What we found interesting is that while “league sources” in Denver and Phoenix dismissed trade rumors to local reporters, a similarly identified source in Toronto called the possibility of the Raptors moving Andrea Bargnani “speculative at best”. That amounts to a non-denial denial.
The Memphis Grizzlies are set to hire former Arizona interim basketball coach Kevin O’Neill as an assistant to coach Marc Iavaroni, The Commercial Appeal has learned.
O’Neill, who also has NBA coaching experience, will join the Grizzlies’ staff as a defensive guru to help one of the league’s worst teams on defense the past two seasons.
In a off-season that is all about changes these emotions will be on high alert. Unexpected we had that kind of emotion starting earlier this month with the sudden departure of Chuck Swirsky. It is almost a symbol of what is to come for this franchise. Some took the lose of Chuck as a very emotional departure and they were deeply moved. Others were not of that thinking and had enough of Swirsky and his style of broadcasting. It was a classic example of how many people all that are under the same umbrella as Raptor fans can have very different views. The same can be applied to every person you connect with the Toronto Raptors. Sam Mitchell was going to be fired in the minds of many. But that did not happen and again you saw the full range of responds and emotions from Raptor fans. Some to this day do not accept the fact that Mitchell will be back on the sidelines this upcoming season. Despite the general manager without being asked and still said for all to hear that this would be the case.
Except Colangelo has hinted in more than one interview since the end of the season that the team would prefer to “hand pick” their player via a trade instead of having to bid for their services on the open market. So, the question then begs itself, who makes how much money and which teams might be interested in dumping some contracts for cap space. Below is a list of every player in the NBA who made over $10 last season.
BUT Colangelo may want to hold off for a little while longer since there are a lot of teams (like NY and NJ) who are really trying to get under the cap for the 2010 summer when players like Lebron, Wade, and Bosh could all potentially be free agents. Therefore, the closer we get to 2010, the more teams might be willing to offload to get cap space.
May 22, 1994 Toronto, scheduled to enter the NBA as an expansion franchise in 1995-96, unveiled Raptors as the team’s nickname.
“The other thing to like about Alexander is his aggressiveness. He can play a little nasty at times, shows a lot of competitiveness, and isn’t afraid to take on anyone. In a light moment, he started sizing up his competition in the draft and predicted he would beat them in workouts.”
Ford feels that while he still needs to work on his consistency and ball-handling, “he’s a very intriguing prospect.” He concluded, “Look for teams like the Blazers at 13, the Suns at 15 and the Raptors at 17 to take a long look at Alexander.”
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