In this edition of OTBN 30-in-30, expect some hostility from our resident Canadian as he rips apart the Raptors, before providing a season preview
Sure have the Canadian who hates Canadian teams preview a team he feels should’ve rebuilt many years earlier. Yes, it is well documented on any basketball podcast I host or appear on as a guest that I do not like the Toronto Raptors. The national pride felt during their 2019 NBA championship run has left, but the hatred for this team has never been stronger. To say a Raptors losing streak is like a rush I am sure only narcotics could rival for me would be an understatement.
The burning desire to watch this team fail has nothing to do in fact with the players themselves, or even the coaches they have hired and fired in recent memory. It has everything to do with the Doc Rivers of NBA GM’s: Masai Ujiri, who continues to be praised despite being quite clueless since that championship run with this roster construction. The drafting of NBA superstar Scottie Barnes (I am not calling him a superstar but using that Croatian dude that is their head coach's words here) was a lone and shallow victory for this franchise.
The bungling of the roster after Kawhi’s departure, not capitalizing on the trade value of players like Fred Van Vleet, Kyle Lowry and last year Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby is a pain that will be felt for years, perhaps even a decade to come. While teams like Oklahoma City could see that their championship window had passed and moved on, Masai did not. We now find the Raptors back in a position that millions of Americans relish, which is Canuck irrelevancy.
Now that I got that off my chest, let’s talk about last season and what to expect in 2024 for the Toronto T-Rex Arms (alright I’m done now I swear). So yes as mentioned previously in a damn near unhinged tirade, the Raptors were not very good last year. Expectations were not very high to begin with, and the early record reflected that. It got to a point at the trade deadline that every NBA GM was texting Masai “you up” like vultures picking at a carcass.
So Masai finally lit the final sticks of dynamite and traded OG Anunoby to the New York Knicks, along with Precious Achiuwa. In return, they added Canuck RJ Barrett and his guard-mate Immanuel Quickley. Both players are still quite young, and could even be important pieces in a rebuild, so the jury is out on whether this was a good move or not. They also moved Pascal Siakam to the Indiana Pacers for a poorly made poutine, Bruce Brown, some role players, and a couple of first-round picks.
Most of the Raptors off-season centered around locking down young pieces for the next number of seasons. Scottie Barnes was the big winner, signing a five-year extension worth about 225M, which could reach 70M if he meets the supermax criteria. While I poked fun at Masai earlier, Scottie has been great on both ends of the floor. I would expect him to continue growing, especially with all the young talent around him.
Immanuel Quickley also signed a nice long-term 5-year $175M extension, which makes it clear that he is a part of their long-term rebuilding plans. Bringing back Garrett Temple, who will see limited minutes but provides veteran leadership was a nice touch to the roster. With all these players signing long-term, the Raptors appear to have moved on from Gary Trent Jr. Considering Trent shot just 42% from the field last year Toronto clearly felt they would rather give rotation minutes to other players with higher ceilings.
Draft wise, the Raptors whiffed with Grady Dick (so far), last year so we will see if a year two bounce back can happen. In what was considered a weaker draft class, Toronto brought in plenty of players. Ja'Kobe Walter out of Baylor with the 19th pick was popular for the draft nerds. They then went with Jonathan Mogbo at 31, Jamal Shead at 45, and Ulrich Comche at 57. Having four rookies on the roster means not all of them are likely to see serious playing time, if they play at all.
Look this will be another tough year for the Raptors, but one that could be very eye-opening of where the franchise is headed. There are plenty of good or solid players on this roster, but will any breakout to show star potential? Scottie is obviously the closest, but does Quickley have another gear? Will RJ Barrett find some confidence playing for Team Canada this summer and use that as a stepping stone to further success in the association? Can any of the rookies or Dick play well enough to look like real long-term NBA players? Should be fascinating to see and I will certainly monitor from the Canadian Prairies where this team finishes.
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