Bruce Brown Is Giving The Raptors A HUGE Problem..

Bruce Brown Is Giving The Raptors A HUGE Problem..

Raptor fans knew that changes needed to be made in the off season but a few days into for agency the front office has made no moves of significance and it’s largely as a result of Bruce Brown’s contract let’s get into it the situation is looking Bleak for the Raptors as the Bruce Brown contract is causing the Raptors some significant issues in finding free agent help the team has not brought in any new players and with very limited options left on the table what can we actually expect the Raptors to achieve in this off season where it’s very clear they need to rectify things after only winning 25 games last season tanking finishing with a bottom six record in the NBA things need to be turned around you just invested a whole bunch of money into Scotty Barnes well you need to try and put Talent around him to try and maximize his abilities you just give him manual quickly a big contract you need to give those players the platform and tools to succeed on the floor but as of right now nothing has actually happened for the Raptors and I’m explain why over the course of the video today on Amateur hour Sports the YouTube channel completely dedicated to Toronto Raptors content in videos like this as well as live streams on the channel drop a like if you enjoy along the way and subscribe for even more Raptors content all offseason and Beyond so the Raptors obviously acquired Bruce Brown in the Pascal cakam trade that trade has been deemed to be extremely underwhelming I wouldn’t say it was good but I wouldn’t say it was bad either the Raptors did did get the 19th overall pick they got a 2026 first round pick via Indiana as well and and they also got the 29th overall pick from this year’s draft which they turned into kellyo linck and OJ abaji but also in the trade alongside Kyro Lewis they got Bruce Brown in the deal and what the appeal was for Bruce Brown was the Raptor’s ability to flip him or trade him down the line a trade did not materialize over the course of last season as the Raptors were looking for future first round picks particularly they were looking for picks for the 2025 draft or the 2026 draft but at the 2024 NBA trade deadline the only draft picks that were being offered up were first round picks for the 2024 draft where the Raptors didn’t really feel as though it was the strongest class to really Stack Up picks for they seemingly at the time did not want to bring in too many rookies at once which they obviously ignored because they drafted four players this year which we’ll also talk about but in the end the Raptors did not want to settle for a 2024 pick they wanted those future picks and they felt as though they could wait that out and eventually receive that perhaps that could be on the table down the line but in the present things are very very much not looking good right now and it’s giving the Raptors once again this significant issue in signing for agents the reality is the Raptors in order to maximize the possibility of trading Bruce Brown had to take on his team option on a contract that was too expensive they knew that when they traded for him and they knew this was going to be a possibility but what ended up happening in the situation that kind of handcuffed themselves is they had to take that $23 million team option to again retain the possibility of trading the player and bringing in assets the ISS issue there is that well if you are going to take on that team option and you’re not going to have free agents lined up within the cap based on the situation of picking up that team option that may have been a mistake you know it’s one thing if the Raptors pick up the $23 million option on on Bruce Brown’s contract keep him with the team and there’s always that possibility that I’ve said previously on this channel of trading him down the line you can be patient like Bruce Brown is a good player let’s not forget that like like a year ago imagine if you were told that at the start of this season Bruce Brown would be on the Raptors that’d be pretty cool uh Bruce Brown’s a good player I think he fits well with the Raptor he’s a good ball handler he’s switchable on offense he’s switchable on defense there’s certain elements of his game that he has that other Raptors players don’t possess I like having Bruce Brown on the team however maybe fans are a bit sour because of his involvement in the sakam trade which has been deemed by some as underwhelming perhaps people are upset because Bruce Brown didn’t play well near the end of the season he said himself he was dealing with an injury I would also say the Raptors were tanking and they sucked it’s hard to play well in that environment especially when you’re Bruce Brown a more complimentary player but in the end Bruce Brown is a good player it’s nice to have that on your team in the worst case scenario however it doesn’t really make sense to pick up that team option without having a free agent in place that you feel like you could sign within your cap constraints that that contract created and it doesn’t really make sense to pick up that team option not having that trade lined up if you don’t have any freedance lined up in that cap situ situation because the cap situation right now is Bleak for the Raptors there is about seemingly around $13 million in cap space available for the Toronto Raptors that’s probably decreased a little bit given the only thing the Raptors have done so far in free agency is Bring Back Garrett Temple look good vet presence whatever fine bring it back for a season on a cheap contract but that’s the only piece of business the Raptors have done they seemingly won’t have access to the full mid-level exception which again makes it more difficult for the team to bring in the free agent and a lot of the options that were out there be it guys who can play Wing defense and a rip attending Center a lot of those options have just completely passed them by and it’s largely as a result of the Bruce Brown contract the contract has completely nullified all durability to make a move even with an outgoing free agent like Gary Trent Jr there’s still a possibility of bringing Gary Tren Jr back I have been way off on my views of what Gary tren’s contract is going to be in all of my videos in this channel I’ve been saying that like look I don’t really rate Gary Trent I’m not that fond of him as a player but even in my pessimistic views I’m thinking like he’s worth at least $16 million right like should he even get that but he’ll probably will now the market according to Michael gra of Sports Net has decreased so much that he’s not even getting offers in the midlevel exception territory he’s getting contracts likely in the range of about $10 million per year it seems so that presents a little wrinkle with Gary Trent that presents potentially an opportunity for the Raptors to resign him or Gary Trent to sign a cheap one-year deal elsewhere as a sort of pro IT contract to earn that bigger contract next summer when more c space opens up for some teams there’s a better understanding of the second apron and it’s implication on organizations around the NBA but all of these hypothetical moves the Raptors can make are hampered by this Bruce Brown contract the Raptors won’t understand until he’s traded it seems what their cap situation is going to be are they going to take back full salary for Bruce Brown are they going to take back partial salary of that 23 million for Bruce Brown they don’t know and until they know what the salary is they’re operating so close to what would be paying the luxury tax that perhaps they don’t want to risk making any signings without having the full understanding of the situation of the finances of the team so my thoughts on Bruce Brown were there shouldn’t be any real rush to trade him and you know I still kind of Stand by that thought that you can get a pick down the line you can still trade him close to the trade deadline he’s a good player with the absolute worst case scenario if he’s still on your team can help you guys out on the floor but that in unison with not having any potential free agents lined up not having seemingly any possible trade lined up at this point is a bit of a fumble by the Raptors front office it’s clear that okay there’s some good pieces in place for the Raptors here but it’s it’s also clear that we needed to add in some depth the there’s still a distinct lack of Defense overall on this team on the wings as I’ve said I’ve mentioned that the three things the Raptors need to address backup point guard big wi Defender Rim protecting center for the backup spot they brought in a backup point guard and Daven Mitchell they’re going to give him competition with 45th overall pick Jamal shed and they didn’t really address the big wi Defender maybe they feel like jacobe Walter can make some progression the 19 th overall pick on the defensive end of the floor but they’ve absolutely done nothing to address getting a rim protecting Center like Jonathan mobo 31st overall pick maybe a switchable Defender but as a 6′ seven Center 31st overall pick can I really trust him out the gate to get those backup center minutes for the role that I’ve described not really so maybe the Raptors understood that there were going to be some issues in for agency they were going to have some struggles finding players to sign for their team and they decided to do their work in the draft maybe that’s why they ignored their previous comments of only wanting to work with two rookies and they decided to bring in four jacobe Walter at 19 was a great pick Jonathan mobo at 31 you understand it but perhaps was a bit of a reach Jamal shed bring some competition to the backup point guard spot Oris shamay is a fun little project for the Raptors to take on for one of the youngest players in the draft class not going to be a significant player definitely from day one but potentially down the line so that’s where the Raptors did the bulk of their work here they decided let’s invest in the draft let’s reinvest to get more picks for the draft because we have the understanding that we’re not going to be a big player in the free agent Market but one thing also to note for the Raptors the final thing here is that even if the Raptors didn’t pick up this Bruce Brown contract you have to understand kind of where the Raptors are situated with this Market on a year-to-year basis they are not a major player in the free agent market so if the Raptors had ignored the Bruce Brown contract let him walk and decide okay let’s be a cap based team here because we we can’t get anything for Bruce Brown through a trade there’s also the possibility that they still wouldn’t have been able to sign any free agents so if that was a situation maybe the safest bet was to keep Bruce Brown see if you can trade him down the line worst case he’s on your team and he’s a good player to have on the roster but overall it feels like at this present Point frency has been a pretty big failure for the Raptors there were needs that needed to be addressed and the Raptors have done nothing as of yet so we’ll see I mean look Bruce Brown can get traded later today tomorrow next week but it could be in some months time as well we don’t really know what the situation is but the bottom line is the Raptors need to figure out a way to get some more Talent into this team or what’s already a roster struggling to compete with an East that is improving this summer is going to have even more difficulties next season and hopefully it doesn’t turn into a disaster season like it did in the 2023 and 2024 so what have you made of the Raptors off season so far and what do you make of Bruce Brown’s contract give me all of your thoughts and opinions in the comments down below cuz that’s all for me for today drop a like if you enjoyed this video make sure you subscribe to amateur sports for more Raptor content and I’ll see you next time for another video [Music]

The Toronto Raptors have had a terrible start to free agency and as we trickle into day four they have yet to make any new signings for their roster which is in clear need of reinforcement coming off of a dismal 25-win season. The main reason for their struggles to sign new players is the Bruce Brown contract, which had a team option for this season which the Raptors took on shortly before the June 30 opening to deals being made. Why is this contract causing so many issues and what does Masai Ujiri’s front office need to do to turn this offseason around? Jacob Gramegna has the answers today on Amateur Hour Sports.

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0:00 – Bruce Brown’s contract is a big problem
1:13 – How the Raptors got into this situation
2:35 – Raptors fans have turned on Bruce Brown
4:30 – Toronto are in a tough position with their cap space
5:11 – Gary Trent Jr’s contract
6:18 – Why Bruce Brown’s contract is holding everything up
7:24 – What the Raptors roster is missing
8:18 – The Raptors did their work in the draft
9:10 – Would the Raptors have missed out on their free-agent targets anyway?

This is Amateur Hour Sports. On this channel, Jacob Gramegna analyzes and breaks down the latest on the Toronto Raptors NBA team from trade rumors to post-game reactions, analysis, and much more. By subscribing to this channel you will be there first to watch and enjoy 3-4 videos a week all focused on this team and on game days Jacob goes live on the channel for a watch party where he interacts with chat, answers your questions, and analyses the game as it happens with play by play and commentary. Join the Amateur Hour Army today by subscribing and consider becoming a member to give extra support to the channel and help create better content more often.

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