As the trade deadline approaches, Raptor inventory

[mcHAPPY]

As the trade deadline approaches, what do you think are the Raptors untouchables, assets worth keeping but not untouchable if the right deal comes along, trade pieces, roster fillers for next season (i.e. minimum contracts), and dead weight?

Untouchables: DeRozan, Davis, TOR 1st round pick

Assets: Bargnani, Amir, Bayless, MIA 1st round pick

Trade Pieces: Evans, Calderon, Barbosa, Weems, Wright

Roster Fillers: Ajinca, Dorsey

Dead Weight: Kleiza (due to injury), Alabi

[Joey]

Spot on.
Well in my opinion.
BC very well could have Bargs as an untouchable. Which I would neither be for or against.
I'm neutral on Bargs right now.

And I'd still hate to see Calderon go, as I think his veteran presence can't really be measured by stats. He makes his teammates better. When he has a big game, we usually win. I think.

[Roughhide]

I agree with all of that besides Amir, a player that actually likes Toronto and is showing a ton of promise with a well - rounded game. Before recently, I woulda deemed him an asset, but I think hes part of the raps future due to his skill set, potential, and age on a nice contract.

[mcHAPPY]

Spot on.
Well in my opinion.
BC very well could have Bargs as an untouchable. Which I would neither be for or against.
I'm neutral on Bargs right now.

And I'd still hate to see Calderon go, as I think his veteran presence can't really be measured by stats. He makes his teammates better. When he has a big game, we usually win. I think.

I was flip flopping where to put Caldeorn. With only the consideration of how is he playing right now, I put him as an asset. HOwever given his contract and injury history, I put him as a trade piece. His next serious injury and he becomes dead weight.

[mcHAPPY]

I agree with all of that besides Amir, a player that actually likes Toronto and is showing a ton of promise with a well - rounded game. Before recently, I woulda deemed him an asset, but I think hes part of the raps future due to his skill set, potential, and age on a nice contract.

You'd put him as untouchable? Fair enough.

To clarify, I consider an asset as something you don't deal unless the offer is incredible. I put a lot of value on Amir even if I don't think he is a starter for the Raps in the future.

[JoePanini]

I think the first ones out will be Reggie and Barbosa.

[YKOil]

All listings are in order of importance.

Untouchable Assets (only involved in trades that would have to be, overwhelmingly, in favor of the Raps):

-- Davis, Johnson, DeRozan, TOR 1st round pick

Important Assets (only involved in trades that help increase the talent level of the team, i.e. no dumps, no throw-ins, no marginal asset returns):

-- Calderon**

Value Assets (available for trades but there is no pressing asset management requirement for trading them):

-- Bargnani, Bayless, Wright

Trade Assets (available for trade, and sometimes 'should be' traded, but should return value):

-- Evans, Barbosa, MIA 1st round pick, Weems

Don't Hurt Assets (available for trades and throw-ins but there is no pressing asset management requirement for trading them):

-- Ajinca, Dorsey

Dead Weight Assets: Kleiza, Alabi


** Full disclosure - I had Calderon as a guy to trade at the start of the year so his re-emergence has been welcome and appreciated. To be fair to myself, my call was that one of Calderon or Bargnani had to be traded as a team can't be poor defensively at BOTH the PG and C spots and be expected to do well.

So my list isn't that much different from Matt52's. Where do the Raps go from here?

Evans and Barbosa are both trade deadline specials but I wouldn't mind if the Raps kept one of them as they are both good veterans to have around and this team needs that in the locker-room. If they both go it all comes down to return I guess. Ultimately, having two of Calderon, Evans, Barbosa is desirable imo.

I have Wright listed as a Value Asset because he is the only defensive presence we have on the wings - I would like to see him re-signed on a 3 year deal at $3 miillion a year (like Amir's old deal) if at all possible. My hope is that he would be cheaper than that given the uncertainty of the new CBA but locking him up for cheap would certainly be on my radar.

Bayless is worth keeping simply because he does have skills and he is cheap - so it's worth it to see if he develops the brains and game he needs to effectively use those skills as a PG or as a 6th man. (Somewhat) likewise, the development potential of both Dorsey and Ajinca is of interest and given that both are relatively cheap they only go if they are part of a bigger trade that improves the team.

Would REALLY like to see one of Bargnani or Kleiza go. Preferably Kleiza as I cannot see what he brings to the team. That said, barring a heart transplant I don't see Bargs improving much and any time you have to build a team around a guy who is NOT dominant at his position you are doomed to fail. When Raps management absolved him from (most) blame by saying he needed to be surrounded with tough guys that was, pretty much, the last straw for me.

So what is out there?

Could be a fairly quiet trade deadline (outside of the Melo stuff) as no one wants to take on long term salary. Raps could try to get involved as a middle man in the Nuggets dismantling and Matt52's Philadelphia trade (trade up on the draft pick) makes a lot of sense but after that it gets a little slim outside of the Evans/Barbosa action.

If the Raps are willing to take on salary then EVERYTHING changes as Colangelo can then get himself inserted into an awful lot of trades.

Would that be worth it though? Probably not. Not if it means all we get is someone like Kleiza back. This isn't a team that needs more one-dimensional, mediocre at that, talent.

The foundation of this team is better than most think. With Davis and Johnson this team is set at the 4, DeRozan is a great pick-up for the 2 and - as long as this team can stay in the bottom 5 picks - the 2011 1st rounder should turn into one of a starting PG (Irving), SF (Williams) or C (Kanter). That is more than a lot of teams have. Best part - it's all pretty cheap right now.

So this is where Colangelo has to earn his Legomaster moniker.

Anything meaningful that he will be able to accomplish will come about because he has a proven track record of making things happen - the Turkoglu 1, almost-Diaw, Turkoglu 2 and Stojakovic trades are all trades that most GM's don't even have the capability of imagining let alone accomplishing.

We could use one like that now.

If a guy like Curry really is available he won't be coming to the Raps straight up. It will require some convoluted series of moves that a guy like me just doesn't see right now. BUT that is the type of trade we need. Be interesting to see what happens.