5 trade ideas to save the Toronto Raptors
By Adam Stocker
The Toronto Raptors have seen their record tail off as the calendar turned to 2017. Here are five trades to turn around the Raptors season.
Last year, the Toronto Raptors had the young franchise’s best season. Ultimately, the Raptors lost in the Eastern Conference finals to the eventual champions Cleveland Cavaliers.
Expectations were high entering the season. But the Raptors have not played up to expectations, at least not lately. In January the Raptors had a losing record. Getting Patrick Patterson and DeMar DeRozan back from injury will help but it’s looking more and more like the Raptors will need to make a trade if they really want to challenge Cleveland.
The Raptors as currently constructed have one of the league’s best backcourts with DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. But the team has a major hole at power forward. The team has not found a player who meshes well on the court with center Jonas Valanciunas. Patrick Patterson’s outside shooting helps space the floor but he’s a bit undersized in some matchups and most of the Raptors’ bench options involve going small. Off-season acquisition Jared Sullinger has not seen much playing time after breaking his foot in training camp. Both Sullinger and Patterson are free agents at the end of the season and could be moved in a trade.
The Raptors have quite a few assets that they could trade. The Raptors have a strong bench, led by the relatively cheap contract of Cory Joseph and wings Terrence Ross and Norman Powell. All three could be traded. The Raptors have all of their picks and a lottery-protected first-rounder from the Los Angeles Clippers.
The rest of the Raptors’ bench is complied with young, former first round picks. The Raptors have former first round picks Jakub Poeltl, Lucas Nogueira, Delon Wright, Pascal Siakim, Bruno Caboclo. Caboclo is two years away from being two years away from being just another tall skinny guy on a Brazilian beach. So do not expect to see the Raptors trade him. But the other players on the bench are all candidates to get traded.
Here are a few suggestions:
5. Jared Sullinger, Delon Wright, Norman Powell and a 2017 first round pick to Philadelphia for Nerlens Noel
The Raptors were rumored to be interested in Nerlens Noel in the off-season. A trade within the same division can be difficult. A trade between the Raptors and 76ers is made more complicated because 76ers GM Brian Colangelo used to be the Raptors GM and president. Although Colangelo gave Raptors president Masai Ujiri his start in the business. It is unknown if Colangelo will want to trade with his former team.
The trade would help solve the Raptors biggest need, by getting Noel to be a defensive stopper at power forward beside Valanciunas. Noel is limited offensively, but he will not be asked to score on Toronto. This option also allows Toronto to keep Patrick Patterson and maintain some frontcourt depth. Stauskas is from nearby Missasauga and would provide some additional offense off the bench, taking the limited minutes Powell had been playing.
Why would Philadelphia make this trade? The 76ers are a long-shot to make the playoffs and need to unravel the logjam in their frontcourt. Powell has looked like a potential above average two-way wing player and the first round pick will be in the mid-20s and should sweeten the deal for the 76ers.
The 76ers do not have many options at point guard, outside of T.J. McConnell. But McConnell maybe playing around his peak. Delon Wright has been recovering from off-season shoulder surgery and playing in the D-League. He struggled in his rookie season but has potential as a back-up point guard in the future.