Does this deal help both our team & Knicks?
Just the facts, Ma’am: the Toronto Raptors have traded OG Anunoby, Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn to the New York Knicks. Coming our way are RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley, plus the Detroit Pistons’ second-round pick this summer (I don’t normally bother with second-round mentions, but this one might end up being #31, so it’s not an afterthought.) Many Raptors fans are happy something is being done to shake up the roster, though I wonder if this deal is a ‘Be careful what you wish for’ moment for the activists. Did they really want to see OG depart?
The NBA press is all over this deal, and opinions cover the spectrum. Some commentators believe the Knicks ‘won’ the trade, as the best player involved, namely OG, is joining their team. Other Knicks fans are mourning the loss of Quickley in particular. I gather Barrett struggled to win over the New York crowd in his four-plus seasons there, which is understandable. RJ has never put up the kind of numbers one might expect from a #3 draft selection. For a big point guard who should be able to shoot from deep with relative ease, a career 34.2% success rate doesn’t impress. I call him a point, but his PG marks of 2.8 assists to 2.1 turnovers is worse than mediocre – it’s downright bad. Compare Quickley’s numbers: 37% from beyond the arc, and 3 dimes to 1.1 TOs. One might well ask why Barrett wasn’t the Knicks sixth man instead of lead-guard-in-waiting Quickley, who finished second last season in 6MotY voting.
What does the deal mean for the Raptors, big-picture wise? The roster gets slightly younger – Barrett is 23, Quickley 24 – and smaller. Neither of the newbies is in OG’s class defensively, so there will be some slippage. Coach Darko now has a serious collection of swingmen to work into the rotation, particularly if he decides Scottie Barnes’ dramatic improvement in deep shooting and assists makes him worthy of lead-guard status.
Sadly, Gradey Dick will be pushed further down the depth chart. When, not if, there’s a flurry of injuries, Gradey won’t be ready. That’s on you, Darko.
Where are the big men?
Conversely, the loss of Precious means the threadbare frontcourt is vulnerable to fatigue and injury, unless the (forced) experiment in small-ball works. Reports have been surfacing to the effect that Christian Koloko, sidelined by respiratory illness for months, is nearing a return. While I might have yawned about this information before, I’m not now. Meantime, Chris Boucher becomes the backup for Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam. Might we see Javon Freeman-Liberty get promoted from the 905?
The timing of this trade is noteworthy. The Raptors now have all of January to remake themselves into a pesky, perhaps even respectable, squad. If they turn in another abysmal month (December record: 3-10), one can assume Masai Ujiri’s phone will be blowing up before the trade deadline of February 8, as the Pascal Siakam bidding war reaches a peak.
This is all very interesting, Brian, but who won the trade? Ask me that in 30 days. Until then, I’m taking a comfortable position, if such a thing is possible, on the fence.
I do feel badly for Precious and Malachi. They are going to be led by the worst coach I’ve ever seen for young NBA players, Tom Thibodeau. Good luck to them both, and I hope they escape at the first opportunity.
One last thing
It’s hard to envision a roster with both Quickley and Gary Trent on it. They are clones. I’d wager a few loonies that Gary will be elsewhere shortly.
- Tags: New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors
