Basketball business: it's a marathon, not a sprint. Although, maybe this past weekend's baffling Luka Doncic trade is one example of a franchise exhibiting an erratic mindset.
I don't know if he'll go down in Raptors history as an all-time fan favorite, but it's safe to say Bruce Brown salvaged a ton of fan respect with a stellar closing campaign to his short but memorable Toronto tenure.
Fans got to witness the Raptors' resident hustle guy Chris Boucher play tremendous ball in the month of January, and once his hot hand began to die down, it just passed right on over to the stylish cowboy.
For so long, it was an issue of "when will Bruce Brown show himself", "will Bruce Brown ever be healthy?", an endless cycle of what-ifs for a guy who's inactivity and inconsistency was believed to be hurting the Raptors long-term.
As is always the case in any setting, patience proves to be a virtue. And for the Toronto Raptors, it has become their mantra to stand pat, play the waiting game, or outright go with the flow, regardless of their mixed bag of results with this mentality.
Now with Brown finally traded as a player asset included in the Brandon Ingram deal, Masai Ujiri and his front office delegates can smile ear-to-ear knowing they played their cards right.
Raptors' calculated risk on Bruce Brown proves shrewd
Brown was a quality role player headed over to Toronto in last year's blockbuster Pascal Siakam trade to the Indiana Pacers, but he certainly didn't show a ton of value as a young asset to help the Raptors' growing rebuilding stages.
Because the Raptors appeared to be building for the future in their moves to add Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Ochai Agbaji, and Gradey Dick, it was rumored Toronto had plans to re-route Brown once again before the 2024 trade deadline passed.
Just to recall, there were rumblings of the New York Knicks offering Quentin Grimes and a late first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft (widely regarded as one of the weakest prospect pools in recent memory) for Brown's services to join the Big Apple.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, of course, but if you ask me, I'd say holding onto Brown to use in a deal to acquire a former All-Star blows this deal out of the water. A lot of NBA fanbases can count endless occasions where their team got too antsy and didn't bet on a player being maximized, opting to trade them for anything because it seems like value is at the point of no return.
It might have cost Ujiri a first-round pick and a second-round pick also, but considering that talks were being thrown out there about Brown's rumored return value this year (another late first-round or multiple second-round picks); it's a pleasant surprise that his contract was leveraged to add a much-needed quality scorer.
Hindsight is always 20/20, and now fans are treated to the final outcome of assets coming out of the Pascal Siakam trade. It can't just be a foregone conclusion that Ingram's addition is a win, but at least, Toronto's year-long process of feeling out the market to trade Bruce Brown ended up paying off, after all.