If you thought Wednesday’s season finale meant things would be slow in Raptor Land, think again. On Thursday, Bill Simmons published Part 1 of his annual list of the NBA’s top 50 most valuable assets, which included Jonas Valanciunas at No. 44 (just ahead of Enes Kanter and Andre Drummond, just behind Kenneth Faried).
More importantly, Simmons included this tidbit…
After a crazy couple of months of Raptors-related trade rumours in January and February and an actual blockbuster in the process, I didn’t think we’d be talking about potential moves again until at least April.
So much for that, as Marc Spears reported in his weekly power rankings (where the Raptors held firm at No. 20) that according to a source, “the Raptors are looking for a veteran power forward and could make a run at Golden State’s Carl Landry if he opts out of his deal this summer.”
For what it’s worth, it was also Spears last week who revealed reports of Bryan Colangelo “likely” making an extension offer to Rudy Gay this summer.
In one of the quietest trade deadlines in recent memory, the Raptors were unable to unload Andrea Bargnani, but the team did complete a trade for backup point guard Sebastian Telfair that sends Hamed Haddadi and a conditional second round pick to Phoenix.
Andrea Bargnani at the All-Star festivities in Houston…just not doing All-Star things
With the plethora of rumours and reports linking him to various teams, everyone just assumed that by Thursday’s trade deadline, Andrea Bargnani’s tumultuous time in Toronto would have mercifully come to an end, also bringing about the end of the Primo Pasta and Sauce commercials we’ve been subject to for the last few years.
Unfortunately for those fans, it sounds like we may have to wait a while longer…
Alright, Raptors/Bargnani related trade rumour no. 5347847 – ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that “Charlotte’s growing determination to move Ben Gordon has presented Toronto w/another Andrea Bargnani suitor.”
