Toronto media and fans crack me up. They always TREMENDOUSLY over value their own players (see: Swirsky, Chuck) and then turn on them as soon as they are traded. Yes, I know fans in general tend to over value their own players, but the Raptors fans take it to an extreme. Prior to the start of last season, after loosing both TJ Ford and Carlos Delfino, there were Raptors fans insisting they had the best bench in the NBA. The fact was, they had one of the worst (to go along with no starting caliber wings before the Marion trade).
In any case, this line from the article cracked me up:
"Kapono, one of the top three-point shooters in the NBA, never really found a niche with the Raptors, who signed him as a free agent before the 2007-08 season. The 6-8 Kapono averaged just 8.2 points per game and shot only 42 per cent from three-point range last season."
He actually shot 0.428 from 3-point range, which was still the best 3FG% on a team loaded with 3-point shooters, and after leading the entire league in 3FG% the previous two seasons. The writer makes it sound like Kopono couldn't fit in because he lost his shot. Most teams would love to have a guy coming off the bench that shoots 0.428 from 3-point range.
In any case, they definitely needed some rebounding. Bosh is a decent rebounder, but Bargnani is still horrible on the boards. Ultimately, I think this move was about dumping salary, the rebounding is just a nice bonus.
BNM