I hope the reports are wrong...

Reports are coming out that the Toronto Raptors have made an agreement with Indiana that would send TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, the 17th pick in this years draft, and a player to be named later (in order to match salary) to the Pacers in exchange for Jermaine O'Neal...

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If any of you had read my last post, you would be aware that I hate this idea.  The guy has only played more than 70 games in 5 out of 12 seasons (granted, one of those 12 seasons was shortened, but he still missed about a dozen or so games thatparticular season) and is there any reason to expect that he will be able to play more than half a season in '08-'09?  He's a $22 million liability.

TJ Ford had to go, there's no question about that.  He's too good to keep on the bench, and the writing on the wall indicated that Jose Calderon was the PG of choice in Toronto.  TJ's had his injuries, and there's no reason to expect that he will be able to remain healthy for all 82 games, but he only accounts for $8 million on the payroll.

Rasho is a good, reliable, and healthy center.  He's a smart player who can start for you, or come off the bench and not allow it to affect his game.  I would fully expect Rasho to be able to play the  full season, and he would account for about $8.5 million on the payroll.

TJ and Rasho make about $16.5 million, which leaves another $5 to $6 million dollars to make up.  How much value will be placed on the 17th pick of the draft this year?  If I were to guess maybe $1 million, that would still leave about $4 - $5 million, which would possibly mean the player to be named later could be the likes of Kris Humphries, Anthony Parker, Andrea Bargnani, or Jason Kapono...  All those guys are capable of being huge contributors to the team... a huge loss if they are included in the deal...

If the reports are true, and if Jermaine O'Neal passes his physical, the one thing I would recommend is that he had better take care of himself and really contribute to the team. I want the Raptors to be successful, but it's so hard with O'Neal's sketchy history.

If the Raptors should end up with a result anything less than a .500 season, they will likely lose a lot of fan support, which would make it very difficult for the team to survive in Toronto.  The city throws more support behind the Toronto Maple Leafs than the rest of the major sports combined (the Raptors could win the NBA championship, but the headlines in the Toronto media will be about the latest surgery on one of the Leafs...).  Now, over the next five years, the Buffalo Bills (NFL... I''m sure you know that, but I'll say it anyway) will be playing games in Toronto which will likely draw a lot of attention away from the Raptors.  Our MLS team (soccer), the Toronto FC, which has only been around for a season and a half has ridiculous support already.  The CFL (Canadian Football League) team, the Toronto Argonauts will probably have a lot of support as well based on their big moves in the offseason, and are expected to be championship contenders (that's more of an FYI for y'all, but hopefully you see my point).

I am also hard-pressed to believe the ownership group will be happy to be paying their basketball players more than their hockey players... the same group owns the Raptors and the Leafs (and Toronto FC).

I'll keep my fingers crossed that everything will magically work out... but am just too skeptical to believe it...

Driving home from work today, I was listening to the radio.  I usually have it tuned to my favorite sports broadcast.  Let it be known that this particular show is a hockey news (Toronto lives and dies with the Maple Leafs) show first and foremost, then followed up with little snip-its of other sports interspersed throughout.

One of those snip-its caught my attention, which was a rumor involving talks between the Toronto Raptors and Indiana Pacers.  Basically, here's the scenario as I know it:

Toronto sends TJ Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, the 17th pick in this years draft, and likely another player (to match salary) to Indiana for Jermaine O'neal...  Maybe some of you out there who are more familiar with Jermaine O'neal can offer their opinions to me why that would be a good deal, but I think it is a horrible and terrifying thought.

O'neal's recent injury history is just as sketchy as TJ Ford's, but there is consolation in the fact that TJ makes $8 mil per season, compared to $22 mil for O'neal.  That's a lot of money to be spending (wasting) on a guy who likely won't play a full season, and is especially difficult if your team is working on a budget.  For the same amount of money, a team could easily afford 2 or 3 other players of the same caliber who will be more reliable.  Usually when one talks of overrated players, does not Jermaine O'neals name come up often?

I do not like the idea of this trade at all.

I would be remiss in my duties to just leave it at that, so I will introduce a trade idea I do like.

What I think would work better is for the Raptors to get into talks with the Charlotte Bobcats, and encourage a sign-and-trade involving Emeka Okafor.  Okafor could easily sign for about $13 or $14 mil.  The Raptors offer up TJ Ford and Rasho Nesterovic, Charlotte offers Okafor and maybe Othella Harrington.  The salaries even out (approximately).  this gives Toronto more size that they have needed, and offers another rebounding option, and it gives the Bobcats a good explosive PG in Ford, teamed up with Raymond Felton, and that makes a decent PG duo.  Also, neither team is handcuffed by outrageous salaries.

Those are my thoughts of what I don't think my Raptors should do, and what I do think they should do.  I would like to thank CurlyMo who first suggested the idea of Emeka Okafor being the type of player that would help the Raptors a while ago when discussing many ideas.