28-year old SG/SF Leandro Barbosa has picked up his player option for the 2011-12 season to return to the Raptors and he will earn $7.6 million bucks. Barbosa played in 58 games (0 starts) for the Raptors last year and he averaged 24.1 minutes, 13.3 points, 1.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game. He has now played in 524 games (109 starts) in his NBA career and he is averaging 25.0 minutes, 12.7 points, 2.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. Barbosa will provide the Raptors with instant offense off the bench, but they were probably hoping that he wouldn’t pick up the option.

The Toronto Raptors picked 19-year old, 7′0″, 231 pound center Jonas Valanciunas out of Lithuania with the 5th overall pick of the 2011 NBA Draft. Valanciunas played in 59 games with 4 different teams last year and he averaged 18.6 minutes, 10.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.5 blocked shots in Europe. He played in 123 games in his three years in Europe and he is averaging 10.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game. The Raptors are going to have to at least wait at least one year and maybe two for Valanciunas. That isn’t going to help the Raptors at all for now, but Valanciunas is often compared to Pau Gasol, so he might be worth the wait.

UPDATE: (6/25/2011) - The Raptors have reached a buyout agreement with Jonas Valanciunas’ current basketball team (Lietuvos) which will allow him to start playing for them in the 2012-13 season. I really like this pick for the Raptors now.

The Toronto Raptors have hired 54-year old Dwane Casey as their next head coach. Casey spent his last three years as an assistant coach with the NBA Champion Dallas Mavericks. He was last a head coach with the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 2006-07 season and his team was 20-20 when he was fired. Casey has a 53-69 record (43.4%) during his two years as a head coach. Casey has been talking about making the Raptors a defensive team and that will be interesting to watch with the crew he has on the roster right now.

The Raptors like to draft players from Europe. They are likely considering both center Jonas Valanciunas and PF Jan Vesely. I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Raptors take either of those guys. But, I think they should take small forward Kawhi Leonard out of San Diego State. He would fill a huge hole on the Raptors and he would really help out the front line as he can rebound as well as score. The Raptors just can’t afford to take a guy like Valanciunas who might not even come to the U.S. or Canada for the next couple of years.

The Raptors have six free agents heading into this summer. It will be interesting to see how many of them the Raptors bring back as they will likely want to continue rebuilding the franchise. SG/SF Leandro Barbosa has a player option for the 2011-12 season and I think he will no doubt pick it up and return to the Raptors for the 2011-12 season. SG/SF Sonny Weems, C Alexis Ajinca and SF/PF Joey Dorsey will all likely come back cheaply to the Raptors if they want them back. PF Reggie Evans will likely get a decent contract somewhere else plus the Raptors need to give his minutes to Amir Johnson and Ed Davis. Forward Julian Wright will likely be allowed to walk away.