Have Terrence Thot be part of your core Brehs: Official Raptors 2015/2016 Thread
- Thread starter MikelArteta
- Start date
The NBA’s trade deadline looms, and its 3 p.m. Thursday cutoff can feel like a storm warning for basketball fans, players and executives.
Will Blake Griffin stay put with the Clippers?
Is Dwight Howard on the move for the third time in his career?
In Toronto, Raptors fans wonder what fate awaits their team. An upgrade at power forward has been the stuff of online fodder since the start of the season, but will GM Masai Ujiri make a move with his team in second place in the Eastern Conference and DeMarre Carroll and James Johnson due back from injury?
Here are some of the names that have been tied to the Raptors via trade chatter:
Thaddeus Young
Brooklyn Nets
Age: 27
2015-16 stats: 15.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists per game.
Salary: $11.2 million in 2016, with four years remaining.
Why he’d fit: Young would provide a nice offensive spark at the four-spot, something that’s been hit-and-miss at times from the Raptors’ present players. He’s also a solid rebounder, posing a nightly double-double threat. His numbers are nice, but on a human level, don’t you sympathize for someone who has spent a career in Philadelphia, Minnesota and Brooklyn? Young would likely welcome a move into a positive/functional, winning environment.
Why he wouldn’t fit: In considering Young, you have to think about what the Raptors would give up to get him. He isn’t a good three-point shooter (21.7 per cent this year), which doesn’t fit with what the Raptors have in their present power forwards, Luis Scola and Patrick Patterson, who are also strong defenders. Young’s salary could also bog the team down over the next four seasons, as Ujiri will have to deal with DeMar DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo as free agents this summer.
Ryan Anderson
New Orleans Pelicans
Age: 27
2015-16 stats: 16.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 0.4 blocks per game.
Salary: $8.5 million, one year remaining.
Why he’d fit: Anderson is enjoying one of the best years of his career on a bad Pelicans team. Because of that, the free-agent to be is prime trade bait and there are parts of his game — like his three-point shooting and general defensive abilities — that suggest he’d fit. It would probably cost to keep him beyond a Raptors existence as a rental, but the possibility of playoff success could make that a mutually beneficial arrangement come July.
Why he wouldn’t fit: Like the Young scenario and like many of these trade options, is what the Raptors would be giving up worth what they’d be getting back? Patterson factors into many of these trade rumours. With the Raptors’ bench playing so well, and Patterson giving the team everything it’s asking of him, do you want to sacrifice that for a player that could go elsewhere in July, leaving you empty handed?
Kenneth Faried
Denver Nuggets
Age: 26
2015-16 stats: 12.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, one block per game.
Salary: $11.2 million, four years remaining.
Why he’d fit: An athletic, hard-working player, Faried has been consistent since he got into the league in 2011. He’s good for just under a modest double-double a night and routinely gets fans out of their seats with big plays. A member of the 2014 U.S. team that won the FIBA World Cup, Faried has some familiarity with DeRozan and Ujiri’s time in Denver overlaps with Faried’s.
Why he wouldn’t fit: Like Young, the length of Faried’s contract will pull money away from the Raptors, even with the cap increasing next season. On top of that, you have to ask if Faried would make the Raptors markedly better while tying up that money for the next four years. Are the Raptors better off to wait until free agency, or hope for their first-round pick via New York this year can pan out into something more worthwhile?
Al Horford
Atlanta Hawks
Age: 29
2015-16 stats: 15.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks per game.
Salary: $12 million, one year remaining.
Why he’d fit: Maybe the best fit of all of these scenarios for the Raptors, Horford’s name has popped up in trade rumours as the Hawks have struggled to match last year’s success. He’d fit in well with his former teammate, DeMarre Carroll, and would bolster the starting lineup. He and Paul Millsap have been the leaders of Atlanta’s selfless style and he’d be welcomed by Toronto and many other suitors.
Why he wouldn’t fit: It’s not that he wouldn’t fit in Toronto but the question for Horford is would be if he’d want to be a permanent fixture. ESPN has said a factor in Horford’s pending free agency is that the Dominican Republic native would like to play in a market that has a heavy Dominican population. He’d also command a ton of assets in a trade and/or a ton of money as a free agent this summer.
P.J. Tucker
Phoenix Suns
Age: 30
2015-16 stats: seven points, 1.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds per game.
Salary: $5.5 million, two years remaining.
Why he’d fit: Tucker’s numbers aren’t overwhelming, but he’s the type of physical defender coaches love and opponents respect instead of hate. As he put a punishing game on DeRozan in Phoenix this month, the two had an amiable conversation going throughout the night. Tucker is held in high regard across the league, works hard and quite honestly deserves to be sprung from the Suns’ painfully long season.
Why he wouldn’t fit: It’d have nothing to do with chemistry or work ethic. Tucker may not physically fit into the Raptors plans, unless Carroll or James Johnson are out for longer than expected. At six-foot-six, Tucker’s defensive assignments currently overlap often with what Carroll draws when healthy. Could he guard a big forward? He has trouble defending close to the basket, where smart bigs would take him in that match-up.
Pau Gasol/Taj Gibson
Chicago Bulls
Age: Gasol, 35, Gibson, 30.
2015-16 stats
Gasol: 17 points, 10.9 rebounds, two blocks per game.
Gibson: Eight points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.1 blocks per game.
Salaries: Gasol, $7.4 million, two years remaining; Gibson, $8.5 million, two years remaining.
Why they’d fit: Both Bulls have had their names surface in trade rumours and both, on paper, are a good fit for the Raptors. Gasol is a model pro with championship experience, putting up numbers in tune with his 15-year career, which is remarkable in itself. Gibson is a solid forward and is a respected vet who’s not afraid to hold players accountable in a season that isn’t going to plan (how many of those have the Bulls had in recent years?).
Why they wouldn’t fit: With both players it’s not that they wouldn’t necessarily fit. The question becomes would they make the team substantially better and is it worth it to break up a team with good chemistry that’s already the second-best team in the conference? What would have to be given up for a 35-year-old Gasol and is that worth it? Would either player put the Raptors in the three-team conversation that currently exists between Cleveland, Golden State and San Antonio for a championship?
Markieff Morris
Phoenix Suns
Age: 26
2015-16 stats: 11.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.6 blocks per game.
Salary: $8 million in 2016, with four years remaining.
Why he’d fit: He’s a young, versatile player with a ton of upside still attached to him. He’s a comfortable three-point shooter (but 32 per cent in his career), which shows he’s a long-term fit for the ‘everybody-put-up-some-threes’ direction the NBA is going. In his five years in the league, he has shown glimpses of greatness. The turmoil that seems to have engulfed the Suns could be a factor in Morris not turning those glimpses into longer showings.
Why he wouldn’t fit: So, about that turmoil; Morris’ big hands aren’t clean in that. The video of him fighting with teammate Archie Goodwin on the Suns’ bench is just a week old. In December, he went the route of former Sun Robert Horry and threw a towel at then-coach Jeff Hornacek and was suspended two games. Last summer he repeatedly tweeted trade demands. Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted on Tuesday morning the Raptors are not interested in Morris.
Blake Griffin
L.A. Clippers
Age: 26
2015-16 stats: 23.2 points, 8.7 rebounds five assists per game.
Salary: $18.9 million, three years remaining.
Why he’d fit: Ignoring things like the salary cap and team-decimating trades for one player and speaking strictly basketball-wise, Blake Griffin paired with Kyle Lowry and DeRozan is a knock on the door to that championship conversation those other three teams in the league are having. The Raptors are an elite player away from being legitimate contenders and a Griffin-type player, a true superstar in the league, would vault them into that universe.
Why he wouldn’t fit: He makes too much money and commands too much on the trade market. That’d mean DeRozan’s expiring deal once he opts out at the end of the season, Lowry, or Carroll and then some combination of bench players to make salaries work. It’s not worth it to break up a team with promise and take steps back while acquiring Griffin who, don’t forget, broke his hand in Toronto in January punching out his team’s equipment manager.
Will Blake Griffin stay put with the Clippers?
Is Dwight Howard on the move for the third time in his career?
In Toronto, Raptors fans wonder what fate awaits their team. An upgrade at power forward has been the stuff of online fodder since the start of the season, but will GM Masai Ujiri make a move with his team in second place in the Eastern Conference and DeMarre Carroll and James Johnson due back from injury?
Here are some of the names that have been tied to the Raptors via trade chatter:
Thaddeus Young
Brooklyn Nets
Age: 27
2015-16 stats: 15.1 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists per game.
Salary: $11.2 million in 2016, with four years remaining.
Why he’d fit: Young would provide a nice offensive spark at the four-spot, something that’s been hit-and-miss at times from the Raptors’ present players. He’s also a solid rebounder, posing a nightly double-double threat. His numbers are nice, but on a human level, don’t you sympathize for someone who has spent a career in Philadelphia, Minnesota and Brooklyn? Young would likely welcome a move into a positive/functional, winning environment.
Why he wouldn’t fit: In considering Young, you have to think about what the Raptors would give up to get him. He isn’t a good three-point shooter (21.7 per cent this year), which doesn’t fit with what the Raptors have in their present power forwards, Luis Scola and Patrick Patterson, who are also strong defenders. Young’s salary could also bog the team down over the next four seasons, as Ujiri will have to deal with DeMar DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo as free agents this summer.
Ryan Anderson
New Orleans Pelicans
Age: 27
2015-16 stats: 16.7 points, 5.9 rebounds, 0.4 blocks per game.
Salary: $8.5 million, one year remaining.
Why he’d fit: Anderson is enjoying one of the best years of his career on a bad Pelicans team. Because of that, the free-agent to be is prime trade bait and there are parts of his game — like his three-point shooting and general defensive abilities — that suggest he’d fit. It would probably cost to keep him beyond a Raptors existence as a rental, but the possibility of playoff success could make that a mutually beneficial arrangement come July.
Why he wouldn’t fit: Like the Young scenario and like many of these trade options, is what the Raptors would be giving up worth what they’d be getting back? Patterson factors into many of these trade rumours. With the Raptors’ bench playing so well, and Patterson giving the team everything it’s asking of him, do you want to sacrifice that for a player that could go elsewhere in July, leaving you empty handed?
Kenneth Faried
Denver Nuggets
Age: 26
2015-16 stats: 12.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, one block per game.
Salary: $11.2 million, four years remaining.
Why he’d fit: An athletic, hard-working player, Faried has been consistent since he got into the league in 2011. He’s good for just under a modest double-double a night and routinely gets fans out of their seats with big plays. A member of the 2014 U.S. team that won the FIBA World Cup, Faried has some familiarity with DeRozan and Ujiri’s time in Denver overlaps with Faried’s.
Why he wouldn’t fit: Like Young, the length of Faried’s contract will pull money away from the Raptors, even with the cap increasing next season. On top of that, you have to ask if Faried would make the Raptors markedly better while tying up that money for the next four years. Are the Raptors better off to wait until free agency, or hope for their first-round pick via New York this year can pan out into something more worthwhile?
Al Horford
Atlanta Hawks
Age: 29
2015-16 stats: 15.3 points, 6.9 rebounds, 1.5 blocks per game.
Salary: $12 million, one year remaining.
Why he’d fit: Maybe the best fit of all of these scenarios for the Raptors, Horford’s name has popped up in trade rumours as the Hawks have struggled to match last year’s success. He’d fit in well with his former teammate, DeMarre Carroll, and would bolster the starting lineup. He and Paul Millsap have been the leaders of Atlanta’s selfless style and he’d be welcomed by Toronto and many other suitors.
Why he wouldn’t fit: It’s not that he wouldn’t fit in Toronto but the question for Horford is would be if he’d want to be a permanent fixture. ESPN has said a factor in Horford’s pending free agency is that the Dominican Republic native would like to play in a market that has a heavy Dominican population. He’d also command a ton of assets in a trade and/or a ton of money as a free agent this summer.
P.J. Tucker
Phoenix Suns
Age: 30
2015-16 stats: seven points, 1.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds per game.
Salary: $5.5 million, two years remaining.
Why he’d fit: Tucker’s numbers aren’t overwhelming, but he’s the type of physical defender coaches love and opponents respect instead of hate. As he put a punishing game on DeRozan in Phoenix this month, the two had an amiable conversation going throughout the night. Tucker is held in high regard across the league, works hard and quite honestly deserves to be sprung from the Suns’ painfully long season.
Why he wouldn’t fit: It’d have nothing to do with chemistry or work ethic. Tucker may not physically fit into the Raptors plans, unless Carroll or James Johnson are out for longer than expected. At six-foot-six, Tucker’s defensive assignments currently overlap often with what Carroll draws when healthy. Could he guard a big forward? He has trouble defending close to the basket, where smart bigs would take him in that match-up.
Pau Gasol/Taj Gibson
Chicago Bulls
Age: Gasol, 35, Gibson, 30.
2015-16 stats
Gasol: 17 points, 10.9 rebounds, two blocks per game.
Gibson: Eight points, 7.2 rebounds, 1.1 blocks per game.
Salaries: Gasol, $7.4 million, two years remaining; Gibson, $8.5 million, two years remaining.
Why they’d fit: Both Bulls have had their names surface in trade rumours and both, on paper, are a good fit for the Raptors. Gasol is a model pro with championship experience, putting up numbers in tune with his 15-year career, which is remarkable in itself. Gibson is a solid forward and is a respected vet who’s not afraid to hold players accountable in a season that isn’t going to plan (how many of those have the Bulls had in recent years?).
Why they wouldn’t fit: With both players it’s not that they wouldn’t necessarily fit. The question becomes would they make the team substantially better and is it worth it to break up a team with good chemistry that’s already the second-best team in the conference? What would have to be given up for a 35-year-old Gasol and is that worth it? Would either player put the Raptors in the three-team conversation that currently exists between Cleveland, Golden State and San Antonio for a championship?
Markieff Morris
Phoenix Suns
Age: 26
2015-16 stats: 11.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 0.6 blocks per game.
Salary: $8 million in 2016, with four years remaining.
Why he’d fit: He’s a young, versatile player with a ton of upside still attached to him. He’s a comfortable three-point shooter (but 32 per cent in his career), which shows he’s a long-term fit for the ‘everybody-put-up-some-threes’ direction the NBA is going. In his five years in the league, he has shown glimpses of greatness. The turmoil that seems to have engulfed the Suns could be a factor in Morris not turning those glimpses into longer showings.
Why he wouldn’t fit: So, about that turmoil; Morris’ big hands aren’t clean in that. The video of him fighting with teammate Archie Goodwin on the Suns’ bench is just a week old. In December, he went the route of former Sun Robert Horry and threw a towel at then-coach Jeff Hornacek and was suspended two games. Last summer he repeatedly tweeted trade demands. Yahoo!’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted on Tuesday morning the Raptors are not interested in Morris.
Blake Griffin
L.A. Clippers
Age: 26
2015-16 stats: 23.2 points, 8.7 rebounds five assists per game.
Salary: $18.9 million, three years remaining.
Why he’d fit: Ignoring things like the salary cap and team-decimating trades for one player and speaking strictly basketball-wise, Blake Griffin paired with Kyle Lowry and DeRozan is a knock on the door to that championship conversation those other three teams in the league are having. The Raptors are an elite player away from being legitimate contenders and a Griffin-type player, a true superstar in the league, would vault them into that universe.
Why he wouldn’t fit: He makes too much money and commands too much on the trade market. That’d mean DeRozan’s expiring deal once he opts out at the end of the season, Lowry, or Carroll and then some combination of bench players to make salaries work. It’s not worth it to break up a team with promise and take steps back while acquiring Griffin who, don’t forget, broke his hand in Toronto in January punching out his team’s equipment manager.
I think Bebe can be that guy. He's played full time for like 2 weeks tho, thats not enough
I like Taj Gibson but I haven't watched him recently so I don't know about his athleticism now and durability after Thins ran that team to the ground. Horford would be a good get in the offseason but they probably don't have the money for him and derozan
Masai ain't making any moves
YupMasai ain't making any moves
Masai should be canned if he stands pat
Do y'all really think raps would beat a healthy Chicago or Detroit team in a 7 game series?.
Have some cojones masai for once
Do y'all really think raps would beat a healthy Chicago or Detroit team in a 7 game series?.
Have some cojones masai for once
Detroit easily....I still think we can beat the Bulls but we should be aspiring to beat the Cavs and we cant with Scola/Val...
If Masai holds still and we lose in the first round
BENG BENG!
I understand he may want to wait until the summer and go all in at that time BUT
you may never get Lowry and DeRozan having career years like this simultaneously again...and be in second place with the entire conference having a down year...I feel you shouldnt waste that opportunity.
you may never get Lowry and DeRozan having career years like this simultaneously again...and be in second place with the entire conference having a down year...I feel you shouldnt waste that opportunity.
And trade for what exactly ? All the names I've been hearing around the raptors have been waste mans..
Thaddeus Young
Patterson is trash too we know that but atleast for now the chemistry is there with the team... He spreads the floor out... Something the raptors desperately need more of.
Drummond, Morris, Tobias Harris, Pope and reggie Jackson
Raps would be food
Raps would be food
Detroit easily....I still think we can beat the Bulls but we should be aspiring to beat the Cavs and we cant with Scola/Val...
If Masai holds still and we lose in the first round
BENG BENG!
Raptors whooped there ass in back to back games,you think a team with ZERO playoff experience and Tobias Harris wins ?
Young padawan
Raptors whooped there ass in back to back games,you think a team with ZERO playoff experience and Tobias Harris wins ?
CJ
Your objective semi-troll
Yeah brother, they moved it officially to inside the ACC and canned the other one. Now just Sportschek in Maple Leaf Square building.
First round exit