Second half trade and bounce back candidates for Raptors

With the trade deadline approaching and the second half of the season underway, Imman Adan and Asad Alvi look at players who are most likely to get traded and have a stronger second half to the season. Follow Yahoo Sports Canada for all your Toronto Raptors coverage.

Video Transcript

IMMAN ADAN: So with the trade deadline coming up and we just gave out our midseason grades, you see anyone being shipped out? Have you given someone a bad enough grade that they need to be out of here?

ASAD ALVI: Well, Goran Dragic needs to be gone. If the Raptors buy out Goran Dragic, that would be a really-- that would be a really poor sign on the front office. I think you need to trade him for somebody, anybody, even if it's just a lock-up salary for next year that you can trade in the summer or something. You've got to do something with him.

I think Malachi Flynn's at risk of being traded just because I don't know how much of a role there is for him on this team and how much opportunity he's going to be given. He's a young asset you could maybe convince somebody into talking themselves into. He's still a young player. Given the opportunity, maybe he could be something on a pick and roll heavy team, right?

And then the last guy, personally, I think I've gotten to the point where I might not want to trade him, but Chris Boucher is, I think, the guy where, if you're fully healthy, do you need another big in Chris Boucher or can you kind of move him for a bench scoring-- like maybe a bench-scoring guard or somebody that is slightly younger that you can have on your team for multiple years moving forward?

Those are the only moves I can see the Raptors making. I don't see them making any moves. I think Will was talking about this today on his show as well, but you want to have-- like, if the Raptors are going to make a move, it's going to be for somebody that is going to be on this team for two to three years. You're not going to make a move for someone who's just going to be here for the back half of the season.

IMMAN ADAN: Yeah.

ASAD ALVI: So the Raptors do need help on their bench. Part of that is hopefully they just get healthy. But if there are going to be trades, I think those are the three guys that you can see kind of moving to make those happen. And I think in that order is how I would trade them-- Goran Dragic, Malachi Flynn, and then Chris Boucher, if needed.

IMMAN ADAN: Yeah. Sad. I hope they haven't given up on Malachi already because that's, you know, the only time that we've seen them sort of give up on those or trade any of the young players was Terence Davis and Matt Thomas last season.

Anything else to add for today's episode? Any-- who do you think is going to improve their grade the most from the first half of the season to the second half?

ASAD ALVI: I think if it's going to be anybody, it's probably going to be Scottie Barnes. I think Scottie Barnes is going to just keep getting--

IMMAN ADAN: He already has an A.

ASAD ALVI: Yeah, but you know what? Scottie Barnes, he's an A. I think he can be an A-plus. I think he should-- he wants to be Rookie of the Year? Let's see it. Go be Rookie of the Year, right?

IMMAN ADAN: That's the immigrant parent in you.

ASAD ALVI: I think he can improve. But talking about, like, the core guys, I think it's going to come down to is you're hoping maybe Precious Achiuwa is that guy. Otherwise it's OG Anunoby. I think OG Anunoby, we've seen spurts of it. But if he develops-- if he develops throughout this season and really, really, like, nails his role-- we've seen Norm do this when Norm was given the keys as being basically like the third scorer.

IMMAN ADAN: Yeah.

ASAD ALVI: And as the season progressed, he became, like, elite at that role. OG's the guy who can do that where he can become very elite in this role, and we've seen flashes of it. So he's a guy where-- and if OG takes that leap and becomes more consistent, suddenly this team becomes incredibly dangerous, right?

IMMAN ADAN: That's so scary. That is so scary if OG can take that leap.

For me, I'm hoping that Khem Birch and Gary Trent, Jr. are healthy in the second half of the season so that we can see what this lineup looks like altogether. I hope that some of the bench guys really put it together. You said it right there with Precious. But if Yuta or Svi can be able to hit shots so we got some spacing there on the bench without having to make a move--