Toronto Raptors: 5 reasons for blowing it up

2. DeMar’s old school game

DeMar DeRozan followed up his offseason $145 million contract signing with the best season of his eight-year career. In 74 games, DeRozan averaged 27.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game. His usage rate of 34.2 was comfortably the highest of his career, despite the presence of Lowry. Furthermore, he competed in his third All-Star game, his first time as a starter.

But as impressive as these numbers are, DeRozan’s game doesn’t resonate with the modern-day push toward pace and space that embraces the three-point line. Despite DeRozan ranking second in the league with 20.9 field-goal attempts per game, just 1.7 of these per game were from three-point range. This certainly helps to explain the incredibly high usage rate DeRozan possessed this season.

The problem with such an approach is when the playoffs arrive. For the second straight year, DeRozan’s postseason numbers took a noticeable hit. As talented as DeRozan is on the offensive end, when teams have the time to zero in and focus on the one opponent, the lack of a three-point shot to spread the floor is detrimental for both DeRozan and the Raptors as a team.

Despite having $110 million owing over the next four seasons, DeRozan is still just 27 and will still have plenty of currency on the open market. Considering the doubt surrounding Lowry’s return, and the decisions to be made on midseason arrivals in Ibaka and P.J. Tucker, Ujiri would be negligent not to test the waters and ascertain what the Raptors could possibly obtain in a potential deal.

Suggestion:

One target the Raptors could have for a possible DeRozan trade is the New York Knicks. With Knicks team president Phil Jackson still in love with the triangle offense, DeRozan would be a terrific fit in such as a system. But aside from Kristaps Porzingis, the Knicks have little in the way of assets at their disposal to satisfy the Raptors.

Hence, a third team would need to be included to facilitate a deal. With Carmelo Anthony most likely heading out the door, the Los Angeles Clippers have rumored to be a strong chance of pulling off a deal. A potential deal could consist of the following:

Toronto receives:

• Knicks’ 2017 first round pick
• Austin Rivers

New York receives:

• DeMar DeRozan
• Cory Joseph

Los Angeles receives:

• Carmelo Anthony

There would need to be a number of other inclusions to make the deal work, but these would be the essentials of such a deal. Jackson has proven to be crazy and desperate enough to make this work, which means it’d remiss of Ujiri not to pick up the phone and get the ball rolling.