Victor Oladipo would give the Raptors a scoring and defensive boost

Victor Oladipo and the Miami Heat are reportedly parting ways and the veteran guard would be an instant upgrade for the Raptors. Full conversation on free agent guards is available on our Yahoo Sports Canada YouTube.

Video Transcript

AMIT MANN: This is a very intriguing name and I put him in the same vein as I guess Ricky Rubio, a guy that would be amazing and would be probably a really good fit and be a positive player, but he might be a little bit too in demand, Victor Oladipo.

ZACH WILSON: Yeah, I don't know. I mean, if I was the GM--

AMIT MANN: It would so cool. It would be so cool.

ZACH WILSON: It would be. Well, I remember back when he was actually before all his injuries at the All-Star level in Indiana, where Raptors fans were trying to trade for him for the entire season. I don't know. If I was a GM, I wouldn't be in hot pursuit of him, especially in the situation I am in Toronto.

Once again, maybe if I looked at our roster and said, "OK, a scoring guard is all we need to win a championship. Maybe I'll take a flyer on this guy," because he's still not even a sure product. I know people wanted to go crazy over some of his performances in the playoffs in Miami, and it's not like he was bad. But I think it was more of a thing, look, this guy's played 96 games in the past four years.

He's basically played one second round exit season in the past four years. So maybe it's a bit of, "Wow, this guy has gone through so many injuries. Look at him." Not as much a, "Wow, this guy's really good. I want him on my team."

And it looks like he kind of wants a situation where he can just go be the man, maybe take a one year prove-it deal. And hopefully he can prove it and I would love for him to prove me wrong, because he's actually such a great guy it seems. He was a great player in his prime. So I would love for him to prove me wrong. I'm just not too hot on him.

AMIT MANN: All right. I'm on the other side of the fence with this one. I think he'd be a really, really great fit. But I do think this is a move that the Raptors probably make next off season.

That's kind of where I'm at with it, is I don't think they're looking at this year as a championship window year. I think they have a lot of salary managing to figure out. But the fit itself, I think he'd be terrific. I mean, I think he's a great one-on-one defender.

I think he's got really active hands. I think he's a great team defender. He showed that in that Miami playoff run with his performances against the Boston Celtics, where he was a real difference maker when he got on the court. He's not as noticeable, but he does a lot of the small things very well, which I think Nick Nurse really appreciates.

And then offensively, look, he's not the same guy he was. You can see it in his game, you look at a shot chart, a lot of it does skew towards jump shots, but he has a step back, he can operate in pick and roll, he can get to the basket, he can finish through contact, he can hit pull up shots, he can shoot off the catch. He's a willing passer. He can still accelerate to the rim at least a little bit.

It may not be the same way that we're used to seeing Victor Oladipo, but it's still very, very good. He's got that scoring ability that I think the Raptors really, really need. However, I don't think this is the year for it. But, I mean, at one point in his career, he close to 25-5 player and I don't think that IQ, that those basketball instincts are gone yet.

And seeing the role that he had with Miami, you can see how he'd be a plus player on your basketball team in the playoffs, when again, it becomes so much about mismatches and who can you expose. I don't think he would get exposed necessarily. However, I see the other side of it too, though.

Because you can look at him and say, "Oh, at least he's on the court. Look at the things that he's doing. Look how amazing Victor Oladipo is. Look how he's 75% of his usual self." Maybe it's a little bit of smoke and mirrors.

ZACH WILSON: Yeah, and I think hypothetically, fantastic fit. And at his peak, if he can get back to, I'm obviously not expecting him to get back to his peak, but if he can get back to being a really effective scorer, great fit and I'm glad to admit that I'm wrong. But as you said before with Rubio, you're kind of sketched out on like a 32-year-old with an ACL. I'm sketched out on a 30-year-old with multiple lower body injuries over the course of many years in a row.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, that's fair. 41.7% from 3 this past season, 12.4 points on 48% shooting.

ZACH WILSON: Yeah, that's good.

AMIT MANN: It's not bad. It's not bad, but you're right, though. I mean, it feels like we're kind of a moments away from being, "Oh no, this happened to Victor Oladipo." He's missed some paydays, that's for sure. He could have been a very, very wealthy man if things went a little bit differently.