Greivis Vasquez will sign a two-year, $13 million deal to stay with Toronto, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2014
That’s the WojBomb, here’s Greivis’ reaction:
I truly Love Toronto… #TeamVasquez
— Greivis Vasquez (@greivisvasquez) July 10, 2014
This was in the making for some time now with Vasquez himself professing his love for the Raptors time-and-time again, and multiple reports suggesting that the Raptors were close to a deal.
The $6.5M/yr is higher than the mid-level exception (~ $5M) and by comparison, is higher than what fellow backup-guard Shaun Livingston got with Golden State ($5.3M/yr). The deal appears to be a compromise on the part of both parties – Vasquez was likely seeking a longer deal (at least three years) but Ujiri has chosen to pay a slightly higher amount over a shorter period of time. The deal is likely to satisfy Vasquez who gets a good two years to prove his mettle and seek a longer deal at the age of 29. Coincidentally, Vasquez is now set to become a free-agent at the same time as his good friend Kevin Durant in 2016, so read into that what you will.
Much like Patterson, it became clear that the Raptors would have to offer more than the mid-level exception as there a number of teams dangling that offer in front of free-agents, so the amount comes as little surprise. The deal is more than double his qualifying offer of $3.2M, and though I’m quite happy with the re-signing, you have to wonder just what the competition here was since there were no reports (other than a flaky one linking him to the Bucks) that any team was about to sign him to an offersheet. However, you have to give Masai Ujiri the benefit of the doubt and consider this a proactive move before the competition got hot as teams got desperate.
The Raptors are over the cap and depending on how the Lowry, Patterson and Vasquez deals are structured, they’ll still have the mid-level exception available to them. It is unlikely to be the full mid-level of $5M but somewhere north of $4M should still be available to sign one more player. Blake will follow up with this info a bit later.
The signing marks Ujiri executing a clean sweep of his three major free-agents within nine days of free-agency starting, which is highly efficient to say the least. It means that the Raptors can, to a man, bring back the core group of players from last year with some sprinklings in the form of Bruno Caboclo, Bebe Nogueira, Lou Williams and whoever else they’re going to sign with the MLE. The Raptors have kept their chemistry intact and improved their athleticism and bench-scoring without handing out unreasonable contracts. All the players they’ve re-signed are now set to play the prime of their careers in a Raptors jersey, which pales in comparisons to the mass re-signings in the summer of 2001.
Vasquez will resume his duties as the backup point guard, only this time there will be legitimate backcourt help in the form of Lou Williams, who will give Dwane Casey easy opportunities to mix-and-match with Lowry and Vasquez, because of his ability to play both backcourt positions. After being acquired as part of the Rudy Gay trade, Vasquez averaged 9.5 points and 3.7 assists with the Raptors in 2013-14. These numbers were more or less on par with his career. More importantly, he provided an effective contrast to Kyle Lowry, giving defenses a much different look than the bowling-ball style of Lowry. Vasquez had an excellent playoff run where he increased his production to 10.1 points and 5.1 assists, and was one of the only backcourt players other than Lowry that negotiated the Nets’ pressure defense effectively.
His 6’6″ frame allows him to pass over pressure and be an effective pick ‘n roll player, especially in late shot-clock situations. Vasquez is definitely lacking on the defensive end and happens to be inflicted with slow feet and poor lateral movement, but unlike Jose Calderon which many will draw parallels with, his frame allows him to step back against quicker guards, making him less of a liability.
The continuity that we all feared would not materialize with three major free-agents is now guaranteed. The signing also sends a message to the league that the Raptors can retain key free-agents, not because they’re paying more, but because they have a desirable basketball situation.
Good stuff.
For more analysis of the deal, check out William Lou’s 3 reasons why the signing made sense
