Received the below email from the Raptors today. He sounds very defensive but I think he gives a good explaination of the trade and the future of the team. Especially when he breaks down what needs to happen to make an NBA trade work.
I say give the rookie GM some time (2-3 more years) before we run him out of town. Although, I still think the Vince trade was brutal.
Dear Rising Sun,
Now that the trade deadline has passed, I think it is important for all of you to understand the thinking behind the whole trade process and where we are as a team.
First of all, I want to note that the term "trade deadline" is misleading. The 24th of February deadline means that we can not make a trade until we are done with the season. It doesn't mean that we have to stop working on trades. A lot of the work that we did over the last several months has helped prepare us for possible trades during the off-season. We are continually working on ways to improve the team.
There are several basic trade rules that all fans should know. Few people take the time to learn these rules. Fewer still choose to take these rules into account when they're writing or talking about potential trades. Basically, these rules are:
The total salaries involved in a trade must be within 15% plus $100,000.00 of each other. Example: Team A trades a $10 million player to Team B. Team A can bring back up to $11.6 million in salaries. Therefore, you can not just trade a $5 million player for a draft pick.
Under the current CBA, there is a luxury tax line that we estimate will be a little more than $60 million.
Currently, if a tax is in effect and you go over the line as a club, you end up suffering anywhere from a 100% to 300% penalty (depending on how far over the line you are).
The vast majority of teams in the NBA are concerned about staying under the luxury tax line.
There are many other items such as trade kickers and base-year compensation that can complicate the ability to make a trade.
The following links do a good job of summarizing CBA rules: http://www.nba.com/news/cap_040713.html http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.html
With the above in mind, you have to get two teams to agree that the trade is equal. This is not an easy accomplishment. When you consider a trade, you have to factor in the age of the players, the length of their contracts, the position they play, their health and character, how they would fit in with your current roster, is their pay equal to their ability and how does it compare with the rest of the players on your team.
We are concerned with all of these and especially concerned with three other items:
1) Does the player fit into the long-term plans of building a championship team?
2) How does the player affect the development of our core group of young players?
3) Does his contract hurt or help our ability to develop our team for the future?
Some people have criticized us for not making a trade. We have consistently stated that we will not make a trade unless it is a good trade for the future of this team. We were very close to making two trades last week, but in each case there was one item that could not be resolved. We will not make a trade just to make a trade.
Speaking of trades, there is still and will always be critics of the Vince Carter trade. It is certainly true that neither Aaron or Eric Williams have been major contributors lately. Eric started very well when he first came to us, but he had a shooting slump and is now playing behind Jalen Rose (who is playing so well that there are few back-ups minutes at that position). Aaron is playing behind Rafael and Donyell Marshall. Donyell is playing very well and Rafael is developing and needs minutes to do so. I still believe that they are both valuable players and will help our basketball team in the future. The financial flexibility this deals gives us is huge, but won't be fully realized until after the 2006-2007 season.
The two first-round picks are unknowns, but they should fall somewhere in the middle of the first round and they will be valuable as future roster players or assets to help make a trade. We won't know their value for years to come. Right now, we do know one thing - we were 8-16 with Vince, and are 16-17 without Vince. The other thing that is important to remember is that though Vince is a very talented player, he wasn't doing it for us and his trade value was only diminishing.
cont.
I say give the rookie GM some time (2-3 more years) before we run him out of town. Although, I still think the Vince trade was brutal.
Dear Rising Sun,
Now that the trade deadline has passed, I think it is important for all of you to understand the thinking behind the whole trade process and where we are as a team.
First of all, I want to note that the term "trade deadline" is misleading. The 24th of February deadline means that we can not make a trade until we are done with the season. It doesn't mean that we have to stop working on trades. A lot of the work that we did over the last several months has helped prepare us for possible trades during the off-season. We are continually working on ways to improve the team.
There are several basic trade rules that all fans should know. Few people take the time to learn these rules. Fewer still choose to take these rules into account when they're writing or talking about potential trades. Basically, these rules are:
The total salaries involved in a trade must be within 15% plus $100,000.00 of each other. Example: Team A trades a $10 million player to Team B. Team A can bring back up to $11.6 million in salaries. Therefore, you can not just trade a $5 million player for a draft pick.
Under the current CBA, there is a luxury tax line that we estimate will be a little more than $60 million.
Currently, if a tax is in effect and you go over the line as a club, you end up suffering anywhere from a 100% to 300% penalty (depending on how far over the line you are).
The vast majority of teams in the NBA are concerned about staying under the luxury tax line.
There are many other items such as trade kickers and base-year compensation that can complicate the ability to make a trade.
The following links do a good job of summarizing CBA rules: http://www.nba.com/news/cap_040713.html http://members.cox.net/lmcoon/salarycap.html
With the above in mind, you have to get two teams to agree that the trade is equal. This is not an easy accomplishment. When you consider a trade, you have to factor in the age of the players, the length of their contracts, the position they play, their health and character, how they would fit in with your current roster, is their pay equal to their ability and how does it compare with the rest of the players on your team.
We are concerned with all of these and especially concerned with three other items:
1) Does the player fit into the long-term plans of building a championship team?
2) How does the player affect the development of our core group of young players?
3) Does his contract hurt or help our ability to develop our team for the future?
Some people have criticized us for not making a trade. We have consistently stated that we will not make a trade unless it is a good trade for the future of this team. We were very close to making two trades last week, but in each case there was one item that could not be resolved. We will not make a trade just to make a trade.
Speaking of trades, there is still and will always be critics of the Vince Carter trade. It is certainly true that neither Aaron or Eric Williams have been major contributors lately. Eric started very well when he first came to us, but he had a shooting slump and is now playing behind Jalen Rose (who is playing so well that there are few back-ups minutes at that position). Aaron is playing behind Rafael and Donyell Marshall. Donyell is playing very well and Rafael is developing and needs minutes to do so. I still believe that they are both valuable players and will help our basketball team in the future. The financial flexibility this deals gives us is huge, but won't be fully realized until after the 2006-2007 season.
The two first-round picks are unknowns, but they should fall somewhere in the middle of the first round and they will be valuable as future roster players or assets to help make a trade. We won't know their value for years to come. Right now, we do know one thing - we were 8-16 with Vince, and are 16-17 without Vince. The other thing that is important to remember is that though Vince is a very talented player, he wasn't doing it for us and his trade value was only diminishing.
cont.
