Serge Ibaka trade to Raptors shakes up the NBA’s Eastern Conference
In this week’s podcast, we analyze Serge Ibaka’s fit in Toronto, the Mason Plumlee deal, and drama in Philadelphia.
We have a trade! Actually we have multiple trades, but we have one really good one to dig into on this week’s Drive & Kick podcast. The big item is that Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri finally got his man, landing Serge Ibaka from the Orlando Magic for Terrence Ross and a first-round pick.
How good is this deal for the Raps? Really good when you consider that the reported price during the draft would have cost Ujiri three rotation players and a lottery pick. Ibaka fills a huge hole at the four, but will it be enough to get the Raptors back on track?
Better question: Is the door finally open for someone to challenge the Cavaliers now that Kevin Love will be out for the next six weeks or so? And if it is open, who stands to benefit the most among the collection of good but not great teams in the East who are chasing them?
So many questions. Good thing we have a podcast.
Also:
- Do the Cavs need to make a move? Um, yeah.
- That’s not all for trade talk. A Plumlee got traded, and while everyone is dumping on Denver for this move, Flanns thinks it wasn’t that bad.
- It was still good for Portland, though.
- Hey, this is weird. Philly is mad at GM Bryan Colangelo.
- The long and the short of it is that Joel Embiid is hurt, Jahlil OKafor may or may not be getting traded, and where’s Ben Simmons? In the words of Gonz, “They’ve made a bigger hash of this.”
- This is will also shock you. We brought this back to Sam Hinkie. Hi, Sam.
- Flanns gives some NOLA picks. (Shout-out to John-Michael Rouchell.)
