Well, it's officially official.
As rumours were flying around all week, the Toronto Raptors have landed Rudy Gay.
The Toronto Raptors announced Wednesday they have acquired forward Rudy Gay and centre Hamed Haddadi from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for guard Jose Calderon, forward Ed Davis, a second-round draft choice in 2013 and cash considerations. The Grizzlies traded Calderon to the Detroit Pistons for forwards Austin Daye and Tayshaun Prince. “This is the type of deal we have been looking for to take our team another step forward,” said Raptors President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo. “Rudy Gay is a dynamic wing that elevates our talent level significantly.
Rudy Gay, the 6-8 forward may be the piece of the puzzle that Bryan Colangelo has been looking for at the small forward slot. Gay averaged 17.2 ppg and 5.9 rpg for the Grizzlies this season and joins the logjam of wing players on this Toronto Raptors roster (Ross, DeRozan, Anderson, Fields, Kleiza, Pietrus). The Raptors unload Jose Calderon and Ed Davis to Memphis, two players who were definitely playing at a high-level and were ultimately traded at their highest trade value.
The movement of Calderon ultimately creates a hole at the backup point guard slot with Kyle Lowry taking the starting point guard reigns, but also moves John Lucas III to the primary backup on the depth chart, not exactly the best PG duo. Calderon, who has been known to be the ultimate professional with the Raptors both on and off the court, now goes to a Pistons team who has been looking for a true point guard and can now move Brandon Knight to shooting guard.
Ed Davis will likely move to the bench for the Grizzlies and back up Zach Randolph at power forward. He'll join newest Grizzlies, Tayshaun Prince and Austin Daye who were acquired from the Pistons.
Kyle Lowry has the tough task now of facilitating the ball to guys like DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay and Andrea Bargnani (once he returns, if not traded beforehand).
The newest Raptor, Rudy Gay, is close friends with Kyle Lowry and was a former teammate with Lowry back in Memphis. Gay brings some star power to the Raptors starting five and brings the team a scorer who can close out games in the fourth quarter.
Who's excited that Rudy Gay is a Toronto Raptor? This guy.
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