After winning a ring with the Warriors this year, Otto Porter Jr. is now focused on getting another one with the Raptors, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Porter called it “a tough decision” to leave Golden State and sign a two-year, $12.4MM deal with Toronto.
The 29-year-old forward said he had some other offers, but he was most comfortable with the Raptors. Porter’s wife is from Toronto, which played a role in his choice.
“Winning a championship last year in Golden State, I feel like I can bring that experience here to help the younger guys out,” Porter said. “Being with (Thaddeus Young) again (after being teammates in Chicago two seasons ago), I know he has been there and done it with his leadership and (he is going) to continue to give guidance to the young guys.”
There’s more from the Atlantic Division:
- The trade sending Kemba Walker to the Pistons was finalized today, but the Knicks still have options if they want to turn their agreement with Jalen Brunson into a sign-and-trade, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic. A separate deal that has Detroit acquiring Alec Burks and Nerlens Noel still hasn’t been made official and could be folded into a larger transaction. Katz adds that the Pistons needed to complete the Walker trade so that Jalen Duren will be eligible for Summer League.
- Several teams would be interested in Taj Gibson if the Knicks waive him to create cap room to sign Brunson, according to Ian Begley of SNY.tv (Twitter link). Gibson’s contract for next season is non-guaranteed.
- The Sixers gave P.J. Tucker a player option for the final season of his three-year, $33MM contract, tweets Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report.
- JD Davison feels like he has something to prove in Summer League after sliding to the 53rd pick in the draft, per Brian Robb of MassLive. Even though the Alabama guard was disappointed to be taken so low, he was happy to wind up with a successful organization like the Celtics. “When I got that call from the Celtics,” Davison said, “when my agent called and said the Celtics got you, it’s an organization where they win. So it was just really important to where I know I can come in here and get better every day and just come here and win. I was very happy.”
Davison should consider himself one of the luckiest 59 guys in basketball, but I understand that some people need a chip on their shoulder for motivation.
Still surprised that’s all Otto Porter got, but maybe he gave up money to accommodate his wife, and also, he is a great fit in Toronto
Taj Gibson could be useful for several teams that need help at small ball 5. Off the top of my head, the Bulls, denver, heat, portland and Utah would all make some kind of sense, and there might be a couple of others
Havent finished my scouting process b/c I’ve had a lot going on, so I’m definitely interested to see how summer league goes for a lot of players I’m not up to date with yet. Davison was compared to Dennis Smith Jr by some, so I’m curious to see how his shot looks, and how he looks defensively, and as a playmaker. Could be a good depth guard around their bench shooters theoretically
DAL would get the real benefit of structuring a S&T for Brunson out of existing deals (DET deal for Burks and Noel I assume). They’d get the huge TPE. NYK would get to operate over the cap which is good (MLE and Walker TPE), but they’d still have to accommodate the salaries of Hartenstein and Sims.
Are certain Sixers fans still saying that they didn’t want Porter anyway like they were when they thought he was re-signing with the Heat?