Kevin Love to the Raps!

New readers, please read the basics before leaving any comments.


According to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, Kevin Love loves playing under Raptor head coach Jay Triano. Said Love:

“I loved him. I loved having him as coach. He lets his players play, he is definitely a players’ coach. He is a guy that I would love to play for and he is a lot of fun to be around. I enjoyed him.”

How could the Raps get him? If I was in charge of the team, I would be open to trading away any assets - even the team's upcoming first round draft pick - if I could get my hands on Love. Here are some scenarios that could make it happen:

Preseason: Raptors v Bulls

I love the little factoid Doug Smith dropped today after the Raptors lost their preseason game against the Bulls:

Oh, had Tuesday's game in Chicago been a regular season affair, you would have witnessed history, had you witnessed the game.
The 22 rebounds collared by the collection of Rodmanesque Raptors represent the fewest in any game ever played by Toronto.
The low for games that count is 24, set one night in February, 1998 against Miami.

When Bargnani is your starting centre, your team will get outrebounded - unless you have Dennis Rodman playing beside him, in which case you might break even (and yes, Bargnani didn't start the game, but he played the most minutes of anyone at any position). This will be a season-long trend unless the Raptors can replace Bargnani with a centre who at least rebounds as well as an average PF.

By the way, the preseason spreadsheet will be updated every time I input new data, so its numbers no longer match the text I included in the last preseason review - in case anyone freaks out.

 - Devin.

Would Dampier Help the Raptors?

Erick Dampier was waived by the Bobcats yesterday. Because his $13.07 million salary was not guaranteed, it didn't make sense not to waive him, as the Bobcats were above the luxury tax limit.

Doug Smith, the man when it comes to reporting Raptors news over at the Toronto Star, thinks that Dampier wouldn't help the Raptors because "Dampier is not an upgrade of any significance over what they have, he’s a big and slow on a team that wants to be big and quick and multi-dimensional. A horrible fit, actually, who’d do nothing substantial to improve the team."

Let's take a look at this, shall we? How good is Dampier, and is he an upgrade over any of the Raptors centres?

Oh my! Dampier has been a very good player! At 35, he's bound to show some decline, but he's still quite above average. Is there any centre on the Raptors that can beat that? Here's Bargnani:

Nope, he won't do. How about David Andersen?

No good either. Joey Dorsey?

 

That's not too bad, but Dampier's better, and Dorsey hasn't ever played a lot of minutes. How about moving Amir Johnson over to centre (a bit of a stretch, but okay)?

More like it, but still not as good as Dampier. And we're not even going to bother with Alabi, as he is a rookie who was below average in college.

So, if I was in charge of the Raptors, would I consider signing Dampier to a short-term contract at or near the veterans' minimum? Absolutely. Even if he falls off a cliff this year, at least he would should eat up some of Bargnani's minutes.

 - Devin.