Quote:
Originally Posted by Gozer
Rumours of Jose/Amir for Caron Butler.
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What I like about that trade is that it gets some value back now for Amir Johnson, who'll likely see his time go down when Evans gets back (let's assume that'll finally happen when we come back from the all-star break). Presumably you start Butler at small forward and put Turk in the second unit, which could be interesting as Turk could be the primary ball handler for the second unit. Or you put Butler at SG, which would give you a pretty great starting lineup, but leave the second unit a little weak, and might hurt Derozan's development.
What I don't like about this trade: the biggest complaint on Butler's game is that he settles for too many mid-range jumpers. Who else have we heard that complaint about? Oh yeah, the entire Raptors team. The stretches where he's been more aggressive have generally been followed by stretches on IR. He's not durable. The Raptors are at the best when they're driving, getting the opposition forwards back on their heels, drawing fouls, and then putting away their opponents with lights-out deep shooting. Butler does not draw fouls. Nor does he have lights-out three-point shooting.
He's an upgrade to Turkoglu at both ends of the floor (although I don't see Colangelo making a move that cuts into Turk's playing time), and long-term, I think that DeRozan's driving and moving without the ball and drawing fouls sort of game is a much better fit for the current Raptors personnel.