Hardly earth-shattering but another minor Raptors deal is close

It’s another minor deal that won’t shake the team to its core but the Raptors are about to get something else done.

According to sources, the Raptors are planning to move guard Marco Belinelli to the New Orleans Hornets for small forward Julian Wright, hardly a trade of epic proportions.

Wright’s a 6-8 small forward who’s done little with the Hornets, averaging 3.8 points and 2.1 rebounds in 61 games last season. He’s averaging 4.0 point per game in the 179 games he’s played in a career that includes 34 starts and is considered an athletic, average player without outstanding skills in any single category. He’s on the final year of a rookie scale deal and will be paid about $2.8 million this coming season.

Belinelli was ineffective and inconsistent in his one season with the Raptors, unable to fight his way past the likes of DeMar DeRozan and Antoine Wright in the battle for shooting guard minutes.

But as everyone who follows the Raptors closely knows, deals aren’t done until they’re officially done and there has been no official announcement.

And this transaction is separate from the other blockbuster the Hornets were involved in Wednesday. In that four-team deal, they’ll end up with Trevor Ariza from Houston while losing guard Darren Collison and James Posey to Indiana.

The importance of that trade to the Raptors is that the Pacers get a good young point guard in Collison after having several discussions with Toronto about Jose Calderon.

Comments

[pk]

No need to google this Julian guy, just watch this video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTqVjbEFh_s

[Matt M]

Yay, no more James Online - Marco Belinelli lovefest. Now if Colangelo can find a way to trade Aditya and Kelsey....

[SY]

*Sigh*. Just lose out on Collison (for Ariza only?...wow) and a possible suitor for Calderon's contract.......I am not sure how many times BC can still say there are still interest in Calderon (there are only so many teams looking for a 10 million PG, rite?)........This has been the worst summer by far in terms of future prospect for the team.....No John Wall or Griffin to be excited about........Given BC said himself that he wants cap flexibility (no long term contracts) and also prepare for a possible lockout next year....not sure if he can make any significant moves the coming months.......If that's the case, I think we really need to prepare for a long season.......ESPN is already predicting that the Raptors is going to be the last in the conference..........*Sigh*

-SY

[nick]

This stings. I have always been a Colangelo fan, and continue to be, but seeing a guard like Collison get moved, and with us on the outside looking in is painful. I only wonder if its as painful for BC as it is for me. Praying there's more to come...

[James]

What do you believe was the impetus for the trade of Marco Belinelli for Julian Wright (athleticism, expiring contract, anouther young gun etc.)? I have no opinion on the trade. However, if Jose is being shopped, I wonder if the Raptors haven't lost in Belinelli a valuable support ball handler and play maker.

[GM]

Sad to see Belinelli go. I will also miss James Online! And with Collison going to the Pacers, I'm hoping that means Calderon stays this season.

[Asher Tauran]

Give Belli confidence and he consistently shoots double figures. Just watch him play his European games. This will tell he is a "rythm guy" once he gets a chance to get into that rythm. And yes, some games he won't find it, but to despair immediately is to ruin his potential. Hope the Hornets allow him to find that rythm.

[Phil]

From what I've read, Wright will be a definite defensive upgrade. I WISH the raptors were able to get collison and I'm pretty sure BC was trying to make it happen but I think it's kind of a failure for the raps .... a potential target for calderon is gone and collison is off the market. I'm still confident that BC will vet a deal done for calderon.

[Jc]

Yeah collison may have made a good raptor but quit thinking we just missed out. NO got ariza and got rid of posey's contract. Would we have been able to offer anything like that (and no, calderon and the TPE doesn't cut it)

[James Online]

Wow, guess I made a bit of an impression on some of the fans who post here, and I know I'm one of Doug's absolute favorites. Some of you seemed to appreciate what I brought to the blog and others didn't. That's fine by me.
I cannot express how happy I am that Marco is being moved to New Orleans. First, in response to the "soft Euro" criticism and the loss of Bosh, who anchored the Raptors' offense from the middle, the Raptors are developing the Young Guns thing as a way of promoting an exciting but losing style of basketball play, in the mode of Don Nelson's small ball, which is detested by knowledgeable fans in the SF Bay Area.
Julian Wright was described by Doug Smith as "an athletic, average player without outstanding skills in any single category." That's pretty much what the Raptors will be up and down the roster. He'll fit right in. On the basis of his athleticism, he was a lottery pick. Much like Demar DeRozan (who gets a strange amount of love from Toronto fans given his limited skills), you see where that gets you.
I lost all respect for the Raptors when I flew in for the Chicago game at the end of the year and saw the Raptors' warmup routine. DeRozan and Weems throwing the ball high off the backboard or bouncing it high off the floor for putback slams. Not just once. Time after time. That summarizes what the Raptors will be about this year. (Cirque du Soleil is cheaper, save your money).
At any rate, Marco's moving up! He was drafted at #18 and is now traded for a lottery pick. Rocky!
NOLA is an excellent place for Marco to finally get a chance to play the minutes he deserves. With Chris Paul distributing and a team that will need offense and playmaking at the 2, Marco has a real chance to shine. Those of you who have followed the Italian team this summer know his game has been tremendous all summer. Even rebounding, an area he needs to improve, has gotten better.
Marco has been the victim of two bad NBA coaches. Don Nelson messed with him psychologically (as he has with many others here) the first year, and when Marco played well the second year he had a bad ankle sprain that put him out for weeks, and never back into the rotation. He led us to a home win over Boston that second year and had a real nice run of games.
Sorry Raptors' fans, but Jay Triano just strikes me as a guy out of his league, literally, and had no control over the team. Of course Marco fell out of favor. The team kept losing, refused to change course, and gave Marco only sporadic minutes. He's a streaky player. You can't throw him out there for five or eight minutes, watch him miss a couple shots, and pull him out. Work ethic? C'mon! On that team?
So, yeah, the New Orleans blogs will be a new home for me. But the local boys, the Warriors, are going to be pretty good this year too, especially if they can get Nelson out of the way. You guys probably remember what we did to the Raptors at the end of last year. Think we had about seven or eight healthy bodies. Look out for the Warriors this year.
For those fans on this blog who recognize Marco's talent and potential, and see what a cool guy he is, thanks for your support of the kid from Bologna who just wants a chance to play. Bye!

[smartenup]

Doug, the one thing that I am trying to figure out is if bc is only making a trade for the purpose he's not really doing anything. Is it to show that his not just being dormant.It would be fine if he just came out and said they did not want to commit to a major signing or trade where a new cba is coming up which could last a long time and the players that are available if this happens at present will again be a little older and less effective. I agree with many that a collison would have been a good acquisition for the raptors who should go young and develop the young talent now that the ex go to ball hog bosh is gone. How could they actually reach their potential. Give these young guys playing time and you may have a very competitive team for years to come. I will miss marco, but hope julien flourishes with the raps

[DP]

If Prince is available in Detroit then a straight up Prince/Calderon deal works. Dumars has said that they don't have a true point. Otherwise, no one out there has a glaring need.

[J]

Funny how many people think we missed out on Collison. I've always said (maybe here, maybe not, I forget) that if New Orleans were to trade Collison along with a bad contract, they'd want more than salary cap relief. Pure salary cap relief meant giving up, in which case keeping Collison and trading Paul would be more logical. They might still lose Paul when he becomes a FA, but their deal for Ariza provides a much needed upgrade at the wing position. Good for them.

One could speculate that NJ might have accepted Bargnani so we could take Collison and Posey (and is that even a good deal for us?), but it should be clear whenever trades are made that the respective team GMs have explored most possibilities. Murphy offers the Nets the potential of using his expiring contract as trade bait, and is also a decent rental big to keep the seat warm as Favors develops.

[yertu damkule]

it would be nice, doug, if you didn't feed the frenzied mob the notion that a move has to be some big blockbuster in order to be significant. newsflash: this is how a rebuild is supposed to be done, by jettisoning pieces that are more or less redundant (or cap-crippling, or cancerous, or both) for YOUNG players with POTENTIAL on MANAGEABLE CONTRACTS who have SOMETHING TO PLAY FOR.

yes, it's more 'boring' this way, but only for those in the media covering the team & for those who get more excited by wheeling & dealing than by watching the actual games. but this is how it's SUPPOSED to be done. i've been very critical of BC in the past (and i'm sure i will be in the future), and while i agree that - for all intents & purposes - this is a relatively minor deal, it at least signals that he's moving in the right direction in terms of team-building.

[Richard]

Portland and Atlanta are reportedly interested in point guard changes, though I don't know if Jose is an upgrade to them. Golden State is always a wildcard to do something strange so you never know. Charlotte is my bet to pick up TJ after a buy-out, but have obviously shown interest in Jose. Detroit and in my mind Philly also need a true point guard but the contracts they might want to unload might be too unsavoury for BC's tastes. Point is there are teams out their that still might want to trade for Jose.

[PeterK]

Prince is available and yea, numbers work but another 3?
Weems, Wright, Kleiza, Prince.
Log jam and they wouldn't move Weems who is part of that Young Guns shinanigan, and Wright and Kleiza were just acquired.

[R]

Hey Doug, Do national teams have mascots? Whats the story behind you call the Raptor the Chicken? Thanks.

Blogger's note: They don't, but I believe the Chicken will be in attendance this evening

[i_am_joey]

maybe its just me but is there any truth about a 3-team deal involving toronto's calderon, banks, dorsey and detroit's prince and charlotte's augustin and diaw?

[R]

Whats the story behind you calling the Raptor the a Chicken?

Blogger's note: All stuffed animals are descendants of the Chicken.