Head coach Darko Rajakovic summed it up perfectly in one of his post-game media scrums from a while back. Back in September, if you’d told the Raptors personnel they’d be near the top of the Eastern Conference and on a crazy win streak in November, it wasn’t that the outcome wasn’t in their sights — just that it wasn’t something to get too far-fetched about. Yet, the Raptors were able to produce those results.
Still, this is very much a team that’s trying to figure itself out and stay grounded — at least to some extent.
The allure of potential star trade candidates has been circulating as a possible pivot for the Raptors' direction, going on to add a big-time name to their ranks in an attempt at raising their competitive ceiling. Trade talks regarding polarizing Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant have been heating up as of late, and it's certainly something to weigh carefully.
On paper, it’s undoubtedly a significant star upgrade at the point guard position compared to Toronto’s current option, Immanuel Quickley. I mentioned in a recent piece that the Raptors could be aiming for a big-time splash to underscore their winning vision under new head honcho Bobby Webster. Such an acquisition would embody exactly that — while also helping Toronto shed the hefty IQ contract from their salary sheets.
But here's what I didn't exactly address in that piece: the Raptors have been a relatively successful team to date despite not shooting the ball particularly well. They sit in the middle of the pack in team field goal percentage, shooting 47.1 percent from the field, which ranks them 15th across the league — rather modest, considering the flip side of this equation. On the opposite end, Toronto is eerily close to the bottom of the league for team three-point field goal percentage, converting just 33.9 percent of their looks from beyond the arc — tied with the Dallas Mavericks.
Toronto does their best work in the paint and on the fast break, ranking ninth in the NBA in points in the paint (52.7) and leading the league in fast break points (19.3).
Even with Ja Morant’s recent decline, these areas remain where the explosive guard has made a name for himself over the years. It would be wise to assume he’d look to build on that for Toronto. Yes, threes might not be everything in basketball, but if the Raptors were to lose IQ, they’d end up with a really poor shooting replacement in Ja Morant.
Ja Morant trade could push the Raptors' shooting capabilities to the limit
Say what you will about Quickley’s streaky shooting and questionable on-court vision — at least you could expect IQ to occasionally have some big three-point games for Toronto. On the flip side, it’s a tall order to believe that, by some miracle, Ja Morant suddenly becomes a sharpshooter within the Raptors’ system.
You're essentially shrinking an already tightening floor, not to mention the potential defensive woes that come with adding a volatile talent like Ja Morant — similar to what I just looked at with another top Raptors trade target, Domantas Sabonis.
Put simply, the idea of adding another weak shooter to a rotation that already features Scottie Barnes (who is improving from deep but isn't a reliable weapon), Brandon Ingram (a mid-range maestro who can shoot threes, but it's not his best look), Jakob Poeltl (who doesn’t shoot threes at all), and RJ Barrett (a solid 3PT shooter but better suited as a slasher) raises a serious question worth reflecting on.