Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Sports
Raptors Get Norman Powell Lite in Gary Trent. Jr.
The Toronto Raptors are about to find out if the grass is truly greener on the other side.
Was Norman Powell a perfect basketball player? No. He was an elite-level scorer who didn't provide much else to the Raptors in terms of playmaking or defensive ability. On any given night he could score 20, 30, or as Toronto found out recently, even 40 points, but he was liable to make some major gaffes that cost the Raptors.
"I'm more concerned with playing winning basketball, playing both ends, making the right play," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said when asked about Powell's scoring back on March 18.
Well, on Thursday afternoon the Raptors made a decision to move on from Powell. They traded away the 27-year-old soon-to-be free agent to the Portland Trail Blazers for 22-year-old Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood.
For all intents and purposes, this was a one-for-one deal with some salary filler in Hood, the Blazers' former 28-year-old wing whose play has fallen off significantly this season after suffering a torn Achilles in December 2019. He has a non-guaranteed contract for next season so Toronto can either use him as salary filler in a trade this summer or waive him without any cost.
What the Raptors got in Trent is almost a mirror image of Powell. He's a former second-round pick with elite shooting numbers, who doesn't provide much else in terms of playmaking or defence.
"You got to love what he offers as a shooter obviously," said Jack Winter, from Sports Illustrated's AllTrail Blazers' website. "He's not J.J. Reddick, Kyle Korver, he's not Wayne Ellington, he's not going to be sprinting around screens and catching with his feet one direction and in his head looking toward the rim, he's not that type of guy. He's more of a catch-and-shoot guy. You can work him in pick-and-rolls for step-backs and sidestep 3s."
Trent is shooting 39.7% on 3-pointers this season, 42.1% on catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, and 35.8% on pull-up 3-pointers. In all of those categories, he's a step behind Powell who had separated himself as one of the NBA's premier 3-point shooters.
The hope for Toronto is that they're getting a younger version of Powell, potentially with some more upside, especially on the defensive end. That's an area, however, that Winter isn't so optimistic about Trent's development.
"What we've kind of learned this year is that Trent is just not the impactful defender that it seemed like he was kind of when he broke out last season and then certainly in the Bubble. His advanced numbers are just awful, really bad, like nearly as bad as Damian Lillard’s," Winter said. "You watch him and he gives great effort on the ball but he's just a step slow too often. He's not big enough to defend threes and fours. ... So at this point, I would say he's just more of an average defender, if that, rather than the 3-and-D stopper it kind of seemed like he might develop into."
The concern with Trent, Winter said, he doesn't have great defensive instincts to make up for his lack of size. While he is 6-foot-5, taller than Powell, he has a shorter wingspan than Powell and Powell actually weighs about five pounds more.
"He just doesn’t have great physical tools. So those plays that OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, or even more instinctual defenders like Kyle [Lowry] or like Fred VanVleet, Trent is just not necessarily going to be making those plays as consistently as Raptors fans have come to expect from their regulars," Winter said. "I think he would be the fourth or fifth best defender in pretty much almost any regular lineup the Raptors would throw out there at this point."
If anyone is going to develop Trent into a better all-around player it's going to be Toronto. They've consistently gotten the most out of players from Siakam to Anunoby to VanVleet, but considering Trent is only 22 years old, there's a reason Portland was willing to part ways with him for potentially just a few months of play from Powell.
"I think he's closer to reaching his peak than you’d like to believe," Winter said. "I would say that's factored into why [Trail Blazers general manager Neil] Olshey was so comfortable moving off of him ahead of restricted free agency. Just because, as I kind of alluded to earlier, he just doesn't have solid physical tools from a size standpoint for a two, but he just lacks the burst and explosiveness kind of needed to take that next step as a creator, and also a complicating factor, he's, I wouldn't say he's an unwilling passer, but that’s certainly not his first instinct and he just doesn't have great court vision. He’s not thinking a step ahead of the defense or anything like that."
Then there's the contractual issue Winter eluded to. Much like Powell, Trent is heading into free agency this summer. He'll be a restricted free agent, unlike Powell, so Toronto will have an opportunity to match whatever offer is made to him. The question is just how much will it cost? Toronto seemed unwilling to pay Powell something around $20 million per season and Winter doesn't think Trent's deal this summer will be much lower than that.
"There have been rumors that he'll command $20 million this summer," Winter said. "I have no doubt that he'll continue shooting really well from 3 and assuming his usage is there and the playing time is there, he'll average 16, 17 points a game, perhaps more. And for a guy like that, who has some theoretical positional versatility defensively, I just find it hard to believe that guy is not getting paid at least $16 million a year, and again, there have been some murmurs that he could command $20 million."
That's what is potentially so curious about this deal. It seems as though the Raptors have traded away Powell for a younger, less developed, less talented version of himself who may in fact be just as expensive. Had Powell been 35 years old instead of almost 28 years old, just a year older than VanVleet, a deal like this would have made more sense. But if the Raptors end up paying Trent almost the same amount as Powell and he doesn't develop into the player Powell has become, it'll raise some questions about the purpose of this deal.
There's no doubt that Trent is in the best place in the league to develop his skills, but if he's limited by his physical gifts and lackluster defence, Toronto may find that the devil you know is better than the devil you don't.
Further Reading
Raptors made a risky decision in keeping Kyle Lowry at the trade deadline
Masai Ujiri says attend to his contract situation in the summer
