While the Raptors might not be willing to part with Andrea Bargnani just yet, Ken Berger of CBSSports.com notes that there is plenty of pressure on Bryan Colangelo to win, which might fuel him to pull the trigger on a deal. The Raptors have a lot that makes sense for the Lakers in a Pau Gasol deal beyond the forward too in Jose Calderon and Linas Kleiza. The question is whether Raptors believe Gasol will make them contenders and whether he’s worth taking on $19MM next season. Here’s more Friday night linkage..
- In this week’s mailbag, CSNNE’s Tommy Heinsohn said that Jason Terry knew that he would have a significant role with the Celtics when he signed on this summer.
- Nets forward Andray Blatche is clearly one of the best late offseason signings in the entire league, tweets Bill Ingram of HoopsWorld. The athletic big man signed a minimum salary deal with the Nets over the summer and earlier today he said that he would like to re-sign with Brooklyn.
- T’Wolves guard Ricky Rubio said that if he had to rate his happiness in Minnesota on a scale from 1-10, he’d give it a ten, tweets Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press. Rubio will be extension-eligible in 2014 and can become a restricted free agent in 2015.
- Kings assistant coach Bobby Jackson wondered aloud if the club should thinking about breaking up their logjam of guards with Aaron Brooks, Isaiah Thomas, and Jimmer Fredette in the fold, writes Blake Ellington of Bleed Black and Purple