December 7, 2004               

PHOENIX HOLDS THE BLUEPRINT THE RAPTORS SHOULD FOLLOW

       As the season began last year the Phoenix Suns were breathing very dry and very stale air.  The Suns, a perennial playoff club, had swooned into the second division and the look of their roster indicated that it would be a long road back to respectability.  But the Suns did something last season that effectively turned their franchise around.  They unloaded their high-priced superstars for some salary cap flexibility and this off-season went about reconstructing their team.  This year the Suns are on top of their division in the ultra-competitive Western Conference and only a massive collapse will keep them from reaching the playoffs.  It is a formula that this year’s Toronto Raptors should look to duplicate. 

      The Raptors have been in a free fall in the Eastern Conference these past few years.  They reached their peak four years ago and have been declining steadily since.  The contracts the Raptors were forced to sign at the time—Alvin Williams. JYD, Antonio Davis and Vince Carter—originally thought to keep the team competitive quickly turned against them.  Last year the Raptors were able to dump two of those contracts, Davis and JYD, but were forced to take the heavy contract of Jalen Rose in return.  That leaves the Raptors with three huge contracts they would like to unload.  They cannot move Alvin’s contract, unless they take on another bad contract—and what’s the point of that—so that leaves Vince and Jalen.   Vince is still a marketable commodity—Jalen is not.  The Raptors have tied Jalen Rose to any trade involving Vince—a smart move.  In order to turn this franchise around the Raptor brass desperately needs to get rid of both contracts.

       The Suns were able to package off Stephon Marbury’s huge multi-year contract and Penny Hardaway’s ridiculously high salary when Isiah Thomas wanted to make a big splash in New York.  While the Knicks are not much better—they have increased their payroll to unconscionable heights though—the Suns were able to pick up expiring contracts.  The Suns gave up last season—their eyes were firmly entrenched on this year.  Call them fortunate or call them smart the Suns were able to fill their two biggest needs in the off-season, using their available money to sign point guard Steve Nash and shooting guard Quentin Richardson. 

       The Raptors know that the Vince Carter trade will dictate the level of success the team can expect the following years.  Trading Carter for another high salaried player with a multi-year contract doesn’t make sense for the Raptors.  They need to rebuild this club.  The team is taking on a new personality—that of its intense coach Sam Mitchell.  When GM Rob Babcock hired his coach he knew that Mitchell’s style and aggressiveness would fly in the face of the way the Raptors had been playing the past couple of years.  The lax attitude and lack of urgency is still left from the Lenny Wilkens years, and for the team to turn the corner and be the hard working club Babcock and Mitchell want they need to acquire those types of players.  Vince Carter is not Sam Mitchell’s type of player, and since teams usually follow the attitude and work ethic of their best player the Raptors cannot improve until Vince is dealt.

       As I have stated—the Raptors have to tie Rose’s contract to any deal for Vince.  Rose would be a solid player if he were making about half of what he earns, but at his presently inflated financial numbers Rose is nothing short of an anchor to the team’s fortunes.  The problem, of course, becomes getting another club to take on his contract—it’s not like another club views him differently.  The Raptors do need to move Carter, but not unless Rose goes with him.

       There are two options available to the Raptors.  First—they can make a deal like the one with Portland where they can acquire expiring contracts.  The Blazers want the Raptors to take the huge contract of Derek Anderson in the trade, but the Raptors will deal only if Nick Van Exel’s expiring contract is included.  If Van Exel comes along with Shareef Abdur-Rahim then the Raptors would open up nearly $25 million in salary cap space for next year.  While it is unlikely that they would go after the mega-stars—like Ray Allen—with that money they could get three or four star players and thereby fill out the roster with their type of players.

       The second option is to work a three-way, or four-way, deal with a team like New Orleans and acquire the center the team so desperately needs, Jamaal Magloire.  The Raptors are small and they are soft, a deadly combination that costs them late in games.  When an opponent ratchets up the intensity—when they start double-teaming the Raptor perimeter players, when they collapse down in the paint to take away drives, and when they attack the glass with ferocity to corral loose balls the Raptors usually falter.  In order to succeed the Raptors need to get bigger, and they need to get tougher.  It is the main reason for Babcock’s controversial decision to draft Rafael Aruajo with the team’s first round pick.  Aruajo was not drafted to help this year—it was hoped that he would learn this year and help next year.   

      Phoenix has turned their franchise around, and it began with their multi-player swap last season with the Knicks.  For the Raptors they need to make a similar trade this year to rid themselves of unwanted contracts and unwanted players.  If Babcock is unable to make that franchise altering trade the Raptors could be doomed to more years of sub-par performances and sub-par results.