Draft day has come and gone, and the specter of trading away the #4 pick for guys like Siakam or Anunoby has passed. But the Raptors have other legitimate players under contract, and I want to talk about one of them as another thread about low-key bench pickups that could make us a bit better. That player is "Slimm Duck", Chris Boucher, their versatile 30-year-old, 6'9" forward/center. Here are his per 36 minutes and per 100 possessions stats: Boucher is kind of an odd, versatile, jack-of-all-trades player who has bounced around between small forward, power forward, and center. He's a high-energy guy who can block shots and grab rebounds, and he shoots three pointers at a decent volume and mediocre percentages. He has a little bit of self-creation in his offensive game but also spends quite a bit of time spacing the floor at the corners. He's been a bit up-and-down defensively over the past few years--at times seeming like an excellent defensive player, and times just average. He's under contract on a team-friendly $21M over the next two seasons, and he is a productive player, so I wouldn't expect Masai to just salary dump him. However, he might be worth giving up a future first rounder for. Boucher's biggest appeal is his ability to back up three positions. On a team with so much young, unrefined talent that's still trying to figure out its core players, that's pretty valuable.
Not really a consistent shooter which tough after drafting Amen, over his entire career he’s only shot above 33% from three once. Other interesting trade targets IMO are Covington or Batum if Clips are cutting salary. I also love just signing Jam Green in FA, feels like we could get him with our R-MLE. Meaning not only 0 assets to add him, but also wouldn’t eat into our spending cap space. Other FA’s who could fit into that exception - Ingles/Niang/JeffGreen
I was imagining him playing a lot of his minutes as a backup center (although that could change depending on how the young guys are doing) which would make the 33% three point shooting more palatable. But yes, he's not an amazing shooter--good enough that you don't want to leave him wide open in the corner though.
Boucher is extremely skinny, like he makes Christian Wood look thick level of skinny, I’d be very skeptical of him holding centers
I've been high on Niang for a while. I like the idea of having a guy out there whose sole job is to drain 3's, kind of like Bullard or Ryan Anderson (everywhere except the Rockets).
Wonder if it would make any sense to go get him but also sign a situational vet min guy like Andre Drummond? The league has gotten a lot more small-ball oriented, and yes, Boucher would get the sh*t beat out of him by guys like Jonas or Steven Adams, but he's already played a good amount of center in his career and I think he's probably fine against smaller/thinner centers.
Go after Cam Johnson first and then react from those results . With the uncertainty of this teams furniture competitiveness, I’m not giving up nor future drafts unless it’s for a star. Not doin it for some average role player while we’re still in our rebuilding phase. We have those already
I always liked his talent, but he’s kind of underachieved. And defensively things were suspect enough at that center spot for Toronto to trade a 1st round pick for a 1-yr rental in Poeltl. Not opposed to getting him but for me he’s way down the list.
Not that I did some huge deep dive on him, but when I was looking into Nick Nurse as a coaching candidate, Boucher came up a few times. Reading between the lines, I got the impression Nurse really had to push Boucher to put in effort. And it sounded like Boucher didn't really like how Nurse handled things. Maybe not a good thing around other young guys. I'm a bit of Nurse fanboy (but also a huge Udoka fanboy now), so if I had to pick who was right, I don't think I'd go with Boucher. He's an option I suppose, but it wouldn't be first on my list, especially with some of the concerns mentioned here.
The problem is that nearly all free agents are average role players. We will have to trade for a star. Of the nearly 30 participants on the All-star game this year, only one is a free agent (or so I read somewhere). While all of our up-and -comers are cost controlled, we might as well spend a premium to fill the holes and add players that will benefit them the most. I think the Rockets will probably pursue some of these guys, but ultimately, I think we make our greatest acquisitions by trading into our cap space.
I like him but from what I remember Raptors have really struggled to get him motivated consistently. Seems to lose motivation for long stretches (weeks at a time) and not the most coachable. I remember reading this years ago, I wonder if any of that has changed. They really needed a good backup C and they preferred to let Siakam or Barnes protect the rim over him. Our main reason for seeking a C is rim protection so I hope he's better than I think.
Trade KMJ and Garabu for future picks. Sign C Wood and Seth Curry to help with the 3pt shooting. Sign Jaxson Hayes or Mo Bamba for front court length. As good as we think we are, we're still young, it's going to be hard to bring vets here unless we overpay or they are on their last legs and looking for one last contract. You can get young vets in their mid - late 20's to help with building the culture, If they're not in their 20's, I don't want!
