Basketball
Add news
News

Checking in on the Raptors

0 8

A collection of familiar faces, and a few new ones. Your Toronto Raptors move to Tampa Bay with a brand new roster in tow.

Basically, I just wanted to put something like this up on the site. For the roster info, Blake Murphy did a lot of the legwork on this information (it’s collection and fact checking) and you can find his full rundown here which is more illuminating when it comes to the finer details of the roster and cap implications.

I’ll have a piece coming tomorrow that organizes all of these players into roles based on their attributes. 

Hello Tampa Bay

As the lone Canadian team in the NBA, and given the Canadian Government’s more strict rules regarding travel, the Raptors are making due with a temporary home in Tampa Bay after their request for a special exemption was denied.

Many NBA cities were vocal about their interest in hosting the Raptors (Louisville, Kansas City). Evidently, they decided on Tampa Bay and will play their home games in the very same spot where the Tampa Bay Lightning won the Stanley Cup – Amalie Arena.

This isn’t especially new for the Raptors, given their time in the bubble in Orlando, but an extension of at least some discomfort that other teams won’t have to deal with. Per Blake Murphy and David Aldridge: “Toronto-based players and staff have been self-isolating in their home market, per the NBA’s relaunch guidelines, with a team charter flight to Florida on Monday, one day before camp opens.”

*You can also find more info on how players will be taxed in Florida in the piece linked above.*

Additionally, MLSE just announced salary cuts of up to one quarter of it’s full-time staff, and will be moved to temporary inactive status. There was public pressure put on teams to provide meaningful wages and support to their disaffected employees during the initial burst of the pandemic, and I hope there’s some of that for MLSE employees. The Raptors valuation has eclipsed 2 billion dollars.

The Norman Powell trade talks you might have heard

There has been no indication from the team whatsoever that Norman Powell is on the trading block, or that he is viewed as a prime trading chip for roster upgrades. Those conversations are fueled largely on twitter by writers (myself included) who are looking ahead to the massive free agent class of 2021. Powell’s cap hold will have to be renounced this upcoming offseason if the Raptors are to create cap room for a max free agent (as will Lowry’s). Whether or not you think the Raptors have a shot at a big name, I think this idea is the genesis for the Powell trade talks. It would be extremely difficult to envision a trade including Powell that makes the Raptors better this season. Powell does a lot of things well as a weak-side attacker, shooter, transition finisher, and occasional plus defender. He’s also on a really good contract. He’s a major asset for the Raptors, and should factor in, in a big way this season.

Terence Davis’ 7 criminal charges and spot on the team

Davis is facing seven criminal charges, two of which are assault in the third degree. You can find the official police report here.

The team’s initial statement:

“Incidents of this kind are addressed and managed by the League through the Joint NBA-NBPA Policy on Domestic Violence, Sexual Assault, and Child Abuse. The Toronto Raptors take these issues very seriously, and we will fully cooperate and support the League in its investigation of this matter as we continue to determine the appropriate next steps for our team.”

Masai Ujiri has not yet commented on anything involving this situation, but Bobby Webster was recently asked about it:

“We’ve spoken at length with Terence – multiple people in our organization. Obviously, we wouldn’t make the decision if we weren’t comfortable with the information that we had. Obviously, it doesn’t preclude us from getting new information that will come out in the future for us to make a decision. But we felt we were thorough on our end. You know us, we take this incredibly serious. There’s no basketball issue that would ever prevent us from doing anything, but we also have to go with our relationship and our understanding of the conversation that happened.” – Bobby Webster

An important read on this situation comes from Katie Heindl, and you can find her piece here.

From her piece:

“When the answers are quickly and easily, “It’s business”, or “A team isn’t obligated to do the right thing”. Both are true. But both also make it so plain how easily we’ve handed off a degree of difficulty we would expect from anyone else we cared about. When a team like Toronto, that lauds itself on doing the work, doesn’t really do the work, then I think it is fine to have expectations, to admit they’ve not been met. You would remind people in your life of not fulfilling promises if it was going to mean harm, to mean a longterm kind of no turning back between you. With a basketball team the biggest difference is that you do this with your money.”

Davis’ lawyer submitted a plea of not guilty. I wouldn’t expect a decision from the Raptors until Davis has had his day in court, which is set for Dec. 11th. It’s also worth noting that per the NBA’s CBA, a player who is acquitted after a criminal trial cannot be subject to disciplinary policies.

A personal list

As we get closer to the season, finding good and reliable coverage of the Raptors is as important as ever. So, I’ve made a short list of journalists who’s work I really enjoy on the Raptors. There will be some no-brainers here, of course.

And if you’re on twitter, I think a couple really, really fun follows with great photoshop chops are:

Have a blessed day.

 

 

 

 

Checking in on the Raptors originated on Raptors Republic.

Загрузка...

Comments

Комментарии для сайта Cackle
Загрузка...

More news:

Read on Sportsweek.org:

Other sports

Sponsored