Written by Joshua Priemski at RaptorsRepublic.com
The NBA’s trade deadline is 15 days away, on Feb. 18, and we’re beginning to hear rumblings about players the Toronto Raptors might be interested in. Yesterday, two Phoenix Suns — Markieff Morris and P.J. Tucker — were reportedly being targeted by the Raptors, coincidentally just one day after the two teams played each other. To me, that raises questions about the validity of those reports, but they’re from people far more intelligent and connected than I, so I’m inclined to believe them.
However, it also raises another question: Do the Raptors even need to make a trade this season?
The Raptors currently sit at 33-16 in the Eastern Conference, they’re 9-1 in their last 10 games and 12-3 in their last 15. Those wins came without the team’s major offseason acquisition, DeMarre Carroll, and while a good number of those wins came against bad teams like the Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic, the Raptors also beat some fairly good teams, like the Los Angeles Clippers and Detroit Pistons.
The Raptors have exceeded preseason expectations by a significant margin, and they’ve already made me look like a fool. Earlier this season, I pondered whether or not they’d even get homecourt advantage in the playoffs. Clearly, they will, and I’m humble enough to admit that I was wrong. (Modesty, on the other hand, is not something I’m known for.) Then again, most of us were wrong. The Raptors have persevered through injuries to key players and beat the teams they’re supposed to beat. Players we were worried about, like Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson, have come around and are now key contributors to a winning team.
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