The Raptors need to trade for a better power forward to challenge the Cavaliers

If one thing became resoundingly clear in the San Antonio Spurs’ 110-82 walloping of the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday, it’s that the Raptors need to upgrade their starting lineup if they want to be legitimate contenders to win the East.

Yes, the Raptors (23-11) are better than 93.75 percent of the East, but they’re light years behind the Cleveland Cavaliers (26-7). Even Boston — a team that improved dramatically over the summer by signing Al Horford — could challenge for the Raptors standing as second fiddle in the conference.

Toronto could look to improve its weakest position, power forward, by trading for Hawks All-Star Paul Millsap, whose name has again surfaced in trade rumors. As ESPN.com’s Brian Windhorst said on a recent TrueHoop podcast:

“I’m not saying that [the Hawks are] gonna do this for sure, but I do think that they’re seriously, even though they’re above .500, and even though they beat the Spurs the other night — with the Spurs on the road, which qualifies as harder to do than San Antonio this year for some odd reason — I still think they’re seriously looking at it because the vibe that’s gone out from Millsap is that he does not intend to stay in Atlanta. And they don’t want to lose him for nothing.”

There are, of course, other trading viable options Toronto could pursue at power forward. Maybe Serge Ibaka, Danilo Gallinari, or Taj Gibson, who each become unrestricted free agents this summer, won’t stay on their teams past the February trade deadline.

Whatever the solution, Toronto needs to find one. The Raptors need to fix their power forward conundrum to take the next step, be it with Millsap, Gallo, or someone else. And in addressing its frontcourt issue, Toronto kills a few birds with one stone.

Two of the Raptors’ five-man lineups lead the NBA in net production. Neither of those lineups are the full starting five. That’s because Toronto’s rookie starting power forward Pascal Siakam is still learning the NBA game.

Siakam has started all 34 Raptors games and is averaging 4.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in his 18.5 minutes per game. Toronto’s starters with Siakam on the floor are outscored by 6.1 points per 100 possessions. With reserve forward Patrick Patterson on the floor alongside the starters, they outscore opponents by 26.8 points per 100 possessions, the NBA’s second-most productive lineup behind the Raptors’ Patterson-Kyle Lowry-Cory Joseph-Terrence Ross-Lucas Nogueira unit.

A quick fix would be to relegate Siakam to the bench and move Patterson to the starting lineup. But that would minimize the very depth that makes Toronto one of the tougher teams the NBA has to offer.

Lowry enters a free agency pool this summer chock full’o quality point guards, including Stephen Curry, Chris Paul, Jeff Teague, Jrue Holiday, Derrick Rose, George Hill, and others.

He’s great friends with DeMar DeRozan, who re-signed with Toronto for five years over the summer, but DeRozan just turned 27 and Lowry turns 31 in March. The Raptors point guard is one of the league’s premier floor generals, but even the best careers begin trending downwards at around age 32. How much does Lowry have in the tank, and how long will it last before the gauge reaches E?

The window for Toronto’s point guard to win, and win big, slams shut soon. Adding a significant upgrade to the Raptors’ frontcourt could be the difference between Lowry re-signing to stay in Toronto and jetting to play elsewhere. Now’s the time for Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri to double down on his commitment to win with Lowry and make a statement by upgrading the team midseason.

Had Al Horford opted to stay with Atlanta instead of signing a four-year max deal with Boston, Windhorst said the Hawks and Raptors had worked out a Millsap-to-Toronto trade.

“Then over the summer, after they did trade Jeff Teague and signed Dwight Howard, they were all set to trade Millsap if Al Horford had re-signed,” Windhorst said on the Jan. 3 episode of ESPN’s True Hoop podcast. “They were gonna trade him to Toronto. Then that deal fell through when Horford went to Boston. So they’ve twice before brought their toes to the line on Millsap.”

Toronto has virtually the same pieces it could have offered over the summer, including the Clippers’ 2016 first-round pick and their own. A package featuring some combination of those picks, a future pick, Patterson, and/or some of their young reserve players (Ross, Norman Powell, Jakob Poeltl, Delon Wright) could be enough to pry the Hawks All-Star away before he leaves Atlanta empty-handed.

They could make similar offers on Ibaka, Gallinari, Gibson, or another power forward to fortify the front line.

If Indiana is the “little brother” of the NBA, Toronto is the second cousin to championship contenders. The Raptors are good enough to be markedly better than most of the Eastern Conference, but they lack the firepower to hang with LeBron James and the defending champion Cavaliers.

Last season, the Raptors lost in six to Cleveland in the Eastern Conference Finals. Toronto’s already off to a bad start against the defending champs this season, losing all three of their matchups (though each game was decided by four or fewer points).

Upgrading the frontcourt could be the difference.

Siakam has shown he can be a serviceable NBA player someday, and Jared Sullinger could provide small relief when he returns from a foot injury. But the time is now for Toronto to do something bigger. The Raptors can’t wait while their starting lineup suffers.

The options are available. Millsap is reportedly on the market, and Toronto has shown interest. Ibaka and Gibson are both soon-to-be unrestricted free agents. Teams don’t want to lose players for nothing. Maybe Ujiri makes a run at Gallinari, who he traded for as general manager of the Nuggets.

But now’s the time to address this weakness. Otherwise, the year could end, yet again, with a series loss to the Cavaliers.

Or even worse, the Celtics.