NBA's 2012 Worst to First for March: 27. Toronto Raptors | Slap Dog Hoops

12:41 PM ET 04.14 |

As this NBA season slowly winds down to a close, this has now become an evaluation period for the players by the Raptors front office and coaching staff on who will stay and who will go. As of now the Raptors will have two players who will be soon finishing their rookie contract and will be headed for restricted free agency in Jerryd Bayless and James Johnson. Both have played excellently have proven themselves worthy of long term contract extensions with Bayless??? recent play before he was forced to sit out the rest of the season due to injury and James??? stellar defensive play leading the team in both blocked shot and steals per game. The Raptors will have to act quickly as numerous other teams have noticed the emergence of these two young players and may have plans to lure them away south of the Canadian border. The situation is equally precarious with Bayless, as more than likely he will look for an opportunity to start while the Raptors already have a polished veteran point man in Jose Calderon who they have already committed to for the next couple of years and are on the hook with him for 20$ million.

The Raptors front office will also need to address the log jam at the power forward spot as they have two solid players in the post, yet they overlap over one another. Both Ed Davis and Amir Johnson have given the Raptors excellent energy on the defensive end and rebounding yet they both share the same flaws in that they both do not have any offensive instincts nor do they have any real basketball fundamentals. Both players essentially live off their athleticism and energy, but neither one of them can be counted on to put up points on the score board on a consistent basis nor can they be considered as long term options for Toronto in the power forward spot. In spite of their efforts, neither one of them have the physicality to hold their own in the paint against the bigger post players in the league and neither one of them give opposing defenses any reason to really respect their play on the offensive end. With the Raptors front office and coaching staff focusing on playing their star player Andrea Bargnarni at his more comfortable power forward position, the Raptors will need a physical presence in the paint to offset Bargnarni???s obvious flaws and neither Amir nor Ed fit the bill. (Click here to finish reading this post and so much more on JT's Hoops Blog)

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