Even though the Toronto Raptors are currently battling through an extended period of struggles, the club’s approach leading up to the NBA trade deadline hasn’t changed much, says general manager Jeff Weltman.
“We have an overarching idea of who we are,” Weltman told Jeff Blair on Sportsnet 590 The Fan Friday. “We like to think who we are is the way we were playing before we lost (Patrick) Patterson for a bunch of games and before DeMar (DeRozan) got injured.”
Patterson (knee) missed 10 games in January, while DeRozan (ankle) has been out for five of the past six games. The Raptors are 8-10 so far in 2017 and, after Wednesday’s loss to the conference-rival Boston Celtics, sit third in the East, four games behind the No. 1 Cavaliers.
“I think that we view ourselves as a team that can still contend in the East even though we haven’t played that well recently,” said Weltman.
Click to listen to the full interview here
He noted that with the Feb. 23 trade deadline still three weeks away, teams around the league are beginning to have more serious conversations and the Raptors are weighing their options.
“As to where we need to fill holes, those things are difficult because we’ve got a lot of young pieces that the league likes,” he said. “We’re not so prone to want to put those pieces into deals but obviously we have to keep our finger on that and how much better certain deals can make us. Are there big deals, small deals?
“The other part of it,” Weltman added, “is finding dance partners is not easy … You can’t make a deal by yourself.”
