The Raptors were the belle of the ball at the NBA trade deadline but didn't take advantage of a seller's market
However, the downside to adding Poeltl and sending a shooter like Trent Jr. to the bench is that the Raptors now have very little spacing in their starting lineup after already ranking 28th in the league in three-point shooting percentage. Plus, the move solidifies the frontcourt of the future in Siakam, Barnes and Poeltl: three non three-point shooting players..
“I think it’s something we’ve lacked on our team. To be fair [to] this team, I think I haven’t done my part for this team to maybe play a little bit better,” Ujiri said about the move. “I think we needed a big like Jak, protect the rim, who these guys have confidence in… I think I look at it like we needed to at least give them some chance with a big rim protector there and see what this team does… I feel that this will be a good period to assess the fit.
According to Ujiri, that growth has to come from within before it comes from the outside, saying “Sometimes it’s how we’ve operated with development on our team: I think it has to come a lot of times from the inside. Whether that inside provides an opportunity outside later on, I don’t know. We have to rise here with development and our talent and it does take time.”
“This is the first year, outside of the year in Tampa, that we’ve had really bumpy times here. This is, I think, the most bumpy it's been for us and we acknowledge that, we know that, and we hope to solve it,” Ujiri said. “But I just want to caution everyone that it’s not going to be overnight. That’s what happens with young players and young teams: You have to build gradually and hopefully we get there but hopefully in the short term we make a good assessment at the end of the season.
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