Reply With Quote
*sob* We'll miss you Alvin.
Alvin Williams is no longer a Raptor.
The team released the veteran point guard this morning, giving general manager Bryan Colangelo some salary cap flexibility and ending the tenure of one of the cornerstones of the franchise for almost a decade.
Williams has played in just one game since March 2004 as he battled a series of knee surgeries.
"We felt we had to move on to free up a roster spot," Colangelo said this morning.
Williams is the team’s all-time leader in assists, 1,791, and games played, 417, and has been with Toronto since being acquired from Portland on Feb. 13, 1998.
"I have nothing but the utmost respect for Alvin and his efforts," said Colangelo. "He’s not only a terrific basketball player but a terrific person."
Under teams of the agreement and Williams' contract, the Raptors will realize significant salary cap savings over the next two seasons. They will be held cap responsible for about half of the money they would have had to pay Williams – close to $16 million (all figures U.S.) – after coming to this deal with the player and his agent.
"We’ll probably maintain that flexibility going into the season," said Colangelo.
The general manager said he thought Williams would try to catch on with another team but added there is a chance he could return to Toronto in some non-playing capacity in the future.
Meanwhile, the Raptors also announced the signing of free-agent guard Fred Jones today.
Jones, 26, got a three-year contract worth about $11 million, after being an unrestricted free agent. The Pacers, for whom he had played four seasons, declined to make him a qualifying offer, freeing him to make a deal with any team instead of retaining the right to match any contract offer he got.
"Me personally, I’m going to give you everything I got," he said. "I know the other players are going to do the same. Hopefully we’ll do big things out there."
The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 9.6 points per game with the Pacers last year as a backup and averaged 10.6 points and 3.1 rebounds the season before.
He has been used primarily as a backup but will get a chance to fight for a starting job with Toronto.
"He brings a tremendous skill-set to this team," Colangelo said. "He’s had what I could term a bright young career thus far.
"We intend to have him come here and take it to another level."
The addition of Jones, and the anticipated arrival of former second-round draft pick Uros Slokar later this week, brings to a close a frenzy of activity for Colangelo, who has almost entirely remade the Raptor roster since taking over in February.
When training camp, currently scheduled for Waterloo, begins in early October, there will be nine new faces on the team which will bear no resemblance to the squad that finished a wretched 27-55 in the 2005-06 season.
Joining Jones as new backcourt players are point guard T.J. Ford (trade with Milwaukee), guard-forward Anthony Parker (free agent) and swingman P.J. Tucker (second-round draft pick). Other new faces are Andrea Bargnani (first overall draft pick), Rasho Nesterovic (trade with San Antonio), Kris Humphries (trade with Utah), Jorge Garbajosa (free agent) and Slokar.
Other than the injured Pape Sow, the only holdover Raptors who will be at training camp are Chris Bosh, Morris Peterson, Jose Calderon and Joey Graham.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=970081593064
Bosh
Rasho
Bargnani
Garbajosa
Slokar
Humphries
Mo Peterson
Anthony Parker
Fred Jones
Joey Graham
Tucker
TJ Ford
Calderon
Inj: Sow
*sob* We'll miss you Alvin.
Attention, stalkers of Slovenians:
Fresh meat!
If you ever saw Williams play, and if you knew of his plight, you had to be at least a little sad for him yesterday, when it was announced he'd been waived by the club after an 8 1/2-year tenure. The parting was, but for a classless oversight, a just one. While a provision in Williams' contract allowed the Raptors to release their injury-ravaged guard and pay him only half of the approximately $14 million (U.S.) remaining on his contract, Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors' president and GM, voluntarily negotiated a sweeter settlement for a loyal employee.
Still, it was more than a little jarring to see free-agent guard Fred Jones arrive at the Air Canada Centre yesterday, just moments after Colangelo had announced Williams' departure, and hoist a Toronto jersey bearing the number 20. Williams, who'd occupied that jersey since February of 1998, was less than 12 hours removed from faxing over a signed copy of his walking papers in a midnight-hour rush. Considering he'd given the franchise all of his heart, not to mention both his knees and his ankles, putting the new guy in the old guy's number was a thoughtless, tactless display.
But Williams left it for others to complain. He was only disappointed, he said, that the business of basketball had finally trumped his love for the game. He wanted another chance to play for the Raptors. And if his contract wasn't so big, that might have been an option. As it was, the only choice for the Raptors — financially and compe ively — was to buy him out and move on.
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/Con...l=970081562040
Aw, turns out it's a business in Canada, too....
Fred Jones said himself that wearing that number, he hopes to represent Williams and that growing up in Portland, he was a fan of Williams.
As for it being a business, did you not read this:
While a provision in Williams' contract allowed the Raptors to release their injury-ravaged guard and pay him only half of the approximately $14 million (U.S.) remaining on his contract, Bryan Colangelo, the Raptors' president and GM, voluntarily negotiated a sweeter settlement for a loyal employee. The team voluntarily gave a larger settlement than they had to for a player who hasn't been able to play in over 2 years out of their respect for what he did with the team. That's a good way to conduct "business." And I surely have not read any articles bad mouthing the guy because he is no longer with the team- ala the Spurs.
I did read it. You are the one who discounts monetary compensation.
Damn Slovenes!Attention, stalkers of Slovenians:
Fresh meat!
We can't help being adorable :p
Damn Slovenes!
We can't help being adorable :p
Seriously! Must be something in the water/ and or pear brandy.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
