The Louis Williams/Lucas Nogueira Trade
June 28th, 2014

(originally published elsewhere)

In a trade agreed to last night, and perhaps already to have been made official by the time this sentence is finished, the Toronto Raptors agreed to trade John Salmons and his partially guaranteed contract to the Atlanta Hawks in exchange for Louis Williams and the draft rights to Lucas Nogueira.

Toronto were previously on the cusp of trading Salmons to Memphis on draft night, along with the #37 pick, in exchange for Tayshaun Prince and the …

Posted by at 1:31 AM

There IS a difference between “team option” and “unguaranteed”, and it DOES matter
July 3rd, 2013

Several years ago, I wrote a piece called Creative Financing in the NBA, that sought to address and highlight a few quirky salaries and salaries mechanisms handed about that season.

In that piece, I also spent a long time addressing the difference between team options and unguaranteed salaries. Often times, unguaranteed salaries are reported in the mainstream press as being team options, even though the two mechanisms are different. And often times, this is fine, because the differences don’t …

Posted by at 6:56 AM

New Jersey……Toronto…….London.
March 10th, 2011

Antiphon

With apologies to their combined 34-87 record, the Toronto Raptors and the New Jersey Nets had not played an interesting game all season heading into last weekend. It was known in advance that the two teams would struggle this season, and any optimism to the contrary has been roundly denounced. Both teams are building for the future, and rightly so. But it comes at the expense of the present.

Right now, they suck.

At this point in any season, …

Posted by at 9:09 AM

2010 Summer League Rosters: Toronto Raptors
July 11th, 2010

Solomon Alabi

If you read my draft recap, you’ll know how I feel about the Alabi pick. I’m pretty much all for it, and believe he has a chance to be a good contributor in the NBA. At #50, I think he was a steal. Even with hepatitis.

If you haven’t read my draft recap, go do so. But you might want to book a day off work in advance. It’s a bit long.

Bobby Brown

Brown just completed …

Posted by at 1:46 PM

Robert Whaley arrested for carrying drugs in his backside
March 12th, 2010

The cheerful-looking person in this picture is former Utah Jazz and Toronto Raptors big man, Robert Whaley. You may remember him, or you may not. But if you do, it’s probably because either:

a) you’re a Cincinnati Bearcats fan who remembers Whaley for the one underwhelming year he brought your team in 2003-04 before being forced to transfer due to off-the-court issues,

b) you’re a Raptors fan who remembers Whaley’s inclusion as a throw-in in the trade that ended

Posted by at 6:07 PM

Where Are They Now: 2009 NBA Summer League Teams Part 3
September 3rd, 2009

It’s been roughly two months since summer league started, and most of the players involved have been rehomed now. The following is a list of where everybody currently is, or where they might be going.

This list gets a bit long, so if you want to just skip to your favoured team, you can do so. I’ll allow that.

 

New York Knicks

Wink Adams: Adams is signed with Oyak Renault Bursa in Turkey.

Alex Acker: …

Posted by at 6:09 AM

The Assassination Of Devean George By The Coward Donnie Nelson
August 2nd, 2009

February 13th, 2008. Wednesday. Raining.

The Dallas Mavericks are tootling along with a 34-17 record. They’re pretty good, and perhaps they know it, because they’re suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to do something drastic.

A veteran team with only one good young player decides on a plan to get older. The Mavericks decide that Jason Kidd is a significant upgrade over Devin Harris, and work out a variety of scenarios that see them trade Devin and two future first-round …

Posted by at 1:27 PM

2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Toronto Raptors
July 25th, 2009

Paul Davis: Davis was waived by the Clippers to save some money, after being brought back for no obvious reason. Strangely, he didn’t sign anywhere after that, but he did appear on Millionaire Matchmaker, where it was determined that he showed an “immature” attitude towards sex. But he did win the heart of one spectacularly energetic pseudo-blonde:

(video removed by uploader; try this instead)

These. These are the things we must know.

 

DeMar Derozan: The …

Posted by at 1:28 AM

Liquorice Allsorts
December 25th, 2008

1) As you may know, Houston traded Steve Francis, a 2009 second-round draft pick and cash to Memphis for a conditional 2011 second-round pick. Memphis’s end of this is simple – they got their pick back for free. Houston gave them Francis, enough money to pay him for the rest of the year (or most of it, at least), and Memphis’s own second-rounder next year, which they’d previously given to Houston while moving up in the draft this summer. …

Posted by at 12:35 AM

Why aren’t NBA players loyal?
September 6th, 2007

Why aren’t NBA players loyal to their teams, such as how the fans are, and such as how the fans think that they should be?

Ask Fred Jones.

Jonesy signed with Toronto for three years and $9.9 million in July 2006, as a part of the Raptors’ cap room spending that season. The third year of the contract was a player option year, for $3.5 million.

Upon being traded in February of this year to Portland in exchange for …

Posted by at 7:13 AM