What the Kyle Korver Trade Means For the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics

Kyle Korver was recently acquired by the Cavaliers from the Atlanta Hawks. This means that both the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics, who are directly behind the Cavaliers at 2nd and 3rd in the Eastern Conference, need to step up their game immediately if they want to compete. These next couple of months will be an arms race into building the best possible team to come out of the Eastern Conference.

The Toronto Raptors currently have two possible All-Stars on their lineup in DeMar Derozan and Kyle Lowry.  These two All-Stars clearly cannot keep up with Kyrie Irving, LeBron James, and Kevin Love, as witnessed in last year’s 2-4 Eastern Conference Finals loss.  With the addition of Kyle Korver, the lethal shooting of the Cavaliers goes beyond Kevin Love and J.R. Smith.  If the Raptors want to be able to compete with the Cavaliers, an upgraded shooter and down-low presence needs to be added to their roster for them to be able to compete.  On their roster right now, the Raptors do not have a knockdown shooter like the Cavaliers.  The Raptors offense is heavily dependent upon the guard play of Kyle Lowry and DeMar Derozan.  If they want to defeat the Cavaliers, they have to be able to stop the LeBron-led Cavaliers from bullying their way by them.  The Raptors need a stronger down-low presence or a highly talented wing player be able to compete with the dominant Cavaliers.

For the Boston Celtics, they need… a lot. Fucking right they do. Isaiah Thomas cannot lead the Celtics over the Cavaliers, and even Celtics fans know that.  The Celtics could not beat the Cavaliers before the addition of Kyle Korver because of their lack of talent and inability to guard the likes of LeBron and Kevin Love.  The Celtics need a lot of help now that LeBron has yet another lockdown shooter with him to rain threes on the Celtics.  As if J.R. Smith wasn’t enough.  The Celtics core of Isaiah Thomas, Avery Bradley, and Al Horford are not nearly talented enough to compete with Irving, James, and Love.  This means that they are likely a large piece or two away from giving the Cavaliers a run for their money this year.  The Celtics have a lot of work to do and that starts with adding a knockdown shooter.  Beyond that, the Celtics need an All-Star perimeter player and a rim protector.  None of those pieces are on the Celtics right now.  If the Celtics can get two of those three aforementioned pieces, they will have a chance against the Cavaliers, but until then, sorry Boston fans, you’re shit out of luck.

Written by Nick Mattioli