Again, Baynes is not Gasol, but those are some Gasol-ian counting stats in the interim. He also shot 48 percent from the field and an eye-opening 35 percent from three on four attempts per game. Last season in Phoenix, Baynes appeared in 42 contests, averaging 22.2 minutes per, while posting 11.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game. What’s more, while Baynes began his career as not much more than a bruiser, he’s since expanded his shooting and passing game in the new NBA. No, Baynes is not quite Marc Gasol (whose departure to LA set off this signing), but he is modestly younger at 33 years old, and built like a brick fort at 6’10” and 262 pounds. As far as back-up plans go, grabbing Baynes on a team-friendly two-year deal (with a team-option on the second) is a solid way to go. We had the original announcement here and we even got into some of the salary cap math making it all work here. To that end, in a surprising turn, the Raptors welcomed one of the beefiest boys on the market to Toronto (or, for now, Tampa): Aron Baynes. After all, that’s what the real big boys are for! In truth, the beefiest guy on the Raptors’ partial roster above is OG Anunoby, who has flashed centre utility before, but is not a guy Toronto should have banging at the 5-spot for a full regular season. As has been noted: the roster in that moment was extremely thin up front, with obvious needs at power forward and centre - and, really, just all around size. SF: OG Anunoby, Stanley Johnson, Paul Watson (Two-Way)Īfter the re-signing of Fred VanVleet - which to my mind was never really in doubt - things were a little hazier for Toronto. SG: Norman Powell, Terence Davis, Matt Thomas, Jalen Harris PG: Kyle Lowry, Patrick McCaw, Malachi Flynn In that spirit of reckless adventure, let’s return instead to our roster summary thoughts of just five days ago and review how the Raptors have changed since then.įirst, here’s where things stood as of the ringing of the dinner bell last Friday at 6pm, when the league’s free agency bonanza began in earnest. Hell, the Raptors are set to play their home games in Tampa, Florida - but let’s not get started on that. Such is the NBA world of the pandemic, everything far more topsy-turvy than normal. The ink hasn’t even dried - indeed it hasn’t even been put to paper yet - yet the Raptors have re-made a chunk of their roster and are now gearing up for training camp on December 1st. The wildest part about the NBA’s free agency period this time around is that while ordinarily we’d spend months fantasizing about what our favourite team, the Toronto Raptors, will eventually look like when it takes the court, now we just get to see it happen in a week or two.
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