Oh Brother Swingman, Where Art Thou?

A few decent options Franchise, but nothing really earth moving. I'd do the deal for Carney or Brewer in a heartbeat, and I wouldn't be too upset with either of the other two deals. But that brings me to the biggest point: there is almost nothing we can do this year that will help us. All of the talk of trading Bargs is ridicolous, we just need to be prepared to suffer a bit this year for the good of the team in the long-run. The thought of making a go with the team as constructed and with JO and Bosh as the centrepieces doesn't make sense as compared to a 5-7 year run we could make with Bargs and Bosh in the middle. It's pretty clear in the last few games that Bargs is going to be able to handle the middle on the defensive end a whole lot better than any of us ever expected. With JO's expiring deal next year we should actually be able to acquire some talent at the wing positions because we all know that teams will trade talent for cap space (see Carney, Rodney), and we're going to have a ton of it on offer. That's the real beauty of the O'neal: his trade value next year, not what he does to the team this year or next. I much prefer this idea to the idea of making an ill-fated run at contending now by trading away the future. The other positive of a trade is that you don't have to woo the guy to come: once you own his contract he has no choice. Because of this, our chances of getting the guy we really need is much better via trade than it is via FA, plus the benefits of the trade happen BEFORE CB4 becomes a FA, so he will have a pretty good idea of where the Raps are headed. Here's hoping that the core of Bargs, Jose + athletic wing from JO trade is enough to keep him here.

Stand pat.Raps played 3 quarters of real good basketball against the Celtics. O'neil is coming into his own. Kapono is playing better now than he was this time last year. Barney is doing much better than he was last year at this time.Over the past three years,the Raps have waited till mid January to reach their potential and they seem to be ahead of schedule. I do concede that a veteran back up point guard would be an asset but over all, things are better than last year.

Is it worth trying to get O'Neal to re-negotiate his contract? Maybe, give him 10 mil a season over the next three years? Then take that 10 million and put it into a swingman? Maggette is making about 10 million. I wonder if anyone has asked O'Neal if he's flexible that way. I mean, if his body is as bad as it has been, if he goes into free agency, he might get less than 10 million per.

I think they jus gotta bench moon, and give graham a longer leash, with improved confidence he could play the same way he did at the end of the year when garbo went down. Moon and Calderon dont play well together, moon needs a riskier pg. The thing about all these trades, is they wouldn't have any type of impact on THIS season, but they would be shaping our future (besides mason)

The answer is not a star $10mil wing player, and I would not trade our 1st pick, although if we could improve on Moon or Graham with someone skilled to get to the basket, that's a good move, but not for our pick.

The team needs to start drafting some young talent.

The answer is consistent, defensive EFFORT by the entire team. Defense wins more games, not more offense. I believe it's up to Bosh and O'Neal to INSIST that everyone buys into a defense 1st mindset, as the coaching staff has been preaching that with mixed results. The team leadership must INSIST!!! They have
enough offense to score 95/100 pts per game, as 96 vs Sixers, even with the abscense of Jose and scoring from the wings, would have won if they had played defense. DEFENSE wins (see Boston, OFFENSE does not, (see Phoenix) as the best examples.

Until they do that they will win when all play well, and lose when some struggle, as with Philly, a game they should have won.

The wing players are not all going to go missing like that too often.

Gotta agree w/RT. Too early to pull trigger or hit panic button. If we're 20 games in and .500 but starting to gel, that's a good place to be. Give it 2-3 months to sort itself out and then BC will have a better idea of who's going to work and who's available in the market. We're not aiming to win it all this year, or even be in the the top 4 - just be a scary team in playoffs, with CB and JO giving ppl fits. BUT - I do get the feeling that Smitch is on short leash.

If I had a penny for every time I used the ESPN trade machine ...

I agree - no need to trade right now. It's WHO is getting the PT that is frustrating. My Jamario Honeymoon is over.

Toronto deals Kris Humphries and Joey Graham to Oklahoma for Desmond Mason....Franchise to me this is the best scenerio for the Raps...If they could swing this deal we would once again have a Slam Dunk Champs on the Raps...but seriously DMason has been in the league he knows how to score and he can put the ball on the floor and create his own shots..and give the minutes that he would get on the Raps this would be a great situation he is coming into...I would love to see him on the Raps....Raps4Life

It’s encouraging to see more sober thought has been given to the Raptor predicament from posters. Time will tell but I think that we are a stronger team than last year and should perform better in the playoffs if we within 1-6 in the East. The defense will improve over time because Bosh and O’Neal will insist on it from their teammates. This is definitely not the time to be considering trading a 1st round draft pick or Bargnani.

I agree on the sober thoughts. Things could be a lot worse and really, not a lot options out there right now. Howland and I are actually on our way to Vegas right now, so will be touching in from time to time and hopefully recapping the Heat game from the Sportsbook.

Yes - that's how much we hate Rogers - we travelled to Vegas just to see the game.

I-I-I-I-I... am a man ... of constant s-o-o-r-r-o-w...

When i think about the sf position ... bring back Garbo! With our bigs, we need that type of guy, posey, haslem, facilitator, tall low post entry pass deliverer, smart defender.

A few points.

Moon had a great year last year and was a nice story. But because he was a rookie everyone developed false expectations for this year. We're seeing why it took him so long to get into the L. Moon is what he is. Let another team take a flyer on his potential because I'm frustrated beyond end.

Kapono just doesn't fit right. Mitchell hasn't got the best out of him and I'd rather see him flourish elsewhere than waste that talent here. I'm thinking he'd be a perfect fit in GState and they have some attractive pieces. And from a quick look at their stats they seem to lack a consistent 3pt threat. I hope BC keeps and eye on how Maggette fits there. I'd do anything to get him in a Raps jersey.

These issues need to be addressed. Colangelo has to get the best return for these players and he's got a few other pieces to help work out a deal.

We can get BEN GORDON, who's a great scorer with balls in the clutch (unlike virtually everyone on the Raps). He makes 6 and a half mil. We can give them a great 3-point shooting specialist that they'd need in KAPONO and throw in the little used post scorer in HUMP. Only problem is that Gordon can't be traded before Jan. 1 though.

Saw this on a message board, mighty tempting!

1) Toronto recieves Gerald Wallace and Marco Belinelli
2) Charlotte recieves Eddy Curry
3) NY recieves Al Harrington and Kris Humphris
4) GS recieves David Lee, Jason Kapono and Joey Graham

For the record I bought a copy of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou right after seeing the meeting.

Here's a scenario - lets see CB4 get more vocal with BC and MLSE. Lay it on the line for them. DEMAND IT! Salary Cap be damned.
We do seem to have a lack of trade bait. Besides Bargnani(the deal would have to be overwhelming), Kapono and possibly Hump we really don't have a full hand to play with.

Lakers have an abundance of 3's. Don't think we could work something for them without throwing Barg's in there. I am against trading him but put Odom in the picture and I could be swayed. Might have to throw in Mauricio.

Ugghhh… If those are the options, just stand pat, Parker, Moon and Grahm are all free agents. Start over with the cap space and mid-level and see what we can get.

However, the Outlaw deal may not be as dead as you think… Fernandez is playing out of this world, Outlaw wants to get paid and Portland may not want to pay his ticket. Plus, you have Batum and Martel Webster waiting in the wings… I think there could be reason for at least some conversation here.

Nice breakdown...good to see an analysis of what's possible as opposed to throwing out random names without any reasonable possibility of getting them.

P.S. For the record...I own Enya albums. My only excuse is that there was a girl involved

Just heard Sam Mitchell on the Fan590. Although nothing insightful was discussed I couldn’t help but notice his respect and demeanor when answering questions from Jack Armstrong. Could it be like Riccardi, he sees most of media as a bunch of puckheads who don’t understand the game? Interesting.

Of the suggested deals, I'm in favor of the Memphis one. However, I think there would need to be some sweetener added from our end, either more talent (ie we add Moon they add some scrub) or exchange our first rounder for a lower one they've got from another team. I like it because we're adding some AP insurance and a talented youngster on the perimeter.

I think AP is as good as gone next year, several Euroleague teams will ante up some serious cash for the European Michael Jordan. I see Delfino as an option coming back. We still have his restricted FA rights, and he has an NBA opt-out in his contract with Russian team. Another option is Gordon Giricek, who probably has an NBA opt-out as well in his contract with a Turkish team. The advantage of being weak at the swing positions, is that we can offer a potential FA a starting spot / first swing off the bench status. That can be a powerful draw.

Like RaptorsAddict, I'm in favor of competing over the longer term. This means that I'm flipping JO when the offer is right for a player who's locked in to a deal / trading him in a sign and trade for a player who's a free agent in '09. In anticipation of that deal becoming a blockbuster, I'd hang on to the first round pick and any pieces that may be need to even things out (like Graham, Hump and Moon)

Knowing NBA GM's in general are conservative how about a smaller trade. Like Garbo's expiring contract and a @nd round pick to NJ for Trenton Hassel or maybe the Thunder for D.Wilkins. We don't need more scoring we just need a defensive wing... thoughts

If Mitchell can't talk to the media, How do you think he talks to the players? Sorry Franchise, I would not pull a deal just as yet. Let Smitchell bury them (the Raps) a bit further so that Bryan C will get the message that it is not the players fault. And, Let Jay Triano run the team as an interim and I guarantee their will be a better product on the floor.

what's up with D Mase? He'd be a major upgrade at the three from a talent perspective, but he's failed to produce in milwalkee and now Oklahoma. There's got to be a reason for that

The team isn't up and coming anymore and we are seriously grasping at mediocrity here folks.

I like the addition of O'Neal to this year's team, but lately I have reflected on how now it seems like our goal is to just win Playoff series, wheras just a year ago we thought we'd be on our way to Conference Title by now....we've lost the long term focus, I guess that was obvious with that trade?

Yours Sincerely,
Dave Feschuk

PS Optimistic article coming soon

Hi,
since I have been helped a lot in the past on the subject by you guys and since sunday's game is live on one Italian channel (Sport italia) I am willing to stream it for those of you who may be running out of options. You should explain me how to do it though. I have an media centre PC with a video capture card.

If anyone has a stream for tmw, I think we would all appreciate it!

A great link about the Billups trade. It shows the humanity of it all, and how in the end this really is a business (heck, we already knew that aspect, MLSE owns us, and I mean literally. I don't think that anyone here would dispute that argument...TSN, Rogers, and MLSE be damned).

http://www.freep.com/article/20081113/COL22/81113121/1048/sports

I am wondering Tinman, with the first TSN2 game tomorrow, is it still to 'dramatic' to raise some questions about this? Hope everyone else with Bell or another option enjoys the game.

ok - I figured out who we all need to contact as soon this TSN2-Rogers fiasco has caused many of us to miss the Miami game...

http://www.nba.com/raptors/news/faqs.html

"Who is in charge of programming?
Chris Hebb, Vice President of Programming, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd."

So - since Rogers and TSN2 are just going to play innocent in this pathetic attempt to be savvy business executives, I figure this dude is the only *person* (not a 1-800 number to customer support) who is personally involved in this mess.

Howland/Franchise -- any way to get a petition to this Chris Hebb guy?

ok - so, here's my best guess at Chris Hebb's email address... all MLSE people seem to be

@mapleleafsports.com

So, keep this handy for tomorrow and beyond as the TSN2 bullsh*t builds:

chebb@mapleleafsports.com

option 2 or 3 would make me happy, particularly number 2.

on a different note: what the hell's up with the knicks? somebody forgot to remind them they were a joke.