The Toronto Raptors are heading into a new era for the franchise after new general manager Masai Ujiri took over and so far this offseason the team has already made some major moves, including trading former number one overall draft pick Andrea Bargnani to the New York Knicks.
Ujiri came over from the Denver Nuggets after helping build a franchise-best 57-win team and he is also coming off a win for Executive of the Year and he is no stranger to big trades, as he also pulled off the Carmelo Anthony deal to the Knicks. Earlier in the season the Raptors picked up Rudy Gay in a deal with the Grizzlies and so far the team has seemed willing to keep, even with some interest from the Detroit Pistons this offseason. Gay is the primary offensive star on the Raptors and he will come into next season after getting eye surgery, according to Pro Basketball Talk.
Gay said to SLAM that he had some problems last season with his sight and felt the best move was to get surgery this offseason to help correct things in one of his eyes. Gay's issues came up in March and he mentioned that he had problems wearing contact lenses due to a stigma he has with putting things in his eyes and nose, saying that when he grew up he saw people using drugs that way and was one reason why he couldn't wear the eye gear. Gay fixed things up over the summer and he said that his vision feels much better and he is seeing better and that should help his three-point shooting, which was lacking last year.
The Raptors have a solid young core to build around with Gay, DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas, who just won MVP at the summer league and the team also made some solid moves in free agency, including swaying Pacers forward Tyler Hansbrough to sign a deal. The team has Kyle Lowry at point guard and D.J. Augustin to back him up and they also likely will keep Steve Novak after the Bargnani trade, as Marcus Camby was bought out and Quentin Richardson has said that he won't play for the Raptors either. Last season Gay averaged over 18 points over his time with Memphis and Toronto last season and he average nearly 20 points per game in 33 games with Toronto.
The Pistons made a play for Gay earlier in the offseason, but that discussion never went further than that and now both teams are working to rebuild with the core players they currently have. The Pistons offer included Rodney Stuckey and Charlie Villanueva since their deals are expiring, but the Raptors decided to sit tight and the Pistons appeared okay to do so as well, as they now have those two players along with Josh Smith after signing him to a significant contract to go along with Greg Monroe and Andre Drummond. Gay has two years and $37 million left on the deal he signed with the Nuggets and he is the main piece the team is building around.
