It's been public knowledge for a while now, but all necessary paperwork has been cleared by the NBA and the Raps have announced their signing of 26-year-old Linas Kleiza to a multi-year deal. Raptor team policy dictates that financial details were not disclosed, but it's believed to be a 4-year deal worth about $20 million, or a large chunk of the Raps' mid-level exception.Kleiza is an interesting signing. He spent 4 seasons with the Nuggets and was a pretty effective role player, backing up Carmelo Anthony. He's a totally different look from Melo - much more of a below-the-basket player and not necessarily in a bad way. Ignoring his rookie season, he put up very solid numbers: from 2006-09, in about 20 minutes per game he averaged around 9.5 points and 4 rebounds, shooting 45% from the field, 34% from three and 77% from the line, meaning his per-40 numbers are impressive: 19 points and 8 rebounds (though extrapolating stats is dangerous in his case, as he mostly played against backups and was never the offense's focal point).
After dominating the Euroleague to the tune of 19.7 points (2nd in the league) and 7 rebounds per game, he returns to the NBA. He figures to start at the 3-spot and will provide a very different look to Sonny Weems just like in Denver. He's not going to score 25 points every night or tear down the rim with rim-rattling dunks, but he's a very solid player to have around. It's very possible that we'll see Kleiza outperform his contract, especially heading into his prime 27-30 years.
