Upgrade at the three?

[ezz_bee]

There is really no point to adding a veteran at the three who is going to make the team marginally better. What difference is he going to actually make? Help them win maybe a few more games? While taking playing time away from young players who need it to develop.

No, if you're going to do what the Raptors seems to be doing, you have to go all in and not hedge your bets. Go with the young players and develop them.

But who are we trying to develop at the wing? Johnson? Because I don't see him as the answer long term unless it's as a back up, which is where he would play this year if we signed a vet (like prince). We have one of, if not the, youngest team in the league. Wouldn't adding a vet at a position where we aren't developing a young player this year be a positive for all the other young guys at the other positions? Without Barbosa, Caleron or Bargs (who most of us agree are trade bait) do we have ANYONE on our roster whose played in any playoff games? I think that there is still likely to be a few bumps in the road next season and coaching aside having a a player who been through some bumps could help our young guys develop. It seems like we aren't going to draft a SF in THIS year's draft (unless we get the #2 pick and draft Williams) so I still like the idea of bringing a vet, drafting a SF NEXT year, playing him behind our SF for the first half of the season or the length of the season, at that point the vet can come off the bench OR be used as a valuable trade piece. I still think it's not a bad plan AS LONG AS the vet is signed to a good contract.

[ezz_bee]

Your veterans or leaders need not be your starters, best players, or high minute reserves.

agreed, if we can pick up a cheap vet who doesn't need a lot of minutes that's a probably a better idea. I guess I just have it stuck in my head that an upgrade at the 3 for a season or two would be the best place to try to fit in a vet where they wouldn't impact the development of our younger players (Derozan, Amir, Ed, and our new draft pick) depending on how much he is worth on the open market and what else is available at the C position I wouldn't mind re-signing Reggie and playing him primarily as back up C so he doesn't impact Amir's and Davis' minutes. I would much rather sign Marc Gasol or trade for Chris Andersen but they may not be available.

[Boko]

If we can't draft Derrick Williams, I'd go after J. R. Smith, Thaddeus Young, Wes Chandler, Jeff Green or Danilo Gallineri instead. Throwing multi-millions at a player past his peak doesn't entice me more. I'm willing to wait for the resulting core to mature together ... ED/Amir, DeMar/James & Jerryd ...

[Bendit]

JR is "dangerous". Young & Green will probably be retained by their current teams. I'd rather have Chandler over Gallinari.

[Maleko]

JR is "dangerous". Young & Green will probably be retained by their current teams. I'd rather have Chandler over Gallinari.

Yep definitely like Chandler.

[Hassan]

draft irving trade calderon and weems and bargs for a decent 3

[jd4]

draft irving trade calderon and weems and bargs for a decent 3

This is a great idea. If we draft Irving, Jose and pieces need to be moved for a SF who can shoot the 3. If we can get Kyrie, we'll have guys who can slash to the net and guys who can bang a bit down low. We would need a SF who can shoot the 3 and keep the other team's D honest. This would open up a lot of space for our slashers and bangers. I there will be a market for Jose this summer. He only has 2 years left on that deal and I'm sure a veteran team would love to have him as he can still run a half court offensive and is still an effective distributor despite his deficiencies on D.

[HuskyRaptor]

kawhi leonard please!!!

[ceez]

to be honest, unless we flip for another first rounder and take leonard i say stand pat and wait till next year. there's going to be so many 3's in the draft its going to be ridiculous. jj can handle it for now.

[Tortacular]

There's no reason to continue to sink salary space into a position where money is already being wasted on Kleiza. The Raptors are not going to be competitive in 2011-2012. Overspending to bring in mediocre veterans is how the Raptors ended up where they are now.

The Raptors need to focus on finding a legit big man, and a long-term answer at PG.

Not to mention with the CBA up in the air, who knows how much money anybody will have to spend, or when that will be decided?