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Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo said new acquisition Landry Fields probably will start and will be a key piece, even if he had to overpay. Fields received a 3-year, $19 million package the Knicks declined to match. Colangelo acknowledged the offer sheet also was designed to break up the Knicks’ sign-and-trade proposal to Phoenix for Steve Nash. Neither team got Nash, who landed with the Lakers.
“We value Landry in a way we thought it was reflected in the offer,’’ Colangelo said at the Las Vegas summer league. “We think he’ll make a solid contribution. His defensive mentality, his athleticism, he’s got a high basketball IQ. All those things add up to something of value to us.
“Obviously in free agency you tend to pay a little more and restricted free agency a little more than that. Regardless, we needed a player who’s going to make valuable contributions.’’
— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post
