Offseason: Its contract extension time: What I would offer and why edition

[thead]

2pat: I would be completely comfortable signing 2Pat to a nice fat juicy 4 years 30 million. He is a plus defender, a floor stretcher, and high IQ player. He could be a starter or play 6th man in starters minutes. Think Lamar Odom.

KLOE: This man is gonna get paid. Every game he plays his stock goes up. Any significant playoff success will only propel him into the contract stratosphere. I do believe we have the inside track on him though and 4 years at 52 million will likely be what he ends up at. There are very few MAX guys in the league, but Lowry just might bulldog his way there. History is the only thing keeping him from the max now.

General Grevis: I'd be comfortable making him our 6th man B, getting between 25 - 30 minutes at the 1 and 2 spots. He has room for improvement but "generally" speaking you couldn't go wrong throwing the full MLE (dollars not the actual exception. We own his bird rights no need to burn the actual exception on him) at him for 3 years. He has that passion that is infectious and could effectively be a leader on this team.

Zorro De Colo: Small sample size on De Colo but I like him in a 15 - 20 minutes a night between the 1/2/3 spots. His on ball defense is good. He is a willing and capable passer, and he can shoot, we just haven't seen it yet. I also like him as PG insurance. I think three years at the 2 to 2.5 million dollar range is fair. We haven't seen the best of him yet but if Greivis leaves for a more lucrative location, Nando is more than adequate in his role.

__________________________________

Free Agent Targets. I'd love to get Shawn Marion in here for the MLE. I wish we never lost him in the first place.

Thoughts?

[jacobdr4]

I think your overpaying for patman and kyle. Im not sure i want lowry if its gonna be that much money for him. Patman id like to see more in the three years 16-18 mill range.

[white men can't jump]

My thoughts are you're a bit too eager to throw money around.

Lowry is the onlly guy they need to aggressively try to re-sign, and I most definitely would try to get him at 10-11 million per year. Lots of very good PGs in the league, very few making more than that amount. This is a tough situation and very hard to predict, but luckily not many teams can offer him as good a situation AND more money.

I'd let the market set the value for 2Pat and Greivis. Both are RFA if they are given their qualifying offers. No need to pay them more if you don't have to, and if the market sets a price that's too high, I'd try to work a S&T where we get something back.

And De Colo...I don't understand why anyone likes this guy that much. He has a nice skill set, but is totally erratic. That's why SAS didn't care to keep him. You never know if he'll make a good decision or a bad one. Minimum value guy at this point IMO, maybe just slightly more if you think he'll make some progress in the offseason (he is 26 years old already). Gotta show a lot more than he has so far.

FA targets: just round out whatever holes you need to cheap. If they manage to bring all of Lowry, 2Pat and Vasquez back, just find a serviceable wing at as low a price as possible. Also depends on what happens at the draft. But if we do not draft a wing, I'd look into guys like Aminu, Ariza, Battier, etc....guys who are strong defensively with the size to play SF, and may not cost more than say half the MLE.

It's not the time to sacrifice future flexibility.

[mcHAPPY]

$10M or less for Lowry

$5M or less for Patterson

$3M or less for Vasquez

Minimum or less (lol) for De Colo

[stooley]

I don't think Lowry should make more than Lawson. 4 years/48 million should be his absolute cap.

Hopefully we can get him for closer to 4 years/40 million if other teams are scared of his past.

I'd be happy giving 2Pat Amir Johnson money. so 4 years/24 million.

GV depends entirely on his price. I don't really want to pay more than the MLE. I'd rather sign a more productive wing and give de Colo back up PG duties.

De Colo should be a near min-level player. He hasn't proven to be anything much more than that yet (and I'll cross my fingers that becomes a slight bargain).

[white men can't jump]

I don't think Lowry should make more than Lawson. 4 years/48 million should be his absolute cap.

Hopefully we can get him for closer to 4 years/40 million if other teams are scared of his past.

I'd be happy giving 2Pat Amir Johnson money. so 4 years/24 million.

GV depends entirely on his price. I don't really want to pay more than the MLE. I'd rather sign a more productive wing and give de Colo back up PG duties.

De Colo should be a near min-level player. He hasn't proven to be anything much more than that yet (and I'll cross my fingers that becomes a slight bargain).

The other thing with Lowry is we can offer him 5 years. It's a bigger risk, but could help complete any deal. Not sure how I feel about it, but depending on the yearly number I could probably live with it.

Also I'd be cool with loading his contract with generous performance bonuses (like DeMar's). So even if you have him at around 10 or 11, he can make say around 12 or more if he meets all the incentives.

[planetmars]

I think $10M is more than enough for Lowry per season. He's balling and essential to the team but he may have hit his peak as well. Can't pay him for potential like you can for the Lawson/Holiday/Curry's of the world. Market should be thin as well.
Use a trade kicker or additional bonuses to help swing the fence during negotiations.


Patterson should get Buddinger's contract. 4 years $20M max and try to make that 4th year a team option (instead of a player option). Just hope he doesn't regress. Can't be throwing around Landry Fields' type of money any more.


GV should get about $3M a year. He might be happy to take it. I don't know what the market for backup PG's is in the league.. and GV may get some interest.. but I like that MU and him have a relationship. That should help with a home town discount. If Lowry walks we'll need GV though. So his salary will be dependent on what happens with Lowry in negotiations. If Lowry goes I'm okay with a $4-5M salary to ensure we get a pseudo starting caliber PG.

I haven't seen enough of Nando to give him an extension.. I'd be happy with his QO and make him a UFA after next year.

[ezz_bee]

4 mill a year for Patterson
I'd go 5x10 mill or 43 mill over 4 (10, 10.5, 11, 11.5) if he gets a deal for more money (which is entirely possible) you have to think hard about letting him go.

I don't really care about Vasquez or De Colo. Both should be on cheap contracts because they are VERY replaceable.

[BobLoblaw]

I don't mind 4/52 for Lowry. I hope he signs within 8-10 mil a year range, but he's playing more like a 4/70 than a 4/40 player right now so if it takes 4/52, I think it's reasonable enough.

The rest of the suggestions, what's the plan here? 15ish mil a year for 2Pat/Vasquez/Nando, that's basically a max contract. I'd much rather target a max player then.

If 2Pat wants to re-sign on a small safe contract where he becomes a good trade asset, bring him back. Like, 3/10. If someone pays him midlevel, let him go. For 3.5 years, there were two sure things about 2Pat, he's soft and he's always either injured or recovering from some injury. Now he gets to Toronto, manages to stay healthy for 40 games and plays the best basketball of his career, and he's a 30 mil player. I would stay very far away from that.

Nando/Vasquez, these are expendable. If they come back on 1 year deals or tiny semi-guaranteed 2 year deals, great. Otherwise, let them go.

In general, the Raptors should think bigger. Patterson/Nando/Vasquez aren't going to put this team over the top. This team needs another big piece. So I would keep flexibility. If you get players at a bargain price where they become assets, then fine, use some of that flexibility. But Patterson at 30 mil or Vasquez at full MLE (that's like 4/22 mil?), those aren't assets.

[magoon]

I would offer all of our free agents as much money as possible because I want to cap out this team right now. When you've got a 39-31 team that loses to the Cleveland Cavaliers, you need to lock that up right away!

[jacobdr4]

I would offer all of our free agents as much money as possible because I want to cap out this team right now. When you've got a 39-31 team that loses to the Cleveland Cavaliers, you need to lock that up right away!

Do i sense a little sarcasm?

[JimiCliff]

I don't mind 4/52 for Lowry. I hope he signs within 8-10 mil a year range, but he's playing more like a 4/70 than a 4/40 player right now so if it takes 4/52, I think it's reasonable enough.

The rest of the suggestions, what's the plan here? 15ish mil a year for 2Pat/Vasquez/Nando, that's basically a max contract. I'd much rather target a max player then.

If 2Pat wants to re-sign on a small safe contract where he becomes a good trade asset, bring him back. Like, 3/10. If someone pays him midlevel, let him go. For 3.5 years, there were two sure things about 2Pat, he's soft and he's always either injured or recovering from some injury. Now he gets to Toronto, manages to stay healthy for 40 games and plays the best basketball of his career, and he's a 30 mil player. I would stay very far away from that.

Nando/Vasquez, these are expendable. If they come back on 1 year deals or tiny semi-guaranteed 2 year deals, great. Otherwise, let them go.

In general, the Raptors should think bigger. Patterson/Nando/Vasquez aren't going to put this team over the top. This team needs another big piece. So I would keep flexibility. If you get players at a bargain price where they become assets, then fine, use some of that flexibility. But Patterson at 30 mil or Vasquez at full MLE (that's like 4/22 mil?), those aren't assets.

Hear hear! I fully agree with every word posted above. If RR ever gets to send a representative to the Raptors front office to discuss signings and strategy, I nominate BobLoblaw

[ezz_bee]

Hear hear! I fully agree with every word posted above. If RR ever gets to send a representative to the Raptors front office to discuss signings and strategy, I nominate BobLoblaw

I think there's a bunch of guys here who would do a good job as a rep

BobLoblaw/Matt52/Magoon as well as a few others.

[imanshumpert]

$10M or less for Lowry

$5M or less for Patterson

$3M or less for Vasquez

Minimum or less (lol) for De Colo

Might need to go a nudge over 10M for Lowry, but yeah pretty much this.

[stooley]

If 2Pat wants to re-sign on a small safe contract where he becomes a good trade asset, bring him back. Like, 3/10. If someone pays him midlevel, let him go. For 3.5 years, there were two sure things about 2Pat, he's soft and he's always either injured or recovering from some injury. Now he gets to Toronto, manages to stay healthy for 40 games and plays the best basketball of his career, and he's a 30 mil player. I would stay very far away from that.

What if Patterson asks for 3 years 15 million?

Do you just say no and lose him for nothing?