Toronto Raptors Still Have a Shot at Micheal Beasley

It's been over a year, but the memory remains fresh in the minds of many Raptor fans. Chris Bosh, our franchise player, wasn't going to be "ours" anymore but fans were still optimistic. It was widely rumored that Bosh would be traded for Micheal Beasley and a first-round pick so that the Heat could also add LeBron James to their roster.

Micheal Beasley was a solid player even before his breakout season last year. In his last season with Miami Beasley averaged 15 points and 6.4 rebounds, yet Toronto didn't want him.

The Raptors seemed content with Linas Kleiza, who was dominating international competition in the FIBA World Championship in Turkey. They had just drafted Ed Davis and signed Amir Johnson to a long-term contract. Maybe Colangelo thought he was a tweener or a problem child, but only a few could defend the decision.

Shortly after the season began it was clear Beasley was a great young player and had the potential to live up to his No. 2 overall draft status. He finished the year with averages of 19.2 points and 5.6 boards. The Wolves were terrible last season, but one could argue it had little to do with Beasley and everything to do with draft position.

The Wolves almost won the draft lottery, but got the second overall pick in this year's draft, which they used on Derrick Williams. The Wolves were open to trading the pick before because Williams seemed to be the consensus No. 2 draft selection and he played the same position as Beasley. It turned out the Wolves decided to stick with the draft, and now they have a logjam at the 3 position.

For the second summer straight, Micheal Beasley will be available. Why would the Wolves trade Beasley and not Williams? Well, Williams' value was at its highest on draft night, and they passed on trading him. Another strong indication that Beasley will likely be the one to go is his recent off-court issues.

Beasley has had off-court issues ever since coming into the league, with over three cases of Beasley being caught with marijuana. The most recent case was on June, 26. He was pulled over for speeding and the policeman noticed a very strong smell of marijuana in the car, and then he allegedly found a plastic bag with marijuana under the driver seat.

This Thursday, Beasley was filmed shoving a fan in the face after being annoyed by the heckler while playing in the Dyckman streetball tournament.

Micheal Beasley's value should be much lower now because teams know the Wolves are in a logjam and these recent two events remind us he comes with "baggage." The Raptors are in need of a small forward, and Beasley would be a great fit if we could get him.

The Wolves have Derrick Williams and Wesley Johnson at the small forward position and they will want to allow both of those players time on the court to grow. Micheal Beasley is an expiring contract next season and unless Minnesota wants resign him to an expensive long term deal, they need to trade him.

Minnesota's biggest needs are in the center and shooting guard position. The Raptors could pursue Beasley from a few different angles, but I think it's important we get Beasley to sign some sort of extension before giving up any of our rotation players for him.

A few trades which could work for both sides would be:

1. Leandro Barbosa + second-rounder for Micheal Beasley

This trade involves and expiring contract for another, but it's unlikely Minnesota will look at Barbosa as half the player Beasley is. It's still worth a try—technically Barbosa could match Beasley's production if he's given starters minutes but it's unlikely this would go down unless his value really took a hit for the recent off-court problems.

2. Jose Calderon + Amir Johnson for Micheal Beasley + Luke Ridnour

Ricky Rubio playing along side of country man Jose Calderon would be great for him while trying to adjust to the NBA. Calderon is a solid starter in the NBA, and would be the best backup point guard if he does come off the bench.

The Wolves also receive super efficient Amir Johnson, who might not fit any better than Beasley, but he's a player who will preform at a high level regardless of his minutes or role. Amir can play some time at the small forward and center positions, and he should do a good job replacing what Beas did in Minny.

3. Micheal Beasley for Soloman Alabi + first-rounder

This trade should only go down if the Raptors are all in for next season. Right now our team looks pretty ugly, so if we were to trade our draft pick we would get a player like Beasley easily. All Toronto would need to do from there on is spend like crazy on free agency and that draft pick will turn out to be only a 15 to 20 selection.

Overall, this trade is kind of risky. We saw the Clippers throw away Kyrie Irving for Mo Williams last year when they shipped out their first-rounder carelessly and Toronto should have a crystal clear idea of what they're doing if they want to do anything with our first-rounder.

Overall some will ask, "What's so great about Beasley," and it's totally fair to ask that. There are players just as talented available in free agency, but I personally feel IF he really is undervalued because of his baggage, it'd be totally worth trading for Beasley—a legit 20 point scorer.

He's really a great guy. It shouldn't matter at all to us fans if he smokes some pot. As long as he's productive we shouldn't be concerned about such minor issues. Beas is only 22 years old and could become even more than a 20-point scorer in the next year or two.

So should Toronto try and see if they could grab Beasley using role players? Are the suggested trades offering too much or too little for Beas? Thanks for reading please leave your thoughts!