The first trade proposal is one that I have been screaming from the rooftops about for a long time.
Raptors receive OO + Bufkin
ATL receive Poeltl
Atlanta doesn’t have minutes for Bufkin to properly develop, fhey are rapidly killing his career. Trae and Daniels are gonna play 35 mpg, Bufkin is not gonna realize his potential playing 10 mpg. They’ve already tanked his trade value. If they want a back up PG, there’s better options for similar money. Bufkin is a sleeper prospect with significant upside whose value is low right now.
OO is clearly not good enough to be an average starting C in the NBA. He is the perfect young player to roll with at C during a rebuild, and once we are ready to win again, he won’t have the ego to start problems when we play a rookie C over him. With any luck, he develops chemistry with one of our guys and we can flip him to another team for another asset.
On the flip side, ATL gets a starting C to upgrade Capela and try to win.
Makes so much sense for both sides. I honestly think the only reason this deal hasn’t happened is because Masai is just absolutely obsessed with Poeltl.
Interesting-Dingo994
I liked it, when Blake Murphy wrote articles for Raptors Republic and then moved on to the Athletic.
TommTTT
I usually like Louis Zatzman’s work but these trades all suck.
vaalbarag
My takes:
1. Bufkin/Okongwu: I don’t hate this in a vacuum, except when he talks about adding additional picks to it. Getting worse players to help the tank while also giving up picks. We’re also already so full of guard prospects, and I get that Kobe’s better than many of our guard prospects, but I’d rather target a big wing in this sort of deal. 2. Wiggins: Yeah, it all comes down to the draft picks. There’s got to be serious draft capital coming back. I think to maximize the return, the Raptors also add someone like Mitchell, and I’d expect two FRPs and a SRP for that. I’ve got serious concerns about where Wiggins is at mentally, but that risk is baked into the trade cost here. 3. Jeff Green: Don’t hate the rehab-and-retrade idea. I’d be surprised to see them cut their losses on Ochai so quickly. 4. Ball: I’ve gotta assume we’re talking about the Raptors giving up 3+ FRPs here (maybe some swaps and SRPs as well), including this year’s with light protection. It would be a really good fit, but it’s hard to see both sides agreeing on a price. 5. Ball/Vucevic: To me that’s only the sort of return you take back as filler alongside draft picks, which Zatzman doesn’t seem to be including. As just a Vuc/Poeltl swap, I really don’t like it, mostly because Vuc likely has no trade value going forward at his age, and won’t be helpful when we’re ready to contend. And whatever he brings on offense he gives up more on defense. I really like us trying to help out an Ingram trade (or McCollum when Pelicans realize just how little value Ingram has) as a third team, and I see Poeltl as a player the Pelicans could want back, but this one doesn’t really make sense for us.
Longjumping_Fuel_192
This article is a vehicle for the raptors to get two balls.
5 Comments
The first trade proposal is one that I have been screaming from the rooftops about for a long time.
Raptors receive OO + Bufkin
ATL receive Poeltl
Atlanta doesn’t have minutes for Bufkin to properly develop, fhey are rapidly killing his career. Trae and Daniels are gonna play 35 mpg, Bufkin is not gonna realize his potential playing 10 mpg. They’ve already tanked his trade value. If they want a back up PG, there’s better options for similar money. Bufkin is a sleeper prospect with significant upside whose value is low right now.
OO is clearly not good enough to be an average starting C in the NBA. He is the perfect young player to roll with at C during a rebuild, and once we are ready to win again, he won’t have the ego to start problems when we play a rookie C over him. With any luck, he develops chemistry with one of our guys and we can flip him to another team for another asset.
On the flip side, ATL gets a starting C to upgrade Capela and try to win.
Makes so much sense for both sides. I honestly think the only reason this deal hasn’t happened is because Masai is just absolutely obsessed with Poeltl.
I liked it, when Blake Murphy wrote articles for Raptors Republic and then moved on to the Athletic.
I usually like Louis Zatzman’s work but these trades all suck.
My takes:
1. Bufkin/Okongwu: I don’t hate this in a vacuum, except when he talks about adding additional picks to it. Getting worse players to help the tank while also giving up picks. We’re also already so full of guard prospects, and I get that Kobe’s better than many of our guard prospects, but I’d rather target a big wing in this sort of deal.
2. Wiggins: Yeah, it all comes down to the draft picks. There’s got to be serious draft capital coming back. I think to maximize the return, the Raptors also add someone like Mitchell, and I’d expect two FRPs and a SRP for that. I’ve got serious concerns about where Wiggins is at mentally, but that risk is baked into the trade cost here.
3. Jeff Green: Don’t hate the rehab-and-retrade idea. I’d be surprised to see them cut their losses on Ochai so quickly.
4. Ball: I’ve gotta assume we’re talking about the Raptors giving up 3+ FRPs here (maybe some swaps and SRPs as well), including this year’s with light protection. It would be a really good fit, but it’s hard to see both sides agreeing on a price.
5. Ball/Vucevic: To me that’s only the sort of return you take back as filler alongside draft picks, which Zatzman doesn’t seem to be including. As just a Vuc/Poeltl swap, I really don’t like it, mostly because Vuc likely has no trade value going forward at his age, and won’t be helpful when we’re ready to contend. And whatever he brings on offense he gives up more on defense. I really like us trying to help out an Ingram trade (or McCollum when Pelicans realize just how little value Ingram has) as a third team, and I see Poeltl as a player the Pelicans could want back, but this one doesn’t really make sense for us.
This article is a vehicle for the raptors to get two balls.