After signing Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk to a two-year contract earlier this week, the Raptors find themselves right up against their $143MM hard cap for the 2021/22 season, notes ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link).
[RELATED: NBA Teams With Hard Caps For 2021/22]
Although the Raptors only have about $133.5MM in guaranteed money on their books, the team is just $155K below the hard cap due to all the non-guaranteed money on its books, along with Gary Trent Jr.‘s incentives and Nando De Colo‘s qualifying offer, according to Marks.
While Toronto’s financial situation is worth noting, it shouldn’t hamstring the team’s flexibility this fall. The Raptors could still add a 20th man to their training camp roster by signing a player to an Exhibit 10 contract, since those deals don’t count toward the hard cap. And once the team starts making cuts to get down to the 15-man regular season limit, it will create some additional breathing room below the hard cap.
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Zach Harper of The Athletic assigns the Raptors a grade of B-minus for their offseason, praising the team’s additions of Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa, but acknowledging that Kyle Lowry‘s departure will be a major loss to overcome.
- In a pair of articles for The Athletic, Alex Schiffer examines the Nets‘ frontcourt situation, exploring what Paul Millsap will bring to the team, and weighs whether David Vanterpool‘s new job with Brooklyn will be his last role as an assistant coach before he gets a shot at a head coaching position.
- Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer enlisted Aaron Fentress of The Oregonian to discuss whether there’s a Ben Simmons trade between the Sixers and Trail Blazers that makes sense for both sides. Fentress doesn’t expect Damian Lillard to be available anytime soon, but thinks a Simmons/CJ McCollum swap would work if Philadelphia is willing to lower its asking price. However, Fentress does note that some people within the Blazers organization aren’t sure how well Lillard and Simmons would fit together.
remember when Toronto was good that one year
TBF most franchises and fan bases would be glad to have that 1 year.
Of course they would. Just ask fans of the Suns, Jazz, Nets, Magic, Pacers, Hornets, Nuggets, Clippers, Grizzlies, Wolves, and Pelicans.
The Nets and Pacers did win the ABA, but those don’t really count.
76ers did not upgrade the bench
Bucks bench
Pat Connaughton
Grayson Allen
Portis
Hood
Dear Mr. Oregonian,
Please just take Simmons. There is no such thing as perfect fit for Ben Simmons.
Ben Simmons is a strange fit at point guard, small forward or shooting guard because besides not shooting (from anywhere), he is not a high-level creator from the perimeter, and when things get tough, he has consistently become passive and avoided touching the ball rather than taking initiative and settling everyone into the offense.
Ben Simmons is a strange fit at center or PF because he lacks post moves, does not protect the rim well, and cannot handle strong bigs in the post. But because of his lack of shooting, he is also a poor fit with most centers.
it will always be extremely difficult to build a team that fits nicely around Simmons.
Sill: and yet his advanced stats at basketball reference show his as near elite. Odd.
Near elite, that is odd. So why doesn’t anyone want him then?
If Simmons is so great then someone should take him in a heartbeat.
@Weasel. advance metric value things differently than how they are valued in the real world. Yes, Ben can pass the ball. However, his lack of shooting makes it difficult because he himself is not shooting ANYTHING from more than 3ft away from the basket.
***% of shots from 0-3ft (52% of FG attempted, 69% FG% made), 3-10ft (38% of FG attempted, 42% of FG made) and less than 1% FG were even attempted from 10ft-3pt line out. So we already know he won’t even shoot from more than 5ft from the basket. So if you’re a team with a scoring big, Simmons is not a great fit (Sixers, Nuggets, T-Wolves, Bucks, Pelicans, Lakers, Suns). He occupies space of your bigs and his defender will sag on him when he’s further away from the basket thus he doesn’t spread the floor any. He’s not a fit for a team with a great scoring PG who needs the ball in his hand and is the primary distributor. Why bring him to a team and nullify 1 of his 2 strengths. So no to (Portland, Sacramento, Dallas, Lakers, Boston, Nets, Bucks, Memphis, etc).
What else is he good at? Defense. Look at the all-defensive team this year. Most of the well paid players are two way guys like Kawhi, Butler, Giannis, Embiid, Adebayo are also guys that can score and shoot too. Matisse Thybulle isn’t going to see big money until he can become a solid scorer. So advance metrics can VALUE passing and defense but in the real world if that’s all you do then you MUST be surrounded by other pieces to hide your weaknesses and allow those other things you do to be appreciated. And I don’t think the Sixers would give him that contract. I think they HAD to continue to support “the process” feeling that he would eventually grow into the position. We are clearly in a time where we don’t appreciate bigs who defend and rebound well but are limited to within 5ft of the basket offensively. Why view Simmons differently? He’s a good passer but he’s no Magic Johnson in terms of flash/creativity/ leadership and he’s no LBJ/ Paul/Rondo in terms of IQ. So yes, advance metrics say he’s elite but on the floor the “other stuff” negates/mutes those attributes if he hurts the offense or simply is a liability in close 4th quarter games. Not a Draymond lover but at least he can hit 70-75% of his FT so you can’t hack him and he’s not afraid to shoot a 3 so he’ll make you pay every now and then for sagging off of him. But he’s also a true leader on both sides of the ball which Ben clearly isn’t. It may not be in his nature to be vocal. He’s not a great fit on most competitors for reasons stated. He needs to be the primary handler on a team full of shooters including bigs who won’t require the ball to be fed in the post. I do think he could work for GSW if they had a healthy Klay, Curry and could add another shooter at the SF position to replace Wiggings. He and Green could be small bigs. Would be interesting.
wow that was longer than I thought. whatever.
What a waste. Real World? How about winning, if metrics are in their own world. Simmons wins because he beats the other team and it must take metrics to get that, not simple %s, which in themselves were once an advanced form of stat-book loggers just totalling everything.
Simmons was dogging it and will be holding out. Impressions from the last playoffs are deceptive.
@x%sure
Yes. Real world. Advance metrics are great for Ben. They highly value the 2 things he does great. Pass and defend. What they dont do is detract the negatives and in Ben’s case, his negatives HURT the offense and in close, 4th quarter games, can keep him off the floor. Metrics are great to organize and spit out info. How you use that info matters. If advance metrics ruled the world and greatly moved you towards a chip then the Sixers wouldn’t be in this situation. This is STILL a offensive minded league. The true greats do it on both sides of the ball.
Using PER, Simmons has never been over 21, reflecting his limited shooting; so PER works in this case; but few stats including PER handles defense well. Simmons is NOT a “PER guy”; allstars are generally higher.
Metrics reflects what happened, not hot air from the irate.
Simmons has propelled his team to winning by dominating the transition game. Embiid has missed a lot of time.
You are ignoring that the Sixers have been successful, with or without Embiid.
You don’t get that Simmons has already started holding out.
In a system where the Center can shoot like Denver with Jokic or Minnesota with Towns Simmons would be fine as the PF. With his natural instincts on defense I think he could be a good rim protector and unlike Gobert, Capella or Embiid he can handle a switch. In the modern NBA bigs don’t need post moves. In the right system though he could function as a Giannis lite.
Sixers need a 30 point scorer not a 20. They couldn’t get over the hump w Jo, Tobias, Butler and Simmons. How is Jo Tobias and CJ winning it all?
Bigger hole on defense too.
Thank you. I don’t know why people like this idea so much. CJ doesn’t move the needle where it needs to be.
Still won’t win a championship but it replaces a good player – that doesn’t wanna be there – with another good player.
You replacing a great player, a top 20 in the league for a good player, nowhere near a top 50 in the league, so the drop is as dramatic as you can ever imagine.
I really would like Ben out of PHI so he can hopefully have his own team & show how good he is, but come on you can’t even pick up the phone if the headliner is CJ, & I do like him, but he is much older & a much lesser player, I mean all & everyone can see that, right?
@ElDon
Taking into account his plus and minus and what the Sixers need, I would take a 23 ppg sg with a 45/40/81 slash all day. Get past the fact he doesn’t have an AS by his name. He’s absolutely a top 50 nba player.
Idk if C.J. can efficiently put up 30 but I think he can do 25 and 7. He’s always played second fiddle to Dame but the few times when he has had the opportunity he’s always stepped up. He may not have the defense of Simmons or Butler for that matter. I do think he’s a better creator and facilitator in the half court and nearly as good in transition as Simmons with the added bonus of being able to hit a jumper and having unshakeable confidence in his shot.
If you’re using PER as an indicator… he’s not on the same level as Ben or Dame. And his Ortg has been less than desirable esp when you compare it to his Drtg. Don’t get me wrong… I like CJ and wanted them to deal for him in the past (never thought Dame would even possibly be dealt) and I always have looked to see where Portland is at around the deadline t
hoping they are so bad they moved Dame or CJ.
I’m not comparing McCollum to Dame. There’s what maybe 2 guards in the league that are as good or better as Lillard with them being Curry and Harden?
Simmons however finished last season with a PER of 18.3 and VORP of 2.2 compared to CJ with 20.8 and VORP of 2.1 so it’s pretty close. There’s also a matter of fit. Simmons clogs up the middle for arguably the 2nd best player in the game behind Giannis. While CJ plays almost the same style as Dame except he’s just not as good as Lillard.
CJ would shoot the ball and stay out of Embiid’s way and Simmons could D-up guys like Davis. I think both teams would be better.
CJ is a great fit. They just need to find the other starting guard because a McCollum/Curry backcourt is too small and not good enough defensively. Curry as the first guard off the bench is ideal. Maxey won’t be there, so that’s not an option – period.
@jump
Rubio would’ve been a great piece f’or Sixers alongside CJ. A guard with size whos a pass first guy to feed Embiid and Tobias and play defense the best guard.
Thanks Taco, but Lillard’s PER is about 5 higher than CJ’s, so using PER works. It doesn’t always though, it just gives an idea with one number.
Look at on-off: both are +7. Blazers for the most part kept the players with good numbers here (DL, CJM, Cov, Powell, Nurkic, Nance) and dropped the minus ones.
It would be great if CJM could separate from such a similar player, but Blazers are going to want to play this year out as is. No telling when Sixer fans are done posturing. It is hard when a player wants out.
Trading Tobias for CJ is the move I would look to make
@Philly
Tobias was a great offensive player last year. Move Ben, keep Tobias.
Lets say Simmons is $1.00
McCollum is 60 cents
Hield and Bagley is 50 cents
Beasley and a role player is $40 cents
asking price
Wiseman, Kuminga, Moody and two Firsts is $3.00
future trade value
I want to use this example to illustrate why CJ is the worse trade for the 76ers…
Let’s say you are right in the player/money comparison. I’m gonna add on to it a little.
CJ is 60 cents now and that’s the most he’ll be. His value is capped at 60 cents.
Hield and Bagley is 50 cents now with the chance of their combined values becoming more than 60 cents.
Same with Beasley and a role player with Beasley having a higher ceiling to increase value becoming more than Hield and Bagley.
The 76ers might/probably will have to sell low but if they’re gonna sell low, they may as well go with the lower valued player now with the better chance of getting closer to the dollar value Simmons is.
People will say “But the 76ers are in win now mode”. True but they’re already selling low which means that CJ isn’t improving them and not increasing their chances of contending. If the dollar isn’t putting them in contention, the 60 cents that’s capped at that value isn’t going to either. Better to go with someone that can either improve to be closer to value or maybe you can trade them higher than value because of their age and potential value.
CJ could improve on a better-balanced team, while Hield has plateaued on a bad team, and Bagley & Beasley are not winners in general.
I know I’m a Sixers fan but from a blazers perspective, Idk if you traded Ben and Maxey plus idk 3 first round picks for Dame, I actually think that would be a steal for the blazers.
Dame is 31, and although yes his game style means he could play well into his thirties he’s only going to be effective as a number 1/2 option for maybe 2/3 years max. Now if your the blazers you know that within the next 2/3 seasons your not going to win a title getting past the Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, Bucks, Nets etc etc.
So for the blazers in this proposed deal you’d be getting back Ben Simmons, one of the leagues best defenders at only 25. He’s a three time all star and last season made all nba third team. He’s a generational talent that you can build around.
I know it’s a big if, but if he works on his shooting just a little to the point he can shoot like Giannas he’s going to be a top 10 player.
As for the Sixers if we gave up that and didn’t win a ring it would cripple us. You’d have JoJo who is 1 leg injury away from turning into boogie cousins. Dame Lillard who slowly gets worse and once he deal is up goes ring chasing in LA or returns to Portland to play with Ben and laughs at us.
Tobias after collecting a fortune from us, sees we are a sinking ship and probably ends up in Dallas playing with Doncic and his mate Bojan.
And we have no picks, which means no young talent to take over. Then start the process all over again.
That’s why I’ve always said forget Dame. At first I said go for LaVine, now I’m saying go for Fox and if you luck out there go for DAngelo Russell and a bunch of picks.
NBA is all about timeline. Russell Tobi and Jojo might not be number 1 seeds but they are a solid 4/5th. Maybe you get the luck of the draw, maybe for once you don’t have injuries the other team does and you make the final. You keep your picks, you have the Twolves picks, you have young Maxey, Thybulle and co coming through.
If Jojo goes down injured, that’s a huge loss but if Jojo goes down after a Lillard trade it’s all over.
76ers have only one future first left to trade?
2025
2026
2027
Conditionally traded to Thunder
They are not allowed to trade away 2024 and 2028?
They can trade 2022
I’m sure if they wanted they could change the conditions, flip some seconds and some cash they could get some picks to use for Dame
If Dame were available the Sixers would make it work. Not to mention the only way Dame is leaving Portland is if he tells them he wants out. If Lillard wants out Portland loses some leverage so I don’t think it’d take Simmons, Maxey and three 1sts. I think it would be something like Simmons, Maxey, a first, and a second.
I think your numbers are off
Morey just trying to cripple the Sixers by going’s after Dame.
As a Sixers fan, from a blazers perspective say they offer you Ben, Maxey and 3 first for Dame, I’d definitely take that.
Why? Cause Dame is 31 and you’ve had him for 10 years and never done anything. In his prime you might have 2 possibly 3 years left of him. In those next few season your not realistically beating the Lakers, Warriors, Clippers, Bucks and Nets teams. You couldn’t overcome the Pelicans with Jrue Holiday and AD what makes you think you can beat AD with Bron and Russ, or Jrue with Middleton and Giannis.
What you get in return is Ben Simmons, who at 25 is one of the best defenders in the league, one of the best passers in the league and we hate to say it but a generational talent. I know it’s a huge if, but if he works on his shot to the point he makes idk 30% from 3, and 75% from the line then you’ve got a top 10 player easy. He would put up 28-10-10 with elite defence similar to a prime Bron, similar to Giannis and so on.
As for my Sixers it would potentially cripple us. We would have to win a ring next season for it to be a success cause after that it gets super risky.
Jojo although he was second in MVP last year, he’s 1 leg injury away from being the next boogie cousins. Dame his prime is only 3 years long max and after his deal expires he won’t stay, he will go to LA or back to the Blazers team up with Ben and laugh at us. Tobias he’s already taken a fortune from us, he won’t hang around after his deal either. He’s collected his bag, he’s off ring chasing probably in Dallas with Doncic and his mate Bojan. Every team needs a stretch 4.
Then we are left with no picks which means no young players and back the process all over again.
I’d definitely take that, for CJ McCollum.
Dame is already a top 15 player and he fits better with Embiid. With Dame I think they could hang with the Nets, Bucks and Lakers. LeBron is 37, Embiid is a better player than Davis and Lillard is better than Russ. Dame is on the same level as Harden, Embiid is on the same level as Durant and I simply don’t have faith in Irving at this point. I also think Embiid and Giannis are close to a wash as are Dame and Middleton and Holiday is pretty much equal to Harris. We don’t know what the Warriors will look like with Klay coming off two horrible season ending surgeries, an ever older Green and a bunch of kids. I’d be more worried about Utah and Denver that the Clippers. With Kawhi’ injury I think they window has closed.
Admittedly it would be a short window but I think the 76ers are a contender with Lillard.
Oh 1000%, they would be a huge threat and a contender without a doubt.
Lillard has never had an all star team mate, and Jo was a beast last year they would be great. Not to mention Harris as a third option spacing the floor and Green and Thybulle as wing defenders.
However the other teams are still very strong, the Nets would be a tough series, as would the bucks. Then you still have to overcome the Lakers or warriors in the final. Sheesh.
However dame has a prime of maybe 3 years max to get it done and if jo gets injured then it’s all over. Not that there has ever really been an easy year but right now looks a really tough time to be a contender. However give it 3-5 years I think it becomes abit easier. No more Bron, Russ, Harden, KD, Curry, CP3, Dame, Butler etc etc that’s when you’ll have Doncic, Tatum, Zion, Trae all these young guys taking over. Jo is 27 and I think realistically you need to aim for 3/4 years away once these guys are gone and Jo is still the best big man
If Simmons sits out and does not show he can shoot. 76’s are stuck In CJ being the best play they can get. The Kings may give up Fox if they also can get Maxey.