I don't think we'll know whether the Raptors are tanking or not until the Bynum situation gets resolved. If Cleveland misses out on Bynum, they will have to spend that money on someone, and a near all star who fits a position of need and is relatively available fits the bill. That man is Rudy Gay. If Cleveland makes a push for Gay, they have young assets than will set the Raps up nicely for the future (TT), draft picks, and the ability to absorb the majority of Gay's salary without sending much back.
Trading Gay wouldn't be an all out tank, but would probably guarantee we aren't good enough to make the playoffs. That would free us up to move someone like Amir or Derozan to a contender around the all star break to really kick the tank into gear (most tank jobs don't start until after the all star break). Alternatively, if Gay starts the season white hot then he will become much more attractive to other teams and we could get an improved return for him around the all star break. We can try our best with the current lineup, but if it returns as expected, a .500 ish record, then we could ship older guys to contenders before the trade deadline and make the second half of the season developmental (aka tank job).
So to sum things up, we won't know for sure if we're tanking or not until after the trade deadline, because there will still be plenty of games left to lose and a bigger market for our players.
Trading Gay wouldn't be an all out tank, but would probably guarantee we aren't good enough to make the playoffs. That would free us up to move someone like Amir or Derozan to a contender around the all star break to really kick the tank into gear (most tank jobs don't start until after the all star break). Alternatively, if Gay starts the season white hot then he will become much more attractive to other teams and we could get an improved return for him around the all star break. We can try our best with the current lineup, but if it returns as expected, a .500 ish record, then we could ship older guys to contenders before the trade deadline and make the second half of the season developmental (aka tank job).
So to sum things up, we won't know for sure if we're tanking or not until after the trade deadline, because there will still be plenty of games left to lose and a bigger market for our players.
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