Toronto needs a winner

[Waylon Mercy]

Im starting to hate the Leafs not because so much of the team but because of the fans.
Other Leaf fans make you want to hate the Leafs. I hate these puckhead fans that hate
on other sports that aren't Hockey. Especially when the majority of the world could
careless about Hockey.

We as Raptor fans need to stick together and help grow the game as best as we can otherwise
the puckheads out there will run the other sports out of town and make this a Hockey and
Curling nation and make us a laughing stock around the world.

[hillbilly hare]

We're basically doing what Memphis did...they were bad for several years before they became good. This building through the draft thing takes patience. One thing I'm confident is that we have a very good coach, and despite all the hate he gets around here, I'm confident with BC. Plus Memphis was able to get Randolph in a trade, we'll be able to pull of something similar with our flexibilty.

Memphis drafted Rudy Gay and Mike Conley. They traded for Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol. They signed Tony Allen as a free agent. All 5 moves were excellent. And for the MILLIONTH time, you cannot build or rebuild (though I don't think you can say rebuild in our case, we were never really "built") solely thru the draft. To say "we have to be patient", we have to "hang onto and accumulate draft picks" in order to build the team is only 1/3 true. And I think it is even less true with Colangelo as our GM, who is not a particularly good drafter.

I agree we have to try something like Memphis did, and this year would be a good time to do it. That's not to say we should go all in this year just because we suck. Rather, this is an especially valuable offseason for the Raptors. It may not have been planned, but it can work out that way.

We should have our 2 high lotto picks coming in at the same time, which is pretty rare. Jonas and the pick may be impact players, though probably not for a couple years.

We have okay young talent throughout the roster, but those guys are ideally backup type guys. The Johnsons, Davis, Bayless, maybe even Demar may be better suited in backup roles. Demar could be a 10-year start, maybe borderline all-star, if he develops the consistency to have at least 4 good games out of every 5 and does it for an entire season. Otherwise he would be an excellent 6th man and first wing off the bench. Which isn't a bad thing.

We have one potential All-star in Andrea, but he has to be healthy and he has to play PF full time, alongside a real center. Jonas may be the guy, let's hope sooner rather than later.

There's no guarantee of who we'll get in this year's draft, but for argument's sake let's say a wing, as they are the most plentiful. That means we should have a few impact/potential impact players: Andrea, Jonas, lotto pick. Maybe not impact guys right away, but we can say that they are "in place" as part of the building effort.

That will be our 3/4/5 to build around.

So, as per Memphis, who can we trade for? Who can we sign?

We will have a TON of cap space. And it must be remembered that cap space is not only for free agents. Just as Memphis did in trading for Zach Randolph, we can use cap space to take back a guy on a higher salary than the guy we send out. At the time, I think it was like a 10M difference in salaries in the Randolph trade.

We definitely have the space to work out a similar trade. If we trade or amnesty Jose we'll have 20-22M after signing Jonas and the lotto pick. Potential guys in a cap-friendly trade could include:
Granger, Igoudala, Monta Ellis, etc. They are top-tier impact guys who would really boost the performance and public perception of this team. Their ages also blend in okay with our core guys. Andrea is 27 next year, while Iggy is 28, Ellis 27, Granger 29. I wouldn't want to get guys any older.

Free agents? The superstars aside, who can we target? Asik would be a good addition and let Jonas develop slowly. There isn't much out there re. established guys. An under the radar guy might be Mahinmi on Dallas. He has produced well off the bench and is still only 25. Or maybe Kaman, if healthy and he gets no offers, we could sign him to a one-year deal. There was supposed to be a lot of interest in him at the deadline, but he didn't go anywhere. Don't know what that means.

Point guard. As I said elsewhere, I like Aaron Brooks. Especially if Nash re-signs with Phoenix. They probably wouldn't be able to match a good offer. Maybe averaging 7M per but front-loaded. Failing that, there's a guy like Augustin, who could split time with Bayless. Or Dragic: can he start full time? Or split time with Bayless. The PG question is basically, do we sign or trade for a full-time starter, ideally young enough to grow with the team, or do we get a backup type guy who could split time with Bayless, if we are still evaluating Bayless as a future starter?

Money where your mouth is:
Rookies: Jonas and wing, e.g. Kidd-Gilchrist (best-case obviously Davis).
Trades: (get off your butt, Colangelo!) Depends a lot on the draft. If we draft big, I'd look at Iggy or Granger. Granger adds very good scoring. Iggy adds a ton of intangibles and can play either wing position, as could Demar too. That would be some serious athleticism on the wing.
Free agents: Brooks, Mahinmi, Budinger (can play SG or SF).