If i was GM, we would be in the second round waiting on an opponet but i thought it would be fun for u proletarians to put your two cents in and hypothesize colangelo's next 3 moves. here's mine... (1) trade bargnani- trade him for a scoring wing (e.g. bargnani, first rounder, kapono for butler) (2) trade caledron to minny for mike miller and their lottery pick (draft brandon jennings) (3) sign rasho and jason kidd (2 years and 18 million)
Please no. Not Jennings. I think the raps should go after DeMar DeRozan in this year's draft. Also, trading away Calderon will help out a lot. If the Raps continue to suck (which I think they should for one more year), they should tank for John Wall. Think: a lefty Derrick Rose. A Demar DeRozan/John Wall combo would put the asses back in the ACC. Jennings is good, but he's undersized, and Wall actually has no ceiling, thats how good he is.
The difference between the Raptors of this past year and the Raptors that won the division title back in 2006 is depth. I mean, this year's bench included Solomon, Roko, Douby, POB, and Voshkul. When you're a reject from the Kings (Douby) or the Warriors (POB), that's pretty bad. Compared to 2006 when we had coming off the bench Mo Pete, Garbo, Rasho, Ford and a healthy Humphries. So my 3 point plan would be to give up some pieces to get more depth. 1. Trade Bargnani and Douby to Washington for Brendan Haywood and Nick Young. Bargnani's value right now is the highest since after the first season. Sure this could come back and bite us in the butt if he goes and averages 20/8, but I don't see a frontcourt of Bosh and Bargnani winning anything substantial. Both are perimeter oriented, and neither are willing to get physical. Haywood could compliment Bosh well for an inside/outside combo, and is willing to dive on the floor to grab a loose ball. He's also been improving steadily, and will probably peak at around 13/10. Nick Young is a offensive spark off the bench, and can take it to the hole or hit the long ball. As to why Washington would do this trade, Etan Thomas and Haywood have been duking it out for the starting C spot for a while. Though Haywood has secured the spot lately, Thomas is a good replacement, and they also have McGee who had a good rookie year and Blatche who gets some minutes at C and that they are very high on. By getting Bargnani, they can move Jamison for other pieces to help their roster. 2. Sign Raymond Felton and Rasho Nesterovic, and resign Anthony Parker. Felton is quick, strong, and aggressive. Yeah his jumpshot needs some work, but the team's got enough shooting as it is, so I think they can hide this part of his game, and besides, it'll improve if he works on it. Rasho's Rasho. He's not overly impressive, but he'll grab boards, defend, and hit open shots. 3. Trade Calderon and O'Bryant to Minnesota for Sebastian Telfair and Ryan Gomes. Point guard is their weakest position, and with a lineup of Calderon/Foye/Miller/Love/Jefferson, they are essentially playoff bound. Telfair is a decent backup, and has picked it up since moving to Minnesota. Gomes is a utility guy that can do a little of everything, and is a great glue guy. The reason for giving up on Calderon is that he is not going to take the team anywhere. He is a pass first point guard almost to a fault. He needs to look for his offense more, but he doesn't. He's also scared to drive to the basket. When he has the ball in the half court, he makes the offense very stagnant. He runs off a pick by Bosh, picks up the dribble, and then spends the rest of the shot clock looking for someone to pass the ball to. By picking up the dribble, he just stands in one spot on offense and prays to God that someone will get open, if not he dumps it to Bosh for a long jumpshot. I think this gives the Raptors a lot more depth, more inside scoring/driving, and more toughness. We'd end up with something like: PG: Felton/Telfair SG: Parker/Young/Kapono SF: Gomes/Kapono/Graham PF: Bosh/Humphries/Pops Mensah Bonsu C: Haywood/Nesterovic And then obviously you still have your draft pick.
1. trade bosh and humphries to the suns for nash, barbosa, and a 2nd round pick(suns would then deal amare to a team like chicago or detroit). 2. draft earl clark. 3. resign marion and sign chris anderson. pg - nash/calderon sg - barbosa/calderon sf - kapono/clark pf - marion/clark c - bargnani/anderson that would be by far the best running and long range shooting team in the league and should sell a lot of tickets with their style of play and bringing nash to canada.
Not a bust. Just doesn't fit well with the team seeing as Bosh is also very perimeter oriented. With them two at the 4 and 5 spot, you have no toughness or inside scoring at all.
here's the problem with your three point plan: all the players u want here suck. felton, telfair ? those two dudes have the ego of starberry with a tenth of his skill. moreover, your plan doesnt address their lack of perimeter orientated offense as u have geriatric parker starting at the two. btw, haywood is highly effective when healthy but key word "when"
my lineup PG: Jkidd, Brandon Jennings, Roko SG: Caron Butler, Douby, banks SF:Mike Miller, Printesis (greek kid) Pf: Bosh, Pops C: Rasho, Pat Obryant, Filler this lineup wins 55 games
How does Felton suck? I don't think 14/7 is all that bad, also seeing as he has room to improve. Telfair has also stepped it up since going to Minnesota. Post All-Star break this year, he averaged 13/5. And as for their attitude, I think it's a welcome addition to the team. I hardly think it's as bad as you described it, and it might light a fire under this mentally weak and unmotivated team. As for the lack of perimeter offense, last time I checked, the reason the Raptors are so bad is because all they do is chuck up shots from the perimeter. I can't see how you lack perimeter offense when you still have Bosh who takes jumpshots all day, Parker who's a shooter, and Gomes who's fairly efficient shooting a jumper. Not to mention you have Young and Kapono off the bench still. As to Haywood, since he's been in the league, he's played 6, 80, 77, 79, 68, 77, 81, 62. That's three years that he didn't play 75+. That's hardly a risk of being injury prone when just last year your team took a risk on Jermaine O'Neal, and have also taken a risk on T.J. Ford previously.
What makes you think the Wizards will give up Butler for Bargnani? They have an abundance of centers anyways, so are they going to make Bargnani play SF? That trade makes no sense, seeing as the Wizards finally have a chance to play with all their players healthy, and it's not like they have an abundance of SFs waiting to take Butler's place. And also, why would Minnesota give up Miller AND their first round pick for Calderon? Seeing as you said pick Brandon Jennings, don't you think Minnesota would rather have Jennings for themselves and keep Mike Miller, rather than have just Calderon? It's not like Minnesota is in a rush to win, so they could just let Jennings develop and play it out, and probably find a better package for Mike Miller. Lastly, Jason Kidd left NJ because he wanted to win. What makes you think he'll want to come to Toronto, since they've been so hot lately right? I'm betting money right now is not much of a factor for him, and he'd rather take the MLE and play for championship contenders. At worst, he'd resign with Dallas.
i might be the biggest bargnani fan out there but i agree with two of the trades suggested by shank but not calderon for telfair i think if we want to trade calderon we should look to Portland, for some combination of Blake, Outlaw, Bayless (if they would give him up) or Rodriguez
its not bargnani for butler straight up, its bargnani, kapono and the lottery pick for butler. why would washington do it? cause their bigs suck and offensively inept, thats kinda been their problem in the last few years. they have had great perimeter play but inside they just cannot compete. and they were the worst team in the league, adding a lottery pick would only add to their depth. why would minny do it? cause they need a veteran point guard to solidify their inexperienced team plus mike miller clearly isnt in their long range plans. plus, babcock is the assistant gm and has an affinity for caledron. as for signing j.kidd- its a little far fetched but if we had butler and miller surrounding bosh, im confident we would qualify as a contender and adding kidd would only make us championship worthy. jennings playing behind a hall of fame point guard for two years would give him the opportunity to mature into the role of a starting point guard.
stats are only meaningful when the team u play for actually wins more games than the lose. the truth is that dj augustin (their rookie pg) is favoured over felton by the bobcat franchise. telfair can crossover any opposing guard in the league but he still cant hit an open jumper with any consistency nor play defense. parker is geriatric; gomes is a tweener (too small to power forward and not quick enough to guard three's); and nick young is alright on some nights but straight up nbdl on the rest of the nights. haywood is an average rebounder ; below average offensive player and a good interior defender. he's not bill russel
So Washington is going to be willing to make this trade because you include the almighty Kapono and a lottery pick in a fairly poor draft? If they make this trade, is Kapono going to start at SF for them? Or maybe the draft pick? But then how would they improve their inside scoring if they're going to use the pick on a replacement SF? Unless by inside scoring you mean Bargnani's impressive array of post moves. Keep in mind that they will be giving up an established SF, who is an All-Star and top 10 SF in the league. I don't think they're ready to give away their pieces since next season, they'll finally have a healthy roster. Hey, maybe if they're looking to rebuild, they might make the deal. But they aren't. Minnesota sure would love a veteran PG, no doubt. But are they going to be willing to give both Miller AND their pick? Highly doubt it. Especially when they can use their pick to draft Jennings. Again, would Minnesota rather have Calderon, or Miller and Calderon? Even if they don't end up drafting Jennings, there's some decent FA point guards. Andre Miller, Raymond Felton and Mike Bibby to name a few. About Kidd. Do you think your fantasy lineup can compare to the Cavaliers who will most likely get to the Finals this year, and may even win a championship? You do realize that Canada struggles to sign big name free agents because of their cold winters and a small little problem called taxes. But I'm sure if both Cleveland and Toronto offers Kidd the full MLE, he's going to pick to play with Caron Butler and Mike Miller instead of Lebron James.
So then a bunch of teams shouldn't even keep stats, since they only matter if you're an above .500 team. Kevin Martin's stats show he's a great scorer, but guess it doesn't mean anything since his team can't win. Or maybe Al Jefferson isn't one of the top bigmen because quite frankly, the Wolves suck. Get your facts straight. Charlotte doesn't favour Augustin (thanks for pointing out he's their rookie PG. I would never have realized since I don't follow basketball) over Felton, Larry Brown does. Charlotte wanted Brooke Lopez with their pick, but Brown said Augustin. Felton is no Isiah Thomas, but he's a young point guard who is actually quite a good basketball player. Telfair has many flaws in his game, sure, and that's why hes going to play backup. What do you realistically want as your backup point guard? Chris Paul? Deron Williams? Every player has their flaws, even the best players in the league. Why not focus on the fact that Telfair can break down a defense, make a good pass, is still rather young and improving, and shot 42% from the field and 37% from three post all-star break. That's an acceptable percentage in my books for a point guard. Parker may be geriatric, but that also gives him the knowledge of what to do, and makes him a good leader. Not to mention he's unbelievably clutch, and a great role player. He can still knock down shots, handle the ball a bit, and provide decent scoring. Being old doesn't make you obsolete. Have you ever seen Gomes defend? Because if you did, you'd know that Gomes is an effective defender. He may not make the all-defensive team, but he'll make damn sure the opposition has to work for his points. Gomes plays all out on defense, and makes up for his physical disadvantages with hustle and heart. Sure he may have the ability to guard everyone in the league, but for the majority of the players out there, he can hold his own. Nick Young belonging to the NBDL? You're joking right? He's a menace on offense, and fits the role of being the spark off the bench. He's better than any swingmen we brought off the bench this year, that's for sure. Haywood is a terrible rebounder. 7 a game with 3.5 of them coming off the offensive glass while playing 28 minutes a game, that's just terrible. Last year, he scored 11 points a game. That's not that bad. It's not impossible to imagine him average 14/9 if given minutes, and I'd take that from my starting center. I question how much basketball you really watch, since you seem to know nothing of anyone. Your view on these players are totally off. How many times did you even see Telfair play this past season? Gomes? Don't go basing your opinion on players from what the TV told you on draft day back when they were picked, because players grow and become better. You also expect every player to be perfectly balanced in every aspect. Just because a player has a flaw means he shouldn't be on the team, or he can't be a good player? Stop asking for your whole roster to be filled with Bill Russels and Michael Jordans. Maybe next time when you want to make a point, actually watch a few games first and see if what you're saying is true. Otherwise, you'll just come in looking like a joke.
I don't know about everyone else, but I found his post quite coherent. But I guess you would know what it's like to be a crackhead looking to score, as evident by your thoughtless trade ideas.
