Trade Deadline: Make A Move Masai!
What will the Raptors – and Masai Ujiri – do at the deadline?
With the NBA Trade Deadline less than one hour away, all eyes are on the Toronto Raptor’s GM Masai Ujiri as he contemplates making a deadline deal or standing pat for the 3rd season in a row.
The Raptors are in a tough situation. They are firmly entrenched as the Eastern Conference’s 2nd best team behind LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. But history suggests that despite all the Raptors success, they tend to fall off in the 2nd half of the season, which also leads to a first round exit in the playoffs. This scenario has played out twice before in the past two seasons and that fact alone hunts Ujiri and the organization.
Simply put: Masai Ujiri can no longer afford to sit on his hands at the deadline. By the same token, any deal made by the former executive of the year mustn’t disrupt the chemistry of the team, nor handicap the flexibility to make offseason moves. Also, with the Cavaliers just acquiring Orlando Magic forward Channing Frye (as per TheScore’s William Lou) and the Boston Celtics trying to pick up Al Horford (also according to Lou), there’s even more added pressure for Toronto to make a move to fortify the roster. What that said, what does Masai do?
We know for sure that the Raptors are no longer looking at the Phoenix Suns forward Markieff Morris (William Lou has been busy) (bummer), which would likely mean that P.J. Tucker is all but assuredly off the table as well (super bummer). And although the team has also been linked to Kenneth Faried (I covered that the other day), it wouldn’t necessarily by a wise move by Toronto.
So who’s available as the trade field thins out?
Chicago Bulls: Pau Gasol and Taj Gibson
Clearly the best deal, the Raptors would part with one their many 1st round draft picks along with Patrick Patterson, Luis Scola and James Johnson. Both Gasol and Gibson are available and can be had with this deal, which works with ESPN’s Trade Machine. Raptors win 8 more games while the Bulls drop 9 based the PER ratings. But as Gasol would prefer to remain in Chicago, it remains to be seen what will happen with this.
As a side note, the Bulls did offer Gibson to the Raptors in exchange for Patterson, but Masai hasn’t budged… Yet (as per Sportsnet’s Michael Hoad).
Brooklyn Nets: Thaddeus Young
With TheScore’s John Chick reporting that both the Raptors and Celtics are interested in Young’s services, this would make for a solid pickup for either club. As I made mention in an earlier post, any trade involving Brooklyn must favour Brooklyn in some way, shape or form. So the Raptors would have the edge in swinging this deal in their favour over the Celtics as they can offer the expiring contract of Patterson and Johnson along with one of their 1st rounders.
Young would provide some much needed scoring and athleticism in Toronto’s frontcourt, along with a defensive boost while the team patiently awaits the return of DeMarre Carroll.
The ball is in Masai’s court and the clock is ticking.
Make your move Masai!