It is February in Toronto, which means the sun has gone into hiding and we are all just sitting around waiting for something to happen. The trade deadline is approaching, and everyone has ideas on how to fix a roster that remains confusingly incomplete. My uncle says we should trade for everyone over seven feet tall, but he also thought Andrea Bargnani was going to be the next Dirk Nowitzki for about six years too long.
We are currently looking at eight different trade ideas, because that is what you do when you are not quite sure if you are good or if you are just existing. The big rumor involves Domantas Sabonis and the Sacramento Kings, which is a lot of passing and rebounding to think about on a Tuesday. To make it work, the team apparently needs to find a new home for Jakob Poeltl, since Sacramento has no use for two starting centers who mostly live in the paint.
The All-Star Break and Darko Rajakovic
Coach Darko Rajakovic is heading to the All-Star game, which is a nice thing to happen to a nice man. He spent much of the early season talking about pizza and togetherness, and now he gets to go to an exhibition game where nobody plays defense. It feels correct that he should be there, even if the rest of us are just here wondering why the winter feels so long this year.
The team has an off day before facing the Timberwolves, which gives everyone time to look at mock drafts and scouting reports. There is a lot of talk about Collin Murray-Boyles, a name that sounds like three different people who all went to the same private school. The Dunc’d On crew has done a deep dive on him, and apparently he is the type of prospect who makes people use words like lateral agility and functional strength while eating a sandwich.
Thinking About Draft Picks and Moving Parts
When you spend this much time looking at trade scenarios, the players stop feeling like people and start feeling like math problems. Jakob Poeltl is a very sturdy man who sets very good screens, and it feels a bit rude to just move him around like a piece of furniture because of a salary cap. But that is the business, and the business is often about moving a guy you like for a guy you might like more later.
We play the Timberwolves tomorrow, which is usually a reminder that other teams have very tall players who can also shoot from the parking lot. I remember when we had Jorge Garbajosa and everything felt very technical and European for a brief moment in 2007. Now we are just waiting to see if Masai Ujiri pulls a lever and changes the entire geography of the locker room before the deadline passes.
What Happens Next
The schedule says the game is at its usual time, and the trade deadline will arrive whether we have a plan or not. We are all just spinning, much like the players on the court, trying to find a rhythm in a season that has been mostly about anticipation. If Sabonis comes here, we will have a lot of rebounds, and if he does not, we will still have the cold weather and our memories of the 2019 parade.
Sometimes I think about the gravity of a basketball and how it just wants to fall down, much like my expectations after a three game losing streak. We will watch the news, we will check the forums, and we will probably just end up standing exactly where we started. That is the beauty of the deadline, it gives you something to talk about while you wait for the bus in the snow.