Raptors Have Interest in Ike Diogu

[execoftheyear]

Now I'm convinced Bosh is staying....he's another one of Bosh's good friends...well that's if we get him

the guy may be undersized but he has a crazy wingspan...7'4'' I believe...his best years were in G-State...good rebounder and can finish around the rim pretty well for his size...he'd be competing for minutes against Evans not Rasho

[tosi]

why???

Rasho is an established big man in the league who can cover legitimate centres.

The way I see it, if the Raps do get Rasho he'll be playing around the 10-12 mpg range. He'll contribute and play the way he's always been played and what anyone would expect from a legitimate back-up big, but I'd rather spend those minutes to younger players for development. We know what Rasho can give us but what if Diogu and POB can give us some of that, and more.

The team is no where close to contending so stock-piling talent would be one of my priorities if I were in BC's position.

We play in the Eastern Conference.. Every year we can contend.. What happens when we decide to develop big men and they all become busts..

What if we played the Busts and they keep losing games for us for the inability to stop the other team, hence making Bosh even more tired..

Why spend another year teaching big men when BIG MEN is not our forte?

Rasho brings in the intangibles that the new players aren't willign to do.. He steps in there to Box out people.. To redirect the basketball to players when he can't rebound. He does all the little things to help out Bosh without looking for touches, minutes or bitching..


My question would be.. If we keep developing players.. When the hell do you ever to expect us to be contenders?

[pspot]

I just don't like the idea of Bargnani being the only 7' on the team, POB is nice but a vet like Rasho who is fundamentally sound and dependable really solidifies the roster

[Courtside]

Diogu's agent: Hey Bryan - have you decided what to do with your MLE?
Colangelo: We're looking at several options
Diogu's agent: You could use a big guy with more experience than POB
Colangelo: Yeah, that's one of the options we're weighing
Diogu's agent: My guy Diogu would be a perfect fit
Colangelo: It depends on what kind of money he's looking for
Diogu's agent: You could split your MLE and give him half of it
Colangelo: We'll consider him as an option, but not at that kind of money
Diogu's agent: We can discuss it. Let's talk again tomorrow?
Colangelo: Leave it with me - we'll call you

...and tada - the agent can honestly say the Raptors have interest. It doesn't mean they called and tried to make an offer, just that he is probably one of several options being considered.

[TheDoctor]

The skillset we're missing among our bigmen is for a smart, savvy vet who knows where to be on defense, plays angles well, and boxes out/rebounds - and can guard Cs. And we can get cheap. That's Rasho.

I liked Ike Diogu more than most coming out of ASU, and he was victim of going to the mess (for big men) of Golden State. Then he was dealt in the big deal with Indy, where he settled in behind their quality group of starting big men. Then ended up in Portland - behind theirs. And then the Kings have their own group of young bigs they drafted. He knows how to use his body to get chances to score in the post, and is a solid but not spectacular rebounder. His college block numbers never materialized in the NBA.

I wouldn't be against adding him and Rasho to round out our group of big men for next season. I have no doubt he would be productive in the minutes we give him... but I'm not sure that we're a fit for him - he's probably looking for a better chance for minutes, not to compete with Rasho and Reggie and POB. Given that Ike is a pure PF, and our two best bigs are both better complemented by a more traditional C or an energy rebounder like Reggie... I think he should look elsewhere.

[Meursault]

The skillset we're missing among our bigmen is for a smart, savvy vet who knows where to be on defense, plays angles well, and boxes out/rebounds - and can guard Cs. And we can get cheap. That's Rasho.

I liked Ike Diogu more than most coming out of ASU, and he was victim of going to the mess (for big men) of Golden State. Then he was dealt in the big deal with Indy, where he settled in behind their quality group of starting big men. Then ended up in Portland - behind theirs. And then the Kings have their own group of young bigs they drafted. He knows how to use his body to get chances to score in the post, and is a solid but not spectacular rebounder. His college block numbers never materialized in the NBA.

I wouldn't be against adding him and Rasho to round out our group of big men for next season. I have no doubt he would be productive in the minutes we give him... but I'm not sure that we're a fit for him - he's probably looking for a better chance for minutes, not to compete with Rasho and Reggie and POB. Given that Ike is a pure PF, and our two best bigs are both better complemented by a more traditional C or an energy rebounder like Reggie... I think he should look elsewhere.

I agree with your post, particularly with the fact that Diogu offers post-scoring ability that the other players do not. But here's a question that I raised earlier that hasn't been addressed in the thread: who will do the primary interior scoring for the second unit? Assuming that Rasho and Delfino are signed and Jack isnt' matched, we're looking at:

PG: Jack
SG: Delfino
SF: Wright / George
PF: Evans
C: Rasho

This kind of worries me. The same complaints we had about Delfino slashing occasionally and spending most of his time chucking at the perimeter (and beyond) will likely resurface. Evans and Rasho have almost zero offensive game. What I'm concerned about is, with the wear and tear of an 82 game season and this current bench, Bosh and Bargnani will have to play 35+ min plus on any given night since one of the two (likely Bargnani) will have to spend a bit on time on the 2nd unit to get the offence going.

[Vittorio De Zen]

WOW!

You guys have no idea how excited I am about this. It sounds ridiculous but I am way more pumped about this than I was about Jarrett Jack, and I like Jarrett Jack.

This guy has had great per-minute numbers the whole time he's been in the league, and he's been unfairly benched by each coach that has had him. His end-of-the-bench status has long been a huge mystery to me. I wasn't one bit surprised when he put up those crazy numbers in the last two games of the season, this dude just needs minutes.

I'd be fine with giving him the LLE, but I'm pretty sure that's going to Rasho. If we can find a way to dump Douby, George, Wright, or Banks (fat chance, heh), then I pray to everything that is holy that Diogu would sign for the minimum here. I just hope Triano would have the sense to play him over Reggie Evans, if indeed we find a way to acquire him.

[will]

Ike >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> POB

Hands down.

POB is such a scrub. That guy has shown absolutely nothing in this league, even in scrub minutes. At least Ike has put up incredible double double numbers when given an opportunity with big minutes.

[Pubert]

I knew I would find a post for Diogu. I think Rasho is the better backup. But if we can get both go for it. Diogu has potential on every team he goes to but never lives up to it. But we can hope it will be with the Raps.. but I wouldn't hold my breath.

[Paradokz]

reminds me of jerome moiso

[Courtside]

I do think Diogu would make some sense, though. He can both score and rebound fairly well, and considering Evans is 29 with 2 years left on his contract, Diogu might be a decent guy to groom into our backup PF as he's 4 years younger with considerably more potential. Until then, he and POB woudl fight for tie as the 5th big.

He's originally from Buffalo, so no issues about location or weather either.

[SharoneWright]

I'm backing this move along with Rasho.

Especially pertinent since the losses of Hump and Jawai.

Double upgrade and well-balanced roster.

[will]

reminds me of jerome moiso

Have you even seen Diogu play? That guy has legitimate post moves and a back to the basket game.

[JamesNaismith]

I'll take Ike over POB and Pops all day long.

[Downtown]

I've followed Diogu a bit since reading a Sports Illistrated story on him when he was still at Arizona State. He was on the cover and he was touted as the best big man in college at 6'8" or 6'9". The article was about how college teams were going back to smaller centers since recruiting tall players made no sense because then NBA teams were plucking them right out of highschool based on size alone. Based on his college career I thought he was going to make an impact in the NBA.

I do think he fell victim a little bit to circumstances of being stuck behind established players. But the guy can play, no question, and I think if Colangelo can secure him for a small price it's a solid move for bench depth. I definitely think he's better than Humphries. He would also come in with NBA experience, plus he's been used strictly in a bench role so there's no guessing on his part what's expected of him, plus the way he finished out the season should give him incentive to keep that going, plus he's at that junction in his career where he has something to prove.

[Doctorb23]

Yes. I have been thinking about Diogu a lot. with Hump outta here, lets get him.

[pspot]

I'd imagine Raps are going to have a pretty tight front court rotation where for the majority of the time (barring fouls or injury) two of Bargs, Bosh or Evans will always be on the floor. Bosh and Bargs will get around 36 mins and Evans 24

[Maritimer]

To the poster who worried about offense from our bench players, I'm not concerned. We're rarely going to run 5 bench players on the floor at once, and Delfino and Jack are OK enough scorers to be useful.

As for Ike, I'd bring him in for a year as well as Rasho if they'd both come, and show POB the door (hopefully for a 2nd round pick from some sucker of a team).

[Tanking It]

I do not see him coming here, unless we given him the bi-annual, which is pretty much tagged for Rasho. And as others have pointed out, given how we do not have a true C in are starting line up, brags would be much better at the 4, we need a true C with Size, and that is Rasho. It is true that we lack a scoring big off the bench, but with Jack, and Carlo's driving and shooting on the second, plus the fact that it is likely that the bigs get rotated so that you would only see Rasho/Reggie in garbage time, we do not need a scoring big.

Plus the fact is that Ike best shot is to play somewhere that has min's at the bigs, the teams that come to mine are the bucks, Pistons, Hawks, and Thunder, all those teams would be better bets for him if he had to take a min deal, which is what we would offer most likely.

But his potential has interesting always shown up in the numbers, going back to the Pacers-G-state trade, at the time, Hollinger said the key to that trade for the pacers was that they are getting Ike. Because of the crazy per min number he can put up.

[Hank_Scorpio]

reminds me of jerome moiso

Have you even seen Diogu play? That guy has legitimate post moves and a back to the basket game.

He also averages just under 2 fouls in 12 minutes for his career.

He's also played on 4 teams in 4 years in the NBA - which is usually not a good sign. And its not like he's a young player - he'll be 26 when the season starts.

So despite his two fabulous games at the end of the season, he has yet to show anything on a consistent basis in his NBA career.

Having said all that, if he's cheap, I would welcome him to the Raps as a 4th or 5th big man.