Toronto Raptors-Charlotte Bobcats talking Calderon trade again
According to NBA insider, Steve Kyler, founder of Hoopsworld, The Charlotte Bobcats have re-opened talks with the Toronto Raptors with a view to bringing Jose Calderon to North Carolina.
This is a surprising move in view of recent events. In early July, the Raptors and the Bobcats talked trade and the main piece going from Toronto was Calderon. The Bobcats intended to send back forward Boris Diaw and center Tyson Chandler in exchange for Calderon and one other player to make the numbers work under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. The aim was for Charlotte to use Calderon to address the lack of a starting point guard after the loss of Raymond Felton, who’d signed a deal with the New York Knicks.
The Raptors, who are in rebuilding mode, have been looking to offload Calderon all summer long, mainly because he has a large contract, but also because they don’t need him as a starting point guard after seeing Jarret Jack take the reins so admirably last season. Calderon is also considered a huge liability in defense, an area where the Raptors performed abysmally last season, even contending at one stage for the worst defensive record in NBA history.
It looked like a done deal for the Raps, so much so that Tyson Chandler announced on his Twitter page that he was heading to Toronto. The move would also have re-united Diaw with Colangelo, who picked up the forward in the deal that sent Joe Johnson to the Atlanta Hawks in the summer of 2005. Diaw turned out to be a valuable and versatile piece in the Phoenix Suns “seven seconds” offense, but never really shined after his move to the Hornets.
Then, out of the blue, the Calderon deal fell through. Reports came out that owner and former NBA superstar Michael Jordan nixed the deal. At the time, most believed that he blocked it because he didn’t want Calderon. There were even reports that head coach Larry Brown detested the idea that Calderon would join his team.
The day after the deal fell through, Chandler was dealt to the Dallas Mavericks along with Alexis Ajinça in exchange for Matt Carroll, Erick Dampier and Eduardo Nájera, infuriating the Raptors and most of their fans because a) the Raptors have been in need of a true center such as Chandler and b) they were desperate to get rid of Calderon and the $29 million they owe him over the next three seasons.
Another benefit of obtaining Chandler/Diaw is that they have shorter contracts, and the Raptors general Manager Bryan Colangelo has been trying to shed contracts, as well as obtaining TPEs (traded player exceptions) as a means to gain cap flexibility.
Most NBA insiders said that Colangelo was extremely upset with Jordan and the Bobcats, and would never deal with them again. It also didn’t look like the two teams had anything to even talk about in terms of player exchanges since they obviously didn’t want Calderon and Colangelo didn’t have any other pieces he was desperate to get rid of.
Hence the surprise that Charlotte is now eager to get Calderon from the Raps. David Aldridge confirmed on NBA.com on Thursday that, “the Charlotte Bobcats wanted to get involved )in a recent four-player deal) as well, using the non-guaranteed contract of center Erick Dampier to try and get a point guard. Under one scenario, Dampier would have gone to Indiana, the team that originally drafted him in 1996, with TJ Ford going to Toronto and the Raptors sending guard Jose Calderon to Charlotte.”
TJ Ford was one of Colangelo’s first signings when he took over in Toronto in 2006, and he performed well until he lost his place in the starting five to none other than Jose Calderon. The general thinking is that if the Raptors picked up Ford in any deal, they would immediately wave him since after losing his place to Calderon, Ford reacted badly, creating unrest in the team’s locker room.
However, that deal also fell through and according to Kyler, the Bobcats are now talking to the Raptors directly about obtaining Calderon and the only matter in question is, who comes back in the deal.
Tags: