Raps take on the Pistons tonight. The match up has got me to thinking/dreaming about scenario's for the Raptors.
As we all know the raptors are in desperate need of a go to scorer. The Pistons made an early season deal to bring in Allen Iverson and his expiring contract. They aren't likely to resign him and he isn't likely to get a max deal similar to the one he has now.
IF the O'neil for Marion deal goes down (which with each passing day looks less and less likely) the Raptors will have 21.5 million in cap space this off season(if you add Anthony Parkers 4.5 million deal to Marion's expiring deal).
What could the raptors do with this money? Well I don't think they'd have a shot at signing Hedo Turkgulu or Lamar Odem. I think those 2 players will be in the highest demand this off season.
The Raptors could however throw some money, say 8 million a season, at Iverson. I'm not sure he'd want to come up north but a 3 year deal might do the trick. They could then take 4 million and bring back Delfino to play the wing. They could resign Rasho Nesterovic who would likely give them a nice discount (maybe 3 mil a year for 2 yrs) because of his love of the city. He could backup Bargnani.
If they can resign parker to a smaller deal (say 3 million a year for 2 yrs) he could backup the SG position. I would even suggest throwing some money at free agent Trevor Ariza to come off the bench (maybe the full MLE of 5 or 6 mill). Which they can do if they let Joey G go.
They'd have Moon to backup the wing position as he'd resign for next to nothing to stay in the NBA. They'd still have Ukic and could bring him along slowly because AI could run the point when Calderon needs a breather.
Having AI would give them a proven late game scorer and somebody that can create his own shot and get to the rim. The only downside I can see is with rebounding. A back court of AI and Jose wouldn't rebound the ball very well but they could change the line up based on match ups.
The lineup would look like this:
PG Calderon
SG Iverson
PF Bosh
SF Delfino or Ariza
C Bargnani
and a bench of:
SF Trevor Ariza or Delfino
SG Anthony Parker
SF Jamario Moon (if he resigns but will be cheap)
C Rasho Nesterovic
PG Roko Ukic
C Kris Humphries
C Nathan Jawai
Just a thought. Let me know if I've totally lost my mind (which I might have).
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