As Scott astutely covered earlier on Thursday, the Raptors have reportedly acquired point guard Kyle Lowry in exchange for Gary Forbes and a future lottery pick with limited protection.
The lottery pick is reportedly top-three protected in 2013, top-two protected in 2014 and 2015, and No. 1 overall protected in 2016 and 2017. If the Raptors end up losing a top-two or three pick in this deal, it becomes much, much tougher to swallow. But if the Rockets come out of this deal with only Gary Forbes and a late lottery pick, they will have sold embarrassingly low on a player that looks to be on the rise.
If you’re into patterns, the Raptors have never missed the playoffs in five straight seasons, and have qualified in stretches of two-year and three-year runs. If that pattern holds true, they are due for a post-season trip in the coming season and won’t have to worry about losing a lottery pick for at least a couple of years. On the other hand, the Raptors have never gone more than four consecutive seasons without finishing outside the bottom-five in the NBA standings, and if that ugly pattern holds true, then the Rockets will more than likely get a pretty good draft pick out of this deal.
Unfortunately, we can’t possibly begin judging this trade based on a patterned prediction of what the future holds. We can, however, look at and discuss where this trade leaves the Raptors.
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