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Wednesday’s loss to the bigger and tougher New York Knicks just emphasized the obvious: The Raptors need help if they want to continue overachieving.
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When they’ve faced the Knicks, a potential playoff opponent, they’ve consistently played the part of the weakling getting sand kicked in their face by the big bully. Crushed on the glass, unable to match a deep, veteran-laden roster, with few answers for the quality two-way wing combination of OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, who ran over and through them Wednesday.
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Toronto dropped to 11-13 against teams at or above .500 and have yet to beat (0-6) the three teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings (Detroit, Boston and New York), though they’ve oddly gone 3-0 against Cleveland, a team with the same overall record as them.
General manager Bobby Webster and the rest of his staff now have under a week (the NBA’s trade deadline arrives Feb. 5 at 3 p.m. ET) to bolster the roster.
Trade deadline approaching
They couldn’t have planned for starting centre Jakob Poeltl to miss most of the year with back issues, but they can’t bank he’ll be consistently available at any point moving forward as backs are notoriously tricky and can act up at any time. There’s no choice, unless they want to punt a move to the future and accept a first-round playoff appearance, and likely loss, as enough progress to call this season a big success.
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Otherwise, help up front is the clear priority. Ideally a starting caliber centre, but at worst, a quality backup who can fill in until Poeltl is ready and can stop the team from playing Scottie Barnes and Collin Murray-Boyles out of position against the league’s biggest behemoths.
Besides that, additional shooting (only three teams, including Friday’s opponent Orlando) have been less accurate on three-point attempts), would be suitable wish list fodder, along with veteran help on the wing for the bench, since the youngsters have been maddeningly inconsistent and unreliable.
If they’re looking for another area of potential need, how about a third point guard who could help out Immanuel Quickley, who has vacillated from outstanding (he was the East’s player of the week last week), to mediocre to rough, depending on the week — and Jamal Shead, who has trailed off after a great start to the season.
There’s also the option of chasing a superstar, though that seems more like an off-season idea.
Your move, Bobby.
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