Newly reacquired Raptors center Jakob Poeltl, an unrestricted free agent this summer, can envision himself signing a new contract with the team, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link).
“It’s definitely something I can see for the long-term as well,” Poeltl said of the Raptors.
Poeltl was initially selected by Toronto with the ninth pick in the 2017 draft, but was dealt to the Spurs in 2018 as part of its package to acquire All-NBA small forward Kawhi Leonard.
He had since emerged as a terrific rim-protecting center for San Antonio and is expected to earn a significant salary upgrade this summer. In 47 games this season with the Spurs and Raptors, Poeltl is averaging 12.0 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 3.0 APG, 1.1 BPG and 0.8 SPG.
Having the 7’1″ big man on the roster broadens Toronto’s lineup options, contends Doug Smith of The Toronto Star. Poeltl suited up for 17 minutes in his first game back with the Raptors, a 122-116 Friday loss to the Jazz. Smith writes that head coach Nick Nurse anticipates eventually shifting Poeltl into a starting role for the team.
“Hopefully he’s going to rim-protect, either with some shot-blocking or some vertical-type moves,” Nurse said. “Hopefully he’ll defensive rebound for us, too. We work pretty hard at defensive rebounding. There are guys that need to get involved in that. Hopefully he can take some of that load off our guys… He’s got a good IQ. That’s important, when a guy back there has some IQ and can direct traffic a bit.”
There’s more out of Toronto:
- Raptors guards Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. are both expected to turn down their respective player options for 2023/24, and instead enter 2023 free agency, writes Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca. Murphy looks ahead to how Toronto’s approach to the trade deadline could impact its approach to the 2023 offseason. Instead of becoming sellers at the deadline, as widely expected for the 26-31 Raptors, the team added Poeltl. Murphy thinks the Raptors can still look to offload contracts this summer, though he is dubious the team will get as much for its players during the offseason as it may have been able to extract at the deadline.
- Lewenberg opines in a separate piece that the Raptors were never likely to be sellers at the trade deadline, noting that Toronto was possibly open to accepting a trade for 25-year-old swingman OG Anunoby, but had been reticent to move off the contract of All-Star big man Pascal Siakam.
- Raptors president Masai Ujiri may have erred in wanting to let his current core of Siakam, Anunoby, VanVleet and 2022 Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes play out the rest of the season, writes Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Koreen posits that the addition of Poeltl, while offering a defensive improvement around the rack, will not upgrade the club enough to return it to true contention this season.
Two different heights for Yak in this article….
LOL! He grew three inches in the space of a few paragraphs… Now to see that newly acquired height get some additional rim protection for the Raps :)
Still love his Google commercial with Pascal as roomies watching Gilmour Girls :)
What a skill that would be to magically grow 3 inches lol
Nets have 8 unprotected picks available for trade
Current roster
Nets have younger and better talents than Raptors.
Bridges
Cam Johnson
Claxton
Finley Smith
Dinwiddie
Cam Thomas is a 40 points guy average per game
Ben Simmons, former all-star
and 5 3-point shooters on the bench
I bet this is sarcasm
Based on their history of comments here it’s unlikely. I’m not sure if they believe anything they type or if it’s done to get a rise out of people.
Im a believer in Tor’s front office but I have zero clue the route they just took last week
Always appreciate teams trying to move forward but I was a tad shocked by them
They are going to have one of the most interesting offseasons of all 30 teams here this summer
Toronto can go over the cap to keep everyone if they feel they can win next year.
Raptors dont have to go over the luxury tax for next year projected to be approx.$162 Million- 8% increase.
Raptor pays $1 Million towards Thad Young (savings of $7 Million), do not extend Flynn, savings of $3.8 Million. Thus, the salary cap would be $131 Million.
Sign Poetl to a four year $68 Million deal starting at $14.8 Million with increases. Poetl is a Myles Turner lite (without the offensive ability).
Extend Fred 4/$130 Million starting at $29 Million. Extend GTJ for 4/$100 Million starting at $22.5.
Raps FRP costs $2.8 Million based on their projectsd based on the draft.
Therefore Raps remain under the Luxury Tax, keeping all their list players on the Roster.
Rockets will resign Poeltl, and then S&T FVV and / or Trent?
They don’t play for the Rockets bud
Resign and re-sign are not the same thing….