Rebuilding the Raptors: Chris Bosh Trade Scenarios

(Photo by: Streeter Lecka/Getty Images)

Scenario No. 3: Toronto Raptors trade F Chris Bosh to the Portland Trail Blazers for F LaMarcus Aldridge, C Joel Pryzbilla and G Jarred Bayless

This deal completely hinges on the patience of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Are they willing to wait another year or two for their stable of young talent to develop into a championship contender? Will they even be able to keep this core together over that period of time?

Pairing Bosh with Brandon Roy will give the Blazers one of the best inside-out combo's in the association, and will immediately take them to contender status in the Western Conference. But much like the Warriors trade discussed above, it'd be a major risk for Portland to give up so much for a player who is not guaranteed past next season.

The loss of Aldridge and Pryzbilla would also put a great deal of pressure on Greg Oden, who despite all of the positive press from the NBA over the past two seasons, has yet to prove that he can handle an 82-game season, or that pesky six-fouls-per-game rule that the league continues to enforce.

With all that being said, the Blazers may be wise to act now in their pursuit of an NBA championship. The Lakers, Spurs, Suns, and Mavericks are all watching their title window shrink. Meanwhile, the Jazz and Rockets may have considerably different rosters when October rolls around.

For the Raptors, Aldridge would replace a lot of Bosh's production in the post, and could even see a spike in his stats with a greater offensive load in T.O.

Pryzbilla is a legit center who brings a lot of intangibles to a team in severe need of a working class type down low. He should provide some serious muscle off the bench with Reggie Evans. The Raptors haven't seen that type of physical presence since Charles Oakley left town.

Bayless is a throw-in to this deal, but has the potential to be a legitimate player in the league some day. He's a certified gunner, and would help provide a scoring punch off of the pine for the Raps, just one more thing that the Raps desperately need.

Portland Projected Lineup

G Steve Blake, G Brandon Roy, SF Nicholas Batum, PF Chris Bosh, C Greg Oden

Bench: Martell Webster, Sergio Rodriguez, Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw.

Toronto Projected Lineup

G Jose Calderon, SG No. 9 Pick (Demar DeRozan?), SF Shawn Marion, F LaMarcus Aldridge, C Andrea Bargnani.

Bench: Joel Pryzbilla, Reggie Evans, Jarryd Bayless, Roko Ukic.

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