To Toronto, in the right direction.

Dunking Raptor.

        Basketball in Toronto is at a very interesting place at the moment. The Raptors have acquired some interesting talent to build around and are not done making moves. It seems like Toronto is ready to part ways with forward/sometime center Andrea Bargnani. I was one of the super optimistic people thinking that this season could be a career season for the 7 footer; to say I was too optimistic would be a huge understatement. Before Bargs went down with an injury he was shooting 39% from the floor and grabbing a whopping 4.3 rebounds per game. Now Bargs has never been known for his rebounding and I knew this coming into this season, but foolish me, I began drinking the Italian Kool Aid from the beginning in large part to a huge import player coming to the team this season. More on him later. But shooting 31% from three and taking around 4 per game is not a recipe for success. However, this is a down year for him and at best he could be a great stretch 4 in the right situation, (*Cough*, LAKERS, ahem) and should garner some sort of assets for the Raptors. The problem being his massive contract and finding a team willing to take it on.
   
         The expiring contract of Jose Calderon is much more moveable. Jose is playing much better than Bargs right now and I mentioned his contract is expiring. Calderon is a point guard in every sense of the word and it shows in his teams play when he is on the floor. While Calderon is on the floor as the primary ball handler the Raptors score about 6 more points per 100 possessions than their opponents. The thing is the Raptors have designated Kyle Lowry as the point guard of the future and I can't see a point guard of Calderon's caliber sticking around to come off the bench. The major draw of Calderon is his versatility as a guard. His size allows him to play either the 1 or 2 and could give a team some lineup flexibility running two point guard lineups. Not unlike Golden State's lineup of Jarrett Jack, Steph Curry, and Klay Thompson. Finding the right fit will be tricky for Toronto given how deep the point guard position is, but once that fit is found Toronto will continue to amass assets for the future.

         Toronto has recently put most of it's eggs in a couple of baskets by giving an extension to Demar Derozan and signing Kyle Lowry and Landry Fields. Demar Derozan has shown some flashes that does shed some light onto why the Raptors thought he was worth about 10 mil a year, but these are still only flashes. Consistency should be what Derozan strives for to capitalize on his talents. Kyle Lowry is a bulldog of a point guard and fits pretty well into Dwayne Casey's system. Him staying on the court and off the bench in street close is a problem so far in his tenure with the Raptors. Once he gets and stays healthy, which I have no doubt he will, he could take this team up a notch on defense. Landry Fields is a little trickier. He signed in Toronto for about 6 mil a year for 3 years and I'm not sure why really. The Raptors must have seen some sort of potential from his days in New York but there really wasn't much there. His three point shooting basically fell off a cliff after his rookie year and his overall game seemed to take a hit. How he develops around the younger talent will be an interesting development over the next couple of seasons.

          Then we have three young X factors in Ed Davis, Jonas Valenciunas, and Terrance Ross. The success of these players are greatly tied into the success of the Raptors. With the eventual departure of Bargnani, it will open up more playing time for Davis. With more playing time don't be surprised when he starts seriously producing for this team. Davis paired with Valenciunas would give the Raptors a serious, young front court. I jumped on the Jonas Bandwagon and thought his defense and rebounding would hugely benefit Bargnani. Clearly it didn't work out like that. Even so, Valenciunas could develop into a defensive force for the raptors on the inside and with a developing offensive game, Toronto has the makings of a great front court. And then there is Terrance Ross. Ross has proven to be electrifying in his first season as a pro. His silky shooting will continue to be a key for this team that is lacking in the shooting department. I will look for him to move into the starting lineup if Fields somehow doesn't end up panning out. Either way, the Raptors are moving in the right direction and there next couple moves could determine how the next few years in Toronto will go.