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Have I Missed Much?
Posted on | August 12, 2010 | 4 Comments
I’ve been around, just busy, and this seemed like a good time to take a bit of a break. Hope everyone’s been having a good summer so far. So what have I missed?
Well, as far as the Raptors are concerned, I haven’t missed too much. There was far too much hullabaloo over a trade for a deep bench player, giving up a 2nd round pick they probably never would have seen anyway. Sure, they could have given the spot to a young player, with more potential, but with four big men under the age of 24, they aren’t hurting for youth, that’s for sure. It certainly doesn’t mean Colangelo is doing anything different than what I hope he does.
The Raptors also lost an assistant coach (Iavaroni), but got a much better one (Carlesimo) with Championship experience, and another good one (Roth). With Triano’s continued development and the addition of Carlesimo and Roth, the coaching staff should be better than last year.
Of course, I woke up this morning to discover that Marco Belinelli has been traded away to New Orleans for Julian Wright. Regular readers know that I am a big fan of Belinelli and I’m sorry to see him go. At best, he’s an excellent 3 point shooter who can handle the ball, get to the line, pass and defend. There were times last year when we saw all of that on display, especially his one and only start. Unfortunately there were also quite a few times when we saw poor shot selection and forcing the action when it wasn’t needed, which meant his minutes weren’t exactly consistent. I recently saw some highlights of a game he played this summer that showed the same off balance shots that drove Raptor fans nuts. While I still think he’s got the tools and potential to be an All-Star in this league, I wonder whether he’ll ever get it.
Still, I understand the move. DeRozan and Weems have solidified their position with the club and in the hearts of Raptor fans by their play in the summer league and their hard work with each other, as well as with Amir Johnson. The “Young Guns” moniker certainly doesn’t hurt their case either. And with Barbosa really an undersized shooting guard, there was a log jam at that position. Belinelli was the odd man out, although from a basketball standpoint, it would have made more sense to move Weems. Weems and DeRozan have similar games and similar weaknesses. Belinelli has the 3 point shooting and ball handling that both those players lack. It’s hard to fault Colangelo for the move, though. Unless, of course, Belinelli becomes an All-Star in New Orleans.
I have to admit, I know very little about Julian Wright except that he is a former lottery pick who is athletic, plays defense and can’t shoot. He should fit in very well with the Young Guns.
I’ll say this about Colangelo. He certainly isn’t shy about changing direction of he feels the need to. If he is successful unloading Calderon, the only Europeans on the roster will be Bargnani and Kleiza. So much for Euroball.
Speaking of unloading Calderon, apparently Charlotte again tried to grab Calderon by involving themselves in the big four team deal that broke the hearts of many a Raptor fan by sending Nick Darren Collison to the Pacers. Not only did it take Collison off the market, but it killed any chance of Indiana trading for Calderon.
The trade is interesting. I think Indiana gets very good value for the expiring contract of Troy Murphy, and clears up their logjam at power forward. New Orleans gets a legit starting small forward who should thrive playing beside Chris Paul. New Jersey gets a year to try out Troy Murphy and gives them depth in the front court. I’m not entirely sold on what Houston gets. They save money and get a nice you shooting guard, but they’re certainly not any better.
A lot of Raptor fans like Houston’s GM, Darryl Morey, but I find him perplexing more than anything. He’s certainly talented at finding low priced talent that can maximize their worth, but he’s never shown any ability to actually build a contender. To me, he seems like a cheap owner’s dream, but not one a fan would choose because he’s never going to build a Champion.
To me, mediocrity is worth than death if I’m a basketball fan. A while ago, a reader of this site said that he’d be happy with a team that simply made it to the second round of the playoffs, but never went to the Finals. That’s just incredibly depressing. Atlanta is a perfect example of this type of team. With their current roster, they’re never, ever going to be a legitimate contender, but when you’re winning 50 games, it’s hard to argue for blowing the team up, and with their bloated payroll, they’re not going to be making any meaningful additions.
Having Joe Johnson walk away this summer might have been the best thing for the franchise in the long term. It would have given them reason to take a step back and rebuild, but by overpaying Johnson, now they pretty much have to keep the roster intact, which means another 50 win season and ouster in either the first or second round.
Atlanta certainly isn’t alone in their race for mediocrity. My beloved Utah seems to have joined the race to the middle. Wes Matthews was a surprise last year as an undrafted free agent and a testament to the abilities of the scouting department. Unfortunately, their accounting department didn’t feel he was worth matching Portland’s offer and let him go. Then they go out and replace Carlos Boozer with Al Jefferson, a guy who is even worse defensively. Jefferson isn’t a bad player, but they really don’t seem to be trying to build a contender in Salt Lake City.
Phoenix is also a member of this club, which pains me when I realize that Steve Nash will never have a chance to win a Championship. Grabbing Turkoglu made very little sense to a team that doesn’t want to overspend, but is willing to spend just enough to win. That’s probably why Steve Kerr left. He realized that winning a Championship wasn’t a goal of owner Robert Sarver.
Of course, I think there are only about five or six owners in the league that are willing to do anything for a Championship. The rest are just banking on luck.
A Look Back
Posted on | April 21, 2010 | 4 Comments
Well, it’s over. Sorry for not writing anything before this, but I’ve been busy with more important things. If I don’t sound heartbroken over the way the season ended, it’s because there are far more important things than basketball. Don’t get me wrong, I love it or I wouldn’t be doing this, but in the end, it’s not really all that important.
There are always questions when the season ends. I’m going to attempt to answer some of them here.
Was the season a failure?
Well, I’m not even sure what that means. It certainly wasn’t a success, so if you want to measure it that way, then you can probably say it was a failure. The Raptors failure to make the playoffs is not the only measuring stick, though…
Will Bosh leave the Raptors?
Not even Bosh knows, I don’t think. Missing the playoffs and finishing the season like they did certainly isn’t going to help, that’s for sure. I certainly wouldn’t begrudge him leaving, that’s for sure. He’s given seven years of his life to the Raptors, and they have not been able to surround him with enough talent to be able to get out of the first round, and it’s certainly not a good sign that they haven’t made the playoffs the last two. If he’s lost confidence in the organization, it’s understandable.
I wouldn’t be surprised if he did end up re-signing, though. While there are a lot of choices for him, there is a question of how many are willing to pay the max for him, and there is also a question of whether other situations are better than Toronto.
Bosh is adamant that he doesn’t want to be anyone’s second banana, and with his experience with the Raptors, is he going to want to go to a new team that is rebuilding? I don’t think so. In my next post, I’m going to layout who I think has the best shot at getting Bosh, who Bosh should choose and who would benefit the most from him.
Should the Raptors pay him the max to stay?
This question has been bouncing around the Raptor boards a lot lately. Is Bosh a max player? It’s a good question and it’s a silly question. I mean, is any basketball player worth $20 million a season? There IS a reason it costs an arm and a leg to watch a game in person, and it’s not the cost of the person tearing your ticket. But in reality, NBA stars make what they do, so there’s no point in arguing the point.
Now, the biggest complaint about Bosh is that he can’t carry a team, so shouldn’t make max money. Dwayne Wade carried a less talented team to 47 wins and the 5th seed. Of course, the Raptors were more talented OFFENSIVELY, but on defense, I’d much rather have a frontcourt of Jermaine O’Neal and Adonis Haslem protecting the paint. And Mario Chalmers is better defensively than of the of the Raptor PGs.
There’s also the point that the Raptors fell apart without Bosh in the starting lineup. The record with and without Bosh in the lineup isn’t much different (35-35 with, 5-7 without) but they also struggled mightily after he came back from his ankle injury and wasn’t at full strength. When Bosh was playing like he did most of the season, the Raptors were simply one of the better teams in the league. No, he didn’t carry them to the playoffs, but if Bosh doesn’t get hurt (twice), it’s a pretty safe bet that the Raptors would still be playing. His value to the team should not be questioned. If he leaves, they will be a lottery team, and a poor one at that. If they win 30 games next season without Bosh, I’d be surprised. With him they could try for 45 again. Not many players are worth 15 games.
If you’re looking to only pay guys that can literally carry their teams to success, you’re looking at 3 guys. LeBron, Kobe and Wade. If you’re only going to pay those three guys the max, then you’re going to have a heck of time building a contender. You’ve got to pay to play, and players like those come to a team very rarely. If you’re worried about overpaying, every single contender is vastly overpaying at least one player on their team. You think Rashard Lewis is worth $18 million? Or Ray Allen nearly $20 million?
There’s the argument that the Raptors could get someone like David Lee at half the price. Great, but he’s not going to help you win. New York won 29 games with him as their best player and are so happy, it’s unlikely he’ll be back with them. In the NBA, the teams with the best players win. Bosh isn’t a top 5 player, but top 5 players are a little difficult to get. The Raptors have never, in their history, had one. Bosh is certainly a top 10 player, and if you don’t pay him the max, you’re setting yourself up for a future of losing.
Is Colangelo to blame?
Yes and no. I’ve read a lot of criticism of what he said in the press conference. Quite frankly, I don’t give a crap. What a person says means absolutely nothing to me. Especially in public. It’s the same reason I don’t pay attention to post game press conferences. I mean, who cares what a coach or player says? What matters is what they do. Colangelo, for all his weaknesses, is willing to correct his mistakes and learn from them. Colangelo isn’t an idiot. He knows that a team needs to be good defensively and rebound the basketball to win. This isn’t a secret recipe to success.
If Bosh doesn’t go down to injury, and people don’t come back from the All-Star break with “personal agendas”, then the Raptors end up winning around 45 games and make the playoffs. Fantastic? No. But pretty much what I expected of them. And there’d certainly be a lot fewer angry Raptor fans.
Colangelo did some things well and some things poorly. The team won 7 fewer games from his first year with the Raptors to now. That’s not exactly a good sign. Colangelo failed to capitalize on the number one pick and cap room he inherited when he took over. Some of that had to do with luck, some had to do with some poor decisions. The initial team he built that won 47 games simply did not have a very high ceiling. And injuries to key players derailed any success they did have.
Last summer, he made some great moves, and one not so great move, but it’s what he didn’t do that should haunt him. A team’s defense is anchored by it’s front line, and Colangelo failed to get the right players around Bosh. Bargnani is a nice offensive talent, but he is woefully miscast as a pairing with Bosh. For all of Bosh’s strengths, he’s not a stopper on defense, and more than anything, he needs a center who can bear the brunt of the defensive load and anchor the defense. Bargnani is not that person. Ironically, someone like Jermaine O’Neal is. I’ve argued in the past that Jermaine O’Neal was not a failure with Toronto. What was a failure was the rest of the team.
Was it a mistake to sign Turkoglu?
Well, I don’t think you need me to answer that question. Obviously it was. Turkoglu is simply not a good match for a team that lacks defense and rebounding. His playmaking was great when he used it, but any criticism of his disappointing season should be aimed solely at him. Sure, the coaches didn’t use him like he was used in Orlando, but this is a different roster. A new player needs to adjust to his new teammates, and Turkoglu not playing in preseason was the first indication that there was going to be a problem. He came to Toronto with not exactly a sterling reputation as a hard worker. Rick Adelman and Greg Popovich both struggled to get the most out of Turkgolu, and I’m sure most Raptor fans would take those coaches in a heartbeat.
My one consolation is that Turkoglu was not Colangelo’s first choice. He was not even his second. Call this one buyer’s remorse. Colangelo went to an auction, got outbid on everything he wanted, but didn’t want to come home empty handed. In the end, he got home and realized that the painting he bought didn’t go with any of his furniture and was painted by a guy who had just been charged with child molestation, meaning it’s going to be next to impossible to unload that painting now.
What’s next for Bargnani?
He had the best season of his four year career, and every year it’s become more and more apparently he is what he is: A jump shooting big man who avoids the paint, can’t rebound and is a weak link on defense. And he’s the absolutely wrong player for the Raptors. He’s not going to improve his rebounding, because it hasn’t happened in his first four years, and he’s not going to suddenly start playing inside and drawing fouls, so if Bosh goes, he’s not a replacement, no matter what he says.
He needs to be traded. Period.
I know that he has been Colangelo’s pet project but the Raptors will never be able to be a contender with him on the team, not without some drastic and complete rebuilding. Plus, I’m sick and tired of criticizing him.
I don’t know who would take him, but I’ve been assured by a number of fans that he’s got a lot of value. I hope that’s true. And now would be the time to take advantage. Another year of pretty much the same thing will only cement in other’s minds what most Raptor fans have realized. Bargnani has just about reached his potential.
Golden State is crazy enough, and Don Nelson loves guys like Bargnani. You think they’d trade Andris Biedrins for him? Maybe Chicago would like his scoring and could make up for his defensive and rebounding woes with Noah and Deng. Who would the Raptors get in return? I’d take Hinrich and a draft pick and call it a day. Sometimes the best way to improve is to subtract. Ask Phoenix.
Which point guard?
I like Jack, but surrounded by better defensive players, Calderon is going to help you win more. And Jack is eminently more tradable because of his manageable contract and all around play. It would be nice to keep both, but having two starter-quality point guards is a luxury that a 40 win team cannot really afford. if they can upgrade the roster and keep both, all the better, but chances are they are going to have to part with one to get the player(s) they need.
Who’s the shooting guard of the future?
Sonny Weems was definitely the Raptor surprise of the year, and he seemed to get better as the season wore on. Back at the beginning of January, I remarked how Weems seemed to have the whole package to become a very good NBA player. For a guy who was literally a throw in in a trade, Weems finishing the season as the Raptors starting SG was impressive. Does that mean he’s the SG of the future for the Raptors? Well, not quite. Weems has the makings of a very good player. He hits a high percentage of his shots, has a great mid range game and has all-world athleticism. He’s a good defender and rebounder, and actually is a pretty good passer. Best of all, he usually plays under control. It’s easy to get carried away and say that he might be a better prospect than the Raptors more high profile young SG, DeMar DeRozan. You’d be wrong.
Weems does have his weaknesses. His ball handling is not exactly a thing of beauty, but neither is DeRozan’s. While he has a very efficient offensive game, he rarely gets to the line. Let’s be clear here, Weems gets to the line at an absolutely horribly low rate. Less than Bargnani. In fact, his FTA/FGA ratio is the lowest on the team. For a guy with that kind athleticism and explosiveness, that’s unacceptable.
While Weems certainly hits for a higher percentage from the field and is a better defensive player, at this point, DeRozan has more offensive potential. The reason? DeRozan is excellent at getting to the line. It shows an aggressiveness that Weems seems to lack and why DeRozan, despite not shooting as high a percentage as Weems from the field, is actually a more efficient offensive player.
So while Weems seemed to have the better season, the future is still DeRozan’s. The Raptors are fortunate that both DeRozan and Weems look to have a bright future ahead of them, although at some point, one has to wonder if this is going to turn into a similar situation they the Raptors have had a PG. Two starting quality SG’s.
Of course, readers of this blog will not be surprised that I bring up Belinelli, here. He didn’t have a great season, and at one point seemed fall out of the rotation, but I’m still convinced that he also has a bright future ahead of him. He can shoot, drive, create for others, play good defense and can actually play PG and run an offense in a pinch. And he showed an aggressiveness that seemed to be lacking previously, getting to the line at a rate only a little less than DeRozan. For such a good shooter, though, he shot horribly from the field, and that’s because his shot selection often left something to be desired. It’s not that he shot at the wrong time (although he sometimes did that), but that fadeaway three is not something the coaches probably enjoyed watching. I know I didn’t.
There are some that feel that picking up Belinelli’s option was a mistake. I think, in the end, it’s going to be seen as a very good deal.
Do you still think Triano is a good coach?
I’ve defended Triano on many occasions here and on other sites. Mostly, because I felt the criticism was ether unjustified or simply just done out of ignorance. Claiming he was hired simply because he was Canadian is beyond stupid. In fact, it’s such a stupid statement, I’m not sure where to even begin to debate it, so I won’t.
Now, I don’t feel that Triano has done a great job. He’s a young, relatively inexperienced coach and he was bound to make his share of mistakes. I think he’s shown enough to continue to stay on, but also, I think that it’s incredibly difficult for fans to intelligently judge a coach. Most of his work is done behind closed doors, and since most of us are not privy to it, it’s impossible to know whether he simply not sending the right message, or the players aren’t capable of carrying it out.
It’s also hard to criticize Triano too much because, quite frankly, he was given a team that had almost no hope of being a good defensive or rebounding team. Blaming Triano for the inabilities of of guys like Bargnani and Turkoglu is a bit like blaming the builder of a house after it was hit by a meteorite. There are simply some things that are out of the coaches control. The team won 40 games and probably would have won at least 45 without the injuries to Bosh. Red Auerbach himself couldn’t have coaxed many more wins out of this club, and Triano will improve. Some fans seem to think that unlike players, coaches always stay the same. They don’t develop and can’t get better.
If I have one beef with Triano, however, it’s that he didn’t play Bosh enough with Amir Johnson. When they played together, the team excelled. Johnson didn’t pull his man out of the paint like Bargnani did, but Johnson’s man couldn’t double because he was a) so active so leaving him often meant him cutting for the basket for a dunk and b) his offensive rebounding ability made him incredibly dangerous to leave. And Bosh and Johnson were also the best defensive and rebounding frontcourt the team had. Which brings us to…
Do the Raptors overpay Amir Johnson to stay?
Well, first of all, I don’t see him being offered much more than $5 million per season on the open market, and that’s definitely a good price for Amir. Whether Bosh stays or goes, Johnson is incredibly important. If Bosh goes, he’s the starting PF. If Bosh stays, his rebounding, hustle and defense are great antidotes to Bargnani’s game should Colangelo fail to do the right thing, and find a new home for him.
Do you try and keep Wright?
If the Raptors didn’t have so many young shooting guards, keeping Wright would make sense. As it is, he’s simply in the way of the development of them.
What should Colangelo do in the offseason to improve the team?
That’s coming…
——————–
How about those Spurs? Are they the last team Dallas wanted to face in the first round? They underachieved in the regular season, but now have home court advantage over the 2nd seeded Mavericks after their win. And Richard Jefferson had one of his better games all season and looked like the player the Spurs hoped he would be when they traded for him. They are all healthy and are the most experienced playoff team in the league. I wouldn’t be surprised if they end up getting to the Finals.
——————–
Is it possible to not give out an Executive of the Year award this year? San Antonio’s R.C Buford was a preseason favourite, but they won fewer games than the previous season. Colangelo was also though to be in the running, but the Raptors didn’t even make the playoffs. Sam Presti’s Oklahoma City Thunder made the biggest improvement, but that was after Presti passed on much better players in the draft and did relatively nothing else in the offseason. Phoenix’s Steve Kerr ended up trading away his failure, in Shaq, for Ben Wallace and then paying Ben Wallace not to play for them. And he passed on four good PG’s, always an area of need for the Suns, with the aging Nash not going to last forever, to grab an enigmatic underachiever.
I’ve heard Jeff Bower’s name mentioned, which I don’t understand. Yes, he drafted and acquired to of the better rookies in the draft without a pick above 21, but he also traded away Tyson Chandler for Emeka Okafor, an extremely ill fit for the Hornets. And he allowed the Hornets to go from a 56 win team two years ago, to the 37 win team it is today. Yes, Chris Paul was injured, but they were still pretty bad even with Paul in the lineup.
I think if I was forced to choose, I’d go with John Hammond. He realized Charlie Villanueva was simply not worth keeping around, and renounced his rights. Maybe Joe Dumars should have talked to him before spending all that money on him. Hammond then signed a much cheaper, and probably better, Hakim Warrick. Then he traded HIM away for John Salmons, who helped lead the Bucks back to the playoffs. Plus he drafted possible Rookie of the Year, Brandon Jennings.
The Only Indispensable Raptor (and other stories)
Posted on | February 1, 2010 | 12 Comments
[Update: I've added a poll for the blog, and the first one is at the bottom]
There’s a line of thought among some Raptor fans that Chris Bosh is not worth the maximum contract, and that the Raptors should let him go (either via trade or sign-and-trade) and build around Bargnani and the rest of the Raptors. To put it mildly, these people are morons who have no business watching an NBA game let alone sharing their opinions on one. Okay, maybe that’s not putting it mildly.
When Turkoglu got an elbow to the face, two thoughts came to mind. The first is that I really feel for Turkoglu because I know how it feels. I once got a shoulder hit just below my eye that felt like it completely collapsed my face. I’ve been hit (and hurt) many times and kept playing, but this was different and knew it. I first checked to see if all my teeth were intact (I’ve lost a tooth playing ball before), and then checked my nose to make sure it was still where it was supposed to be. Stupidly, I did go back in when I discovered my face still intact, despite the fact I was seeing double (slightly). The most shocking thing was when I finally looked in the mirror and saw that my face looked, for the most part, normal. I had expected a look similar to Rocky after fighting Apollo Creed the first time. There was a little swelling, but no bruising at all.
It turned out I had fractured my orbit bone and it was more than six months before I got most of the feeling back in my face and to this day, I don’t have all of it back (it’s been nearly two years). The worst part about having no feeling in part of your face is showering. Since you can’t actually feel the water on you, you can’t tell if you haven’t washed the soap off. It was very odd and not the least bit pleasant.
But I digress.
The second thing I thought about was how the Raptors won’t necessarily miss Turkoglu if he doesn’t come back in the game. The great thing about this Raptors team, as I’ve mentioned before, is the bench. Unlike last season, when an injury to any of the key players was devastating, this year there’s only one player who is irreplaceable. And that’s Chris Bosh. When Turkoglu went out, I knew that between Wright, Weems and Belinelli, the Raptors would be able to absorb his loss. Obviously those same players make DeRozan’s absence not even missed, and Jack and Calderon can both start, which makes an injury to one of them a non-issue, especially when Banks played so well during Calderon’s missed games, and Belinelli is a capable enough ball handler and passer that he can play the point in a pinch. Even Bargnani can be replaced by Nesterovic and Johnson. They don’t have Bargnani’s scoring touch, but are better rebounders and play well alongside Bosh.
Bosh, however, cannot be lost for long without the team going into a tailspin. You see, Bosh is the only consistent scorer and rebounder the Raptors have. Bargnani can have great scoring bursts and is the second leading scorer on the team, but he’s too inconsistent to be relied on as the team’s first option. He relies too much on people creating for him and doesn’t get to the line enough. And he’s the second best scorer. Nine times he has not scored more than 12 points in a game. Compare that with Bosh’s 2. And one of those two, Bosh only played 15 minutes.
And it can’t be written off to Bosh taking more shots than Bargnani because Bosh only takes two more shots a game. Besides, a lot of times, good players make their own shots. Bosh gets two more shots than Bargnani because he gets himself the shot. Bargnani, for all his talent, doesn’t do that, which is why he goes through so many scoring droughts.
And, needless to say, Bargnani is not going to be able to cover Bosh’s rebounding. The only two player on the roster who can consistently rebound at a rate similar to Bosh (Evans and Johnson) are both foul prone and don’t bring the scoring the Raptors would need if they lost Bosh.
The Raptors can go small to score more, with Turkoglu shifting to PF, but they’d suffer on the boards. If they insert Johnson or Evans into the PF slot, they suffer in the scoring department.
Let’s hope Bosh re-signs, because if he leaves, the Raptors will be in trouble.
SOARING RAPTORS
In ESPN’s recent Power Rankings, the Raptors are ranked #7. Okay, Mark Stein is one of the few American sports writers who is actually unbiased when it comes to things north of the border, but it’s still a great indication of how far the Raptors have come since their slow start in November.
Can I point out something I probably shouldn’t? The Raptors are only 4 1/2 games behind a struggling Celtics team that has gone 6-11 since winning against Orlando on Christmas day. And speaking of the Celtics, I’ve been suspicious of Garnet’s knee injury from day one. I didn’t like how little the Celtics said, even as the Celtics went into the second round. I didn’t like that little was revealed over the summer about exactly what was wrong with his knee, and I didn’t like how he looked at the start of the season. Sure, he’s had a few big games, but when a player limps, it’s a bad, bad thing. It means two things. One is that he’s not fully healed, and the other is that he’ll probably have problems due to favouring the other leg. Well, it’s already past the halfway point and he’s still having problems with the knee. I think they may be in trouble.
DIVISIONAL RACES
While the race in the east is for the 2nd spot among the contenders (as long as Cleveland doesn’t falter without Mo Williams), and the 5th spot among the pretenders (of which the Raptors are included), in the West, the big race is to see who’s going to make it to the big dance. Currently, there are 6 teams within 2 games of one another, and only 3 of them are going to make the playoffs. Right now, Oklahoma City, Memphis, and Houston are on the outside looking in, but no one would be surprised if all three make the playoffs. Portland is in danger of not making the playoffs, and New Orleans will certainly drop without Chris Paul for a month or two (due to knee surgery). I’m going to guess that at least a couple of those six teams are going to try and make a deal to better their chance.
TRADES
What on earth is this nonsense about Philly thinking of trading Igoudala. Is he really the problem on this team? And trading him for McGrady? What good would that do? Think they regret letting Andre Miller go? Okay, maybe they don’t, but they should. Personally, Igoudala should be one of the last players they should trade.
If they are intent on trading Igoudala, something crossed my mind. Now as regular readers know, I’m not for trading Calderon, but if Philadelphia offered Igoudala for Calderon, DeRozan and Wright, I’d think long and hard. DeRozan has a lot of potential, but realistically, you’ve got to hope that he’ll be as good as Igoudala. Calderon’s playmaking will be missed, but as I stated above, he’s not indispensable. The addition of Igoudala would give the Raptors an incredible starting five, a top defender, another playmaker and a very good scorer in Igoudala. He’d also immediately become the Raptors second leading rebounder.
The Sixers would get their point guard, and DeRozan would be a prospect that could eventually replace Igoudala.
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