Raptors finally get a foot in the free-agent door
The Raptors met with LaMarcus Aldridge and had an audience with Wesley Matthews in their pursuit of two of the highest-profile NBA free agents left on the market, trying to sell each of them on the merits of the roster, the organization, the fan support, the city and the country.
It may all eventually go for naught — they are in intense competition for both players and will need to pull off some financial machinations to make signing either of them work — but the chance to even make an impression counts for something and should not be discounted today or in the future.
For years, mid-level teams like Toronto, and even smaller-market centres like Milwaukee, Phoenix and Indiana, were little more than an afterthought to top-level free agents who sought the glitz and glamour of New York or Los Angeles or Miami for their homes. Today? Today it’s about fit and money and vision and a chance to win, and market size matters not a whit, giving the Raptors and teams like them legitimate hope to land a free-agent whale.
Greg Monroe spurns the Knicks for Milwaukee, Tyson Chandler thinks Phoenix is a fit, Monta Ellis likes the opportunity in Indiana best, DeMarre Carroll wouldn’t even entertain other meetings once the Raptors got a chance to make their case.
Aldridge was reportedly turned off by his first meeting with the Lakers, which played on off-court opportunities and star power, and he had to be convinced to give Los Angeles a chance to talk basketball. Reports late Tuesday said he had cancelled a chance to talk to New York, despite the allure of what is perceived in some parts — mostly Manhattan — as one of the NBA’s marquee teams.
David West went as far as to tell an Indiana television station that he couldn’t have cared less about the Knicks because they gave him no chance to win. This is not your father’s NBA. Raptors insiders have long held that the changing world of the NBA — and their place in it — would allow them to at least get face-to-face meetings with the top free agents. That has been proved true in the first 48 hours of this year’s feeding frenzy and can only stand them in good stead in future years, despite what happens or doesn’t in the next 10 days.
That players will listen to any franchise is a sea change from past years when teams like the Heat, Knicks and Lakers felt it was their inalienable right to at least chat with the best free players.
Reports and sources indicate the Raptors were pleased with how their meetings went — it would be alarming if anyone said privately that things went horribly awry — and Matthews and Aldridge remain possibilities, if remote.
General manager Masai Ujiri will have to shed salary to clear enough space to sign either of them but given the atmosphere around the NBA that might not be too hard to do.
But there are other factors at play, obviously, that mean as much if not more, and that is what has the Raptors optimistic. They will have a young core that’s known some success already and looks poised to have more; they have a rabid fan base that counts for something, and they are in the Eastern Conference and perhaps one stud from legitimate contention.
The fact they can now make that case in person, and the fact players are looking now to what were once considered secondary markets that couldn’t offer the “glamour” of a Los Angeles or New York, buoys them.
In the ever-changing world of the NBA, getting a foot in the door may not pay off for a year or so but it is a significant step.