[Grange] But if the Raptors are healthy next season? It’s hard to imagine they won’t be 10 or 15 wins better than they were this past year, which would put them back in the hunt for a play-in spot and — most likely — a late lottery pick.
by EarthWarping
15 Comments
A really negative piece from Grange tbh.
Some of the tidbits in it:
>Finding quality players in that range in the draft is doable — the Raptors have done it themselves multiple times — but it’s just less likely than at the top of the draft, math being math.
>They also won’t have the salary of a high first-rounder on the books, which could also be a factor if they want to be active using cap space to add talent via trade or free agency.
>All of which captures the conundrum the Raptors are in. If they were dead set on accumulating the kind of talent that wins titles, their rebuild would be given at least another season to take shape. Toss in the towel in 2024-25, hope for some lottery luck and who knows, maybe you have a chance to pair Cooper Flagg, Airious Bailey or Khaman Maluach — early candidates to go in the top three in 2025 — with Barnes, creating a homegrown superstar duo not seen in Toronto since Vince Carter was trading alley-oops with Tracy McGrady.
>Instead, the most likely scenario — barring an unexpected trade, draft find or free agent signing — is the Raptors staying on a conveyor belt that keeps them mired in the middle of the Eastern Conference for the foreseeable future.
>They have a core that projects to have a floor high enough to keep them out of the basement, but a ceiling that — objectively — seems to fall a few floors below the penthouse.
>Ultimately, it is up to Raptors president Masai Ujiri, general manager Bobby Webster and the rest of the front office to figure out how to thread the needle on it all.
Assuming health is naive. We are going to have guys miss time. We have no depth.
Barring a needle moving FA signing or trade, I think we are closer to a bottom 6 team than the play in next year
10 more wins still places us outside the play-ins lol
and in the 10th spot of the draft
the only teams we’re definitely better than in the East are the wizards and pistons.
Other mediocre teams like Nets, Bulls, Hawks and Hornets might be better than us if players on those teams are healthy.
Once again I am asking – many of you guys think these guys WONT get a lottery pick next season? I think play-in is the highest possible
If injuries happen, they happen
Play the season out and if things go south then #WaiveTheFlagg, trade away Poeltl and hope the balls land in your favor. Don’t go in trying to tank.
Bad timing to equate Play-in team with late lotto considering what the Hawks just pulled off.
Yes, I understand the odds, but like, wait a day with a headline like that.
I’m getting sick of how the NBA works. It’s just tank for years until you accumulate a bunch of assets and then try to win. I get it, that’s what has been working for teams like OKC, but damn is it bad for the viewers.
I’d much rather watch the team be in the middle and then improve around the edges and work their way to a title contender with a couple trades, signings and development. Watching a team suck for 3-4 years so they can add 3-4 high lottery picks with the hope that 2 work out? How is that fun for anyone?
We’re still going to be in the lottery next year. This FA class is terrible. We’d need to see massive growth from BBQ. We’d need to add a lot of quality depth. Our defense and offense would need to have massive improvements to be better than a Play-In team. That’s a lot to ask for in 1 offseason. More likely we end up in the mid 30s and pick between 8-13 next year in a deeper draft.
I dont really see us improving next year. We wont have pascal or og to start the season like we had last year
I can see us landing in the late lottery next year then potentially trading up on draft night
The offseason probably looks like this:
-Pick up Bruce Brown’s option
-Sign Gary Trent Jr to the same or similar contract that Bruce Brown got last year.
These moves put us over the cap but give us some real trade chips.
-Sign either a backup PG or backup PF with the MLE
-Find a new home for Boucher, or keep him to the trade deadline.
It’s not exciting but the team will be a 40ish win team next year and will have assets to make deals at the trade deadline. We could have $57 million in expiring contracts and make a big move at the deadline
Lets just hope we make some agrresive off-season moves. There’s still hope to turn things around after the disappointing lottery news. Even if this team were healthy we probably still wouldn’t have been good enough to make the playoffs. GTJ may have to be sacrificed so we can actually make some moves.
It’s a lottery, look at Houston (BKN) and ATL picks.
10 or 15 more wins? Does Grange a really think this squad can win 40 if they stay healthy? 35 is fathomable if every starter plays 70 games and that’s a HUGE if. We already saw what this team is like when only Poeltl misses time.
Raptors outlook the next few years