Poor Charlie Villanueva

What you thought the Raptors lying to DeMar DeRozan about how he wasn’t going to be traded only to be immediately traded was new? Shiittttttttt this is nothing new for this franchise, even when it was a completely different front office in charge. Once the news was announced yesterday players all over the league were telling their stories about the time they found themselves traded, but when I saw this tweet from Charlie Villanueva I laughed a little bit. That’s some cold blooded shit right there, and for those who don’t remember this all went down after the 2005-06 season. Taken 7th out of UConn, the pick wasn’t without criticism when it happened, but Villanueva actually had a pretty legit rookie season for the Raptors. He put up a solid 13/6.4/1.1 on 46/32% shooting, set the franchise rookie record for points with 48 and rebounds with 18, made the All Rookie First Team and played in 81 games starting 36 at around 29 minutes a night. Granted that Raptors team STUNK, they finished 27-55, but Villanueva/Bosh certainly looked like it was going to be a problem for a long time.

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And yet, after just one season, the Raptors traded him with cash to the Bucks for TJ Ford. Now this was during a time I was at ASU so I may have missed it, but I don’t think Michael Jordan came back out of retirement in 2006 to play for the Raptors. Again, that’s a hazy time for my memory but I’m like 95% sure that didn’t happen. Looking back at that trade it’s hard to argue the Raptors made the wrong call, they won 47 games the next year and made the playoffs (lost to the Nets in Rd1) and TJ Ford was pretty good that season with 14/8 on 43/40% splits. That first season in TOR actually ended up being the highest scoring average of Ford’s career, and they also added the number 1 pick in Andrea Bargnani who it’s not exactly like TOR missed Villanueva.

While in MIL Villanueva was pretty much the same player he was in TOR, averaging 13.5/6/1.3 on 44/32% splits during his three seasons there, ultimately leaving in 2009 to sign a big money deal with the Pistons (5/35M) in the same summer they also brought in Ben Gordon. Remember that? The two of them combined got $90M and after making the playoffs for the previous 8 seasons, they missed the playoffs every single year of those deals and have made it just one time since 2008 where they lost in the first round (2015).

Seeing this tweet also brought up the memories I had of going to Worcester Academy basketball games to watch them play Villanueva and Loul Deng when they were both at Blair Academy together. Those were some badass games that featured I think 4 NBA guys if I remember correctly in Jarrett Jack, Craig Smith, Charlie V and Deng. Little different level than what I was playing in that’s for sure.