I love the Raptors acquisition of Marco Belinelli.Belinelli is coming off two seasons with the Golden State Warriors where he played in less than one full season - only 75 games in total.
But because he played for the Warriors under the mad scientist coach Don Nelson, we can say that his career hasn't properly been given a chance just yet.
He should get that in Toronto with the Raptors. Belinelli won't start but he will give the Raptors another offensive option off the bench, similar to what Rudy Fernandez gives the Portland Trail blazers.
Belinelli is energetic, can play the one or the two and is a good shooter from range and while his career 43-percent from the field and 40-percent from beyond the arc aren't super, again remember that those numbers are from his Golden State days where you could be flavour of the day with Nelson and be in his doghouse in the same game.
When you consider that Raptors General Manager Bryan Colangelo has long been a fan of the Italian and tried valiantly last season to acquire him, BC must be giddy this morning. All he had to was pass off a throw in from the Shawn Marion trade in Devean George.
George was a serviceable player with the Lakers during the Shaq-Kobe years but his career quickly curtailed once he signed with the Mavericks. Also it's worth remembering that the Mavs actually traded George to the Nets for Jason Kidd before realizing that George somehow was allowed to negate the trade because of a clause in his contract about protecting his own "Bird" rights.
Honestly, the fact that the "Bird" rule is allowed is ok, but you should have to be a player of a certain status to be able to associate yourself with such a legend. Devean George certainly isn't.
It's hard to see how George will even fit in with Warriors. Ever since the Run-TMC days of Chris Mullin, Mitch Richmond and Tim Hardaway, hardly any player has been able to slot in. The glory days of 2007 are sadly over already and fans in Oakland are hardly going to think anything will change with George's arrival.
