Gay, Acy & Gray to SAC for Vasquez, Patterson, Hayes & Salmons (Augustin waived)

[Joey]

This doesn't sound good:

Raptors GM Masai Ujiri has begun the teardown. More moves (DeRozan, Lowry, etc) likely, if they can find takers.

— Howard Beck (@HowardBeck) December 9, 2013

If they can find takers????

Masai tells you if you are a taker.

He doesn't 'find' shit; He takes it.

[Blacklash2k4]

Masai tells you if you are a taker.

He doesn't 'find' shit; He takes it.

Tbh, I think it will be hard to ship Lowry without some creativity. Teams that desperately need a point guard I can think of at the moment are New York, and Chicago. Both of which don't really have much we really want...

[Primer]

I think Lowry to Milwaukee makes a lot of sense. Knight has been a disaster and Milwaukee wants to make a move. Getting Lowry will make them legitimately better.

Lowry and Hansbrough for Udoh and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Ujiri gets the guy he liked in the draft. Hansbrough is a deal sweetener. If Milwaukee makes this trade, in this weak East, they will be a playoff team for sure.

[magoon]

I think Lowry to Milwaukee makes a lot of sense. Knight has been a disaster and Milwaukee wants to make a move. Getting Lowry will make them legitimately better.

Lowry and Hansbrough for Udoh and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Ujiri gets the guy he liked in the draft. Hansbrough is a deal sweetener. If Milwaukee makes this trade, in this weak East, they will be a playoff team for sure.

Giannis is BY FAR the most promising and popular player on the team. Milwaukee is not trading him now for anything less than a superstar.

[serbiantiger8]

Chicago is need of a point guard if they want to make the playoffs. The thing is though, do we go for a trade for Deng, or ask for a first-rounder and cash, and continue the rebuilding way? A trade for Deng would likely look like Lowry+Salmons/Fields+Novak for Deng. Or we could simply do Lowry for first round pick +cash, if we're fully committed to the rebuild.

[thead]

Lowry is playing like he is possessed

[Primer]

Giannis is BY FAR the most promising and popular player on the team. Milwaukee is not trading him now for anything less than a superstar.

If not Giannis then same trade for filler and a future 1st. Milwaukee just seems like a good trade partner. Lots of ways we could make it work.

[Shrub]

This is too good.

The worst decision maker in basketball teams up with the most irritable.
Oh man.
Oh my god Sacramento: what in the hell.

Seriously, they just teamed up the two most-talented-but-strongly-in-need-of-guidance players in the league.

This is fucking poetry.

Mclemore and Jimmer and Robinson and Williams are so sad right now.

Cousins has already punched a hole in a wall.

Lololololololololol.

At least the twos won't be so long if he's playing PF.

Lololololol

[ceez]

Trade grades: Raps shed Rudy Gay

From Insider:

Sacramento: D

While the Kings are dealing four players and getting three back, this trade is ultimately entirely about Rudy Gay and which Gay Sacramento is getting. Will it be the one who was overpaid but useful through 2011-12 or the version of the last two seasons who has shot too inefficiently for his ability to create shots to be valuable?

Gay's player efficiency rating (PER) slipped from 17.8 in both 2010-11 and 2011-12 to 15.6 last season and 15.9 this year; by my wins above replacement system (WARP), he's rated below average thus far while collecting $17.9 million. His poor start is unlikely to last. Gay is struggling primarily because he's been unable to finish around the basket, making just 51.0 percent of his attempts at the rim, per NBA.com/Stats. Historically, Gay has made at least 60 percent of those shots, and the difference is likely a fluke this early in the season.

Still, to get back where he was -- a volume scorer with average or worse efficiency -- Gay will have to be more accurate on long 2-pointers than he has been the last two seasons (or, better yet, cut down on taking them in the first place). To help facilitate that, the Kings apparently intend to use Gay alongside newly acquired Derrick Williams as something of a stretch 4, per Yahoo!'s Marc Spears.

Gay was more effective as a part of small lineups early this season, posting a 17.4 PER at power forward as compared to 12.8 at small forward through Nov. 27, per 82games.com. And those lineups outscored opponents by 6.7 points per 48 minutes in that span, where lineups with Gay at the three were outscored. (The opposite trend held last season, though Gay was more effective after being traded from Memphis to Toronto.)

With Isaiah Thomas moving into the starting lineup at point guard and either Ben McLemore or Marcus Thornton at shooting guard, the Kings should be able to put more outside shooting around Gay than he's had in either of his previous two stops. In that sense, this might be the best situation he's ever enjoyed. But adding Gay to the mix presents other issues for Sacramento. He'll have to share the ball with Thomas and Sacramento anchor DeMarcus Cousins, who have combined usage rates north of 60 percent of the team's possessions. As much as possible, Kings coach Mike Malone will want to stagger his rotation so just two of the three players are on the court together.

There's also the crucial matter of Gay's $19.3 million player option for next season. If Gay opts in, the Kings are now committed to around $69 million in salary. Add in the salary of a surefire lottery pick and Sacramento will have to shed payroll in order to re-sign Thomas, a restricted free agent, while avoiding the luxury tax, projected at $75.7 million for 2014-15. The Kings surely aren't done dealing, but having to save money for 2014-15 will make that task more difficult.

Assuming Gay opts in, Sacramento basically has the rest of this season and the next to evaluate how the current roster works together. Both Gay and Williams are signed through then, allowing the Kings the opportunity to retool either by trading their expiring contracts or clearing space under the salary cap.

In the meantime, it's unclear how successful Sacramento can be. Though the Kings have been competitive recently, they remain miles away from playoff contention in the deep Western Conference. Sacramento is farther out of the eighth seed than the current No. 8 (Golden State) is from leading the conference. And while Gay might work better in California's capital, adding him doesn't solve the Kings' defensive woes or upgrade the team's outside shooting. So Sacramento will likely continue to tread water in the West, with less flexibility than it had before this deal.

Toronto: A-

The Raptors entered Sunday's game eighth in the East in point differential, so a playoff trip was a reasonable possibility had they kept things together. Still, the team's ceiling was lower than the Toronto temperature in December; this group of Raptors wasn't going anywhere, now or in the future. That made it inevitable that new GM Masai Ujiri would break his team up.

In trading Gay, Ujiri has undone the last big move by his predecessor, Bryan Colangelo. The players Toronto got in return weren't as important as ensuring Gay's $19.3 million option wouldn't clutter the Raptors' cap next summer. This deal reduces that commitment to Hayes' $6 million salary and the $1 million guaranteed portion of Salmons' contract, enabling Toronto to clear approximately $17.5 million in cap space.

This is only the start for the Raptors. Getting this trade done early will allow Ujiri to package Vasquez and Patterson as part of deals before the deadline. (Players acquired in trade can only be traded individually for two months, a restriction that will expire a little less than two weeks before the Feb. 20 deadline.) Both players should have some value as experienced starters in the final seasons of their contracts; whatever Toronto gets for them is a bonus on top of the cap relief the trade will provide. Point guard Kyle Lowry is another likely trade candidate, and shooting guard DeMar DeRozan might be on the move as well.

On the court, this is the start of reorienting the Raptors with second-year center Jonas Valanciunas as the focal point. Valanciunas has struggled alongside the perimeter group of DeRozan, Gay and Lowry, all of whom tend to dominate the basketball rather than looking to the post. Vasquez should be a more effective pick-and-roll partner for Valanciunas as long as he's in Toronto.

The only thing not to like about this trade is the Raptors taking on some salary for next season. A deal that completely cleared the cap would have merited an A+. This version still earns far better than a passing grade.

[Rapstor4Life]

Derozan so epic. 20/5/5/2/2 Nice!

[Masai Ujiri]

Derozan so epic. 20/5/5/2/2 Nice!

Doesn't do anything besides score, trade him.

[Rapstor4Life]

Derozan +18 tonight and Lowry is playing out of his mind tonight.

[isaacthompson]

Time to trade Lowry ASAP. He's been playing so well last week or so. If he's not part of the future, he needs to go.

[Masai Ujiri]

Time to trade Lowry ASAP. He's been playing so well last week or so. If he's not part of the future, he needs to go.

Lol this, playing way too damn well and he's not really young enough to stick with this core going forwards.

The problem is not a whole lot of teams need a starting PG, and he's shown to be a bit of a locker room problem when he doesn't get to start (see Houston and Memphis).

[Jamshid]

Just amazing ... It is so refreshing reading review of trades by Raptors were we actually get A from NBA experts. I can not wait to see how he drafts players and what is his next move. He now has bunch of small expiring contracts for very serviceable players and moving those little pieces will not be difficult. He can use them to move Amir and DD along side.