HeDon't Here Anymore

Just a update on the Hedo to the Suns story, that we mentioned late last night here in the Dino Nation Blog. It is now being reported that their is a second domino to this trade. Dwyane Jones would also be coming from Suns and would be moved to Charlotte for Boris Diaw. The Raptors would use part of their trade exception from the Bosh to Miami sign and trade to facilitate this move. Diaw is making 9 Million next season and has a player option for the same amount the following season. While as mentioned, in the earlier story, Barbosa is making 7.1 Million in the final year of his deal (But has a Player Option) . This may help the Raptors if there are major changes to the CBA. Raptors would have some serious cash potentially coming off the books at any case early into the new CBA if not at the start of it.

Both players were brought to the Suns during Colangelo's time as G.M. So these are guys he is obviously very familiar with. If all the info I have been learning about trade exceptions is correct, the Raptors would still have 8 million left of the Bosh exception to use. Not shockingly this would be the 8 million that would push the Raptors potentially over the tax threshold. So the question still remains will the Raptors go there? MLSE has said as has Bryan Colangelo that team is able to go there if they choose to do so. Yet in practice, it has never happened and it was one of the points Chris Bosh made at the end of the season. The fact that this team had never been a tax team and that to be a championship contender he felt a team needed to be.

Make no mistake by adding Diaw, Barbosa and potentially Linas Keliza is not making the Raptors a contender. Still the pure joy fans will get for being rid of Turkoglu may make that a moot point. I am not as sold on Diaw, as I mentioned I was with Barbosa. Think we all should hold ultimate judgment till it is clear that Colangelo is done. It seems pretty clear the next domino to fall with be the Jose or Jack chip. Given the visibility of Jack and his relationship with the young players on this team, it makes you hopefully he will be the one that remains. Jose Calderon, joking or not, declaring himself the captain of this team on Fan 590 sent shivers down my spine.

Now the math in this may be a mess. I reserve the right to be wrong given that I took Broadcast Journalism not Economics in College. But based on what I know this should be in the ball park. Will fix it if need be.

Update:8:55 am- Now there could be more to this deal. Some reports are coming out that Jose Calderon would also go to Charlotte in exchange for Tyson Chandler. This would make sense for Bobcats with the recent loss of Felton to free agency. Raps Trade exception would have enough juice for this to be possible. I guess stay tuned as there seems to be more to this trade as the hours pass.

Update: 1:00 PM- This deal keeps getting better for the Raptors. The Calderon for Tyson Chandler part is in fact real. But it gets even better. The Raptors could add another player to the deal (Banks or Evans) and would actually have to use next to nothing of their TPE(Trade Exception) to make the deal happen. If Bryan Colangelo pulls this off it is beyond amazing. When you stop having faith in this guy he pulls another rabbit out of his hat. If all this happens you can debate how successful the Raptors could be. But with Chandler expiring this adds more cap room for the Raps to take to a new CBA. The TPE lasts for a year and does not have to be used until next year.