Now that the NBA draft lottery is out of the way, the shopping can start in earnest for the Raptors.
And from the school of “one team’s misfortune is another team’s opportunity,” there are those within the organization who think things worked out just swimmingly Tuesday night.
Chicago winning the right to the No. 1 pick in the June 26 draft, knocking the favoured Miami Heat down to No. 2, was “not a bad thing,” according to one voice within the Toronto hierarchy.
The scenario the Raptors envision is:
The Bulls, who have soured completely on Kirk Hinrich as their point guard, take Memphis’ Derrick Rose, a Chicago product represented by an agent with close ties to the Bulls organization, with the No. 1 pick.
That leaves the Heat to decide whether they want Kansas State power forward Michael Beasley and, if they do, Miami will still be in the market for an accomplished point guard, something Toronto has in T.J. Ford and Jose Calderon.
No one from the Raptors was talking in specifics yesterday, but the chance to move either Ford or Calderon could net someone like power forward Udonis Haslem in some kind of package deal.
And with the way general manager Bryan Colangelo likes to think, there’s even a likelihood he’ll ask about the availability of the No. 2 pick in some kind of blockbuster trade. Torstar News Service
