I think we all figured as much, but this about as clear an indication as you can get. I liked Colangelo's quote near the top, assessing Toronto's situation and goals currently. Now's as good a time as ever to be on the lookout for deals IMO, because there are a bunch of teams willing to jettison quality players for less than their worth in order to clear up cap space for 2010. BC should definitely be looking to capitalize on that.
Would Noc solve our problems at the 3? If I remember correctly, he can defend, he hussles, he can rebound and he can shoot the 3 right? Not much of a slasher I guess?
He sort of is, but honestly he's a slow and atrocious man defender, especially against 3s. He's a fair amount better at the 4 where he's generally got a quickness advantage but undersized. But he can (and does... or attempts to) play the 3 for the Bulls. If I were the Raptors, however, I wouldn't trade Parker for him. I do wonder, however, if there isn't a deal to be done between the Bulls and the Raptors. You guys seem to need help at the 2/3 and we have plenty of guys there. And we need a big guy in Chicago. What are your all's feelings about the Raptors? Who do you want to keep and who do you want to go? From the outside looking in, I see a few possibilities: 1. A trade of Larry Hughes, Andres Nocioni and Aaron Gray for Jermaine O'Neal and Nathan Jawai. Hughes and O'Neal are comparable in that they're injury prone guys who haven't lived up to their contracts. Are you guys sick of O'Neal (already), or do you see him as a good fit next to Bosh. My thinking with this trade is that if the Raps think Bargnani is really getting it this season, they might want to push ahead with him full time, and trade O'Neal quickly for help in other places. 2. The other possibility is the Raptors like O'Neal and would consider moving Bargnani. The times I've seen him play, he doesn't look all that compatible with Bosh to me. But I also don't think it's very smart to be trying to play Bargnani at the 3. So maybe they should just move him for more immediate help. But obviously that's sort of hard to do, since trading a #1 overall pick is sort of admitting a mistake. So I don't know if the Raps would really want to consider that. But obviously they could get more than Larry Hughes and Andres Nocioni in that case.
See that's kind of the problem with the Raptors attempts to make a trade. When you look at it, we have 4 assets with which to make a significant deal: Bosh, Calderon, O'Neal, and Bargnani. Bosh and Calderon are pretty much locked in and I think Colanglelo only entertains that notion if the team really starts to tank and needs a significant shakeup. The team could maybe trade O'Neal or Bargnani, but they're stuck in a middle ground. Bargnani has shown amazing growth, but the team has to be worried about thrusting him into a huge role before he's proven he's consistently ready. Trading JO would make the chances for this season that much more shaky. On the other hand, Colangelo is right to avoid trading Bargnani after he's shown such potential. O'Neal has played good this year, but not good enough to solidify himself as Bosh's partner in the long run. Trading Bargs would really be compromising the long-term fortunes of the franchise. I'm skeptical about Colangelo's ability to fix up this team with a trade this year. I suspect we'll trudge through the rest of this season and make serious upgrades for next year over the offseason.
Sometimes time is the best option, we have the talent in CB4 Jo Jose and Bargnani and 2 of the best shooters in the NBA. Maybe Jay can work with a shorter bench then Sam could.
First task: pencil in a second-string PG and stick with it. You may not have much to work with, but Smitch's constant flip-flopping didn't help things at all.
what do you guys think about Desmond Mason? I think he would be really good for our team, the guy is a slasher, drives to the basket, high flyer type. I don't know what team hes on though. OKC? you'd think they would want a guy like Kapono?
