Thursday, July 8th, 2010 at 10:30 am  |  25 responses

Raptors Sign Linas Kleiza to $20 Million Offer Sheet

Yahoo! reports that Toronto has signed Kleiza to a four-year deal, and the Nuggets have a week to match it: “Toronto signs Denver restricted free agent forward Linas Kleiza to a four-year, $20 million offer sheet … Kleiza terminated contract with Greece Olympiacos Wednesday. The Nuggets, Kleiza’s former team before going to Greece, has 7 days to match.”

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  • kh

    WHY????

  • HerbeC

    is toronto trying to be an european team?

  • flight

    My god it is frustrating being a raptors fan. NO MORE EUROS.

  • Kotsaf

    Who? What? Why? I think BC has to go!!!!!

  • http://toronto.com Mr 416

    We should change pur teams’ name to the Toronto Euros…..at least then we’d be woth more than an american dollar.

  • apeman

    well… atleast Kleiza isn’t as soft as say… Bellinelli or Bargnani or Hedo or Calderon.
    At least that’s not the way he played this season in Greece…

  • Aaron

    Naturally I would smite the Raps front office for signing another Euro, but Kleiza is actually talented and at times, fierce. I approve!

  • paul

    brian colangelo loves european players a little too much..

  • cool j

    Well ….the reality is all the great American players prefer to play in the US than in Canada. This is not Brian’s fault! they rather play in a familiar environment and culture. I think that it is crazy that a player would prefer to be playing and living in a city like , Portland, Denver, Oklahoma, Cleveland…than in Toronto .I think that Raptors as an organization have made many mistakes, I wouldn’t have waited until my star player became a free agent ,I would have made a trade 2 years ago when the signs were apparent that Bosh didn’t want to extend his contract.
    Given this reality the best hope for the Raptors would be to sign a Euro star like Dirk or Paul Gasol and surround them with American role players to rebound and play defense.That won’t win a championship .but at least you could be a solid playoff team in the East.By the way without any major additions I don’t think Wade and Bosh is enough to make Miami a title contender…

  • http://www.slamonline.com Chris O’Leary

    Easily the biggest FA news we’ll hear today.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    I’ll take Kleiza over Hedo. On another note, can we give the green light to DeMar DeRozan yet?

  • vanillagorrila

    I like kleiza but not for 5 mil a year, the nets just landed outlaw for the same price 1 more year. Much better signing on their part.

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    The Raptors should advertise their next season as DeRozan and Weems’ season. But alas, they will probably hype up Bargnani to be their next star. smh.

  • rainman10

    Actually the Nets are spending a lot more money on Outlaw, about 15 million more. But good moves by both teams. Kleiza can play.

  • http://Www.Slamonline.com BackInBlack

    Why not Ryan Gomes?

  • http://twitter.com/HarryByrdMan44 LA Huey

    This has nothing to do with LeBron James…wtf?

  • WangChung

    As Cool J mentioned, T-Dot suffers from its geographic unattractiveness much like Cleveland, which is why we can come to expect outrageous contracts for role players (i.e. Hedo, Varejao). This Kleiza signing ain’t bad at all.

  • Migs

    Not bad at all.. from what I saw in Denver, he at least doesn’t fit the mold of the soft Euro, and he can score if given the opportunity. Averaging 10ppg behind the likes of Melo and JR Smith aint bad. 5 Mil a year is also decent considering the overpriced contracts that are being thrown around (ie Travis Outlaw). Would’ve also liked to see what Ryan Gomes could bring to the Raps, but this is a good signing.

    Next up for Colangelo (besides the whole Bosh thing) – get rid of Hedon’t

  • chingy

    I like this. If Brian can get rid of Hedo, I’ll give him a pass on this offseason

  • Vag

    Hi everyone! Im an Olympiacos Piraeus fan from Greece(ex Kleiza’s team!) n i have to say that Linas is very valuable player, even four the Raptors. Dont undrestimate him. He’s an exellent scorer, rebounder and with the appropriate assistance from the coaching stuff in order to improve his concentration during the game, i believe he could be an exellent choice for Raptors. The bigest disantantage for Linas is that loses control easilly, he cant control his nerves. Anyway, i prefer Linas much more better in my team tha Josh Childress..nice guy, nice hair, nice jump, worker, NO SHOT AT ALL for somebody with 7.000.000 euros(!!!!!) for a year contract.. and thats why i believe he’s gonna stay in Greece(unfortunatelly) for another year..dont u want Josh instead of Linas???!:)

  • Nikolas

    Hi guys. I’m Greek, fan of Olympiakos, Kleiza’s former team. Believe me, he is a very good player. He was the first scorer of Euroleague, strong player, reliable shoot and high jump. What else could you expect from a player?!!! If you don’t want him, send him back to Olympiakos please :)
    ps: Olympiakos fans got crazy after learning that he left… He is (probably) the best PF in Europe.

  • J bone

    Okay listen, Josh Childress is a defensive gangster and a hard driver, basketball isn’t all about jump shots. Teams have role players for that kind of shit and the sickest players can do both. Linas Kleiza’s another european addition to commercial aspect of the NBA, going international means more viewers and having a few teams (that are shitty anyways) with euroswag brings that attention. WHY WOULD THE RAPTORS DRAFT BARGNANI OVER LAMARCUS ALDRIDGE AND BRANDON ROY?! WTF?!
    We should have given the offer sheet to him and try to make our team hard, instead of one of the worst defensive teams in the league.

  • georgev7

    Guys, do you want Josh Childress ?? Take him and leave Kleiza !! please!! Take an american player and leave an european!! and if you dont want europeans players, leave free Jose Calderon!!

  • mike

    well lets make a deal my Raptors’ friends.. what about Toronto gives to Olympiacos Piraeus Calderon, Hedo and Kleiza and TAKE AWAY Childress, Scoonie Penn and Patrick Beverley(great opportunity! he’s a very talented point guard. quick!!or he’s gonna move to Miami and win the Championship!!!)??? what do u say?? fair square!!!

  • costas

    there’s nothing gangsta about Josh Childress J bone. He can jump we’ll give him that. Maybe he could try the high-jump.

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