Today, Calderon released a statement on his website indicating that he has a preliminary agreement in place to return to the Toronto Raptors.
Calderon, who led the league with a 5.38 assist to turnover ratio, averaging 11.2 pts per game, 8.3 assists, and 1.1 steals in just more than 30 minutes per game, was the playmaker for the Raptors last year. A team player, (Calderon did not complain that he split the time with T.J. Ford, who was clearly the weaker one of the two, and is a pass first, score second type of pointgaurd - a trait that is hard to find in today's NBA)/
In addition to Calderon, Colangelo has also reached an agreement with Roko Ukic (the 24-yr old Croatian will back up Calderon in the pointguard position) and are also currently negotiating with Hassan Adams (6"4, 3-man who played with in the Italian League).
Clearly Colangelo is not afraid of the 'European type players'. This team, which does not lack in offense, lacks in defense. Is Colangelo taking the right risks in bringing in these Europeans? The Raptors, who do well in the season, do not really do well in playoffs... Perhaps it's because they lack grit that the North American Players have?
The Raptors have signed O'neal, but can he alone turn around their defense? The Raptor perimeter defense, is terrible, constantly double teaming for no particular reason and letting team shoot easy jump shots.
Only time can tell if Colangelo is doing the right thing. Though he is different than other GM's - no GM has signed this many European players, Colangelo may be making a poor decision. But perhaps he is making a great decision - perhaps he is building a franchise that will dominate come 3/4 years down the road.
The Raps have promise, but will that promise come through?
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1 comment:
Not really surprised with the Calderon signing, after Ford was traded it was more of a question of when will the announcement be made, not if the announcement will be made.
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