T-Dot Report: The Draft, Boris Diaw and Rumors....

The Toronto Raptors would be absolutely crazy, bonkers and nuts not to trade TJ Ford for one of two proposed deals that have recently floated up in rumor land, the first one involves the Phoenix Suns which involves trading Ford to the flaming birds in exchange for Boris Diaw, there are numerous reasons why the deal makes sense for the Raptors because Diaw is a solid player that would get solid minutes in the T-Dot and would be another solid forward, and landing TJ Ford means the Suns have two all-star caliber point guards that would make teams cringe thinking about while one is on the bench they still got to face another great guard.

The other possible trade seems like an absolute steal if it was done, the Raptors would trade Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic and another player to fit the cap in exchange for Indiana Pacers forward/center Jermaine O'Neal, the move would definitely give the Raptors a scary team and would also spell the end of Andrea Bargnani (hopefully) and imagine having Jermaine O'Neal and Chris Bosh down low in the post at the same time, it would be absolutely sick, mix in Jose Calderon, Jason Kapono and Anthony Parker and the line-up would actually post some big W's, the line-up would look like this with the Diaw trade:

PG - Jose Calderon
SG - Anthony Parker/Jason Kapono
SF - Boris Diaw
PF - Chris Bosh
C - Roy Hibbert (dreams, dreams)/Rasho Nesterovic/Andrea Bargnani

and with the Jermaine O'Neal Trade it would look like...

PG - Jose Calderon
SG - Anthony Parker/Courtney Lee (draft possibility)
SF - Jason Kapono
PF - Chris Bosh
C - Jermaine O'Neal

The draft is definitely going to be interesting for the Raptors, they currently possess the 17th overall pick and I would not be surprised one bit if they decided to trade it to acquire a strong center, but if the Raptors decide to keep it I would strongly suggest at looking at Georgetown center Roy Hibbert who apparently is going to be a mid to late first round draft pick, the Raptors are desperate for a center and acquiring one as soon as possible in essential for the Raptors to have a successful basketball team. If the team does end up adding Jermaine O'Neal then adding another shooting guard would be a great move, Anthony Parker is solid but he isn't the long term solution and adding Courtney Lee who played with Kentucky last year would be a pretty good fit, he is a smart guy who has great skills and would be a great selection and I am sure which ever team selects him will be pretty happy with the results that he gives on and off the court, anyways, back to the point, the Raptors need an effective draft because a couple of miserable draft years haven't improved the club, heres recent players that the Raptors drafted..

2007:

Giorgos Printezis (58th) (acquired from San Antonio, in Europe)

2006:

Andrea Bargnani (1st) (will be labeled a bust soon)
PJ Tucker (35th) (released)

2005:

Charlie Villenueva (7th) (showed progress then traded for Ford)
Joey Graham (15th) (definitely not worth a 15th pick)
Roko Ukić (41st) (Yugoslavian set to be a star next year, good pick)
Uros Slokar (58th) (currently in Russia)


2004:

Rafael Araújo (8th) (Huge bust, traded for Kris Humphries)
Albert Miralles (39th) (who?)

Anyways, I think that you get my point, the Raptors have had not any success whatsoever recently drafting by any means which the exception of Roko Ukić who is signed to come over and play with the Raps next year, all of the players drafted there have had sub par years (maybe not Charlie V) or haven't even made the NBA so the importance is lying on the Raptors getting some solid players who are going to make an impact in the future, none of the players drafted above have been a success with the Raptors (again with the exception of Charlie V) so this draft is an important corner stone for the Raptors to step it up and add some wins and knock their talent up another notch.

I am not saying that the Raptors are going to be terrible because their team that they have right now is pretty good but it is missing something that makes it from good to great and its going to be an interesting off-season for Bryan Colangelo's boys, I don't think that any player with the exception of Chris Bosh, Jose Calderon, Jason Kapono and Jam Moon. The team is building for the positive and I think that we are almost as good as the Celtics, but we are still missing some pieces, lets hope they can be solved in the off-season and we can become a 50 win team.

thanks for reading

Liam