3 fool’s gold free agents Raptors must avoid in 2022 offseason

1. Montrezl Harrell, Charlotte Hornets

While Harrell was a worthy Sixth Man of the Year winner with the Clippers, he’s starting to become one of those players who is not as effective as high gaudy point and rebound numbers would suggest. Harrell seems like a perfect backup big for the Raptors, but his game tells a different story.

Harrell averaged 13.3 points and 6.1 rebounds per game in the last two years, but he has seen his minutes per game drop all the way down from 27.8 per game with the Clippers to 21.0 with his hometown Hornets. Harrell has been traded twice in that span, showing that coaches around the league are struggling to plan around him.

Montrezl Harrell’s defense could hurt the Toronto Raptors.

Harrell is dangerously close to falling into that Andre Drummond/Hassan Whiteside tier of players who are box score phenoms and double-double machines that move from team to team every year due to shortcomings that show up on film. The Raptors might not be interested in him because of those issues.

The idea of getting a taller center who could compliment Precious Achiuwa off the bench by rebounding the ball and protecting the rim makes sense. Spending a ton of money on a poor defender and shooter like the 6-7 Harrell might not be the best way to improve the team.