Mail's in to get you through a rain delay

Yeah, I know. Long time, no speak.

Nice day with my boys out at Argoland yesterday for work and then another glorious Yankee victory in a delightful late-afternoon affair.

But because I’m a helluva guy and you need something to do on what looks like a potentially gloomy Sunday, thought I’d put this up there before racing down to Royal Niagara to commit some golf.

Have a good one, see you later, although there's a very good chance I could be tardy tomorrow morning, too. Golf has a way of making that kind of thing happen. 

-

Q: Question about the actual mechanics of the draft: How are the picks submitted to the NBA? By phone? Computer? Jet propulsion carrier pigeon? Or did the Raps have a representative behind that stage that communicated the pick to the commish?

Sean D, Toronto

A: Mental telepathy, actually. Or the league just takes all those silly mock drafts and gives teams guys, the thought of an actual draft is just bogus, it’s all fixed by the league office.

No, really, it’s by phone.

-

Q: Hey Doug, a few weeks ago, I saw that the 2011 All-Star Game would take place in Los Angeles though they already organized it in 2004. Is there any chance to see the event in Toronto any time soon? Julien B, Caen, France

A: Not soon, no. Various reasons – construction of condos at the arena, the Olympics, L.A.’s re-development around the Staples Centre area – there no availability for the game and it’s very much on the backburner at the moment. I’d guess 2014, maybe 2013, would be when they might consider making a bid but no one’s really talking about it.

-

Q: I need some clarity on the salary cap in the NBA. Your comments about signing Turq to a contract is really confusing. How is it that many teams can have multiple super stars on the team while Toronto only seems to be able to afford 1. I don't have a full grasp of how the cap works but it seems like there’s inconsistencies across the league. A team like the Lakers seems to have all the room in the world to sign big names, same as SA, Boston & Detroit, even the Cavs and Orlando. In Toronto it seems like we can only afford one superstar at a time. Is there something I'm missing? Your help clarifying is appreciated

Ian A, Vancouver

A: They don’t have all the room the world, actually. The can re-sign their own players but they can’t add players (with the exception of Detroit, which has been able to shed salary to get under the cap) without making transactions that send out as much money as they bring in.

The Lakers can do nothing except the mid-level exception other than re-sign Odom or Ariza, Cleveland couldn’t have added Shaq without dealing Wallace and Pavlovic and it was the same in Orlando. If you can find a trading partner and have the pieces to satisfy them, you can add so-called “sueprstars.”

-

Q: Thanks for the online chat and live coverage of the draft. Wasn't on for the chat, but enjoyed reading it after the fact. My question is regarding Joey G. Was he not one of the few Raptors who played beyond expectations last year? With a bit more consistency he would be a solid rotation guy, why does there seem to be no interest in bringing him back? What do you think he might get as a FA?

P K, Guelph

A: I have no idea what he’d get on the market and I think the relative disinterest here comes from the fact he had four seasons and ample opportunity to really seize a spot and didn’t. Time to move on.

-

Q: Can you explain what’s the green room during the draft? What was deal that Jennings later appearance long after he was picked. Thanks.

Athena H, London

A: The “green room” is where players invited by the NBA sit and wait out the draft; Jennings wasn’t invited, he wasn’t even in the arena and only made that late appearance because he hustled to the Garden from wherever he was after he heard his name called.

-

Q: Should Raptors fans be worried that the team may have drafted another Tracy McGrady? By all accounts, DeRozan is going to require some time to develop. As such, should we be concerned that by the time he is ready take his game to the next level, he'll also be taking his game to another franchise after the expiry of his rookie deal?

Dave G, Toronto

A: Sure, you can worry about that. But the rookie deals now last five years with various qualifying offers, etc., so if you want to worry for five years, I think that’s a long time.

-

Q: Thank you again Mr. Smith during these crazy, crazy days in Raptor land. Truth (your due diligence), is so much better then fiction (any number of fan blogs) at the end of the day. Kind of like a million monkey's sitting at a million typewriters and announcing that they had the draft figured out all along. Also, nice to see the Raptors' brain trust looking long term and not simply to CB-AD 2010 (aka Chris Bosh After the Deal).

While I appreciate DeRozan picking up the flag so quickly on twitter, maybe he should focus on becoming the first 'West Jet' rather then 'Air Canada 2.0'. A little smaller, fewer routes but a whole lot more enjoyable to ride. Besides, it also honours his west coast roots.

One last question. Purely theoretical in nature. What's better, twice the player at twice the cost for twice as long or half the player at half the dough for half the time? That's how I see the Marion vs. Hedo debate. My heart says Hedo but my head says Marion.

Matthew H, Toronto

A: Hmm, deep question.

And I have no answer.

-

Q: This one might be at toughie, but I was hoping you could help me with 2 questions that have long been stuck in my head.

1) The latest on the Ricky Rubio-Minnesota situation is that RR might go back to Spain and play a couple years, rather than play for Minnesota. If this is the case, what happens when he wants to try for the NBA again? Is he forced to join Minnesota, does he rejoin the draft at the time, or does any team have rights to sign him (which means Minnesota gets heavily ripped off)? Isn't there some kind of rule that when you enter a draft, you gotta play for the team?

2) In a related note, what prevents a team from just stepping out to Rucker Park, Spain, China, etc., going to the playground, saying to a local baller, "I like you," and sign that person on the spot right there? (Ie. if Ricky Rubio wanted to play for New York and New York wanted Ricky Rubio, couldn't RR just not declare draft eligibility, and then work a deal with NY to join the club?)

These may be stupid questions, but I just don't get these loopholes! Help a sucker out Doug!

Jay C, Toronto

A: Not stupid at all.

On the first, the Timberwolves retain his NBA rights in perpetuity; if he wants to come to the league, he has to go there unless Minnesota makes a trade.

And on the second one, they can’t just pick a kid off the street because of the draft rules that say any North American player can’t enter the draft, or the league, until one year after his high school graduation and international players have to be 18 years old.

If a player isn’t drafted in those scenarios, then they are eligible to sign with any team.

-

Q: How correlated is basketball IQ to actual IQ? Can the former ever come without the latter? Have you come across many basketball geniuses who couldn't string a sentence together? As an aside, I'd like to throw in a few nicknames for our new draft pick: Dr. Dr. (Dr Dre was taken) Demolition Man DeMarr the Destroyer (kinda lame?) Feel free to refine of course.

AJR, Toronto

A: I don’t think there’s much correlation at all, as a matter of fact. You can be a brilliant basketball player with on-court instincts and encyclopedic knowledge of your opponent and the game and not know much about anything else.

-

Q: Love the blog and the snark! Keep it up! I hope you don't mind a hypothetical question but I was curious to know what effect this could potentially have on the Raptors... how would the Raps be affected, salary wise, if Shawn Marion walked away from them without a sign and trade? Would that open up any salary room or would that mess with the Raps roster plans, limiting them to signing free agents with the MLE only?

Peter H, Richmond Hill

A: Benefit? Well, if they can’t come to an agreement to keep him, and they can’t find even a bad sign-and-trade transaction, it would save them some money but that’s about it. They wouldn’t, for instance, all of a sudden have untold millions to spend on free agents, they’d remain with the mid-level salary exception. And that’s why it’s imperative that Bryan either get him back or turn him into some other asset.

-

Q: Hey Doug, so what are the odd's that Rubio doesn't even play next year because of his contract situation. I'm thinking Minnesota isn't planning on even playing him this year, and Flynn get's a year to show off, then they ship him out. Thoughts?

Joey H, Toronto

A: Not sure what the odds are. My best guess, after talking to a few people late Thursday night and Friday, is that rookie Minnesota GM David Kahn has himself in a big pickle and needs to deal Rubio in some summer transaction; perhaps including him in some sign-and-trade deal for a free agent.

-

Q: Hi Doug, now that Rubio's essentially part of the NBA, who's the top International prospect/player in your mind now?

Binson S, Markham

A: I’m a little bit light on my Euro knowledge at the moment since there were so few players in the draft but the one kid I keep hearing about is Yiannis Bouroussis, a centre at Olympiakos but he’s past the draft age and a free agent with a hefty buyout.

-

Q: "Anyway, digression aside, the cost is still too much. They could renounce everyone – Marion, Parker, Graham, O’Bryant, Douby and back the qualifying offer to Delfino – to maybe get Turkoglu and fill out the roster with a bunch of minimum salary dudes." Why is that? Last year we paid Marion, Parker Graham, O'Bryant and Douby about $26 million. Hedo can be had for around $10 mil. Raptors are only committed to $44 million right now. They have some $$$ to spend. Source hoops hype salaries.

Thomas W, Toronto

A: It’s the new math. Or at least the NBA’s math.

Yes, the Raptors have about $44 million committed if they renounce all their free agents; the cap level is going to be about $53 million. Give or take a couple of hundred thousand on each number, that leaves somewhere around $10 million under the cap – and therefore available for free agents – if they renounce everyone.

The trouble you’re having is that while, yes, those salaries may add up to $26 million, dumping them only gets the Raptors $10 million under the cap because they were over it to begin with.

-

Q: Just read your chat from yesterday before the Derozan press thing - got a laugh but of your reply to some fool who had been submitting a ton of ridiculous questions/comments - snarky Doug's funny.

Anyway, I was rooting for them to get Derozan (even used his name as a password a couple of weeks ago).

However, but all this talk about athleticism and "jump out of the gym" is getting old. We had an athletic guy last year who could jump out of the gym by the name of Jamario Moon but his shot selection and inability to get to the net drove me nuts. What are the things that separate this guy from Jamario besides age and potential? Will he bring more to the lineup in his first year than Jamario did?

Carl M, Codroy Valley, NL

A: I think age and potential are pretty much it, aren’t they? Toss in ball-handling skills and the fact I think DeRozan is a far more polished basketball player who is quicker and more athletic than Moon and it’s a gaping difference.

And he better bring more than Moon did in his first year or it’s going to be a long, long season around the ACC.

-

Q: Let's assume Doug that Hedo would accept 5 years @ 45 mill to play for the Raps. Should they do it? I say YES. Even if it means they have to fill out the roster with the best D-Leaguers they can find. But I want to know what you think?

S G

A: No, they shouldn’t do it because it would turn out to be a six-for-one trade (Marion, Parker, Graham, Delfino, Douby and O’Bryant) and having been down the one big guy (O’Neal) and a bunch of minimum salary guys (Solomon, a 13-man roster) should have taught them it doesn’t work.

-

Q: Doug, is it possible for the Raptors to sign Rasho Nesterovic and Delfino, while resigning Parker and Marion? Will this put them in the luxury tax area? Also, who do you think a good candidate for the mid-level exception is?

Y D, Kingston

A: Of course it depends on the salaries but they think they can do it and stay below the tax level. Not sure about full mid-level guys out there, I haven’t had a lot of time to digest the free agent market yet, it’s been draft time. That’ll be a Sunday night-Monday job.

Comments

[Michele F]

Just trying to provide some information I had read in reference to the following question and answer:

Q: Can you explain what’s the green room during the draft? What was deal that Jennings later appearance long after he was picked. Thanks.

Athena H, London

A: The “green room” is where players invited by the NBA sit and wait out the draft; Jennings wasn’t invited, he wasn’t even in the arena and only made that late appearance because he hustled to the Garden from wherever he was after he heard his name called.

According to ESPN prior to the draft, Jennings was indeed invited but had decided not to attend in case he fell to the 20s and avoid the Green Room Embarassment of others before him (Danny Granger being an example)

[Juan]

Doug
I've read elsewhere that the Raptors have interest in Turkoglu now that he's essentially available. The assumption here seems to be that Hedo can't work because of cap/tax issues. Is there anything that would lead you to believe there's a possibility BC may have the appetite to do it anyway, tax be damned? I know it's a stretch given economic concerns and the fact that he would need board approval, but has there been any hint at that type of approach from Anyone Who Would Know?

Blogger's note: It's not an issue of tax, it's an issue of cap room

[JJ]

Some counter-points:
This past season the Cap was $58.6 Million. So Doug, your projection of a cap of around 53 million would mean around an 8 to 10% decrease. In February when the league announced that the news about the cap, the thought was that the cap would stay about the same and not decrease or increase. Indeed, ESPN was projecting it to be around $57-58 Million against for the upcoming season (http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=09FreeAgents-Insider-090226)

So has the league financial forecasts gotten dramatically worse since February? Why the projection of a major cap decrease?

Second while the Raptors have $44 million committed to players on their roster, that doesn't include the $2.2 million or so for DeMar DeRozan's rookie salary that will also count against the cap. So with DeRozan, the number gets closer to 46 million. For 2008-09, Delfino's Qualifying offer would have been worth 2.7 million (assuming, it's still the same, I haven't been able to find details of it anywhere). Assuming the Raptors were to keep DeRozan and Delfino, but not O'Bryant and Douby, the Raptors would have a little over 50 million committed to salaries for 2009-10.

At which point, the exact number of where the cap comes in is crucial. Remember Jose Calderon is on a 5 year 45 million deal, but the first year of his contract was only worth 7.4 million (with raises of 10.5% per year). So they would only need about 7.5 million of cap space to offer Hedo a 5 year 45 million deal (with the same raises).

(And I know Doug, you think the Raps should keep O'Bryant, but we're talking about a 5th or 6th big man after Bosh, Andrea, Evans, Humphries, and Jawai. If the season gets to the point where they need a big contribution from Bryant, they're screwed).

In the scenario, I outlined above, the cap space would go to Hedo, Delfino still has his qualifying offer, but the Raptors would be forced to renounce their rights to Parker, O'Bryant, Marion, Douby and Joey.

Now the question that needs an answer -- if the Raptors were to renounce their rights to those Parker, O'Bryant, Marion, Douby and Joey -- could they use the mid-level exception and/or the veteran exception (or whatever the signed Maceo Baston under two years ago) to re-sign any of those guys? I know a team can't use the mid-level until they're over the salary cap, but in theory, a Hedo contract would push them over the cap.

And if the Raptors could use the mid-level or part of it to re-sign Parker and/or O'Bryant. Then they'd have Bosh, Andrea, Evans, Hump, Jawai and O'Bryant as bigs. Hedo, Delfino, Parker, DeRozan at the 2/3. With Calderon, Ukic and Marcus Banks at point. That's not a team devoid of depth.

Then again, if I'm wrong about the cap coming in around 57-58 million, all of this is moot. But if I'm right and a team can use its mid-level exception on a player it just renounced its rights to, then a Hedo signing is at least somewhat possible -- and possible without gutting the team's depth.

[Ben S]

I am pretty sure Brandon Jennings was invited to the green room, he just didn't want to be the last one in the room, so he and his family were at a hotel near by, and dashed for MSG as soon as his name was picked. I could be wrong though.

Blogger's note: His name wasn't on a press release I got from the league a couple of days before the draft

[Aftab]

When teams call in their picks do they also include their hat size? It seems like every player has a fitted hat seconds after their name is called.

[Jeff]

Hey how much different would the salary be between Charlie V and Hedo? I remember you saying that Charlie V is too expensive for us to sign, yet we are thinking about signing Turkoglu?

[PC]

Couple of questions today, love the blog by the way! Long time reader.

Doug has Toronto ever shown any interest in Joel Anthony as a project 5? I was a little disappointed they didn't try to get him included in the O'Neal trade but he's now a restricted FA who probably won't garner much more than the minimum from Miami since they're saving cap space for 2010.

From what you've heard do the Raptors see D-Squared (someone bring that nickname to Devlin's attention before we end up with the generic D-10) projecting as more of a SG or SF?

If DD's a 2 I'd love to see them chase Linas Kleiza with most of the mid level. He hustles and shoots well and plays with a bit of an edge, similar to Evans. What do you think? Or would they prefer to go after a more defensive SF like Hakim Warrick?

If they think DD's a 3 then what about letting one half of Delfarker start and bring the other off the bench with Willie Green for some sorely needed bench offense. I thought that was a huge weakness last year.

Blogger's note: Anthony wasn't available in that trade; they see DeRozan as a 2 who can play some 3

[dallas]

Hi Doug,

I'm pretty sure Jennings was invited to the green room, but since his agent had no feel for where he was going to be drafted, Jennings opted to watch from close by rather than risk being the butt of draft with a long wait in the green room.

[Stephan]

Doug, I appreciate your work but your explanations of salary cap/luxury tax issues are often unclear. A humble summary:

1. The NBA has a 'soft' cap that allows teams to exceed it through a variety of loopholes.
2. If a team is under the salary cap, they can use all the available space on as many or few players as they wish.
3. If a team is above the salary cap, the get access to the Mid-Level Exeption (which is the same amount for all qualifying teams), again free to use on 1 or multiple players.
4. Trades in the NBA need to have salaries match to within 25%. This is often how you get multiple stars on a team, by packaging up a bunch of guys whose total salary matches (within 25%) the star getting traded. Like the recent Shaq trade.
5. Finally, teams are allowed to go over the salary cap to retain their own free agents. This is a biggie, and what makes sign-and-trades useful. The Magic can sign Turkoglu for any sum (and are allowed to go over the salary cap in doing so), then immediately trade him for players/draft picks to any team that wants to take him on.

It's important to note that there usually aren't many teams under the salary cap, only a few each offseason (except in 2010, where everybody seems to be looking for the big score).

Hope this helps.

[charles]

wouldnt Hedo be more like a 3 for 1 trade douby, graham, and o'bryant havent really accomplished anything in the Nba and they probly arent much if any better than whoever they would get to fill their spots.

[Kevin]

The only way the Raps should take Turkoglu is if they can get him for less than he's making now...he's not worth the money people want to throw at him.

He's old, peaked two seasons ago and nowhere near as clutch as people think. I like the guy, and I like his skills, but he's not worth more than what he's making now and even then only on Orlando.

Signing him to anything more than what me makes for more than a couple year will be an albatross around the Raps neck for years.

[s]

so apparently five teams contacted the raps about Parker we always hear about Marion but how bout AP? is their any chance the raps might be able to get something for him in a sign & trade if they cant re-sign him?

Blogger's note: Sure, they might. If the other teams have anything of significance to offer

[sean]

if they were to sign Hedo for the amount they are under the cap 9.75 or w/e it is. why wouldnt they still have the mid level exception to sign another player or 2?

Blogger's note: A team that;'s under the salary cap cannot use the mid-level exception

[dallas]

Q: Love the blog and the snark! Keep it up! I hope you don't mind a hypothetical question but I was curious to know what effect this could potentially have on the Raptors... how would the Raps be affected, salary wise, if Shawn Marion walked away from them without a sign and trade? Would that open up any salary room or would that mess with the Raps roster plans, limiting them to signing free agents with the MLE only?

Peter H, Richmond Hill

A: Benefit? Well, if they can’t come to an agreement to keep him, and they can’t find even a bad sign-and-trade transaction, it would save them some money but that’s about it. They wouldn’t, for instance, all of a sudden have untold millions to spend on free agents, they’d remain with the mid-level salary exception. And that’s why it’s imperative that Bryan either get him back or turn him into some other asset.

Pardon me Doug, but isn't the MLE only available to teams over the cap? So if Marion walked, and we didn't have a S&T, we would likely be under the cap and so have only our cap room. If Marion just walked lets say that leaves us, for example,9 mill of space under the cap if we renounced rights to other FA's too, that's all we'd have to spend. But if we resigned Marion and some of our FA's, and were over the cap, then we'd also have the exceptions such as the MLE and LLE.

It all falls from this basic idea, you can go over the cap to resign your players but not other team's FA's. And if you go over the cap, teams are provided with the MLE and LLE exceptions which allow them some tools to improve their team, even though they are over the cap. The reasons are it helps teams keep players in their cities, and helps to create a market for players in the offseason.

Maybe I'm wrong, but this is very basic cap stuff Doug. I don't mean to be a jerk, and I appreciate the time you devote to us Raptor fans, but you get to choose which questions you answer, so why bluff these people who are writing you for answers? I hope you have a great time on the links and enjoy a well deserved break. I don't mean to be negative but that's two questions you chose to answer patently false. All anyone had to do was actually watch the draft and you would know Jennings and his agent Bill Duffy, declined the invite and why, and the MLE stuff comes up every year.

[Tim W.]

Doug, I may be doing the math wrong, but if Marion chooses to sign directly with another team, doesn't that put the Raptors just under the cap? And if they are just under the cap, what does that do to the MLE?

Blogger's note: If they are under by less than the value of the mid-level, they have it to spend

[Tim W.]

Ian A, just to delve a little more in depth regarding your question, all teams are on equal footing with the salary cap, but since it's not a hard cap, team that draft or trade better cap acquire more talent than one that doesn't. San Antonio, for example, drafted Duncan and Parker and traded for Ginobilli's rights before he'd played in the league. So they could re-sign all of them for as much as they want to. They were able to trade for Jefferson because they held a collection of contracts that were close enough to Jefferson's to make it work. A team can receive 125% of the amount they are trading away. That meant that even though the total salaries of the players they traded away was about $11.5 million, they were able to take back Jefferson's $13.2 million dollar contract. It's a way a team can cause their total payroll to increase just through trades. It's partly how Cleveland, Boston and Dallas have as high payrolls as they currently have.

[Tim W.]

I find the DeRozan-McGrady comparisons a little annoying. I'm not quite sure how McGrady leaving would mean that DeRozan would then leave. It's kind of like not going out with blonde girls anymore because one broke your heart and you assume all blondes will do that. Isn't drafting a player who has a chance to be something special what you want??? Why were there not concerns about Bargnani leaving when he was drafted? Why would the Raptors not just trade away every draft pick in case that player wants to leave? Actually, the Raptors should just not have any players under contract because any one of them might just end up leaving. Sure, it's no way to run a franchise but isn't it better than having players leave on you? I mean, it happened that one time (in 14 years), so it's bound to happen again!

[Turkey]

Hi Ian,

The reason some teams can seem to purchase superstars at will is because they are over the tax level and paying the luxury tax to the nba. The lakers are paying approximately $5million in taxes. (Their team total for the last season was $78 million) Most teams can't afford to do that and have to stay closer to the cap level.

Keep up the good work as always Doug.

[Tim W.]

JC, more clarification regarding your question. A team may simply sign a player if he is over 22 and was not playing college ball the previous season. A player automatically becomes eligible for the draft once he hits 22 or finishes playing college ball, whichever comes last. Before then, a player must apply for the draft.

That's how the Raptors were able to sign Calderon and Garbajosa. Both were over 22 years old and were never drafted by an NBA team.

[Amul Gandhi]

This is in regards to one of your answers:

Your responded:
And on the second one, they can’t just pick a kid off the street because of the draft rules that say any North American player can’t enter the draft, or the league, until one year after his high school graduation and international players have to be 18 years old.

If a player isn’t drafted in those scenarios, then they are eligible to sign with any team.

In terms of international prospects I think your mistaken since you can't go out and sign a prospect until they are I believe 23 years old. When they turn 23 a team can actually draft the rights to any international prospect without them even entering the draft if after the age of 23 they aren't drafted any team can sign them outright like how Babcock signed Calderon.

[Ryan]

Doug,

Reports say that Brandon Jennings was invited to be in the green room. His agent decided at the last moment to take him out because they did not get a guarentee that he would get picked in the lottery. Once the Bucks grabbed him with the tenth pick, he rushed over.

[Tim W.]

Not to take over the comments, here, but I have to say that this is the first time since Bosh was drafted that I've been excited about a Raptors draft pick. Not that I think DeRozan is a sure thing at all, but he's one of the guys I wanted and I have a feeling he's going to become a good player.

And yes, that mean I wasn't a fan of the Bargnani, Villanueva, Graham or Araujo picks. None of them were the players I wanted and none of them turned out better than the players I wanted.

[matt]

A: I don’t think there’s much correlation at all, as a matter of fact. You can be a brilliant basketball player with on-court instincts and encyclopedic knowledge of your opponent and the game and not know much about anything else.

Except that IQ is a measure of intelligence, not knowledge. Understanding of the game, you would think, would correlate with an ability to understand logic, math, the world, etc. However as we know there are different types of intelligence, and just because someine understands the kinetics and strategies brought forth in basketball doesnt mean his intelligence in other areas will be the same. However it does raise an interesting question of whether someone with superior basketball iq, would have similar skills at reading the strategies and manipulating kinetics in other sports.

[matt]

The draft eligibility question raises a good question. So is there then not only an earliest to draft a kid (grad +1 year) but also a latest hes required to enter the draft (grad +X years)? Evan Turner didnt declare, could the Raptors still of drafted him a la Bird? I know they couldnt, but why not - whats the rule? And how does that then work with international kids, still if they enter the league it must be through the draft from ages 18-24, then theyre automatic FAs?

Blogger's note: No one needs to enter the draft one year after their college class graduates; if you're a senior and you go undrafted, you're a free agent. I also believe it's four years after the 18th birthday for Europeans but I could be wrong.

[Cheesed]

Stop all this speculation you wannabe GM's. Doug your fans are getting dumber by the day, did I just read a DeRozan/Moon comparison. And all this talk of of Ricky Rubio's rights, restricted free agents contracts are so last year. (Such elementary basketball knowledge) and I though you had an educated fan base...