A New Era North Of The Border In The NBA?

During the 2009-10 season the Toronto Raptors, were known for their high-octane offense, as well as for their hardly existent defense. They were one of the worst teams in a bunch of defensive categories! So, during the offseason the Raptors watched All-Star Chris Bosh leave for the Miami Heat after spending seven seasons with the Raptors to join Dwayne Wade and later LeBron James. Executives around the league felt that this was something that General Manager Bryan Colangelo expected, and that is why rumors came up around the trade deadline regarding Bosh. The Raptors could have received some value for him instead of receiving draft picks and cash considerations (trade exception) from the Miami Heat.

As a result, Colangelo decided to shed salary and rebuild completely around the young core of Andrea Bargnani, Amir Johnson, Sonny Weems, and Linas Kleiza. The Raptors acquired a trade exception ($14.5M) as well as draft picks for Bosh from Miami, re-signed Amir Johnson to a long-term deal, drafted Ed Davis and added forward Linas Kleiza, who spent the past season playing overseas after spending four seasons with the Denver Nuggets, and acquired Julian Wright from the New Orleans Hornets in exchange for Marco Belinelli.

Furthermore, they also were able to trade away the bloated contract of Hidayet “Hedo” Turkoglu to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for a smaller trade exception (which was used to acquire David Andersen from the Houston Rockets), Leandro Barbosa, who General Manager Bryan Colangelo has liked since his previous stint with the Phoenix Suns and Dwayne Jones, who was eventually released by the Raptors and since has returned to Phoenix. The Raptors also acquired big man David Andersen from the Houston Rockets, who may be able to find minutes at the power forward and center positions.  

However, all of this movement leads to one important thing: Does this help the team in the long-run, and can they add some other quality players in the short-term that will keep the team afloat?

The Raptors have some pieces, and I believe that they will use the first part of the season to see where that leads them, and a way that they can add some more talent to their roster is to make a trade using Jose Calderon, as Jarrett Jack, and Leandro Barbosa are locked in to take care of the two guard duties on the floor.

 Barbosa is expected to compete for the starting shooting guard position with Sonny Weems, and may be able to play some minutes at the point guard spot also. I think that Marcus Banks should be given time at the guard spots in the regular rotation, as he when he was with the Boston Celtics he showed his potential, but ever since signing a long-term deal with the Phoenix Suns has not been able to showcase his skills, and has been throw-in on the trade front.