Andrea's done, anything with Shawn's still bubbling

Okay, so Andrea’s done and everyone’s happy and if that’s news, well, it’s a dang slow news day.

And, as a matter of fact, it is right now.

Highlights of the Bargnani news conference? There weren’t many, actually. It’s five years, $50 million and they did it now for everyone’s peace of mind.

From Andrea:

“Other than the money -- that’s very important for me of course -- but I’m very happy to be here in Toronto. I love the city, I love the fans, I’m happy here. Very satisfied.

“This is what I wanted from the beginning. I love to stay here. Everything went very fast, that’s good also to play for the national team because tomorrow I am going to join my national team.”

That national team gig is to get ready for a final qualification tournament later this summer for September’s European championships.

That was kind of in Bryan Colangelo’s mind, too:

“This was a good time for us, I think it was a good time for them. It gives security to a young man who’s emerging as a good player, a very good player, in this league. There’s something to be said for not having a “maximum” number next to your name, it takes a little bit of the pressure off.”

Oh, and in other news …

This may give us an idea why things seem to be taking a while to sort out this whole Shawn Marion-to-Dallas sign-and-trade thing.

According to league sources, the deal is being driving by Mavs owner Mark Cuban, it may include not only three teams but even more and the Raptors are simply bystanders waiting to see if they can help facilitate anything.

There’s no real firm deadline but I can’t imagine too many parties are going to sit back and wait too long before someone says, “enough is enough.” I figure something has to get resolved tonight.

And the one undisputed fact remains: The Raptors, no matter what happens, come out of this “salary neutral” and it does nothing to complicate the Hedo Turkoglu signing, which will happen sometime soon.

There are also scant details about what an enlarged deal could possibly mean but that’s what makes this kind of fun, isn’t it? We have an idea something’s being cooked up at the top levels of a handful of NBA teams but the dribs and drabs of information keep everyone wondering for hours or maybe days.

Anyway, we’ll let you know when we can let you know what it’s all about but that’s where we stand about 4 p.m.

Comments

[Justin]

Doug,

I understand as you've pointed out to many people that the possible Marion sign and trade does nothing for our hopes of getting Delfino or Parker back in the fold.

My question revolves around what happens next. Does this mean we have ZERO chance of signing them later barring some miraculous move by Colangelo tonight? If we only have 10-12 players under contract, are we not aloud to sign others to fill out the bench? If so, why can't we sign Parker and Delfino?

I ask out of ignorance, not as an attempt to be a pest like others may be attempting.

Blogger's note: As I've mentioned, if they can pursuade someone to take someone like Banks or Hump in this trade and take back no salary, but that would involved a third, and likely a fourth team. I guess there is an off-chance they could get one of those guys in that scenario but never could they in a simple three-way Marion-Stackhouse-third team trade get room for either Delfino or Parker.
But, as we've said since Day 1, there's some creativity out there and no one knows what ultimately will happen.

[Phil]

Reports out of Dallas say if the deal goes down humphries will likely be included. I think we will have a hard time move Banks out in this deal. Hopefully if the deal does go through, we are able to retain Delfino and Pops. Still, i don't know if 3.2 mill in cap savings is going to allow us to fill out the bench the way we need to.

[Daoud]

You urging caution, is that a sign that you heard that something might not go over? Or is it just that people are getting ahead of themselves?

Blogger's note: Something could still happen, certainly; but it's far from done

[Joe]

Doug,
If the salary cap does come down to the 50-53 million dollar range next year, that affects the max. salary any player can get...correct? If that is the case, would the stars like Wade, Bosh, James, Nowitzki, etc. be more inclined to sign max. deals with their teams this summer so that they could get higher salaries?

Blogger's note: Extension wouldn't kick in this year; no real benefit, I don't think, to any of them

[Nick]

Good for Andrea, good for us. No brainer really.

[AAAA]

Hey Doug,

Roko
Pat
Banks
Barg
Jose
Bosh
Derozen
Douby
Evans
Hump
Jawai
Turkoglu

is it possible to start the season with only 12 players? Or are teams required to have a 13th?

Also, what is Douby's status with the raptors? why is he not on our summer league roster?

Blogger's note: He is on the roster. Minimum is 13

[JR]

Does Houston's injury exception for Yao make them a potential nth team in a multi-club deal? Could any of our lukewarm bodies be useful to them?

[Mike]

I need to be able to follow along from a quantitative point of view so I can fully grasp what you're saying.

So you opine that Bargnani will be a bargain at 10/year, correct? This implies that you think he's going to really play like and produce the equivalent of a 13-15 mill player even though he only gets paid 10 mill, therefore a bargain.

Well I like to always compare players to their peers for relative value. So Brandon Roy is going to get his extension in the range of 13-15 mill per season.

So is your claim that over the next 5 years Bargnani is going to produce at the same level as Brandon Roy? You pretty much have said that by stating he's going to be a bargain relative to 10 million.

That's a pretty big statement to make considering Roy is the #1 option on a 50 win team, the team leader, a 2-time all-star and has a PER > 20.

Just want you to clarify what you mean by a bargain. Unless the corollary is that Roy is a max player by rule only and that his true value is greater than the max contract (which I find to be a dubious claim, I mean he's a borderline max guy).

Blogger's note: I said no such thing and I'll thank you, as I thank so many others, for not putting words in my mouth. I think relative to what other players are making a couple of years, and the cost it would take to replace him, he'll be a bargain.
Let me think for myself, okay?
And, really, can we get over the Brandon Roy crap? Yeesh. Isn't that horse dead enough
(Guess not)

[K Price]

Cleveland Cavaliers to sign Anthony Parker, according to Cleveland Plain Dealer...Wish him all the best class act...

Blogger's note: As I just saw from Brian
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2009/07/cleveland_cavaliers_close_to_c.html

[dean]

Nice,

He was a classy guy here, all the best.............

Any news on whom the 4th or 5th teams might be? What time is reasonable each day for us all to give up on news on wait till morning ?? Do these things last into the wee hours when doing contracts etc....??

Peace

Blogger's note: I'm going to bed soon, or to the couch so you can watch wherever you like; I offer no advice

Deaner

[Jordan]

I'm not sure on the particulars, but I really hope BC has considered the possibility of s&t for hedo with a team with cap space (ie. memphis or portland [i think?]) memphis sounds more likely because

something like memphis signing hedo us signing marion trading to dallas and then us both shipping pieces/cash/picks to memphis?
probably not possible because all I've been hearing is it would have to be with Orlando.. but the thought occurred to me so I thought I'd share it.

[Mike]

It doesn't have to be B. Roy,I threw him out as an example of a similar experience player making more than 10 on the next contract. It applies to any player making 13-15 mill per year. Basically anything between 10 mill and the max salary.

I just want to understand why it's a bargain.

Is it because he's going to produce as a 13-15 mill player getting paid 10 mill (which is great for the Raptors), or that every other big getting paid 10 mill (Bogut, Dampier, Pryz) is getting paid 10 mill but producing as a 5 mill player? Therefore since he's not a net negative he's good value? So basically it's a good signing because 1/2 the GM's in the league are droolers. Not really encouraging :(

You know there's a killer article to be written about how the maximum contract rules in the CBA completely screw teams =up. If you're lucky you end up with Kobe/Duncan/Shaq/Lebron/Paul and get a guy making the max but whose true value is 2-3x the max. You're doing ok if you have a guy making 80% of the max if he's producing fairly for what he's paid (Amare, Pierce, Joe Johnson, Bosh, Gasol)

And then sadly you're stuck in the screwed category where teams pay guys 50-90% of the max even though they're nowhere near the production of the elite players in the league even though they're pegged/benchmarked to their salary.

So maybe Bargnani is going to be a bargain at 10 mill. But if it's because other 10 mill guys are overpaid .... is that the kind of team building that leads to a title?

You're still going to have to beat the teams who are stacked with near max players and bargain players who way overproduce their contract to win a title. Not every GM in the league is a drooler.

[Chris Read]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4314637&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

[Daoud]

"Sources told ESPN.com that the trade will also send Jerry Stackhouse to the Grizzlies, with one source close to the process saying that a trade call with the league office to formalize the deal has been planned for Thursday, indicating that all sides have agreed in principle."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4314637

Any chance you get the details on this tonight instead of tomorrow morning?

Blogger's note: We're working; but if it's as Marc says, it's jsut as we've been saying for days. Toronto helps out Shawn and parks Stack's money somewhere else. Nothing else going on
But I've got the calls out

[Jreticent]

This is what ESPN is reporting-

"The Raptors will receive Devean George and Antoine Wright from the Mavericks, while also preserving their $5.9 million mid-level exception for the coming season by turning their acquisition of Turkoglu -- who is getting a five-year deal worth an estimated $53 million -- into a sign-and-trade as opposed to an outright signing. Assembling the trade this way could also enable Toronto to re-sign Carlos Delfino, after it appeared that the Raptors would have to renounce Delfino to help make room for the Turkoglu signing."

We get a starting SG in either Delfino and a backup SG/SF in Wright/George.

[BrianV]

Morning Doug,
I do appreciate the insight you have been providing the last couple weeks in your blog, the flame-throwing commentors notwithstanding.

You did not mention the MLE or Bi-Annual Exception in your blog posting, though I did read those details from other sources in the wee hours last night.

BC did get the MLE and BAE in all this. No?

Any insight on Devean George? Is he a character guy? Defensive specialist? Also, with both he and Antoine being in the last yaer of contracts, they would have some value on the market in a trade scenario. Would this not be the case? I'm not asking if they will be traded, just if other teams could come calling. Thanks again.

Blogger's note: Didn't I read this already? Yes to the exceptions and it was reported