Sergio Scariolo is prepared to serve as acting head coach of the Raptors for as long as necessary, writes Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Scariolo got his new responsibilities Friday when Nick Nurse and five members of his staff were placed in health and safety protocols. The team responded with a victory over the Rockets.
The win capped a hectic week for Scariolo, who was in Poland last weekend with the Spanish national team for a pair of FIBA EuroBasket qualification games. He flew to Florida on Monday and entered quarantine, as required by league guidelines. Thursday afternoon marked the first rumors that Nurse and most of the coaching staff wouldn’t be available for Friday’s game.
“We are learning that we have tools and capacity to react to really weird situations, to emergency situations … like this, or I imagine a hundred more that happen all over the world to every person, to every company, every sports club, whatever,” Scariolo said. “We are learning that sometimes we love to have a great plan going from day one to the last one, (but) it’s good to know that we are able to react to different circumstances. We learned how not to panic and try to face what’s going on with a positive attitude.”
There’s more on the Raptors:
- Toronto isn’t making an effort to move Kyle Lowry, Smith states in an examination of the team’s position ahead of the March 25 trade deadline. Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby should be considered untouchable, Smith adds, and the team prefers to hold on to Norman Powell. That means any trade will have to involve the bench, where the Raptors hope to upgrade without taking on a lot of long-term salary.
- Lowry’s agent disputes a report Friday that the point guard is eyeing a move to the Sixers. Appearing on Sirius XM Radio, Mark Bartelstein said there’s no truth to the story (hat tip to Brad Botkin of CBS Sports). “There was a story today that he’s pushing to go to Philadelphia. That’s just not true,” Bartelstein said. “That story came out today, and so I had to get on the phone with (Raptors president) Masai (Ujiri) and (general manager) Bobby (Webster) and make sure they knew that certainly wasn’t coming from us.”
- For Donta Hall, signing a 10-day deal with the Raptors just meant going from one G League team to another, writes Blake Murphy of The Athletic. Hall has been impressive in his first two games and may eventually get a chance in Toronto because he’s a natural center.
Make sense to trade Lowry and Powell to reduce future salary
Lowry wants 2 more years $60 million contract
Both can help contenders to win the championships and pay luxury tax
How, how does it make sense when they’re both FA’s this offseason. If they want to reduce long term spending, they let them walk away in FA.
If the Raptors know they’re not going to keep these guys then it DOES make sense to trade them and get something back instead of have them walk away for nothing. And if Toronto wants to reduce future salary they don’t take guys back making 30 million a year. Maybe Lowery and Powell can bring back two guys making 18- 22?
The only tough part is a trade to a contender. Those teams usually don’t have cap room and have to send out the same salary.. unless Toronto can get a draft pick or two along with the crappy contract.
76ers current luxury tax bill is $20 million
If trade $25 million salary for Lowry, tax bill would be $47 million and pay tax next two years
It make more sense to Trade Green and two picks for Powell
If they fall to 8th or 9th spot I can see them maybe being sellers at the TD, which isnt hard bc the East is very tight 4-10.
Trade Lowry and Powell, and probably bring Lowry back next year. They have cap space.
The east is very tight 4-14. Not much difference between those 11 teams.
Really ???? records don’t mean what you think right now.
You are a funny dude wapo… I mean you were weeks on end keepin’ count how bad WAS is with Russ, when he wasn’t healthy, now that he is playin’ healthy & is the reason they are winning game after game, you stopped keepin’ count & tellin’ us what an amazin’ player Russ is… one must wonder why you only give him h8 when he is such a great player & great to watch!
BTW so far this season Russ is mopin’ the floor with Optimus Dime (I am a big fan of OD) but so far he has been a bit disappointin’ if you ask me, right?
East is meaningless, Nets will slaughter everyone and get to the finals easily.
1) Philly – Joel will get tired as always, Ben is a net 0 in a half court offense – which is the name of the game in the playoffs
2) Bucks – The Freak didnt improve his game to be a factor in the last 5 mins of a meaningful game, they count on Middleton to save them, thats not a championship level team
3) Boston – a team that couldn’t solve a college level zone defense in a 7 game series is a joke, which they are proving to be this season. LeBron needed five minutes in game 1 to solve Heat defense
4) Everyone else – Toronto is toast, Pacers dont have enough, others are a joke. If Curry, Luka, Dame or Joker transferred to East they would kill these teams.
So yeah, I agree with Rockets dude, East teams outside Nets are waaaay outside amy championship aspirations.
Nice thumbnails! I like Philly right now though.
•Nets may not stay healthy & happy though.
•I would like to know why Embiid was so dysfunctional in the playoffs, to be sure he will again. He gets plenty of training comp from Howard & Bradley.
•There should be a payoff by then, to Simmons changing his game, going for defense rather than 3s for improvement.
•HC Rivers has Tobias in warhorse mode.
•Many options on the roster like Paul Reed… maybe too many to put together optimally by the HC!
Powell is going nowhere
When he opts out and gets overpaid elsewhere this offseason we can revisit that.
May be determined by who stays as PG, as much by money… FVV yes, Lowry no.
Lowry should be moved to get younger. It’s a smart move for Raptors. He’d 35 and why would they resign him.
Heat, Celtics, Hawks all have had injury issues. They will all fight for top 5 imo. Pacers and Wizards are also better that what they have shown. They’ve had injuries too. The second half you will see the east start to separate itself
Hmm
I don’t agree that 4 through 14 are tight, as I don’t ultimately see the Cavs, Magic or Wizards as playoff teams. Yes, the Wiz are on a hot streak, but even with the recent run they’re sitting in 12th. Every team that gets hot, unless a serious contender, cools off at some point.
TD and buyout will be big in the East. We know the Nets, Sixers and Bucks are top 3, but a team like the Raps could sit 4 through 9 depending on who gets what. Every move, even small ones, may make the difference.
greg1 there’s only a few games-back separating them… only a warm streak is necessary to get in.
Powell should also be a core member of the team. He’s an excellent scorer and works well with Fred
This is a trade idea:
– Lowry to the clippers
– Williams, beverley, zubac to the raptors
Then
– beverley, zubac, baynes & raps 2022 1st rounder to the cavs
– kevin love & cavs 2022 1st rounder to the raps
Not going to happen!
This 3 team trade makes sense:
Raptors get
Mo Bamba,Delon Wright & 2022 second rounder from Orlando
pistons get
Patrick McCaw,Aminu,2022 first rounder from raps
magic get
Baynes,Dennis Smith Jr & Stanley Johnson