>One former all-NBA player (Siakam), an all-NBA defender (Anunoby) and a one-time All-Star (VanVleet) is a pretty thin stew to work with if the expectation is that the Raptors are only fractionally outside the NBA’s top eight. Siakam, VanVleet and Anunoby are certainly encouraging pieces to work with, but it’s concerning that there isn’t much in the line-up to support them.
>After that? There are nights when Precious Achiuwa looks like he could really be special and all-NBA defender. But much longer are the stretches when he looks like the nuances of the NBA game will forever remain just beyond his grasp. Jakob Poeltl is a good defender but lacking the oomph that all-NBA defenders have.
>The other option is standing pat and betting on the internal development of Barnes and some of the Raptors’ other young players to bridge the current gap, which seems optimistic.
>The Raptors’ ability to expand their talent base will be the story of this off-season and likely beyond that.
>Something needs to happen because as the NBA Awards season indicates, the Raptors as currently constructed seem to be well short of the league’s most precious resource: elite players.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/seriously-do-the-raptors-have-enough-elite-players-to-be-contenders/
by EarthWarping
16 Comments
Thanks for everything P. You were a great soldier
Ain’t no arguably about it, Pascal is without a doubt our best player.
hopefully Fred has some value on the sign and trade market. maybe take back a negative asset + draft capital.
Then we can go young (other than Poeltl)
When I look for player analysis I take into consideration the amount of ‘oomf’ a player has defensively
So is this the Grange kiss of death or does this guarantee Siakam isn’t traded this offseason?
Gonna get flamed for this, but should have traded Barnes for KD.
Unfortunately it would have been better if we did that before all star. We could have gotten a better pick on top of it.
Pascal is one of the best players we have ever had in Toronto. I would love to keep him here for his whole career. But this is a cut throat business. Without a significant move like this I cant see a path to becoming a serious play off team in the next 3 years. He is our best player and should bring back a haul.
If we do trade him, I would want signficant returning value. Miss me with the Poole / Simons centered packages.
Why does Pascal, the best raptor, not simply eat the other raptors?
We aren’t going to know until the off season and it’s going to depend on what the new coach wants as well.
I’m so high on Shaedon, we should not be listening to anything from Portland if he’s not included, I don’t want Anfornee
I think our own fanbase underrates how good Pascal is, but we don’t have the resources to build a winning team around him right now and he’s 29, while Scottie in 21. Even if we find a great package that makes more sense on Scottie’s timeline, it will be bittersweet.
Trading Siakam would be a good way for us to help another team make the next step. That’s it. Another team. Listen I have no answers but it is difficult to imagine a package we would get for Siakam that woldn’t mean we would be farther away from championship contending for the forsweable future. Unless Scottie Barnes is anout to explode without Siakam tjere, it is hard to see it not meaning we would be an all-star less team with some good pieces but without a real chance of becoming contnders.
A note, I do think Siakam is more in the mold ot a robin then a true batman…but we aren’t gonna get a batman for him…nust like a different robin, or more likely future picks or maybe a useful role player.
Side note to an exteeme – I want to see Damian Lillard play with Siakam, so if we do trade him, make it to Portland. lol. If rather Lillard come to Toronto but I am not sure I can see that happening
People here act like it doesn’t make sense to add a player (Poeltl) and then trading a guy like Siakam.
All i’ll say is we traded a good player in Rudy Gay for some mediocre players…and immediately got better…because Gay and Demar played the same style and had the same deficiencies.
The same can be said for Pascal and Barnes. Which is why moving Pascal for different pieces could indeed be the path to “retool” on the fly while adding youth. So a trade like Pascal+Porter+Flynn for Simons+5th pick+Little works.
Or maybe Pascal+Porter+Flynn to Memphis for Tyus Jones+Kennard+Clarke+Williams+Golden state pick + 1 other memphis pick works.
There are ways to trade for a more balanced roster, plus picks, and not go into tank mode.
See trading Siakam now continues to make the front office look so bad for trading next years pick for Poeltl. What is the direction we are taking?
Totally open to seeing him traded if it makes the team better, but I feel like an OG trade is going to be so much easier to make happen. He’s a great player, right around that top-15 cusp… but between age and matching salaries, it’s hard to find a fit beyond Portland, which I don’t think is actually that good a fit once they give up the necessary assets.