Toronto Raptors: Stock up, stock down after first 3 games

Stock Down: Chris Boucher

While Boucher surprised Raptors fans by returning from his finger injury so quickly, his play in the first few games is making some question if he rushed back from that ailment. The Boucher that we have seen in the last few games is not the Boucher we saw take a huge step forward last year.

Boucher has averaged 6.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game. Those numbers don’t sound putrid considering he is coming off of an injury, but he is shooting just 27% from the field and 13% from 3-point range. He played just eight minutes against Dallas and failed to score a point.

Chris Boucher has been in a funk for the Toronto Raptors.

The Raptors need Boucher to step up if they want to play their chaotic style of switch-heavy defense and frenetic offense. Shooting at such horrific percentages is not going to get the job done, especially when Toronto has enough young forwards to steal rotation time from him.

In addition to the short-term ramifications, Boucher is an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season. With a few more clunkers like this, Boucher might do so much damage to his stock around the league that he ends up running the value of his next deal. Simply put, he needs to step it up.