Finally this summer, the Raptors have increased their efforts in searching for a center.... I wonder what took Colangelo and his front office so long? From Araujo to trying to mold Bargnani into a 5, this team needed a center since Antonio Davis was moved to Chicago and almost all of their efforts in getting someone to play that spot at a reasonably high level has resulted in failure of epic proportions. Okay that maybe exaggerating it but the point still stands.
Even their trade efforts for a center have been futile as the Chandler deal was Larry Browned by Michael Jordan. The Raptors do have 1 rookie that is able to play the 5 in Alabi but he is currently very raw and as it stands now with the unfortunate Ed Davis injury, Andrea Bargnani and Amir Johnson would be the only bigs on the roster that would be a rotational player on a good team. Andersen, Dorsey, Alabi and Evans wont. Those are guys that play 5-10 minutes max.
Now in the Western Conference, the Kings seem to be loaded with bigs in Jason Thompson, Carl Landry, recently acquired Samuel Dalembert and rookies DeMarcus Cousins and Hassan Whiteside.
There is 96 minutes at the PF/C slots that can be divided up into those 5. Last year alone Carl Landry averaged 37.6 minutes in 28 games with the Kings, Jason Thompson with 31.4 minutes and Samuel Dalembert with 25.9 minutes with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Now I figure that their minutes will be cut to accommodate the two rookies but the minutes for those three alone from last season add up to 95 minutes. So somethings gotta give. DeMarcus Cousins requires minutes or you might have a potential problem on your hands, although I believe his off court problems was getting way too much press and were certainly blown out of proportion. Nevertheless, you want to avoid that situation with a new talented rookie like Cousins.
In addition, the Kings backcourt looks a little weak with the obvious exception of Tyreke Evans. Beno Udrih has played well beside Tyreke but is he really a starting caliber PG on a possible up and coming team in the West? Ever since he signed that MLE deal, his tags always read 'untradeable' and 'wildly overpaid' for a bench player.
From the brief moments when I actually paid attention in economics class, I distinctly remember a certain theory called Law of Diminishing Returns (or some shit like that). The law refers to how the marginal production of a factor of production (Kings' performance on the court) starts to progressively decrease as the factor is increased (Too many productive big's that need minutes), in contrast to the increase that would otherwise be normally expected.
The Kings won't be able to effectively utilize all their front court pieces so it doesn't make sense to keep them if they can use it to upgrade one of the seemingly weaker areas on the team, the PG spot. They are also the 7th worst team in the league in terms of taking care of the ball.
The same theory can also be applied to the Raptors with their PG situation. They have Jarrett Jack, who looks to be the starter, and Jose Calderon, the A/TO king. Both are starting caliber point guards but there isn't enough minutes to maximize both players. And playing them together is a big no-no because they repeatedly failed over and over again last season.
So its no surprise that the Raptors are shopping Jose Calderon. Good locker room guy and a steady offensive player on an expensive contract. However he has problems on the defensive end, which could be covered up when he has rim protectors (which the Kings have) to cover him.
So here is my idea:
Trade:
Jose Calderon
Reggie Evans
David Andersen
Marcus Banks
Receive:Samuel Dalembert
Beno Udrih
Francisco Garcia
Trade:
Samuel Dalembert
Beno Udrih
Francisco Garcia
Receive:Jose Calderon
Reggie Evans
David Andersen
Marcus Banks
