>Koloko, 24 participated in a free-agent workout on Saturday, according to Damian Burchardt of The US Sun. The league must clear Koloko to play before he can sign with another team, and that has not happened yet.
>As mentioned, the Raptors currently have 15 players signed to guaranteed NBA contracts, in addition to three players signed to two-way deals. However, the Raptors are far enough below the luxury tax that they could waive another player to sign Koloko while ducking any tax payment, if necessary. There is no immediate word on whether the Raptors would have any interest. The Raptors have rookies Brendan Carlson and Ulrich Chomche on two-way deals, but their future at centre is hardly set.
NoMoPolenta
If we can bring back Koloko you know Masai is going to move mountains to get him back on the squad.
ottawacabbie
Reality with these prospects is we don’t know much of what they’re capable of until they receive NBA skill training and strength and conditioning, and then till they’re on an NBA court. Summer League and college only give us a glimmer of who they’ll become.
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Ylissian
Vezenkov seems like the obvious choice to cut for Koloko since he doesn’t even want to be in the NBA.
Cheechers23
Mentioned it in the thread yesterday but I see 2 paths to getting the roster spot:
1. Buyout Vezenkov. Simple enough, and when Masai was on the broadcast during the first summer league game, I sorta got the impression they’re negotiating that with him. I’m guessing they want him to give up every dollar, but if Koloko gets cleared I suspect they’d be willing to take the hit on like 1-2m if they get the roster spot to sign Koloko. 2. If you can’t agree to a buyout with Sasha, Trade Boucher to LAC for PJ Tucker and buyout PJ. Koreen says we have space to waive someone and still sign Koloko under the tax but it would be very close I think, and that could complicate a future Bruce trade. Doing this probably gives you another ~3m in space (a vet min is ~3m for someone like PJ so I assume he’d give that back), so you’d have something to work with. You can try to get a SRP out of LAC but I doubt they include one of their last picks here. It’s been reported LAC is looking to trade PJ.
Musicferret
In the small sample, Koloko more than showed he is worth a roster spot if he is medically able to play.
TommTTT
If Koloko comes back and is cleared, it’s a nice problem to have. Carlson is playing well but he’s not at Koloko’s level And he’s actually one year older.
Ulrich can develop with the 905, if he develops room can be made for him after but I’m excited with having our center of the future back.
vaalbarag
It would be really good to give this young group (Walter, Shead, Mogbo, Chomche, Carlson, and whoever else makes it on a two-way) all a big dose of G-league minutes together, not only for the experience but also so that they learn to play together, since the ‘learning an offense as a group’ is a huge part of Darko’s philosophy.
With Khoury moving up to a Raptors assistant this year, we’re still without a 905 coach, right? That will be a very interesting and important hiring choice. Jama was so important to developing FVV, Siakam, and others through the 905 originally, so hopefully they make a similarly good choice here. Jama was an internal hire initially, so I wonder if there’s anyone internally that they’ve been preparing for this sort of role. If there is an internal hire that they’re considering, it would make sense for that person to be there as part of Jama’s staff in Vegas.
9 Comments
More on Koloko:
>Koloko, 24 participated in a free-agent workout on Saturday, according to Damian Burchardt of The US Sun. The league must clear Koloko to play before he can sign with another team, and that has not happened yet.
>As mentioned, the Raptors currently have 15 players signed to guaranteed NBA contracts, in addition to three players signed to two-way deals. However, the Raptors are far enough below the luxury tax that they could waive another player to sign Koloko while ducking any tax payment, if necessary. There is no immediate word on whether the Raptors would have any interest. The Raptors have rookies Brendan Carlson and Ulrich Chomche on two-way deals, but their future at centre is hardly set.
If we can bring back Koloko you know Masai is going to move mountains to get him back on the squad.
Reality with these prospects is we don’t know much of what they’re capable of until they receive NBA skill training and strength and conditioning, and then till they’re on an NBA court. Summer League and college only give us a glimmer of who they’ll become.
[deleted]
Vezenkov seems like the obvious choice to cut for Koloko since he doesn’t even want to be in the NBA.
Mentioned it in the thread yesterday but I see 2 paths to getting the roster spot:
1. Buyout Vezenkov. Simple enough, and when Masai was on the broadcast during the first summer league game, I sorta got the impression they’re negotiating that with him. I’m guessing they want him to give up every dollar, but if Koloko gets cleared I suspect they’d be willing to take the hit on like 1-2m if they get the roster spot to sign Koloko.
2. If you can’t agree to a buyout with Sasha, Trade Boucher to LAC for PJ Tucker and buyout PJ. Koreen says we have space to waive someone and still sign Koloko under the tax but it would be very close I think, and that could complicate a future Bruce trade. Doing this probably gives you another ~3m in space (a vet min is ~3m for someone like PJ so I assume he’d give that back), so you’d have something to work with. You can try to get a SRP out of LAC but I doubt they include one of their last picks here. It’s been reported LAC is looking to trade PJ.
In the small sample, Koloko more than showed he is worth a roster spot if he is medically able to play.
If Koloko comes back and is cleared, it’s a nice problem to have. Carlson is playing well but he’s not at Koloko’s level And he’s actually one year older.
Ulrich can develop with the 905, if he develops room can be made for him after but I’m excited with having our center of the future back.
It would be really good to give this young group (Walter, Shead, Mogbo, Chomche, Carlson, and whoever else makes it on a two-way) all a big dose of G-league minutes together, not only for the experience but also so that they learn to play together, since the ‘learning an offense as a group’ is a huge part of Darko’s philosophy.
With Khoury moving up to a Raptors assistant this year, we’re still without a 905 coach, right? That will be a very interesting and important hiring choice. Jama was so important to developing FVV, Siakam, and others through the 905 originally, so hopefully they make a similarly good choice here. Jama was an internal hire initially, so I wonder if there’s anyone internally that they’ve been preparing for this sort of role. If there is an internal hire that they’re considering, it would make sense for that person to be there as part of Jama’s staff in Vegas.