The Toronto Raptors may be getting ahead of themselves.
Less than 20 games into the Rudy Gay experiment the Raptors are already thinking long term, which is fine. Acting on such thoughts at this juncture, though, isn’t.
Per Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, Raptors general manager Bryan Colangelo intends to offer Gay a contract extension after this season:
The struggling Raptors appear to believe in Gay. General manager Bryan Colangelo already views him as the face of the franchise, and a source said he will likely offer a contract extension in the offseason. Toronto is in need of star power since the departure of Chris Bosh and the demise of Andrea Bargnani, the former No. 1 draft pick. Attempts will be made to move Bargnani this summer for a proven scoring post player, sources said.
“We obviously needed to elevate the talent level of our team,” Colangelo said. “We needed to find out who was available and who was going to fit the characteristics of a star quality player we were looking for. We had targeted Rudy as a dynamic player who would fit a number of things we would add to our team. Rudy was a guy who I thought would eventually be available.”
That Toronto is so high on Gay is hardly surprising. He’s averaging a team-high 20.9 points per night and has already hit two-game winners in his short stint with the team. There’s also no denying this team needs a heralded superstar to build around. Gay is criticized more often than most of the NBA’s elite players, but he’s still a star.
Clad with an understanding of the league’s tax-heavy CBA, though, I’m not so sure the Raptors should jump the gun here.
Clearly, Toronto saw something in Gay and planned to retain him for the foreseeable future. If the Raptors didn’t, they wouldn’t have traded for him. Knowing that they’ve already been spurned by Chris Bosh and nearly crippled by Andrea Bargnani’s ineptitude only increases the urgency behind their commitment to Gay.
But locking him down this offseason, a year before he’s eligible for free agency? I’m not so sure about that.
It’s not Gay’s salary that troubles me. So what if he’s due nearly $18 million next season and more than $19 million the next? That’s not the point.
The point is that the Raptors still don’t know if Gay is the one who can lead them toward prominence, who can render them a destination of choice for impending free agents. Signing him to an extension now obliterates any flexibility they have should Gay not pan out. This isn’t to say Gay won’t lead to Toronto back to the playoffs. But who are we to say that he will this early on in the process?
I admire Colangelo’s commitment to Gay. It’s a devotion Gay was never exposed to with the Memphis Grizzlies and he’s liable to eat it up, and maybe even sign that extension the Raptors are prepared offer.
Knowing that we know almost nothing about how fecund this marriage is fated to be, that’s an extension Toronto shouldn’t offer. Not until they know that Gay is the right face for their future.
And right now, they don’t know. None us do. This early, we can’t.
So the Raptors should holster those extension plans before making what is almost a blind commitment.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
