SIGNING: Kleiza To Raptors (Update: Pg. 23/Post #183)

[Trapaholic]

I think he's ok...but all y'all trying to analyse him as "gritty" and what not...this guy's biggest asset is his outside jumper. All that other stuff only shows up for 5 seconds a night. Just another typical BC signing...not much to see here.

$5 mil sounds just about right...isn't that the average pay?

[Tim W.]

I think he's ok...but all y'all trying to analyse him as "gritty" and what not...this guy's biggest asset is his outside jumper. All that other stuff only shows up for 5 seconds a night. Just another typical BC signing...not much to see here.

$5 mil sounds just about right...isn't that the average pay?

Actually, it's below average. The average pay is what the MLE is, and that's about $6.5 this year, i believe. And it's only $5 million the first year, and then it goes down every year.

[Buddahfan]

Actually, it's below average. The average pay is what the MLE is, and that's about $6.5 this year, i believe. And it's only $5 million the first year, and then it goes down every year.

NBA salary cap for 2010-11 season set at $58.044 million

By Official Release
Posted Jul 7 2010 7:41PM
The mid-level exception is $5.765 million for the 2010-11 season

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/07/07/s...cap/index.html

[Tim W.]

http://www.nba.com/2010/news/07/07/s...cap/index.html

I was close.

[LBF]

approaching 4 days now is there any interest from denver to match?

[kcharito]

sidenote: Childress would have been nice!

Kleiza is much better than Childress.
Only at the defence, Childress is better
Josh cannot shoot, he can dunk....

[Apollo]

I'm not so sure about that. I would pick Childress over Kleiza. Josh can hit shots even if it doesn't look pretty... It works alright.

[Hotshot]

It feels like we are getting a genuine Garbajosa like player. Where Hedo showed no heart and no hussle, Klieza seems to do all that.

[RaptorsFan4Life]

Klieza is coming to the Raptors. The Nuggets just signed Al Harrington to a 5 year 34 million contract.

http://basketball.realgm.com/src_wir..._on_$34m_deal/

[Raptors]

^^^^ This is good news for the Raptors. Dallas were trying to obtain Harrington and with recent news of dirk wanting to play with shaq makes the tyson chandler trade a big (?). I can still see Raptors getting Chandler from Dallas if they sign Shaq. Lets all hope they do...

[Apollo]

Ok, let's all hope Colangelo didn't have a Kapono moment again. I am skeptical about Kleiza potential impact.

[Dave]

Now that Turkoglu is out of the way + the Diaw deal is off ... Kleiza should be the starting small forward.

Kleiza could turn into a nice trade asset after averaging 15+ppg on a very affordable contract next season.

[Apollo]

Done Deal

The Denver Nuggets won't match the four-year, $18.8 million offer sheet Toronto has put down on restricted free-agent forward Linas Kleiza.

"It was intimated to us that they won't match,'' Kleiza's agent, Bill Duffy, told FanHouse on Thursday night. "He's ecstatic.''

It became very likely the Nuggets wouldn't match by Friday's deadline when they agreed Tuesday night to sign forward Al Harrington to a five-year, $33.4 million contract. Duffy had told FanHouse that night, "I guess that takes them out of Kleiza.''

While there were some reports that having used its mid-level exception on Harrington eliminated the chances of Denver matching, those were incorrect. Because the Nuggets had Bird rights on Kleiza, they could have exceeded the salary cap to keep him.

However, Kleiza is due to make about $5 million next season in the front-loaded contract. With the Nuggets over the luxury-tax threshold, that would have been equivalent to them paying $10 million when the dollar-for-dollar tax is considered.

"I respect that organization,'' Duffy said of Denver. "But (Kleiza) felt very strongly about playing in Toronto. He's very excited. He loves the international dynamics of the team (Kleiza is from Lithuania), and will battle for a starting job (with Toronto small forward Hedo Turkoglu having been traded to Phoenix).''

Source: NBA Fanhouse

[Buddahfan]

Ricardito Says:
July 16th, 2010 at 12:45 pm

Come on Mr. West… Kleiza has not been a disappointment. Just ask Nuggets Management and Fans. Denver didn’t have any space or money for him over the years. Although Kleiza can play PF he’s best at SF. As a result, the Nuggs chose to go with Harrington IPO Kleiza. I’m sad to see him officially leave Denver, but I’m sure he’ll do well and acquire more fans in T-Dot

http://leeinks.weei.com/sports/2010/...h-kleiza-offer

I wonder how many Raptors fans and media will call him Linus instead of Linas.

[Ryan_1523]

I remember someone talking about how they were unsure if Kleiza would fit with the Raptors because he doesn't have the greatest speed, and the Raptors will be looking to push the ball and really utilize the running game. He's kinda growing on me, though.. He has a nice stroke.

It's all going to be about consistency, I'm not sure people will be as tolerant as they were with Turkoglu. We really can't afford inconsistency from anyone this year because we don't really have anyone to fall back on like we did with Bosh.