Raps Swap Belinelli for Wright

Yesterday the Raptors announced that they have acquired forward Julian Wright from the Hornets in exchange for Marco Belinelli. Nelly averaged just over 7 points per game last year, but his inconsistency and lack of ability to contribute beyond scoring severely limited his minutes off the bench.

In Wright, the Raps get a still-young player with great "tools." He's athletic, big for his position (6-8) and is a serviceable defender. He's a pretty efficient wing scorer, shooting 50% from the floor, but because of his non-existent playing time (only 12 MPG) his per-game numbers tell us practically nothing (4 points, 2 rebounds per game). One thing we do know is that he has no range on his jumper: he only attempted 6 threes all season (making two). That said, in a fast-paced offense, Wright could be a solid contributor on both ends of the court. From a contract standpoint, Wright is entering the last year of his rookie contract, so the Raptors don't lose any financial flexibility from this deal.

Raps Trade for Andersen

On Wednesday night BC traded a protected second round pick in the 2015 draft to the Houston Rockets for Aussie centre David Andersen. "The Other Australian Centre" averaged close to 6 points and 3 boards in 63 games for the Rockets. Andersen is known for his offensive talent, as the 30 year old can stretch the floor and create his own shot in the post. He also follows the Raptor tradition of Centres who cannot rebound or play defense. Dave is currently in the second year of his 3 year, 7.5 million dollar contract, with the third year being a team option, so the Raptors are tied to him only for this year.

Andersen can be an effective signing for the Dinos. He brings a winning mentality to a team with a longstanding history of mediocrity. The 6'11 Aussie also brings a little competition to the table for Raptor rookie Solomon Alabi. It will be interesting to see if Andersen can impress Jay Triano enough to crack the rotation, but for now expect him to see injury minutes.

Knickerbockers Make Offers: A Friday Night Ramble

- Firstly, I would like to apologize for the rhyme in the title.
- The Knicks have completed 2 trades today. First they sent Jamal Crawford to Golden State for Al Harrington, and second they sent Zach Randolph and Mardy Collins to the L.A. Clippers for Tim Thomas and Cuttino Mobley. These deals have apparently been made to free up salary cap space in 2010, when notables such as Dwayne Wade, Lebron James and Chris Bosh become free agents. Dwayne's and Chris' agent has been quoted saying "I find it sort of strange, the reality is it's two years away. I don't know why there's so much talk about it." Wise words.
- Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder has more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds this season. He has 39 rebounds this season, 23 coming from the offensive end.
- Chris Paul is averaging more assists per game (11.9) than T.J. Ford and Andre Miller combined (11.6). I think BC made the right move in keeping Jose. As for Andre Miller, to quote my co-blogger Ben, "Only once he establishes the NBA record for unnecessary dribbles in a career will Andre Miller be an above average point guard".
- Dwight Howard has been to the line fewer than 11 times just once in the past six games, averaging 12.7 attempts over the stretch. Too bad his free throw percentage is a miserable .539. Hack-a-Dwight anyone?
- Jose Calderon, unsurprisingly, sits at the bottom of the Eddy Curry Fantasy Line, a stat in which a player must average more turnovers than assists, steals, and blocks combined. Jose is averaging 5.80 good stats to 1 turnover. The top/bottom ten players on the Eddy Curry Line: (1) Desmond Mason, (2) Kevin Durant, (3) Jason Thompson, (4) Thaddeus Young, (5) Marc Gasol, (6) Bobby Simmons, (7) Andres Nocioni, (8) Emeka Okafor, (9) Yao Ming, (10) David West.
- This week, former 10 day Raptor Linton Johnson was released by the Charlotte Bobcats. One may say he had a relatively short stint-on Johnson (I'm sorry).
- On that note, we can launch into our Obscure Former Raptor Update. Today's centrepiece: Nate Huffman. An import from Maccabi Tel-Aviv, 7'1 Nate Huffman played 7 games in the 02-03 season for the Raptors, averaging 3.3 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. Hooray for another failed Glen Grunwald experiment. Huffman was released by the Raptors and his contract was terminated by the Raptors. Team management charged that he hid a knee injury from them when he signed the contract. Huffman responded by suing them in 2003. In February 2004, however, an arbitrator ruled that the Raptors were responsible for Huffman’s contract. Tough luck, Glen. After getting his money from the Toronto Raptors he decided to fund a basketball camp for children in 2005 with retired Romanian-Israeli basketballer Constantin Popa.

Raptors Interested in Wallace, Harrington?

The Raptors have reportedly been talking with the Bobcats and the Warriors about acquiring a perimeter player. Specifically, the Raptors have been looking at Gerald Wallace and Al Harrington. You can check out RealGM's Wiretap article here.

This season, Gerald Wallace is averaging 15 points per game, almost 9 rebounds per game and 2 assists. His three point percentage is a solid .455. Maybe most importantly, Gerald is averaging upwards of 2 steals per game, and can bring the Raptors an athletic small forward who is not afraid to attack the bucket.

Al Harrington has publically stated that he wants out of Golden State. Slightly less attractive and effective than Gerald, Al is averaging 12 points and 5 rebounds. His career has also been riddled with personal and attitude problems. However, Al is a 6'10 big man who can shoot the three ball.

It is a mystery what BC has up his french cuffs. However, if Joey Graham is able to produce like he did against the Celtics, why be so quick to rush for a trade? Especially considering we may have to give up Andrea...