As he proved late last year Sonny Weems is a valuable member of this teams young core, projected as more of a 6th or 7th man once our roster is in order, Sonny Weems is committed on both ends of the floor.

Young Gun and former NCAA Slam Dunk Champion Sonny Weems needs to be extended now, the least of reasons being you can get him for a lot cheaper now than at the end of the year. As we saw with Amir’s contract, extending a player before he hits free agency can save you millions.

Sonny Weems averaged 12.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists as a starting guard this past year and had a career night with 20 points and 9 rebounds against the Knicks in March.

Sonny Weems finished April with averages of 14.1 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 steals.

Sonny Weems is a key piece for the Raptors even though he does not project to be a star in this league. He is a great rotation player and is part of the “Young Gunz” nucleus that has Raptors fans so excited about the upcoming season despite projecting as a lottery team.

Weems still has plenty of upside and will only continue to get better so lets not write him as being a pure ‘role player’ until the final verdict is in. Like most NBA players, given the right opportunity he can shine as brightly as other decent NBA starters.

Sonny Weems brings commitment on both ends of the floor as well as great athleticism and defensive tools. Weems has the skill set and length to become a major force on the defensive end and Bryan Colangelo would be well advised to lock him up for 4 years with a team option for the 5th at roughly $2.5-$4 miilion a year.

Lets extend Sonny!

Raptors Digest has learned via Yahoo Sports’ Marc Spears that the Denver Nuggets will now decline to match the offer sheet restricted free agent forward Linas Kleiza received from the Toronto Raptors.

The Nuggets have outbid the Dallas Mavericks for Al Harrington and no longer have the cap space nor the roster need for Linas Kleiza.

As stated before this is a good signing for the Raptors who get a young player with some upside who has already proven that he is a capable starter and 6th man in the NBA.  And as his 41 point night proves he can also score when called upon.

Welcome to the Raptors Linas Kleiza, I look forward to you changing the perceptions of fans in Toronto regarding European players.  And hopefully you can help bring Bargnani along too.

2009′s biggest free agent bust Hedo Turkoglu recently told Turkish television station that he has been actively trying to be released or traded from the Toronto Raptors and that he “Honestly, I do not want to go back to Toronto”

See the rest of the interview here

Hedo Turkoglu’s comments are no shocker, but fans probably feel cheated that Hedo is naming us, the fans,as his reasoning for wanting to leave.  This is Toronto, a hockey crazed town where we value players that leave it on the court every night, if you don’t you will get booed, especially if you make $10 million a year.

We all know Hedo was critically misused this year, that after a trip to the NBA finals and leading the Orlando Magic in scoring during the regular season he expected to be at worst the second option in Toronto behind Bosh.   Triano had a different plan apparently…

The fact is, unless he wants only $5 million total as a buyout, Hedo is not going to be released. He is an important asset to the Raptors and while most fans hope Hedo is traded, if and when Bosh leaves, Hedo becomes a focal point of this offense.

We have all heard the stories of Hedo partying when he didnt dress for the Raptors and Hedo helps clarify the situation in this interview.

Hedo doesn’t want to play for the Raptors, by the end of this week Raptors fans dislike for Hedo will likely turn to hate, so Hedo needs to leave….its up to you BC.

Interesting numbers as most of us Raptor fans probably thought it was closer:

“Cleveland’s LeBron James received two votes and Toronto’s Chris Bosh received one.

The panel consists of nine media members and three fan votes Wade wins All-Star MVP by vote of 9-2-1 based on online polling. The player with the highest online vote total gets two votes and one vote goes to the player who finishes second in fan balloting.”

Source: Marc Stein of ESPN

Chris Bosh undoubtedly gained some more notoriety as he is quickly becoming recognized as one of the top 2 power forwards in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks Dirk Nowitzki. Charles Barkely called Chris Bosh the most underrated player in the NBA, and with averages of 24 and 11 and not being voted in as a starter, the general public will soon start to agree.

Chris Bosh plans to ride the momentum the Raptors had garnered before the break to make quite the run over the last third of the season as the Raptors play roughly half their games against teams under .500.

Lets just hope the Raptors don’t fall into that old trap of playing down to the level of their competition….we know Bosh won’t

P.S. Loved Alicia Keys and Shakira in the half-time show, wow!! Just had to throw that in there….

DeRozan had the better event, but little Nate has more support from around the NBA world, where he is viewed as the classic underdog.

Congrats to Nate.

However, multiple fans from Toronto, yours truly included, are claiming issues with the nba.com server, fans claim to have put in their vote and verification word only to get a bad gateway error message. I got this same message on Friday night, but didnt think much of it since I was voting by text anyways.

Fast forward to last night, immediately after DeRozan lost my phone started ringing off the hook and I received multiple texts and emails from angry readers who said nba.com locked them out.  Feeling that the 51% was phony to begin with, this issue that some fans in Toronto encountered only exacerbates the situation.

See the RealGM topic here
See the Facebook group here

Send an email to the NBA league office here http://www.nba.com/email_us/contact_us.html

What was your experience Raptor fans?? Did anyone else in Toronto, or anywhere in Canada have issues with error messages when they tried to vote online?? We want to hear Raptor fans, if so leave a comment below or send us an email at raptorcity@raptorsdigest.com

You can follow us on twitter at www.twitter.com/raptorcity

Sign up at BET365, they have a 100% sign up bonus

The Dunk contest is scheduled to be the last of the events so plan accordingly, we all need to have a phone or computer ready. If you will be texting just wait for the info DeRozan’s selection and vote away. Voting is unlimited and free of charge.

How many times did you vote Friday night??

Dunk #1

Dunk #2

“It’s funny you say that, because I was thinking about it. I was just looking at what people say and it’s like, ‘Chris is going to go here and play with him or this, this and that.’ I’m like, ‘Wait a minute.’ I feel like I should be built around. And maybe that’s just my ego talking, but I feel that I’m a very good player in this league and I’m only going to get better. So … maybe we should be getting somebody [in Toronto].”

Source: ESPN

The above comments bode very well for Raptor fans and their hopes that their star player will stay in town, and re-sign with the team this summer. The most damning and likely scenarios posited with Bosh leaving Toronto both involved him chasing Dwayne Wade to Miami or Chicago, the fact that he wants to be the star may hinder him from selecting to play with Wade or with Wade AND Rose.  This is very good news for us Raptor fans as the two top destinations for Bosh already have franchise players.

Chris obviously feels however that our team is incomplete hence his “maybe we should be getting somebody [in Toronto].” remark. Turkoglu may not be the answer and maybe the time to trade him is now when his playoff performance last year for the Magic is still fresh in everybody’s head.

What do you think Raptor fans?? Is one key move or signing all it will take to keep Bosh in town?? Was Turkoglu enough??? Is he even a good fit??

We want to hear your comments Raptor fans!!
Leave us a comment below or send us an email at raptorcity@raptorsdigest.com.
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