5 Worst Trades in Toronto Raptors’ history
By Brian Boake
December 3, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Toronto Raptors small forward Rudy Gay (22) passes the ball against Golden State Warriors center Andrew Bogut (12, right) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
#4. January 30, 2013 – In a complicated 3-team deal with Memphis and Detroit, Bryan Colangelo traded Jose Calderon & Ed Davis for Rudy Gay.
Analysis: This deal was a Hail Mary move by Colangelo, an attempt to speed up the team’s rebuilding process by acquiring an alleged star whom BC had always admired. Colangelo is a bright man, and had to know his MLSE bosses were growing weary of years of losing. While Rudy’s time in Toronto began well enough, his ball-sticking habits and poor shot selection soon proved disastrous to the offense. The Raps gave up an ultra-popular and skilled point guard in Calderon, and an internally developed up-&-coming power forward in Davis, for a wildly expensive ‘Melo-lite.
Result: A miserable failure, a deal which hastened Colangelo’s firing. We’ll discuss how Colangelo’s replacement, Masai Ujiri, made chicken salad out of chicken…stuff…in the “Best Trades” post, coming soon to your favourite Raptors website.
Next: Trying to turn back the clock - and failing