Rudi Gay Traded to Toronto

[dave]

Hate this deal for the Raptors. Frankly, I wouldn't have given Ed Davis straight up for Rudy Gay. I agree Gay is a better player, but that contract is ridiculous and handcuffs the Raptors for two years. Davis made Toronto a better team since Bargnani went down and now he's gone. Amir Johnson and Aaron Gray will be fine, but Gray can't play big minutes ... and when Bargnani gets back, questions all over again.
Hate to see Calderon leave, but it was inevitable. Loved watching Calderon play. Yeah, he sucked on D, but he was creative as hell on offence and was a better PG for the Raptors than Kyle Lowry.

[dave]

The other part I hate about this trade is the Raptors now have to figure out how to use Terrance Ross and Landry Fields. I have zero issue with Demar Derozan going to the 2, perfect. But you've got a #8 pick invested in Ross (who's proving to be a pretty good player) and $20 million invested in Fields (who, while not worth $20 million, is a solid player).

[Influence]

[Obst]

Next year Toronto will be paying out $41 million for 5 SFs.

Landry Fields- $6.35 million
DeMar DeRozan- $9.5 million
Linas Kleza- $4.6 million
Rudy Gay- $17.88 million
Terrance Ross- $2.7 million

[EmpireWF]

Is Austin Daye gonna be getting any playing time?

In 2K, he's always valuable

[DoubleDeuce]

The Grizzlies win big here. That starting five defensively is even sicker now

Makes no sense from the Raptors standpoint.. they already have a player just like Rudy Gay in DD. And they were pretty good at the 2/3 positions already. And getting rid of Ed? Bryan Colangelo proving once again that he's the worst GM in the association.

[Kuzzy Powers]

After the Leuer trade, Memphis could afford Gay, they just (smartly) realized that given the deal on the table, Gay was ultra expendable. Remove him from NBA 2k and Gay is not that spectacular, he's an inefficient 16-17 ppg guy. That's fine and all, but he's not a star, he's far from it.

The new management group, who has been hiring a number of higher level, statistical basketball guys targeted Gay as pretty expendable right away. He runs a lot of ISOs, slows the offense and doesn't do it efficiently. I still think Gay is a good player, but he's the prototypical 2nd guy on a good team.

Memphis won the trade hands down, Davis is really solid, they get some salary cap relief and get an okay player in Prince. Detroit gets an expiring Calderon contract and he very well may push them into the 8th seed if that's what they are going for.

Toronto gets the luxury...of paying the luxury tax for a core made up of Rudy Gay, Bags and DeRozan, so there we go. Pretty much every player on their team is locked up for years now, so THESE are your Raptors.

Im not sure where your hate for Gay stems from, maybe you've watched him play this season, where he hasnt been that great, probably distracted by the trade rumours.

The man is a career 18PPG scorer, on 45% shooting. Hes never averaged more than 16 shots a game in his career. Im not exactly sure what you see as inefficient there. Hes always been doing this on a team that doesnt score much, plays a team style ball, and has likely limited his ability to go out and get 20+, which is fine, because hes made him focus more on his Defense and thats a positive thing for us. He immediately comes in and improves the Defense at the wing position. Hes not a superstar, but I dont think anyone is really calling him one. You can say hes getting paid like a star, but thats the nature of the league as we all know, guys are usually overpaid.

Toronto has barely dipped into the luxury tax during their whole existence, im not overly concerned with this and our inability to change the team because im fucking sick and tired of changing the team. Its time to build some kind of core and run with it. That being said, im almost certain they're not done moving pieces yet. One of the wings will almost certainly be going, and im not sure how they view Bargnani at this point, altho it'd seem to be he'd be sticking around now (unless Colangelo is as concerned as you about going into the luxury tax, doubtful, this trade had to be approved by the higher ups for just that reason).

Its amazing to me how LITTLE people know about the Raptors when I read threads like this. Saying that we dont need Gay because we have the same player in Derozan? What a lost comment.

Good luck to Ed Davis for sure, but im not really convinced hes going to give you more than what hes been doing since Bargs has been hurt.. which is fine, he was playing good basketball, but I dont think his ceiling is much higher than this. Now hes probably going to go to Memphis and be stunted again behind Randolph and Gasol, which is a shame.

[DoubleDeuce]

You've obviously never actually watched Rudy Gay. He's a very inefficient player and it goes far beyond the statistics (which aren't very good, 16 PER and 53% True Shooting Percentage, for someone who is getting paid like a star). He's a slightly above average player and plays very similarly to DeRozan (just a better version of him).

Gay was probably going to stay a Grizzly until Hollinger convinced them to trade his bum ass

[Kuzzy Powers]

You've obviously never actually watched Rudy Gay. He's a very inefficient player and it goes far beyond the statistics (which aren't very good, 16 PER and 53% True Shooting Percentage, for someone who is getting paid like a star). He's a slightly above average player and plays very similarly to DeRozan (just a better version of him).

Gay was probably going to stay a Grizzly until Hollinger convinced them to trade his bum ass

Oh... someone who values PER as a way to evaluate players. Thats all I need to know here.

[DoubleDeuce]

I'm actually anti-statistic. But statistics when used the right way provide good insight (but never enough insight to make good judgments based solely off of them)

Watch this guy play and don't just look at box scores before you analyze, bro.

EDIT: Wait, you're complaining about someone using PER when you used even worse statistics in PPG and FG%? Lol get out of here

[Kuzzy Powers]

I'm actually anti-statistic. But statistics when used the right way provide good insight (but never enough insight to make good judgments based solely off of them)

Watch this guy play and don't just look at box scores before you analyze, bro.

EDIT: Wait, you're complaining about someone using PER when you used even worse statistics in PPG and FG%? Lol get out of here

PER is trash, Hollinger fanboys are the worst. Nothing worse than someone who busts out PER on me while discussing the NBA. Also I find it hilarious that you think FG% is a poor way of evaluating a player. And its not like you can say his PPG are inflated on a bad team.

Ive been watching Rudy Gay play since he was an underachieving coaster at UConn breh. Hes come a long way from being that immature kid, has turned into one of the better wing defenders in the league, is capable of scoring in all kinds of ways (off the dribble, mid-range jumper, from deep, can get to the line), and its not like hes been a chucker, hes been playing a role within his team, a team that probably didnt even best fit his style of play anyways.

Noone called him a superstar, I do think that he has more potential to play a star in Toronto, but even if he doesnt, his intangibles as a player beyond his offense are invaluable to a team like this. I realize for FedEx the main concern is his salary and the position it puts the team in salary cap wise, but the Raps have long been in need of bringing in a player to solidify the team and help be a scoring punch with DeRozan.. the Raps have rarely faced this situation in the existence of the franchise, so going into the luxury team isnt a concern.. and its always something that can be worked out of by moving other contracts. In terms of moving talent for talent here.. Jose was gone at the end of the year, and Ed Davis is due to get likely well over-paid within 2 years.. so is the nature of the league. Im pretty happy to land a guy the caliber of Rudy Gay, who we probably wouldve had a rough time acquiring and overpaying for thru free agency. Its very tough to get a FA to come to Toronto, pulling the trigger on a deal like this is the best chance we got at even having a chance to overpay for someone who isnt home-grown.

[DoubleDeuce]

What makes PER any more trash than any other statistic? It doesn't take into account non box-score contributions (which are very important) and Rudy Gay is better than his PER says, but not much so. Gay is one of the most overrated players in the association by the common fan (something you aren't doing, which I initially thought you were).

He isn't a star and never will be. I wouldn't want him on my team as the #1 guy

Gay and DeRozan is like the bad direct-to-dvd sequel of the Summer Blockbuster that was T-Mac and Vince Carter.

[ralaw]

I've always been under the impression that teams shouldn't go into the luxury tax to hopefully be a 35+ win team. However, these are the types of moves that Toronto has to make, because they aren't going to get any high quality American star to come and play for (or stay with) them.

[Kuzzy Powers]

I've always been under the impression that teams shouldn't go into the luxury tax to hopefully be a 35+ win team. However, these are the types of moves that Toronto has to make, because they aren't going to get any high quality American star to come and play for (or stay with) them.

Obviously this season is a bit of a write-off because we've fallen so far behind.. I mean, we still have a legit chance at a playoff spot but im not even concerned with all that. This is a move for the next 2-3 years.. every year Toronto is shuffling to bring in new pieces or find a way to bring in a high caliber player.. I doubt we're able to land players like Lowry or Gay without acquiring them thru trades, and these arent even star players. We have some young guys and a solid core to move forward with now.. the only thing we may be looking to acquire is a lower end back-up PG for next season. Are we championship contenders? Ehh no, but most teams arent in this league.. and ive unfortunately come to be ok with this, gonna be real tough for us to ever be that. But getting to the playoffs consistently would be nice. MFers get too used to success.. we dont get too much of it in this city. Just being a consistent playoff contender and being able to go to some playoff games means a lot more to me than it does to you fans that are getting to see that shit every year.

[ralaw]

I expect Gay to become more consistent and while not live to his contract actually display why he got it. He should be more consistent. I am not a big DeRozan fan, but he does have talent. Every time I watch him he seems to be relying on his athletic ability over his actual skill set. I've heard him referred to as "baby Kobe", but he is a long way from that. This offseason he needs to develop some skills....a go-to move that isn't just him driving haphazardly to the rim and trying to out athletic everyone would help, etc. Lowry is actually a monster if he can stay healthy. Gay, DeRozan and Lowry make up a good core and when you add Bargs, Fields, Ross, etc they have a good young core of players. I will say that they need a young energetic, defensive minded, rebounding PF, but almost every team in the league could use that.