The Toronto Raptors are one of the best teams in basketball right now. They’ve won 14 of their last 15 games, and ranked the 4th best team in this week’s edition of our Power Rankings. They have a great player at 4 of 5 positions, but have a gaping hole at the power forward spot. The only 4s on the roster are Luis Scola, Patrick Patterson, and Anthony Bennett.
The Raptors are one piece away from becoming legit championship contenders, and that one piece is a power forward. They’re aggressively searching for one, said ESPN’s Brian Windhorst on TSN Drive radio station(transcribed by Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game):
I think they’re gonna go for it. I think from what I understand, from what I’m hearing, they’re pretty aggressive in the trade market. They’re looking for power forwards. I’ve heard them attached to Thaddeus Young. I’ve heard them attached to (Nuggets forward) Kenneth Faried. I’ve heard them attached to (Suns forward) Markieff Morris. They have extra draft picks. I wouldn’t trade that New York Knicks pick unless it was for a blockbuster acquisition, because you can’t protect it, you can’t protect another team’s pick. I would do it if I could put, like, a top-five protection on it. But you can’t do that. You can’t say, allright, we’ll give you two of our picks if it falls in the top five. But they have assets to do it. They have some young players.
Thaddeus Young would probably be the best fit for Toronto. The Raptors don’t have any spacing at the center position with Jonas Valanciunas down low, and in today’s pace-and-space league, a stretch-4 like Young would be a good fit, unlike Faried. Markieff Morris would also fit well, but he doesn’t really bring anything to the table that Young doesn’t, and has a track record of off-court issues. Morris was linked to the Raptors in reports earlier this season. Young has struggled mightily shooting the ball this season(21.7% from deep), but he shot an impressive 38% from that range last season while attempting 1.8 shots per game to this year’s 0.4.
In any trade, Toronto would presumably want to avoid trading Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Valanciunas, or DeMarre Carroll. Outside of those 4, there likely aren’t any untouchables on the roster. Some young enticing players on the roster include Anthony Bennett, Bismack Biyombo, Bruno Caboclo, Cory Joseph, Lucas Nogueira, and Terrence Ross.
