As fans, this season has been hard to watch; we have seen glimpses of future potential from DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson, Ed Davis and even Andrea Bargnani whom, before his injury was in the midst of his most efficient offensive season in his career.

Gary Forbes got extra minutes in a blowout loss and responded by getting to the line a career high eight times, sinking seven and coming within one point of tying his career high with 18 points on the night.

His performance highlights a Toronto Raptors roster vs future development predicament:

There is still a management created logjam at the three where Rasual Butler, James Johnson, Linas Kleiza and now Gary Forbes are all vying for minutes which leaves Forbes with little opportunity to build on this game going forward.

Sometimes we as fans question the wisdom of giving veterans minutes on a team where we are not expected to be competitive for two or more years, a time when these vets will be off the team.

Leandro Barbosa is indeed our most effective scoring option not named Andrea, Butler may be our most effective wing defender, but if they are stealing developmental minutes in what we all know is a lost season, would it not be better to give the young guys some PT while management discerns whether or not these players should be viewed as building blocks or assets?

I’m not saying that Gary Forbes should be a starter; but based on what we have seen he does deserve an expanded role at the expense of Rasual Butler. James Johnson while not a polished scoring option, seems to find a way to help out in other areas when his offense is not clicking.

The simple fact of the matter is we should be chasing hastened development for our building blocks for the future instead of giving 20 minutes a night to Butler who, with a one year contract should only be viewed as a trade deadline asset and Leandro Barbosa who also has one year left on his contract and will be a coveted asset come trade deadline time.

That begs the question, how do you replace Barbosa’s offensive procution:

You don’t, there are few players in the NBA who cam perform as well as Barbosa has off the bench in his career as evidenced by his sixth man award in 2006 and his three 20-point games in in last five, all of which came while playing under 30 minutes a game.
If we are still in the process of retooling and rebuilding, than Bryan Colangelo and Dwayne Casey should not be afraid to go all in and develop our young talent; either we are rebuilding or we are not.

There is no room for veterans on one year contracts to play 20 minutes a game when they do not figure into your future plans.

Period.