When the Raptors traded John Salmons’ partially guaranteed for Lou Williams and Lucas Nogueira, it signaled Toronto’s desire to keep its roster mostly in tact.
Waiving Salmons offered an opportunity to create cap room and pursue outside free agents, but Masai Ujiri didn’t go that route. He exchanged Salmons’ contract for helpful assets, leaving the Raptors to go over the cap to keep their own free agents.
Re-signing Kyle Lowry was the obvious priority. With that done, Toronto can move onto its secondary targets – Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vasquez.
One down.
Jeff Goodman of ESPN:
Patrick Patterson has signed a 3-year, $18 million deal with the Toronto Raptors, source told ESPN.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) July 4, 2014
After shooting just 0-for-5 on 3-pointers his first two NBA seasons, Patterson has developed into a solid stretch four, making 37.4 percent of his shots beyond the arc the last two seasons. His salary might be slightly on the high side, but he earned this by really working on his game.
Toronto retains an important part of its rotation. Since they acquired him in the Rudy Gay trade, the Raptors performed much better on both ends of the floor when he played:
On:
- Offensive rating: 109.5
- Defensive rating: 99.6
- Net rating: +9.9
Off:
- Offensive rating: 105.7
- Defensive rating: 104.0
- Net rating: +1.7
No Raptor had a higher on-court net rating.
The only reason I say Patterson might have been slightly overpaid is you can’t take for granted his fit on another team. But for the Raptors, they’re getting good value.