The Toronto Raptors have had a difficult offseason, but just how bad was it really compared to the rest of the NBA? ESPN recently polled a number of NBA scouts and a question came up regarding the teams with the WORST offseason in the entire NBA. Toronto’s position on the list could come as a surprise to some, but not to others. It’s safe to say Masai Ujiri has his work cut our for him..
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11 Comments
Why does everyone ignore that both og and pascal said they dont want to sign an extension yet? Yet every day i hear ppl whine about masai 'deciding' not to re-sign them.
i mean the raptors offered more than Gary and 2 firsts it was reported to be Dick & Gary with 3 firsts/swaps and Precious included which is pretty good value. Who knows maybe the bucks don't go in on this trade themselves and the raptors land Dame for that price. Lets be real here if we traded away Og our odds of winning a championship are just not there. Put this in perspective if we traded away pascal in the Kawhi trade do we win a championship in 2019?
I disagree Fred is better Schroder is faster better team player Fred is a liability on defense did u not see what maxi did to him in the playoffs Fred is done
And delusional raptors fans will still believe they had the best offseason
It’s not a small sample size believe me everyone and their mother know Raptors are confused and don’t know what their doing
The wheels for the horrible off-season were put in motion by the horrible trade deadline decisions. The 2022-23 Raptors were obviously going nowhere, they should have traded their expiring contract FVV but instead traded a pick for expiring contract Poeltl, who played a handful of games and likely resulted in a lower 2023 pick in addition to losing their 2024 pick. And then they ended up losing FVV for nothing – which is better than signing him to that ridiculous contract, but again this was put in motion by failing to deal him at the deadline or sooner in the midst of a season where they were clearly going nowhere.
This is the make-or-break year: a new head coach, the final year for their starting lineup under contract, year 3 for Scottie's rookie contract and development, and it might mark the end of Masai's relationship with the owners. I think his player evaluation and judgement is clouded by personal attachment to the players themselves, which is why he's so hesitant to move on from them. But at the same time, his bargaining ability with other GMs has been pretty weak ever since their title run in 2019, so he may even be stuck holding the cards in his hands as the table makes better swaps around him.
Media day last week revealed a change in team dynamics, with everyone mentioning "selfish ball" as the reason they struggled so much last season, and how Coach Rajakovic plans to switch it up and move the ball more effectively. I wasn't upset at watching Fred walk, even though we didn't get anything back for him, but his ball control slow-generating plays usually ended up in them jacking up a shot at the end of the clock after Fred had been standing at the top of the arc for ages directing teammates where to go. The signing of Schroder after his stellar performance at the FIBA World Cup makes me excited to see what he can bring to the roster, as he has shown a skill at finding the assist, and he has a quick shot release from three point land. He may not be the same sort of PG that Fred is, but I don't think they'll be designing pull-up threes or post-and-shoot plays for Dennis the way Nick Nurse did for Freddie. Partnering him with OG, Scottie or even Achiuwa can provide him with targets for slam dunks and alley-oops at the rim (as he showed with Theis and Wagner during the tournament).
This change up from defense-first, transition offense to a half court, quick movement offense could be the thing that shakes this team out of their sluggishness under the rim. This change of pace could be a problem for Pascal to adjust to, as he tends to back down defenders to the paint to use his spin move to the basket, holding onto the ball for a long time while the remaining 4 post up around the arc. But they have a lot of role players that can move effectively off-ball and set screens for shooters at the corners. Still need to see them on the court more to get a better sense, but given that expectations are pretty low for the Raptors this season, I'm still intrigued to see how they pull it together. The players sound like they've all bought into Darko's coaching style and philosophy, now they just need to make it work.
Fred is not the superior player simply because he does not use his abilities appropriately. He’s selfish. Always been selfish. But he could be the superior player if he wanted to. But that not his priority. Therefore he is not the superior player. He’s a ‘could be’ not a ‘is’! And getting closer to a ‘has been’ every day.
A Schröder’s a ‘is’!
Raptors well flatten everything in its path. We don't care how insiders feel. All you panicking will pretend you were never worried when we are on top the east by December
Fvv is evidently not the superior player, maybe superior in the eye test but definitely not superior in contributing to winning basketball
The team is better this year than last. You are giving Fred too much credit. He wasn’t a great point guard for us and he was playing for his bag. KL kept him in his place.