had to chime in since both toronto and ny got nash'd :)

some info on the raptors:

1. no player of any significance wants to play in toronto despite it being a great city. there is a stigma and they can not attract any players to willingly come there. we even had trades lined up years ago (like gwallace) but he said he would not play in toronto. many FA's spurn us to sign for less with US teams. hence the international flavor.

2. therefore...you are now working with a subset of a FA pool - yet to be established players that you can sign for $$$. and if the player is a restricted FA, then you have to offer enough $$$ so the team doesn't match. hence the landry fields deal. b/c of the new rule, the cap hit is averaged out to the 3 years for us (so about $6.5 mil a year) even tho the last year is $9 mil. contract breaks down 5/5/9. i know you guys are laughing at it - but you have to see it from a standpoint of an undesirable market. heck, john salmons agreed to sign with the raptors only to reneg and go to the kings years ago.

why fields? well with dwayne casey, our identity is morphing into a defensive one. we were going to get a pg (at the time nash) and now lowry. we have derozan who will take shots. we have bargs who will take shots. we drafted another good shooter in ross and need to run some pick and roll with jonas. so we needed a SF that would be more of a facilitator/glue guy that can play defense. i know knicks fans hate landry but his #'s in his rookie season were good and look at his #'s in february during linsanity and melo was out - also very good. he's 23 and we only signed him to 3 years.

in our case, cap space and contracts mean NOTHING b/c nobody will sign in toronto. so to get anybody, you have to pay. we are severely behind the 8 ball in that respect so you work with what you can get. the raptors will never be a major contender. that's just their place in the nba landscape and with the new era of superfriends, there are the 1 percenters and the farm system.

the lowry deal is an awesome one. very very very good pg on the major upswing and fits in with the age and direction of the franchise. we HAD to go after nash - the $$$'s for ownership were too intoxicating. but he passed so we moved on to plan B - and lowry is a great plan B. more moves to come - stay tuned.

but things can always be worse...like signing a guy that physically abused a woman for 3 years...

enjoy the summer folks!!!

Jmpasq wrote:I always find it funny when a guy that plays "SHOOTING" Guard can't shoot

he's a small forward. he was playing out of position here. when melo was out and he played SF he was good.

djsunyc wrote:hey all - hope everyone's been good.

had to chime in since both toronto and ny got nash'd :)

some info on the raptors:

1. no player of any significance wants to play in toronto despite it being a great city. there is a stigma and they can not attract any players to willingly come there. we even had trades lined up years ago (like gwallace) but he said he would not play in toronto. many FA's spurn us to sign for less with US teams. hence the international flavor.

2. therefore...you are now working with a subset of a FA pool - yet to be established players that you can sign for $$$. and if the player is a restricted FA, then you have to offer enough $$$ so the team doesn't match. hence the landry fields deal. b/c of the new rule, the cap hit is averaged out to the 3 years for us (so about $6.5 mil a year) even tho the last year is $9 mil. contract breaks down 5/5/9. i know you guys are laughing at it - but you have to see it from a standpoint of an undesirable market. heck, john salmons agreed to sign with the raptors only to reneg and go to the kings years ago.

why fields? well with dwayne casey, our identity is morphing into a defensive one. we were going to get a pg (at the time nash) and now lowry. we have derozan who will take shots. we have bargs who will take shots. we drafted another good shooter in ross and need to run some pick and roll with jonas. so we needed a SF that would be more of a facilitator/glue guy that can play defense. i know knicks fans hate landry but his #'s in his rookie season were good and look at his #'s in february during linsanity and melo was out - also very good. he's 23 and we only signed him to 3 years.

in our case, cap space and contracts mean NOTHING b/c nobody will sign in toronto. so to get anybody, you have to pay. we are severely behind the 8 ball in that respect so you work with what you can get. the raptors will never be a major contender. that's just their place in the nba landscape and with the new era of superfriends, there are the 1 percenters and the farm system.

the lowry deal is an awesome one. very very very good pg on the major upswing and fits in with the age and direction of the franchise. we HAD to go after nash - the $$$'s for ownership were too intoxicating. but he passed so we moved on to plan B - and lowry is a great plan B. more moves to come - stay tuned.

but things can always be worse...like signing a guy that physically abused a woman for 3 years...

enjoy the summer folks!!!

Great post DJ. I don't get the T-dot Hate, but I'm biased since I used to live in Ontario (Ottawa area) and have a lot of family there. Is it simply a taxes thing? Does that affect what the agents eventually pull in?

I remember visiting family 10 or more years ago and watching MuchMusic (Canadian MTV), Vince Carter was being interviewed by a super-cute VJ, and I swear, Vince's accent was pretty damn Canadian! When in Rome. Was he basically the last US star to play up there?

The guy was a 2nd RD pick who exceeded all expectations when we got him. He gave us some good moments and always gave us a good effort.

His demise coincided with the acquisition of Anthony, and when we went from a ball movement offense to the Anthony isolation system of balling.

We are going to miss his hustling and his defense. Fields was far from perfect as a player, but, in general, he was a plus on this team.

I doubt if he had any idea Toronto would make the offer they made to him. The Toronto money is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Landry, at least as far as the contracts he will be offered in his NBA career. I don't think he's worth the money, but I feel good that he got it, and will now be able to escape from the madhouse known as the New York Knicks franchise.

Mray20 wrote:

Paladin55 wrote:Amazing to hear the dislike some folks are expressing toward Fields.

The guy was a 2nd RD pick who exceeded all expectations when we got him. He gave us some good moments and always gave us a good effort.

His demise coincided with the acquisition of Anthony, and when we went from a ball movement offense to the Anthony isolation system of balling.

We are going to miss his hustling and his defense. Fields was far from perfect as a player, but, in general, he was a plus on this team.

I doubt if he had any idea Toronto would make the offer they made to him. The Toronto money is a once in a lifetime opportunity for Landry, at least as far as the contracts he will be offered in his NBA career. I don't think he's worth the money, but I feel good that he got it, and will now be able to escape from the madhouse known as the New York Knicks franchise.

And he will be out of the NBA in 3 years book it

If I was a gambling man I'd make some money on you betting on his career.

No more model girlfriends if he isn't in the NBA. He has reasons to hang around, and he's good enough to be a complimentary rotational player on many teams, IMO.

Unless he is injured, he'll be around for another 8 years.

Bonn1997 wrote:6 mil per is about what the average NBA player makes. Fields is above average in all the major areas of the game except scoring efficiency, which he was a little below average in last year.

The force is strong against Landry Fields on this board.
Shooting is the most incredibly overrated aspect of the game.