T. Jones, cuz patterson pisses me off when you are a 6'9 pf and can't or don't attempt to get rebounds.
Btw, Lowry's numbers for the last 10 games: 36.8 min, 19pt, 8.9ast, 4.9rb, 1.9 steals, only 2 turnovers, .455FG, .466 3pt%, .611 TS%
Pretty sure Lowry is the only UFA of those three, with qualifying offers for Vazquez and Pat at $3.2MM and $4.3MM respectively. And yeah, $24MM tied up between DeRozan, Chuck, and Landry Fields next season... yikes. DeRozen has a player option into 2017 at $9.5MM into 2017. Curious to see what all Ujiri can swing in the near future. First order of business is Colangelo damage control, which could take a little while.
While Robinson's tenure here was a disappointment, culminating in a disappointing trade haul from Portland (basically a couple of future 2nds), I'm not sure a non-trade would have yielded much better results. Yeah, we lost Pat for the playoffs, but we also picked up Cisco, who was pretty good against Durant in the first round. Given that the Rockets had to clear salary to sign Howard, we would have had to unload Pat over the summer instead of Robinson, given that there was only a $400k difference between their salaries at that time. Would we really have been able to get more for Pat than Robinson in the low leverage trade scenario we were in? I doubt it. I don't see the scenario where we end up with both Pat and Dwight on our roster this season.
Considering Andrea Bargnani and Rudy Gay are gone, I'd say Ujiri has nearly accomplished his first order of business. Getting something for Lowry is the next step. It may not be the 1st rounder he wants. DeRozan's contract is bad but he might stay unless Ujiri wants the Raptors to compete for the #1 pick in 2015. Landry Fields is untradeable. That's one stupid Colangelo move that probably can't be fixed. Chuck + contract is also a negative asset. It may be best just pay those two guys until the summer of 2015.
I don't get the hype around Masai Ujiri being such a good GM? That Denver team didn't make it far in the playoffs. He hasn't proven anything and all he's done is trade Rudy Gay.
Pat is off to a good start in Toronto, but he's still only shooting 30% for the season, Not saying he's a bad shooter, but lets not make him out to be a sniper. This is more about Lowry playing at an all-star level. He showed flashes of this here. Valanciunas is coming on strong too. DeMar DeRozan will be a superstar if he ever develops a consistent jumper.
I think this is more about everyone playing within their role and working as a team. Seriously, Raptors could have gotten away with a win in Miami if: 1. Vasquez hasn't played absolutely putrid. So far, he has played awful which is unexpected for me. I expected him to contribute way more. 2. DeRozan didn't start chucking in ISO while being defended by Ray Allen. He should have definitely drove by and looked to score inside. Granted, if it wasn't for his stellar performance earlier, Raptors might have had trouble keeping up. Kind of like how Harden plays, except DeRozan plays D within their system. I am aware that Heat was coming from a b-2-b but it looked more like Raptors didn't know how to snatch the win down the stretch. The lack of bench points didn't really help either. In short, they still have to work on a few things. Masai's job is not complete either. In a way, it's amusing since I have been waiting for the Rockets to show the same hustle in games. Oh well...
I really like Dwane Casey as a coach as well, he is offense is a little lacking but he seems to really be able to motivate the players well. They're 8th in defensive rating so far this year, it's not elite but it's a huge improvement from last years 22nd. When you look at the team salaries, not one guy is making over 9.5 mil a year as well.
When Ujiri got there, that Nuggets team looked doomed for 5+ years in the lottery. It seemed impossible to get much for Melo, since he wanted to go to one team and there was all the drama. Instead, the Nuggets somehow didn't get worse and actually got younger. On top of it, they have the 2014 Knicks unprotected pick. And look at the Knicks record. It could be a great pick. That move alone makes him a good GM. But there have been other good moves too. Drafting Faried with a late pick, gaining all that flexibility and picks for the Raptors (Bargnani/Gay trades) while the team has become much better. He had some questionable moves too, but every GM who makes a lot of moves will have a few bad ones. Overall though, he's been very good. The Nuggets weren't just some mediocre team either. Yes, only 1st round exits. But they are more comparable to T-Mac's Rockets than some borderline playoff team. They looked dangerous. They lost close battles but they could've gone far. Even now, new coach, a key player gone (Iggy), another key player injured (Gallo), and they still are a solid team.
