Johnson More Than An Expiring Contract

Colangelo has completed almost a full makeover of the Raptor team that started last season. Twelve new faces join the team, with only Bosh, Bargnani and Calderon remaining from the group that gathered last year at training camp. Last season was a major disappointment for Colangelo and it was interesting to watch his calm demeanor at the end of the season. He did not talk about blowing the team up, but that is exactly what he did. He just did it very quietly and he did it without announcing it first.

The trade of Delfino and Ukic is another one of his trades that works on a couple of levels. With this summer’s moves neither player was going to see meaningful playing time with the team. Ukic still has potential to grow into a solid NBA player, but with Calderon and Jack already on the team he was not going to see court time. Instead of letting him rot at the end of the bench, Colangelo packaged him off to Milwaukee where he should get to see more playing time. Delfino may well start for the Bucks, but he required a multi year commitment and here he would have only been the fifth guard. The depth he would have provided would have been offset by cluttering up the rotation and taking playing time away from DeRozan, Jack and Belinelli.

The acquisition of Amir Johnson is interesting. He was one of the last high school players that jumped directly to the NBA and was buried on the Pistons bench. His development has been slow, but at age 22 I think he is more than just an expiring contract. He has the physical skills and attitude to rebound and play defense and may be able to provide some athletic minutes in the rotation. His natural position is power forward but he can also play some center and provide a different look then Nesterovic off the bench if more athleticism is required for a particular match up.

If Johnson can develop under Triano and Iavaroni he could be part of the future if Bosh decides to leave after next year. His upside in that scenario could see him play with Bargnani and Turkoglu in 2011 where he would provide a nice athletic compliment to their skill games. Should Johnson not pan out, both he and Weems are in the final year of their contracts so there is no financial commitment beyond this year.

During this makeover Colangelo has done an almost perfect job of not taking on any bad contracts. The only contract that he would like to get rid of is Banks who will be making about $4.5 million this season and next. While that contract is likely not movable now, it will be next year when it becomes an expiring contract.

Another angle that I am curious about is whether these moves are intentional in trying to balance the makeup of the team between international and US players. Turkoglu and Belinelli are both skill European players and their additions fit along nicely with Bargnani and Calderon. The lack of grit that hurt the team last year has been addressed by bringing in Evans, Jack and Johnson, and the drafting of the athletic DeRozan. This provides the team with a change of pace off the bench which they did not really have last year.

This team looks very exciting, but it will be a new starting five, a new rotation and a new coaching group so training camp will be critical. I think that Triano and Iavaroni may be the perfect coaches for this group with the ability to organize, teach and think outside the box.

Colangelo has put together a very interesting team and if all the pieces fall in place they could be ready to move up the ladder fairly quickly.