Toronto Raptors: Landry Fields’ Purpose

Landry Fields was never meant to be a Toronto Raptor.  Even when Bryan Colangelo offered Fields a three-year, $18.75 million deal, he was still just a means to an end for a team with bigger aspirations.

Colangelo spent the summer of 2012 desperately trying to bring Canadian hero Steve Nash to the lone franchise North of the border.  It was widely believed that the New York Knicks were the biggest competition for Nash’s services, so Colangelo signed Fields, a restricted free agent, to an offer sheet in order to clog up much of the cap space that the Knicks were hoping to use on Nash.

When Nash opted to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers (boy did the Raptors dodge a bullet), they were now left with a player they never fully wanted.

Just a few months after arriving in Toronto, Landry was found to have nerve damage in his elbow which would require surgery in November 2012.  At the time, there was plenty of hope that the surgery would help fix what had become a broken shooting form, and that Landry would be able to return and make the most of his high basketball IQ.

Almost two years later and that hope has been squashed.

"“In terms of (my) shot and the arm, it is still an on-going thing,” Fields said. “I do the best I can with rehab, it is what it is.“I just try to play the best I can with it and comes to terms with it instead of guessing – try to be the best I can with it.“I am still working on it, still trying to bring it back to 100 percent and I’ll be doing that until I don’t play basketball.”Fields can see the writing on the wall about his future in the NBA. Without any improvement to his right arm this season, Fields’ NBA career may be coming to an end.“Tomorrow I can’t control, but I do understand that my contract might not be the same (next year),” Fields said. “I might not be in basketball after this year."

Fields is now an expensive defensive option, and that Raptors are once again trying to figure out what to do with the man who was never fully wanted.

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This question has come to an apex as the Raptors only have one open roster spot, but three players to choose between.  Will Cherry,

, and

were all brought signed to partially guaranteed training camp invites in order to compete for the one remaining opening.

Cherry is the likeliest cut.  He came to Toronto with the hope to compete to be the team’s third point guard, but preseason has shown that Dwane Casey intends to use Lou Williams as the team’s emergency point guard.

This leaves Hamilton and Stiemsma remaining, with only one spot available.

Stiemsma is a logical selection, if only due to his position.  With Lucas Nogueira currently dealing with a groin injury, the Raptors are left with only two available centers on the roster (Jonas Valanciunas and Chuck Hayes), and an already banged-up Amir Johnson who can perform spot minutes there.

They also can’t be sure what Nogueira will offer as a rookie, despite playing at a high level in Spain.

But Hamilton has shown in the preseason that he belongs in the NBA.  In 17.8 minutes per game, Hamilton is averaging 10.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 steals, all while shooting 62.5 percent from the field and the same percentage from long distance.

With the current wing depth that Toronto has, Hamilton would be a positional luxury.  He is a superior player to Stiemsma, but is not as necessary for the roster as currently constructed.

So what does this all have to do with Landry Fields?

Fields is the most expendable player on the roster at the moment, and, if Masai Ujiri sees fit, he could be waived to make room for both Stiemsma and Hamilton.

Despite the temptation to do so, waiving Fields would be a waste of an expiring contract.  Fields counts as a $6.25 million expiring contract.  Simply having him on the roster makes any larger trade possible due to the ability to match finances.

If it weren’t for his elbow injury, Fields would likely still be considered a consistent contributor in Toronto, but now it is impossible to view him as anything but salary filler within a trade.  Even if he can’t contribute on the floor, Fields could still prove to be valuable to the Raptors.