Farewell to Charlie V...

As I arrived home from SF, I was surprised to hear the Nazr Mohammed had signed with Detroit, and I quickly wondered... what the heck is going on? Did Big Ben actually sign with Chicago? And yes, he did... so naturally I wondered, well then did Bryan Colangelo trade Charlie V???

The Trade: Charlie Villaneuva to Milwaukee for TJ Ford plus cash considerations...

The Good: Raptors get their Point Guard, and trade from a suddenly crowded front court. They get rid of a "tweener" who can't defend either at the 3 or the 4... who can't defend man-to-man or give any help defence. Ford gives you a pass-first lightening-quick point guard who takes instruction well and who can make good entry passes to the post (ie. to Bosh). Charlie V's trade value was probably at his highest, so the timing was good.

The Bad: Charlie V was extremely versatile on the offensive end, and has some impressive moves. He is a great ambassador and loved the city of Toronto.

The Truth: Charlie V could turn out to be a great NBA player, but right now he's had one decent year. He plays absolutely no defence, and he gets extremely lazy at times, which means he will never be a superstar, but he could be an all-star... "could" being the operative word... more likely than not, Charlie V will score about 13-15pts per game and grab 6 boards for another 7-8 years in the league... he will be a good player, but not someone that the Raps needed. He was the logical choice to be traded, and he got traded when his value was high. I'm not sure if he's the next Antoine Walker (because Antoine could score in the 20s consistently), but probably more like a Lamar Odom on the offensive end, but without Odom's defence. Let's face it... Charlie V did not win us ANY games last year. Even his best game (48 vs. Milwaukee) was a Raptor loss. He's a decent player, but not that great of one... a Keith Van Horn... a guy who can be a good role player on a good team, giving an offensive spark, but should never be a starter, and will unlikely be a star.

TJ Ford is a good point guard. Not a great one, but a good one. If he's healthy, this is an even trade in my mind... actually more likely tilted in the Raps favour. I think TJ Ford has enormous potential, and could be an all-star in this league. Raps get what they needed, Bucks get the potential upside in CV. If Ford gets injured again (he missed all of the 2004/5 season), then the Bucks win this deal... but Ford's current deal runs only one more year (with a qualifying offer for 2007), so even if he gets injured, the downside is small.

Verdict - Good deal for Colangelo. I think they could have gotten a bit more (ie. Magloire added on), but I like this deal. Charlie V just isn't that good. He was the second or third best rookie in a pretty weak rookie class. Having said that, I wish Charlie V all the best.

Current Predicted Roster:
C - Nesterovic, Garbajossa
PF - Bosh
SF - Bargnani, Graham
SG - MoPete, A. Williams
PG - Ford, Calderon, Ukic

Need some role players... but assuming we have an 8 man rotation, we have 7 in place (maybe 8, depending on how good Garbajossa is)...