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Trade Proposal: Houston Rockets PF Terrence Jones to Raptors for….?

By Brian Boake

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A number of our Commenters are asking about the availability of Houston power forward Terrence Jones. They believe he would solve the Toronto Raptors’ worrisome lack of rebounding (and rim protection, and scoring) in the front court. Since I concur, strongly, that help is needed, let’s consider Terrence as a trade candidate.

May 21, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; Houston Rockets forward Terrence Jones (6) is defended by Golden State Warriors forward Harrison Barnes (40) and forward Draymond Green (23) during the first half in game two of the Western Conference Finals of the NBA Playoffs. at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports

As you probably know, the number of NBA trades which are actually consummated is microscopically small, compared to the number which are discussed. There are many reasons for this cornucopia of chatter, and dearth of action, among General Managers. Some of those reasons are:

  1. Many proposed deals are attempts to grab an asset for very little, perhaps when a player’s stock is down. Seldom do these “we’ll take your battleship, and send you our canoe” deals finalize. Usually the GM snaps out of whatever angry funk he’s in, and realizes he’s being played for a fool.
  2. The analytics don’t make sense. That’s an entire post by itself.
  3. The deal doesn’t work within the Byzantine rules of the Collective Bargaining Agreement [CBA].
  4. The trade becomes unwieldy because of additional players, terms, or teams getting involved.
  5. The owner gets cold feet. James Dolan quashed the Kyle Lowry trade to the Knicks because he was afraid of being hosed again by Masai Ujiri.
  6. …and so on, including the reason why the Raptors are somewhat hamstrung from making any trades at all
    • so many Toronto players are untradable (see 3. above)

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At the moment, the Raptors have no fewer than 7 players (all our new guys) who can’t be traded, either because they were signed as free agents, or because they were draft picks. While this situation is admittedly temporary, one assumes Masai didn’t bring fresh blood on board to throw it off. That leaves only the core players and returning rotation players as trade candidates for Houston to consider. If the Raptors were to trade Lowry or DeMar DeRozan, the Rockets would have to add players to the transaction, as Jones is relatively underpaid (see 3. above…again, and 4.). The Raptors are rich in draft picks, which could be enticing to Houston, but I’m reluctant to toss those into any deal.

In short, there are precious few players on the Raptors’ roster who it’s even possible to postulate as a trade candidate. Would Houston take James Johnson straight up for Terrence? The money works, but the Trade Machine’s conclusion is Houston “loses” this deal by 5 games. I’d say that’s a minimum; Rockets GM Daryl Morey would hang up on Masai, unless a first-round pick was included. You say you’d pack Terrence Ross’s bags if he were moved? The TM concludes Houston would “lose” 6 games, and the Raptors “win” 3, should that happen. That’s an even worse deal for Houston, in other words. (The TM doesn’t like TRoss at all.)

I’m bailing on this trade proposal, Rapture Nation. While I may revisit prior to December 15, which is when free-agent signees can be moved (Bismack Biyombo?), this little exercise has been worthwhile. I’m more comfortable with my conclusion of last week, to the effect that Masai is just about done reworking the roster.

Next: Is Masai done remaking Raptors roster?

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