New Look for Raptors taking shape

New Look for Raptors taking shape

Well it’s a new year and New Look for the Toronto Raptors as the pieces of the franchise future are starting to settle into place let’s talk about this with nbtv NBA TV candid host and producer Akil Augustine Akil I mean there’s only two members of the championship team

Left spicy p and of course um bue so a really interesting look but let’s start with the hometown boy RJ Barrett gets traded to Toronto makes an impact in the first two games what about him what about this how big is this for the Raptors it’s huge when you think about

The age and the skill set RJ right around the same age as Scotty Barnes you seeing that shot there so the Raptors the youth movement is on and RJ is a player who you know he’s a third overall pick a lot of expectation in New York

And I think things kind of got stale there but you look at the skill set you look at the abilities and you say there’s still room to grow for this guy who averaged almost 20 points per game so if there’s still room to grow for him you think the future is pretty bright

With a combination of the guy on screen right now Manuel quickley and then you got you know of course Scotty Barnes so I think um it’s a big shot in the arm for Raptor F who are looking for a sense of direction for the team in the future

And ail we’ve woken up this morning we’ve now seen two games with the two newest members of the Raptors playing and they’ve played well particularly Emanuel quickly last night 26 points five assists three boards really great not only great performance but great enthusiasm great athleticism yeah and you think about the

Opponent last night the Memphis Grizzlies and their star player John Mor the point guard of the same position so to get quality at that position in this NBA knowing the types of talent that are out there it’s huge and quickle is a guy that again I I speak about the youth a

Lot because it’s important the Raptors had a roster that was you know long and tooth at some points and then you had Scotty Barnes and Grady dick and you didn’t know exactly where everyone um matched up with each other in terms of a timeline for getting this team into the

Playoffs and hopefully pushing for a championship but now that you see all these young players making up the core it makes the future that much brighter and quickly is going to be a huge asset I look at him is someone who could potentially be on the level of Tyrese

Maxi the point guard in Philadelphia who was college teammate and was a similar skill set so I’m excited to see what he can do with the keys to the car absolutely so I want to talk about spicy p and dick but I also want to talk about whether your assessment is that the

Raptors right now is this a rebuild because you like you said you’ve highlighted the youth movement here because this looks like a team that is suddenly more competitive well traditionally when you think of a rebuild you think of you got to lose a little bit you got to take a

Step back and you play for draft fix Messi obviously has been adamant that it’s not going to be a rebuild I think the word is retool and the fact that they already had you know Scotty barns in place made it that much easier and then this deal to add two young pieces

Puts them ahead of the timeline of a team that’s in a full rebuild because I think depending on what kind of moves you can make in the future what kind of free agent signings if there’s a trade available they might already be further along than teams that would traditionally consider themselves in a

Rebuild okay you talked about future moves potentially a trade we did hear after that blockbuster trade with the Knicks that Messiah may be taking calls on spicy P Pascal cakam potentially moving what are your thoughts on that do you think the Raptors would really move

Him because theyd need a whole heck of a lot in return that’s that’s the question right it’s what’s the return for Pascal cakam if the Raptors do choose to move off of him right the negotiations have stalled out in terms of the extension right now and with Pascal the end of a contract

That really changes things I think it’s um it’s it’s it’s a lot easier to trade a player who’s got a lot more time left on the contract and you know a lot of people talked about will he commit to another team and if he doesn’t like you

Know he has a certain amount of control in his situation uh it’s hard to say with Messiah like I wouldn’t have thought he would have gotten the hall he did for OG so I’m not one to doubt his capabilities when it comes to negotiations but it’s up in the air I

See what happens next spicy P okay and so I wanted to mention Grady dick he’s been sent down to the not Raptors 9905 which of course you know very well what do you make of this move is it just like he’s not really settling in at the NBA

Level how do you interpret this um I think with Grady he’s a player that has a very defined skill set and I think they wanted to get him an opportunity to get as many shots up as possible I think the Raptors have a a real need for his

Skill set and it’s a huge jump sometimes we forget that this kid’s a teenager when he came into the NBA right so there’s a huge transition for him only one year of Collegiate basketball and I think they were trying to make this transition as easy as possible and sure

He struggled to start with the Raptors but I think get giving him the opportunity to play in the g- league just gave him a chance to have the ball in his hands playing on NBA size court with NBA size strength length Talent type players and hopefully it pays

Dividends in the long term but I think the Raptors are you know they’re they’re they’re invested in him for the future so they’re not going to put too much pressure on what happens right now it’s a a forward-looking process with gry day okay I appreciate this forward look at

The Raptors in 2024 we’re getting used to all these new names ail Austine always appreciate the time thanks for joining us thank you for having me

NBA TV Canada Host and producer Akil Augustine joins CP24 to discuss the latest on the Raptors and their new look in the new year.

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