Fundamental minimums for the starting center:
- Doesn't suck at defense
- Doesn't suck at offense
- Doesn't suck at shooting threes
In an attempt to give this some quantitative framing, I'm gonna use these basic definitions:
- Defense: at least +0.1 according to 538's defensive RAPTOR rating
- Offense: at least +0.1 according to 538's offensive RAPTOR rating
- 3-point shooting: at least 30 made threes on at least 35% shooting
Player . . . . . . Off RAPTOR . . Def RAPTOR . . Overall RAPTOR . . 3PM . . . 3P%
Nikola Jokic . . . . . +9.1 . . . . . . . . +0.7 . . . . . . . . +9.8 . . . . . . 75 . . . 42.9
Joel Embiid . . . . . +4.0 . . . . . . . . +4.9 . . . . . . . . +8.9 . . . . . . 39 . . . 38.2
Christian Wood . . . +0.1 . . . . . . . . +3.9 . . . . . . . . +4.0 . . . . . . 51 . . . 36.7
Chris Boucher . . . . +2.7 . . . . . . . . +0.5 . . . . . . . . +3.2 . . . . . . 78 . . . 39.2
John Collins . . . . . +2.0 . . . . . . . . +1.1 . . . . . . . . +3.1 . . . . . . 60 . . . 38
Bobby Portis . . . . . +0.9 . . . . . . . . +2.0 . . . . . . . . +2.9 . . . . . . 52 . . . 46
Mike Muscala . . . . . +0.1 . . . . . . . . +2.1 . . . . . . . . +2.2 . . . . . . 68 . . . 37
Kristaps Porzingis . . +1.3 . . . . . . . . +0.2 . . . . . . . . +1.5 . . . . . . 76 . . . 36.9
Nikola Vucevic . . . . +0.6 . . . . . . . . +0.3 . . . . . . . . +0.9 . . . . . . 133 . . 40.7
That's it.
Now, maybe there are players I'm missing who are barely under in just one category, or developing players who are almost there (and might be next year). But still...not a high bar. And quite a few of these guys are impossible to obtain and/or really expensive for what they bring. E.g., Jokic and Embiid are untouchable, and are Porzingis and Vucevic worth their hefty contracts?
I believe quality, obtainable options are extremely limited. There's a big pool of centers out there, but there's a very small group of them that would fit logically in the Raptors starting lineup next year. So what are the options?
1) Offer John Collins the max
Young, talented, defends, shoots: complete player. Restricted free agent. May not love his current situation. Turned down $90 million deal. Will require a BIG contract -- probably max. Credit to Johnny Bball for suggesting this plan.
2) Roll with Boucher
In terms of quality for the price, I think this is a significantly better option than most people on these boards think it is. There are definitely better defensive centers out there, but when it comes to overall offense + defense + shooting, Boucher is on the short list. By overall RAPTOR, he's 4th on that list up there. And then factoring in availability and price...Boucher is hard to compete with. Spend the money elsewhere.
3) Target one of the less splashy names like Muscala or Portis