Monta Ellis is out, and Marco Belinelli is in Don Nelson's doghouse. Various sources in Italy have been talking for weeks of an inevitable Belinelli to the East trade, but until recently, it was just another rumor.
When the Raptors faced the Boston Celtics, there was something incredibly odd about Kris Humphries sudden and suspicious toe injury which kept him in a suit.
With all the smoke around Belinelli, we can logically assume that Colangelo has certainly made an offer to the Warriors, considering Colangelo was actively pursuing the young Italian in the 2007 draft, only to see him picked at 18.
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Due to Humphries' contract being much larger than Belinelli's, the Raptors would have to get something else back, or involve another team to make things work.
Depending on how the Warriors feel about taking Kapono and how much faith they have in Graham and Humphries, one deal which would work would see the Raptors trade Graham, Humphries, and Kapono in exchange for Harrington and Belinelli.
While the deal is still a rumor at best, it does make sense for the Raptors to pursue the young guard.
He's creative off the bounce, a teammate of Andrea Bargnani on the Italian national team, and he's got enough athleticism and shooting ability to be better than any current Raptor wing player in the long-run.
He also serves the purpose of an emergency backup point guard, which never hurts.
If teaming Belinelli with Bargnani can bring out the best in both of them, a la Nowitzki and Nash in Dallas, a deal for Belinelli could pay off huge for the Raptors.
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about 1 month ago
Marco Belinelli, AKA Andrea Bargnani 0.5, would be a bad move for the Raptors. Humphries may not be the best PF/C in the league, but I'm willing to wager he's a more dominant player than Belinelli.
from about 1 month ago
Well the point at this time would be to give this team a balance. Take a look at my article (10 steps to building an NBA champion for what I mean). You can't have your quality youth for the future 66% focussed on the same position. I mean, Humphries/Bargnani/Bosh are ALL power forwards.. So is Jermaine O'Neal. You have NO core pieces moving forward at the wing. Belinelli is a fringe rotation guy and Humphries is too. While I don't really like his game, I certainly think he's a better overall player than Kapono, and if you can get a big for Kapono, you can have belinelli for Humphries to balance out some youth and perhaps help out Bargnani a bit.
about 1 month ago
I'm skeptical about trading Hump, one of the few Raptors who plays with toughness, for another inconsisent wing player who can shoot the rock and not much else.
There's always the chance that the Raps catch lightning in a bottle and Bargnani/Bellinelli begin to thrive when paired together, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Harrington is the piece from Golden State that I want, but I think Colangelo would have to catch Chris Mullin heavily sedated for him to agree to a Harrington/Bellinelli for Graham/Kapono/Humphries deal. Graham and Humphries are players that will probably always be on the fringe of a team's top 8 or 9 rotation, while Kapono is as one-dimensional as they come.
I don't see that deal going through without Bargnani being involved.
about 1 month ago
not much americans have seen belinelli play in the world championships and so on
but belinelli ..trust me is a brilliant shooter and can be very efficent to the team if he gets some time
he would be used 2 the players obviously bargnani but also calderon as their from europe they know each others style then with chris bosh and jermaine o neal thats an obvious play off team.
he would also fit in with the wizards and possibly the cavailers:)
warriors have 5 shooting guards now and belinelli wont have any time on the court so trade him please
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