work no? The fast paced, get shots up, style of play will have to be dramatically altered to suit their current roster. Do you agree or disagree?

3) Is the team still committed to trying to develop Bargniani to play the 5 or will they now let him come off the bench and find the best match up for him at the 3,4, or 5 spots when he enters the game?

Blogger's note: Believe me, if there was a trade involving Parker they thought would improve the team, they'd make it. Regardless of what's out there from his agent or to Europe.
I don't think you'll notice much difference in the halfcourt and, quite frankly, I think they'll be able to run a bit more with O'Neal because they'll rebound better and may be able to get some fast break, or secondary-break easy baskets.
Bargnani? I think he's a backup four and five; I don't for a second think they'll play him at the three. And, really, there isn't much difference between four and five, is there?

[Matt Smith]

Ok Doug,

Your wrong about some stuff. The raptors would have the FULL MLE if Roko is signed to a minimum contract since he was a second round pick. Unless you know the numbers of Roko's salary you cant say we dont have the full MLE. Also it all depends whether MLSE is willing to pay luxury tax or not. Maggette would be a huge improvement over anything we have and that being said we have the worst wing combo in the league. Not saying their bad players but i can name one wing on each of the 30 teams that is better than the raptors wings. Also you can use the minimum as many times as you want. Right now we have:

Calderon/Roko
Parker/Adams
Moon/Kapono/Graham
Bosh/Hump
JO/Bargnani/Jawai

NBA rule is we need 13 players under contract. With that i dont think that team can contend with the likes of Boston, LA, Spurs, Detroit or Orlando. With Clippers getting much better we wont be able to contend with them either. What is the point of the JO trade if we arnt going to contend now. Its clear the Warriors want to rebuild and Harrington has asked for a trade right? I think package of Bargnani+Parker+Graham+Moon+Picks For Harrington AND Jackson. When you think of that, that lets us contend. Its not like BC cant go out and sign players to the minimum like he did with Adams. After a trade like this we have:

Calderon/Roko
Jackson/Adams
Harrington/Kapono
Bosh/Hump
JO/Jawai

Thats 10 players, we would need 3 more, does that put us into luxury tax yah it might by 3-4 million and i know you pay dollar to dollar for being in the tax but does it let us contend? Sure does. So would MLSE pitch out the money knowing they have a contending team on the court which puts more people in the seats. Thats just an example of a trade but theres lots of options out there so you see what im getting at. My question for you is why wont BC make a move for a wing, or is one in progress because the way i see it, the thing BC said at his press conference was we need a 20PPG wing. We still dont have that so is anything going to happen because i really wont be surprised when AP decreases do to age and kapono's defense isnt great to say the least. Maybe if moon improves but i cant see him making that kind of increase in just one off season. Do you, thanks love to hear back

Blogger's note: They are NOT going to pay the tax, that's a well-established fact. And, yes, that's a wonderful trade proposal with Golden State if, by some stroke of fantastic luck, Chris Mullin suffers a seizure and signs off on it without knowing what he's doing.

[Tom]

Why is everyone giving up on Kapono and Moon so easily?

Moon is only in his second season as an NBA player and has shown to have a consistent jumper and (when he wants to) a great ability to finish in the paint - not to mention the ability to block shots and pick up 5-6 boards a game. And this all in his first year? Moon is only going to get better!

With Kapono - the problem is that he started so strong and was shooting the lights out from the 3 point line and then disappeared for the last part of the season. If Toronto can find a way to work the inside/out game with Oneal, there is going to be a lot of open 3's and for a team that is tops in the league shooting 3's - that's not good for anyone but the raps...