Raptors Offseason - Coming up on Draft night

The Raptors surprised nobody yesterday when they announced that they had tendered a qualifying offer to restricted free agent Count Chocula err I mean Carlos Delfino.

The offer at this point is nothing more than a formality for the team to retain Delfino's rights. Meaning should another team want to make him an offer they now have the right to match it.

Colangelo was on the Fan590 morning show today and said basically that its almost a lock that Delfino is back and that the only issue would be figuring out the numbers.
If they can get Carlos under contract for say 10 million over 3 yrs then this is a good deal. Delfino adds depth to the bench at a position they were very weak at last season.

Yesterday also marked the cities introduction to the newest Raptor Reggie Evans. Evans said all the right things and I believe that he is going to have a huge impact on this team. He has no idea what he is in for with the fans here if he just plays the way he has in his career. Toronto Fans LOVE his type of game. Just look at how they loved Oakley, Garbo and JYD. Evans is a player in that mold and exactly the type of player they need.

This leaves only a few roster spots available for the upcoming season as they are likely to add to their depth on draft night a week from Thursday. On the Fan Colangelo basically narrowed his selection to 5 guys. DeNar DeRozan, Gerald Henderson, Johnny Flynn, Jrue Holiday and James Johnson. Unless something happens in the top 8 where a team swaps a pick or the Raptors move up I fully expect one of those names to be called at 9 when the Raptors pick.

This leaves the team with only a few options and the most intriguing to me at least is what they should do regarding Sean Marion. Marion is likely to command a salary in the 7-9 million a year range. I don't think of the teams out there with cap space (Memphis, Detroit, Portland, Utah) that he would fit with those teams so regardless of whether he likes it or not Marion's best bet it to sign with Toronto and hope for the best. I don't see Colangelo going after anyone else with this money so Raptors fans better get ready for 3 or 4 years of the matrix.

The last thing that will have to be determined is what to do to fill out the bench. Its unclear whether Douby and O'bryant will in fact be back but considering they were in working out in Raptorland yesterday I am venturing a guess that they will be back. That said there would be only a couple of roster spots left to fill and not a lot of money to do it with. There have been rumblings that they are interested in bringing Rasho Nesterovic back and I'm hoping they can do so with the vetern's minimum.

I am also hoping that they can bring Anthony Parker back. AP showed us last season that although he may no longer be a starter in the league his diverse skill set would make him a valuable bench guy. I expect teams like Cleveland and possibly Philly to take a long look at AP and if this is the case he may sign elsewhere for more money.

Overall the biggest thing for Colangelo this off season is that he HAS to get the draft pick right. He basically HAS to get somebody that can start at SG/SF or at least play heavy minutes and contribute. If he doesn't then this team will be in the lottery again next year.