We have to take an IGBT night off

Sorry, folks, but with the trade of Jose Calderon and Ed Davis about to be finalized and a fair amount of work to do because of it, we have to pass on the usual in-game blog tonight.

I'm sure you all understand; I'll try to tweet out stuff as we go along but not sure how much of that I'll even be able to do.

Don't forget to check back here tomorrow for the usual fare and you'll see the trade story on-line as soon as I get it written.

 

Comments

[Ken L]

Not a bad idea as your laptop would most likely have a meltdown.

[jared flemming]

I cannot believe that Raptors management is this crazy. How can you take on the salary Rudy Gay demands while at the same time lose arguably one of the best point guards in the NBA in Jose Calderon? To make matters worse you're trading the Rap's future away by losing Ed Davis. He was just starting to become a very important piece to this team, and now he's gone too. Then you add "insult to injury" by giving Memphis a second round pick. That's got to be enough to make Raptors' fans "head for the hills".

[kathyt]

I'm really starting to think that the Raptors are gambling on the wrong player. I think that giving up Davis will come back to haunt them in the long run. Sorry to see Jose and Ed go.

[LeeZ]

Doug, do you think this trade is a strong signal that Raptors ownership will be re-upping BC? I mean, he has just tied up a frick of a lot of money for two and a half years in one non-all-star player who is having perhaps his worst year as a pro, and he has given up a key, young and cheap building block. Leaving aside the merits of the deal, don't you think that ownership would have vetoed the deal if they didn't have confidence in BC going forward?

Blogger's note: I can see that point, yes

[Slap Dog Hoops]

On of the BEST trades ever in Toronto Raptors history!! In one move Bryan Colangelo turned a moribund team on the verge of a long rebuild into a respectable playoff team.

People are going to have to watch out for Toronto.

[Tim]

I think BC makes too many moves. I wish he had just let the season play out and see where the Raptors were at. I'm not a huge Rudy Gay fan, either.

[Rory]

Well, the news made me quite sad, as Calderon was (is?) my all-time favourite Rap. And I was sad also to see Ed Davis go, as he seems like a very good young player. My first reaction was that I was done with the team. I still am unhappy but that's probably an overreaction. I guess I'll need a new favourite. Amir Johnson? Valanciunas?

[coachd]

Hi Doug,
With tonight's trade is the imminent signing of Ben Uzoh at hand?

[sportschic]

When the official announcement took a while, I was wondering if once again, the Raptors had been unable to trade Calderon.

Sad to see Ed and Jose go, but will wait and see how it goes before deciding whether I think it's a good trade.

[Scott L]

Two words - Jermaine O'Neal.

[doug]

well according to these comments Davis is a future all-star...come on people he is a tweener.... thank god Jose is gone let's turn the page, and Gay is a future all-star...this team has moved forward exponentially...oh an the refs screw the raps once again, unreal...cheers

[LeeZ]

Well, the Raps will send in the video again, the NBA will admit the refs screwed up the call again, but in this case, I can't really blame them. The ref on the side of the court where DD took the shot was way up top, the ref along the baseline was on the opposite side of the action, while the third ref was top of the 3 pt line in the middle. None had a decent look. What I'd like to see in that situation is for the refs to check the replays, just as they do for change of possession calls. And if there is conclusive evidence on the replay of a foul, then call one after the fact. Doug, has there been any discussion of this among league officials? Oh and here's my take on the blog's new look. Meh, but one major problem: no link at the top of the page (or anywhere else, for that matter) to take you the main Sports Section page. Please have this rectified, kind sir.

[D-Mac Ottawa]

Jobbed by the refs, once again. And not just that last play. With 12.6 left, sure, the Hawks had a foul to give, but they waited until Lowry was in the lane – and shooting. That was a foul in the act. There's 4 (four!) free throws the Raps were not allowed to take in the final seconds.
Doug, post-game, Jack mentioned "a guy" who was sending older refs off to early retirement, leaving "a number" of refs now who are, I don't recall his exact words, but in effect, they're calling games that are one rung higher than they're ready for. Looks like that's the smoking gun ref story, right there. Could you enlighten us maybe about this "guy" and his program, and when it happened, and how much damage may have been done, and why/how D. Stern & Co. were involved (or not involved)? Sure would love to know. Thanks!
Cheers. Go Raps, Next Edition. The best word I heard from BCo this evening was "No", in response to the question about whether he's done trading...

[Primo]

BC does trade a lot and Doug, I don't know why you were denying this trade which rumor brewed up starting as early as Monday...

Blogger's note: We've been writing about this for three weeks, guess you weren't reading. Your loss

[Peter]

I'd be VERY interested to hear your perspective on this trade. There has to be more trades in the future for this team to work out. Derozen and Gay can't shoot the 3 well enough, and can't create their own shot well enough. Davis leaving with no front court player coming back in return is tough. We have a lot of wings... it's just weird. The plan has to be to make more moves.

[deaner]

I know some people are upset at Jose being gone, but this will be easy for him. Being in Detroit will mean he can just play out the season, not have to move, and become a free agent. If they want, the Raps can make a move for him again, much cheaper, based on what salary BC frees up with future trades, if those happen. He might be done, he might not be, but there is a glut in the wings, so someone has got to go. Hopefully packaged with Bargs.

[Ryan]

Its a tough but fair trade. Davis looks like he will be something good but who knows and Gay is a borderline AllStar player year in and year out.

Calderon could be re-signed in the offseason.. unlikely for numerous reasons I'm sure but possible. You gotta give to get and the Raptors did.

Will be exciting to see how this backcourt works together that's for sure, its now better than its been in a long long while.

[Marc]

Do you think a trade for Pau could be next?? We did just trade away a PF... maybe Derozan and bargnani for Pau?

Could be a good line: JV, Pau, Gay, Ross, Lowry, with Amir, fields, anderson and John Lucas off the bench...

[J]

I think Calderon is a very underrated PG, at least by Toronto fans; however, some are overreacting on what we lose by including him in the deal. There's no guarantee that he will resign with us after his deal expires in Detroit, but there was no guarantee of that even had he stayed.

This same time last year, the general attitude of the "experts" here was that Ed Davis would never amount to anything. That's right, it was that certain (eyeroll). Heck, the night he was drafted, how many people here were up in arms about his selection? When we should have been happy about Davis slipping to us, people were unhappy that we didn't draft one of Avery Bradley or Hassan Whiteside at 13. Just as quickly as people were ready to throw him under the bus after his rookie year, people now want to cling onto him like he's a sure thing. The only sure thing is his value has never been higher.

I truly hope BC can manage to swing at least one more deal, because Gay alone isn't enough. I would have been happy had they stayed the course (and some of you really need to chill with the constant bipolar back and forth between "this team looks young and promising" and "this team sucks, blow it up"), but I appreciate the gamble as well. Whether this makes us a better team, we won't know for a while; the only certain thing is when it comes to our Raptors, we tend to either dish out the hate or fall in love with certain players (forgetting that almost nobody should be safe on a team on pace for a 28/29 win season). Oh, and it doesn't seem like those hoping to tank next season, just for a 15.6-25% chance of landing Wiggins, are going to be very happy about this.

[GM]

Yes, you've been writing about it for weeks, but in all fairness your recent writing has suggested that it won't happen. On Tuesday you wrote, "Nothing new – at all – to the reports yesterday about discussions with Memphis about Rudy Gay, we’ve been writing they’ve had interest for, well, longer than I care to admit and, as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, it continues to look – right now – less and less likely something gets done. That could change, of course, but the price has always been too high, continues to be too high my spies tell me, and yesterday’s report was just a continuation of chatter that’s been around seemingly forever. Stand down, folks."

I was hoping you were right. Previous to that, you really only mentioned him on Jan. 14 when you wrote, "...according to a highly-placed source, any chance of the Raptors picking up Rudy Gay in a trade are diminishing rapidly and it’s less and less likely something will happen...
As I mentioned last week, the players most coveted include the likes of Jose Calderon, Terrence Ross and one of the young bigs – and I know Valanciunas’s name has come up in conversation – and I would suggest Bryan should have no interest in that kind of chatter. Gay’s a good player – he’s a definite upgrade on what they have now – but if it’s such a steep price that it robs you of your assets, it’s not worth it. All it does is make you different, and not necessarily better. So you can put the chatter on hold for now; I’d say it’s 5-95 at best that they even have more serious discussions."

In your opinion, was Jose and Ed too steep or just about right?

Blogger's note: More too steep than right; but closer to right than if one of the young kids was involved

[Matt M]

This was not a good trade in my own opinion. Gay is a slightly better version of DeRozan at a much higher cost. Many on the internet seem to be suggesting Bargnani is next to go, which makes sense, but it seems that the Raptors would be better with Gay, Ross and Anderson as the core of their SF/SG team and keep Bargnani to stretch the floor in a sixth man role. Unless the Raptors will commit to Gay as a part time PF, playing with DeRozan and Ross (or the Raps find a cheaper version of Bargnani), then DeRozan is more likely to be traded than Bargnani.
We shall see I guess. The Raps will rue this trade is more likely I would guess.