Raps get P.J. Tucker
Deadline deal adds forward for Sullinger, two picks
Remember all that pushing and prodding for a more defensive mindset Dwane Casey was begging of his players these past few months.
Well, Masai Ujiri found a way around that problem.
Ujiri, who really does seem to have the golden touch when it comes getting the deal he wants, capped off an already impressive haul at this trade deadline adding defensive-minded forward P.J. Tucker to a roster that just a week ago added another defensive upgrade in Serge Ibaka.
The cost for Tucker was a pair of second round picks and Jared Sullinger who never really did get to show Toronto what he could do.
All told that’s two significant upgrades at small forward and power forward (the small coming off the bench) in exchange for Terrence Ross, Sullinger, a first round pick and two seconds.
You couldn’t put a nicer bow on the week for Ujiri, the Raps president, and his managerial team led by GM Jeff Weltman.
Ujiri and Tucker’s old team, the Suns, took this one right down to the final minute of the trade deadline.
Throughout the day the accepted notion was the Suns were holding out for a first rounder for Tucker.
Ujiri though, having already given up one in the Ibaka trade was not about to give up another. Eventually the Suns capitulated and took the two seconds and Sullinger.
That’s an upgrade in the starting five and a huge defensive upgrade in the second unit.
Tucker could wind up being just a rental as he hits free agency at the end of the this year, but if the fit is right and ownership ventures into the luxury tax for the first time in team history, he could be back.
This will be Tucker’s second time in a Raptors uniform. He was originally drafted by the Raptors way back in 2006 with the 35th pick in the second round but did not stick around very long.
A stint in Europe worked wonders for Tucker who returned to the league and became an integral part of the Suns.
For now the Raptors head into the final 25 games of the regular season looking like they have addressed their defensive deficiencies and primed for another run at the Eastern Conference Finals.
If the incoming pieces weren’t enough good news for a fan base that was getting awfully nervous following a tough last six weeks by the Raps, the news gets better when you look at what the rest of the Eastern Conference did, or more precisely what the other Eastern Conference Finals contenders didn’t do.
Specifically the Boston Celtics, who were believed to be in the running for either Indiana forward Paul George or Chicago guard Jimmy Butler.
Both are all-stars and landing either one would have likely cost the Celtics the coveted first round pick that the Celtics acquired from the Brooklyn Nets in the Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce deal.
Had they acquired either, the entire landscape of the East would have changed.
As it is all the best changes in the East happened right here in Toronto.