Dampier Visting Toronto Later in the Week

[LBF]

and then there were three, four?, one?, tow?

[Buddahfan]

For the record Dampier is

1. 35 years old
2. Not played in over 25 mpg since 04-05
3. Played over 25 mpg for a season only four times in entire career.

If the Raptors do sign him and he makes it to opening night he won't be starting even though he has been a starter for most of his NBA career.



Johnson would start alongside Bargnani and Dampier would come in if Johnson gets into early foul trouble. At that time Bargnani would switch to the #4.

[ShinobiOne]

How many times have we seen the Raptors taking on players as starters or close to it while other teams simply balk at the idea? Although I don't like Dampier as a starter for us, he would be a much better option than any of our other backup 5's (I mean really Alabi, Andersen or Dorsey? who are we really kidding) plus if Bargs really has a tough time at Center we have another option. It would be a problem for developing Amir and our other young guys though and I don't like that.

Im on the fence on this one. Definite no if it means getting him for more than a couple bags of chips!

On a side note, Ill see ya at The Rail Damps! lol

[Apollo]

Not sure how bringing in a guy who, as Buddahfan mentioned, probably would only play 25 minutes a game is going to mess with Amir's development. Wasn't Ed Davis probably going to eat that time up before his knee injury? And another thought, how does Amir with five fouls and on the bench because he had to guard a mismatch to make up for Bargnani's defensive deficiencies sound? Or Amir banged up for the same reason? Both those scenarios aren't helping his development. If Damp came in I could see him serving the same sort of role that Kevin Willis served. Good in the locker room and solid on the court in his defined role.

[hateslosing]

I wouldn't mind Dampier here as long as it's on one year contract. People forget sometimes that if Bargs or Johnson happened to go down (god forbid) we have absolutely no depth in the big spots and if Ed Davis wasn't back we could actually be in a situation where David Anderson starts. So basically with Dampier we get an experienced center to either start with Bargs or play behind him (this is more likely) and we don't lose financial flexibility for the next off season? I don't see the problem here guys. Just don't sign him long term and it's great for us.

[visko23]

I actually don't mind Damp coming here. With the investment we've made in Bargs, Damp who'll get the vet's min. is a small price to pay to find out how Bargnani fairs at PF. Damp would mostly likeyl be the 1st sub for Amir/Ed come off the bench while Barg's moves to the 5. The result of Barg's playing at PF (his natural position) will let us know what we need to do with our future cap space. If he does amazing, we know we need to use the TPE or future cap room to acquire a legit center. If he does shit, we move him back to centre or ship him out. Damp allows us to test this out.

[Raptorsss]

According to Stine Milwaukee is out of the "Dampier" sweep-stakes since they just signed Brian Skinner(who?) to a non-guaranteed contract and have 20 people in camp (overkill).

[Hassan]

lol who cares i would rather give those minuets to amir johnson

[Jaworski]

...and Reggie Evans

perhaps Dampier can do for us/Bargnani what he did for Dallas/Nowitzki.

[SirChillyMost]

BC should have went after Skinner as he's a veteran big man who can bang in the paint off of the bench plus he's low maintenance.

Dampier just wants to miss training camp because he's out of shape, one of the reasons why Miami didn't sign him plus Magloire work him over in a workout as per reports.

Bargnani is no Nowitzki- not even close.

[Juan]

It seems it is being ignored that the reason they're even looking for ANYBODY right now is that Davis is out and Alabi is recovering. Whomever they sign will be an extra body/insurance guy, not expected to be a saviour. Most of the other names mentioned the other day (Brezec) aren't even being considered if Davis hadn't hurt his knee.

[Arsenalist]

I guess we should ask ourselves what the risk of signing Dampier is. None, unless we blow our TPE on him. Davis and Alabi are expected to be ready before the season starts, or maybe a week or so after. They're going to need some time to get it going, so I suppose Dampier would provide some insurance. It's just such a blah signing that I have to be against it.

[golden]

I guess we should ask ourselves what the risk of signing Dampier is. None, unless we blow our TPE on him. Davis and Alabi are expected to be ready before the season starts, or maybe a week or so after. They're going to need some time to get it going, so I suppose Dampier would provide some insurance. It's just such a blah signing that I have to be against it.

Insurance against what? Avoiding finishing last? I'd rather be less deep and force the young guys to play and learn how to stay on the court. It was tough, but worked wonders for Bosh in his rookie season, when we were thin at C.

[Bendit]

BC should have went after Skinner as he's a veteran big man who can bang in the paint off of the bench plus he's low maintenance.

Dampier just wants to miss training camp because he's out of shape, one of the reasons why Miami didn't sign him plus Magloire work him over in a workout as per reports.

Bargnani is no Nowitzki- not even close.

I understand that apart from the availability of Magloire, Ilgauskas & Anthony to handle the centre spot there was something political as well....Magloire being Wade's man, Z being James's and Anthony just signing a multi yr. deal. Riley wouldnt want to upset those two now!

[SirChillyMost]

I understand that apart from the availability of Magloire, Ilgauskas & Anthony to handle the centre spot there was something political as well....Magloire being Wade's man, Z being James's and Anthony just signing a multi yr. deal. Riley wouldnt want to upset those two now!

Fair enough.

But reports that I read mentioned that he was out of shape thus he wouldn't sign with another team until after the first week (two a days) of training camp so whoever signs him will most likely have to get him into NBA playing shape afterwards.

With Milwaukee signing Skinner yesterday reports are that they may now not want Dampier while TO & maybe Houston are the last 2 teams allegedly in the running for his services.