LOWER SALARY CAP PROJECTIONS MAY AFFECT RAPTORS’ SIGNINGS
Securing new deals with Lowry and Ibaka will be a challenge, writes
Lost in all of the picks and trades at the NBA Draft was the news that the league’s salary cap projections were going to come in short by a couple of million dollars. This is largely a result of so many playoff series being one-sided and completed in quick fashion.
The longer a series goes, the more money gets generated.
What does it mean for the Raptors? For one, the club won’t be able to pay Kyle Lowry quite as much (not that they were ever going to give him the full fiveyear, total max), and it makes it more difficult for potential Lowry suitors to create the room necessary to sign him.
But it also means it will be harder to stay under the luxury tax if Lowry (the Raptors can still pay him more than anybody else, even on a four-year agreement), Serge Ibaka and potentially others are brought back.
Before accounting for any of the free agents, Toronto’s salary stands at around $80 million. The cap will be $99 million, the luxury tax $119 million. Returning Lowry and Ibaka alone would put Toronto well over the tax.
That’s why the team tried to off-load Jonas Valanciunas (owed $15.5 million in 2017-18) and DeMarre Carroll ($14.8 million) to ease the financial burdens, but those efforts will have to continue heading into free agency, which starts on July 1.
CANADIAN DUCKS GO SOUTH
Mississauga’s Dillon Brooks, who starred for Oregon, went to Memphis with the 45th pick (via trade with Houston). Brooks should be a nice fit with the Grizzlies.
His teammate, Montreal native Chris Boucher, likely would have cracked the second round as well had his season not ended early due to injury. Boucher signed a partially guaranteed deal with the champion Warriors, a franchise that drafts extremely well. Boucher should get a chance to get healthy with the Warriors’ development league affiliate.
HISTORY SAYS
The 23rd pick, which the Raptors used on OG Anunoby, has produced some solid NBA players, as well as many who never made an impact.
Tayshaun Prince is probably the best recent 23rd selection. Rodney Hood, Wilson Chandler, Trevor Booker and Omri Casspi also proved beneficial. The jury is out on Nikola Mirotic. Go down a spot and you’ll find the likes of Ibaka, Lowry, Andrei Kirilenko, Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell, Rick Fox and the late Reggie Lewis as 24th picks. Still, many NBA execs peg the odds of getting a solid contributor after 20 at 20 to 25 per cent.
TOO EARLY TO JUDGE
Picking draft winners and losers before the rookies have even played a game is somewhat idiotic, but clearly Philadelphia took a major step forward by adding Markelle Fultz. Sacramento finally appears to be making smart decisions after years of bungling. Taking a chance on Harry Giles, once perhaps the best talent in this class after adding intriguing point guard De’Aaron Fox and older winners like Justin Jackson and Frank Mason, all from the biggest programs in the NCAA makes a ton of sense.
Charlotte, Dallas, Toronto, Brooklyn and Indiana made nice additions and Minnesota cleaned up in the Jimmy Butler deal (how did they get the 16th pick out of it and add another intriguing giant in Justin Patton?). Milwaukee added a third player with a wingspan measured around 7-foot-3 in D.J. Wilson. Good luck getting open looks against the Greek Freak, Thon Maker, Wilson and Tony Snell. From not getting enough for the great Butler, to selling a pick during a rebuild, to taking Lauri Markannen at seven, the Bulls had a disastrous night.
RAPTORS ADD DEPTH
The Raptors added North Carolina senior Kennedy Meeks on an unguaranteed deal just after the draft, according to the Vertical’s Shams Charania. Meeks, who won a title and lost a heartbreaker last year in the final, has worked hard on his body after still making the McDonald’s all-American game despite being about 100 pounds overweight.