For a while now the Raptors fans have been anticipating this off-season more than what had remained in the season. The reason being is that the Raptors have cap space which GM Bryan Colangelo has cherished and worked hard to keep.
With this extra room to sign players, we've all been speculating and asking the question "who will the Raptors sign?"
The Raptors have quite a few holes in the roster with center and small forward being the biggest.
Our best player is our center, but Andrea Bargnani has proven to be soft on the defensive end and on the glass. It has become the consensus around fans that Bargs needs to move over to the power forward so that Toronto can bring in a real big-man via free agency.
This move will hurt the development of Ed Davis, but I have a feeling Colangelo will look to trade Amir Johnson, and probably will pass on re-signing Reggie Evans (who other teams will surely show interest in).
Marc Gasol is one of the best young centers in the league, and there are many teams desperately in need of a big man. Gasol's regular season averages have gone down a bit, but he's playing along side Zach Randolph, a double-double machine.
Gasol has already shown his value scoring 24 points and grabbing 14 boards to upset the No. 1 seeded Spurs in Game 1 of the quarterfinals.
The question to be asked here is: Why would Memphis (or anybody) ever let a young rare talent like Gasol walk?
This morning Chris Broussard of ESPN may have given us the answer. The Memphis Grizzlies have reportedly signed Zach Randolph to a four-year $71 million contract.
Personally this made me really happy because the dreamy scenario of Toronto signing Randolph has become that much more realistic.
Memphis currently has a payroll of $67 million and Marc Gasol's contract is expected to increase from $3 million to around $10 million next year.
The Grizz have obtained Shane Battier's expiring contract of $7 million probably in order to resign Gasol, but they'd be into the luxury tax next year as Mike Conley's fat new contract kicks in next year.
Memphis has shown signs of life and is playing surprisingly well without Rudy Gay. Will the small market team really be willing to go over the cap for a perennial seventh, eigth seed?
If Toronto's Bryan Colangelo decides to feed his gambling habit once again, offering Gasol a huge paycheck, the Grizzlies might be discouraged to match.
Toronto is a European player's team, and more importantly Gasol will have the role of being the backbone of our defense.
If Toronto and Memphis agree to a sign-and-trade, Amir Johnson/Kleiza/Sonny Weems/ or anybody else not named Demar Derozen/Ed Davis/Bargnani are there to entice Memphis even more.
Overall this year, there are a good chunk of teams who have cap space who will also want to go after anybody the Raptors would like.
New Jersey and Indiana are two destinations which will be available for many of the free agents wanting to head over east, and the Raptors would still have to pull a miracle to sign Marc Gasol.
I personally think Memphis will hold onto Gasol, and we'll all be disappointed, but I'd put Toronto as the No. 2 destination for him.
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