Should Toronto Trade Their Pick?
After the All-Star break, the Toronto Raptors cruised through the rest of the season with a 7-19 record securing the third most ping pong balls in the NBA’s draft lottery, but this may not be the season the Raptors really want a top five pick.
"We have taken a very strong look at this draft and it’s not a great draft by star quality standards," said Raptors President and General Manager Bryan Colangelo at the trade deadline. "There are a lot of what I’ll call impact players potentially up at the top, again short on stars, but when you look at the unknowns of how the potential labor situation this summer will play into the fact that some guys may decide to stay in school as opposed to put their names in."
Colangelo could not have been more prophetic. A draft the Raptors saw as short on stars in February has only gotten weaker as Jared Sullinger, Harrison Barnes, Perry Jones, Jeremy Lamb, Terrence Jones, and others opted to stay in college for another season.
The Raptors were never waiting on the 2011 NBA draft and began their youth movement during the season. The $14.5 million trade exception from the Chris Bosh sign and trade deal with Miami wasn’t used to acquire another established star.
"We used the trade exception to accomplish a few things," said Colangelo. "The acquisition of Bayless, the acquisition of Ajinca which was more tied to the cash considerations and the pick that came with it and to get a look at a young player, a guy who was selected twentieth overall. Additionally we acquired James Johnson with that and there is still a balance of about $9.1 million."
Heading towards the end of the season, the Raptors had a plan.
"Our plan is to continue to develop these guys, have the flexibility to add some pieces when those pieces are available in free agency, and keep growing organically as much as possible without the outside pieces that are required," said Colangelo. "We are going to have a high draft pick, that’s another piece that comes into the fold. It is very, very unlikely that we do anything with that pick between now and draft time. That pick does have a lot of value, there have been a lot of people that have inquired if we would move that pick and offered players in lieu of that but we decided no, we are going to stick with it for now, stick with the plan of bringing in a good young piece."
Now that the season has ended does the plan to keep the high draft pick actually fit the Raptors needs? Even Colangelo recognized just how young his team is already when he said, "quite frankly we are so young that I don’t think we can afford to put two more young pieces into the fold next year." The Raptors have high potential young talent at every position already.
"There was a commitment to being patient and letting the young guys develop and come along," explained Colangelo. "We feel like we are accomplishing a lot of that when we look at what DeMar DeRozan has done, Amir Johnson coming along the way he has, Ed Davis now that he is healthy and in the lineup and playing, and Andrea (Bargnani) continues to elevate his game."
Jerryd Bayless was drafted eleventh in 2008 but struggled to find minutes behind veteran point guards in Portland and New Orleans. In Toronto it wasn’t long before the media was calling for the 22-year-old to take the reins as he backed up Jose Calderon for most of the season but averaged 18.1 points and 6.7 assists in his 14 starts.
In his second season, 21-year-old shooting guard DeMar DeRozan boosted his production to 17.2 points and 3.8 rebounds, starting all 82 games for Toronto.
After being mired on the bench in Chicago for most of his first two seasons, 24-year-old small forward James Johnson came to Toronto and started in all 25 games, putting up an impressive stat line of 9.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.1 blocks, and 1.0 steals in 28 minutes.
Power forward Ed Davis missed the first month of his rookie campaign with a knee injury but returned to finish a solid year with 13 double-doubles, eight of which came in March and April. In his 17 starts, Davis averaged 10.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, and 0.8 steals.
When the Raptors re-signed power forward Amir Johnson to a five-year, $30 million deal last summer it raised some eyebrows, but the 24-year-old finished the year averaging 9.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in just 25.7 minutes, often playing through injury.
One can question if the seven-foot, 25-year-old Andrea Bargnani should be playing at center or power forward but the Raptors former number one overall pick did show that he can score the ball last season averaging 21.4 points per game. That Bargnani averaged just 5.2 rebounds and 0.7 blocks only serves to illustrate the team’s need for a defensive center who can rebound and protect the rim and that’s something Colangelo has been trying to address since he arrived in Toronto.
Last season Colangelo attempted to acquire Tyson Chandler to be the center complementing Bargnani’s offensive game. This offseason the Raptors needs haven’t changed, but the Raptors draft pick is a valuable trade chip that just might convince a team trying to rebuild through the draft to do a deal.
{AUTHOR_BOX}Possible Trading Partners
Cleveland took on $12 million in additional salary to acquire the Clippers’ lottery pick, and with a roster in disarray the Cavaliers are rebuilding through the draft. At 28 years old, center Anderson Varejao will be on the downside of his career before Cleveland is in a position to contend. Acquiring a third lottery pick would move Cleveland further along than winning a few extra games next season with Varejao.
The Jazz missed the playoffs last year and finished up against next season’s likely salary cap with just eight or nine players under contract. After trading Deron Williams for Devin Harris, Derrick Favors and the Nets 2011 lottery pick, the Jazz are rebuilding and should be willing to consider all options. The biggest salary obligation the Jazz have is center Al Jefferson at $29 million over the next two seasons, but with limited hopes of returning to the postseason during that time, the Raptors lottery pick plus one of their younger, cheaper forwards could be an attractive alternative.
The Clippers are one of very few teams with two highly productive centers, the recent All-Star Chris Kaman and the young up and coming DeAndre Jordan, but can they really manage two starting-caliber centers?
Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon provide the Clippers with a pair of young stars they can build a winning franchise around, however, their young point guard Eric Bledsoe played out of control during most of his rookie season, posting a 1.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. If the Clippers signed and traded DeAndre Jordan for whoever the Raptors draft of Kyrie Irving, Kemba Walker, or Brandon Knight, the Clippers may have their point guard of the future.
Should Toronto Trade the Pick?
Colangelo has traded young players and draft picks to get the position player he believed the Raptors needed on more than one occasion already since arriving in Toronto. The Raptors need for a rim protecting rebounder at center has been obvious during Colangelo’s entire stay with the team and if he can swing a deal to get the center they need, there should be no hesitation to include the Raptors pick.
Besides, if one agrees with Colangelo that this draft lacks star power, the higher the Raptors draft, the more pressure there should be to move the pick. Colangelo shouldn’t want just another young impact player to compete for minutes with the Raptors existing young talent if he has an alternative.
What do you think Colangelo should do with Toronto’s lottery draft pick?
Let us know in the comments below and send me your comments or questions about the Toronto Raptors or anything else in the NBA to my weekly NBA chat and check back on Thursday at noon ET for a response.
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