For The Raptors The Question Is: To Trade Or Not To Trade

Right now for the Raptors the best trade is zero trade. Lets looks at some obvious facts. Evans gets to finally play versus the Sixers. He'll only play between 5 to 10 mins. But it’ll be important to see how he’ll fit and respond on the court then they can reassess. After today Colangelo still has nine days to trade deadline. That give B.C. time to go to the All-Star game and attend Stern's "State of the Union" speech where he'll get a glare at the future of the NBA and what the teams will be restricted to or saddled with [including a potential lockout on '11-’12 season]. The reasoning is if you get a long term contract like you would with someone like Igoudala’s whopping four year contract that ends in '13-'14 you'd still have to pay Igoudala in 2011. Is that a viable option from an ownership point of view? It does carry potential weight. Or do you get an expiring contract. See how it becomes more than just acquiring a player for now and the future? Ok, let's throw this out for now.

The team they have now have the gel and chemistry to get them to the playoffs [92%-93% chance as per ESPN] but we all know they are not playing for just a first round appearance. Can they see themselves as team like they have now to get past the first round? I suppose that it partly depends on the opponent. And you can't use that line, "Hope they don't get the Celts or Hawks in the first round.". The playoffs are a whole new monster. I remind you of two years ago when everyone was happy the Raptors were seeded to play against the much better matched up Magic or the previous year when everyone wanted a piece of that lesser opposing Nets and some player some of you remember, initialed V.C? See? Celts have been injury prone this season, thus far and the Hawks have had bouts with consistency. Maybe the opponent in the playoff’s should be concerned with the Raptors one through eight players on the roster.

Let’s look at something else - the Raptors gutted it out for the first part of the season. They’ve had a wonderful December, January and part of February. The Raps after the All-Star break play the Grizzlies which gives them one more look at Evans and his foot before the trade deadline. Now you have to look at the remainder of the season. You have two away games at the Nets and at the end of February they play at the Thunder. In-between the month they face at home the Wizard, the Trailblazers and the Cavaliers. Lets just say that you can say reasonable they can beat the Nets and the Wizard and throw in the Blazers [they’re so-so on the road]. But the Cavaliers? Why not beat them? You recall they beat some pretty impressive teams at home in January [Lakers, Mavericks, Spurs and Magic]. So that leaves the Thunder on the road for a potential loss. So a potential 6-1 record or a 5-2 at worst to end February is reasonable which could give them a 34-24 at best after February.

March will prove to be a more difficult month with sixteen games for the Raptors to play of which nine will be on the road and it will include a west coast road trip. It is conceivable to say that they could go .500 this month assuming no injuries, CB4 playing at his optimum best, Turkoglu, Bargnani and Jack playing great support and maybe [lets assume DeRozan will come off the bench] Evans being the monster “Hands-of-stone” that he is known for on the boards and that surprisingly great bench to maintain that up-tempo play in the offence with Calderon at the quarterback position but more importantly in the defense with Wright and Weems and Belinelli. The Raptors if they continue to play at that caliber that they have been these past three months could also surprise in March.         

April will see eight games with five of those versus possible losing records.

The trade possibilities are there for Colangelo in the days to come to weigh and ponder over. The pluses and minuses will accounted for each possible scenario that presents itself but it has to be also compared to the plus and minuses of a team that could for the best of reasons not be broken up. This team has consistently shown improvement over the last three months. To potentially change that chemistry this teams has enjoyed on and off the floor could have a more detrimental response on the court. Perhaps its not a trade or not trade question that should be asked of this team but rather a statement: “If it ain’t broke, don't fix it.”