Rudy Gay to the Kings

[sparrowtrini]

Finally Raps doing it the right way....Andrew Wiggins!!!!





Rudy Gay is on his way out of Toronto. According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the Toronto Raptors have reached an agreement in principle to send the 27-year-old forward to the Sacramento Kings. The Raptors will reportedly receive John Salmons, Greivis Vasquez, Patrick Patterson and Chuck Hayes in return in addition to sending Quincy Acy and Aaron Gray to the Kings.

REPORT: RAPTORS SEND GAY TO KINGS IN SEVEN-PLAYER DEAL
Gay is averaging 19.4 points, 7.4 rebounds and 2.2 rebounds so far in 2013-14. He his the 15th-highest paid player in the NBA with $17.88 million owed to him this season. He has a player option for $19.3 million for the 2014-15 season, according to HoopsWorld.com.
He was acquired by the Raptors in a January deal with the Memphis that saw forward Ed Davis and guard Jose Calderon sent to the Grizzlies.
Vasquez, 26, has averaged 9.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game this season. Salmons, 33, has averaged 5.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists per game. Patterson is a 24-year-old forward averaging 6.9 points, 5.8 rebounds and 0.9 assists this season. Hayes, 30, is averaging 2.1 points per game, 2.9 rebounds and 0.4 assists.
Acy has averaged 2.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.6 points per game in his rookie season. Aaron Gray, 29, has averaged 1.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.8 assists this season.
The Raptors have lost five games in a row.

[als_revenge]

If the Raptors are anything like the Leafs, they'll be good enough to miss the lottery but bad enough to miss the playoffs. I can't get in to watching this team because they seemed destined to mediocrity.

[sparrowtrini]

This is why they have to make these deals. Thedy have been a midling team too long.

[als_revenge]

Get a lottery pick. Then maybe I'll watch a game lol.

[metaldude26]

Honestly, this probably makes them a better team right now. Vasquez is a really good ball distributor and has nice size at the point guard slot. He's an upgrade on Lowry who they'll either trade or just let his contract expire. That upgrade is going to make everyone on the team better.

Plus, they remove Gay, who along with DeRozan, made this team unwatchable with their hero-ball. Sorry guys, I watch enough of the ball getting pounded without purpose watching my Jr. Boys team play. Gay is one of the most in-efficient players in the league and has a player option for $19 million next year. Clearing him out is huge because he was surely going to take that option and try to play his way into another max deal and even if he doesn't, you just added Vasquez for a guy who was going to walk.

Salmons is on an expiring deal but he's proven that he can replicate most of what Gay was doing for the Raps. They'll use him as their nominal starter at small forward for the time being.

I also like the depth they added to their frontcourt. It kinda sucks that both Patterson and Hayes are signed through next year but that's manageable and they are good players. Patterson has a nice combination of defense and the ability to step out for three. Hayes is more limited but he is a pro who will bang and make hard plays. He's also crafty around the basket.

The trade leaves them with four power forwards with Amir and Hansbrough already on the roster so they have some wiggle room to make more moves. I figure there are a few teams out there that could use a cheap veteran like Hayes if only for the depth and lockerroom presence. Could net a 2nd round pick, which isn't necessarily all that valuable but any team that has ever hit on a 2nd round pick and gotten a pro out of him has appreciated the cap savings so it's worth acquiring lots of 2nds. They are the new "market inefficiency".

I'm really excited to see what happens next in the NBA. Supposedly Gay was the first domino to drop and that after he was moved the market would open up for real. I could see a couple of more deals before January 1.

[sparrowtrini]

actually Vas and pp are RFAs at season end. Salmons and Hayeshave 1 more year. Amir has been a monster last came and tonight. im thkg he may be the guy to go thou his contract isn great.

[metaldude26]

Hoops hype has the qualifying offers for Vaquez and Patterson in so they are under team control for another year, especially given how reticent teams have been to go after other teams' RFAs. Salmons' extra year is a team option, which they will certainly decline. He is not worth $7 million.

[Axeman33]

I dont watch much basketball but I tend to minimally follow the Raptors, simply because they are Canadian based. Rudy Gay from what I have seen was their best player but also their most expensive. The only name I recognize coming to the Raps is John Salmons, and that's only because I remember a couple years ago he spurned the Raptors in FA. I guess they got the last laugh there as they got him anyways. hehe. Anyways, I am never a fan of quantity for quality (as I say, I dont recognize the names coming to Toronto so there could be some good quality coming) but in this case, it seems the cap space will allow the Raps to make other deals which is always a smart move in my eyes. I hope it works out for them.

[metaldude26]

Yeah, you never want to trade a dollar for a couple quarters, especially in the NBA where star talent drives team success more than in most leagues but if you think Gay was their best player then you are sorely mistaken. He might have been their most talented player but having talent and doing something with it are two different things. Gay is one of the most overrated players in the league because of his tantalizing skillset but this return only goes to demonstrate how far he's fallen off in recent years not in actual performance but in perception.

We are smarter now. We realize that guys who take lots of long twos and don't make many are REALLY inefficient players. They don't contribute in an overall positive way. They appear to be doing well because they'll shoot lots, hit tough shots and at the end of the day they'll have scored a bunch but it's not winning basketball. In both Gay and DeRozan the Raptors had TWO highly inefficient guys. There is room on the floor to have one of these guys just because there will come time at the end of the shot clock where the best shot you can get is the mid-range contested shot these guys will take so frequently but that they use so much of the possession dribbling the ball, wasting time only to settle for these shots is what makes them a net negative.

I'd characterize Gay's game as a lesser version of Carmelo Anthony, with less passing ability. The Knicks and Nuggets are both proof of how tough it can be to build a real winner around Carmelo. How are you going to build a winner with a crappier version who doesn't pass as much/well and doesn't make other guys better.

Now, to be fair, Gay can still be an effective player but he can't be your best player. In fact, he probably shouldn't be more than your third best player. If you could unleash him as a small ball power forward on a team with an elite point guard and a rim-protecting big man that runs a lot and creates matchup nightmares I could see him being effective but you don't pay the max for a third guy and you definitely can't win if he's your #1 option.

It's pretty clear the plan is to tank the season, draft one of the 5-6 (or more) franchise prospects in this year's (reportedly) loaded draft and kick start things that way.

You can't win in the NBA without a franchise player and Gay isn't one so moving on from him, even if it's for pennies on the dollar, is a necessary step. And like I said, I actually think this move makes them better. You may not know Vasquez but you should get to know him. Is a really solid playmaking point guard and he has size for his position which is always an asset. He was second in the league in assists last season playing for an admittedly bad Hornets team. It can be easy to put up good stats on a bad team (as Gay is an example) but this is Vasquez making other guys on his bad team much better. Without him last year the Hornets are even worse. I'm not sure you can say the same for the Raptors with Gay. I think addition by subtraction here but they'll be looking to make more moves because being competitive this year is not a priority otherwise they'd have fired the coach.

[sparrowtrini]

nicely said. Thou I wouldnt say we are smarter now as much as it was just one of Bryan Colangelos many mistakes. I cant believe on many sites a large number of people are saying this is a bad deal. Thr fact that that they were even able to move that and come away with somthg tangible in return should make him GM of the year.

[metaldude26]

My note about being smarter is that the whole association and people who follow basketball in general. There are just better metrics for analyzing player value than looking at a basic boxscore. But with regard to Colangelo, I don't even know that this was a mistake on his part. He was trying to keep his job. Trading for Rudy Gay was one of those moves where the franchise's values were not in sync with those of their GM. If you want to be a successful team you have to have continuity top to bottom.

I'm also not sure Colangelo is completely to blame for everything that went down in Toronto. Who's idea was it to give that huge offer to Landry Fields for no other reason than to block the Knicks from pursuing Steve Nash, who wouldn't play for either team and was washed up anyhow? That reeks of meddling from above. Colangelo is a pretty smart dude. He was one of the most creative GMs in the Association in terms of navigating the idiosyncrasies of the salary cap but he was never able to use those advantages to actually make the team all that better. It allowed him to make deals but most of them were sideways in nature. So he clearly has some talent, just not sure he's a head man in a front office.

[Axeman33]

I am sure you are 100% correct on your assessment. As I say, I dont really follow basketball enough. In the little that I did watch, it appeared to me that Gay was the Raptors main go-to guy, he and DeRozan. I also agree that it's becoming obvious that the "tank" is in full motion and this won't be the last move they make in that direction. It's been a long time since the Raptors had a true franchise player (if you consider Chris Bosh a franchise player, I dont) and if they can land one in the draft, I say all the power to them.

[metaldude26]

Don't get me wrong, your assessment was correct, he was their "go-to guy" but that doesn't make him their best, or even a good player.

[bigbabybuda]

Absolutly LOVE this deal!!!! Brillent, Lowery is gone next as we are about to fleece the knicks and then hopfully Derozan.

Next stop downtown to buy my Wiggins Jersey

[metaldude26]

Be careful what you wish for. As much as I would love to see the great story of a Wiggins comeback there are five or six potential franchise guys in this draft and nothing about Wiggins makeup suggests that a homecoming to Toronto would be what's best for him. He doesn't like the spotlight - doesn't handle the media particularly well. Getting picked by Toronto would be like tossing him in a blender. Everyone involved might just be better served if Wiggins ends up somewhere out of the way like Denver or Utah, where he can just focus on basketball. Don't get me wrong, he's going to be treated like a saviour wherever he goes. But going home to Toronto would be insane. The Raptors would probably be better off getting someone like Marcus Smart or Dante Exum or pretty much anyone else and that all assumes they can out-tank a bunch of teams and then get the lottery luck to stick in the top five.