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>It seems inevitable that changes will be coming, with the Feb. 9th trade deadline a referendum on how much faith Raptors president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster have in their current direction.
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>The rest of the league is waiting anxiously.
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>As one league source who has been monitoring the Raptors situation closely in recent weeks put it to me: “Toronto are the first domino. What they do will affect teams all across the league: Dallas, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Atlanta – not that it’s about deals with any particular team, just that people are going to be waiting to see what the Raptors do before they make their moves. Toronto could set the market.”
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>The problem is that according to multiple league sources, with the season approaching the halfway point, an obvious path forward hasn’t materialized. Instead of things becoming clearer, the waters seem even more cloudy.
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>“No, I don’t know when they’re going to pivot” joked one league source when contacted recently.
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>Said another: “It’s all very nebulous right now.”
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>They’re in 12th place now (a half-game out of 10th, the final play-in spot and 4.5 games out of sixth the sixth seed). If they ride it out and the team doesn’t respond they’ll end up in the mushy middle, missing out on positioning themselves for a top pick in a potentially historic draft class and be at risk of losing talented players in free agency – Gary Trent Jr. or Fred VanVleet for example – for nothing in return.
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>Whatever direction the Raptors decide they ultimately want to take, it would be hard not to see it as a wasted year.
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>Fighting for the fringes of the play-in tournament and ending up 11th is one place the Raptors don’t want to be in. Recall that “Play in for what” was the mantra Ujiri introduced as he engineered the ‘Tampa Tank’ during the latter half of the 2020-21 season. There is no indication that this line of thinking has changed in the years since.
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>But if they pull the plug, are they committing themselves to a rebuild or reboot that wouldn’t fit the timeline of their best player, Siakam, who turns 29 in April? Are they over-investing in 21-year-old Scottie Barnes, who has been playing better recently, but has still raised eyebrows internally and externally for his lack of progress in his second season? It’s a big bet to make on a player who doesn’t quite look like the surefire all-star he did as his rookie year played out.
Source: [https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/nba-execs-watching-closely-as-struggling-raptors-begin-crucial-homestand/](https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/nba-execs-watching-closely-as-struggling-raptors-begin-crucial-homestand/)
Grange is the closest sports media has to a view into the Raptors front office so take this uncertainty as a reflection of the front office not being sure what direction to take.
by CazOnReddit
28 Comments
Toronto are the “first domino” lmao no they’re the Raptors smh
^/s
That one league source? Masai ujiri
let’s ruin the market like Utah did with Gobert!
first domino, fire nurse. second domino, fire doc. third domino daryl hires nurse and sixers win championship with a non bozo coach for the first time in embiid’s career. let me have this dream
What not trading for KD does to a MF
We have nothing to trade besides josh green
when nothing happens lol
Raptors aren’t going to do anything
Wrong
The race for superstar Eric Gordon is running the league
We could use a Siakam
Lol so you’re saying we rule the world
I wonder if Portland would be down for a Siakam trade centered around Simons and Sharpe. We need to just reset and it would be nice to send Pascal somewhere he can compete for a championship
I could see a possible scenario happening where nothing happens. The Raptors expect a Gobert-like haul for their assets but nobody would or could give them what they want. The Raptors miss the play offs/ins and finish the season without trading anybody of significance.
If I was to Masai I’d try to trade for Jokic, Doncic or Giannis. Don’t understand why no one has tried this. He’ll I’d try to get all three of them and team them up.
I feel like Dallas should do whatever they can to get a pascal or OG if the raptors fall apart, even just one of their decent role players would help them
I mean, Zach Lowe has kinda been saying this for weeks.
Masai won’t do anything because everyone else is expecting him to do something
It’s a tough situation because the teams that desperately need Siakam and OG to compete have no asset pool. And the teams that have an asset pool don’t really have any urgency to trade for them. I’d personally be up for keeping Siakam and OG, unless we can get a considerable haul.
Get FVV bum ass out of here.
Jordan Poole for Siakam
I feel like Masai is 100% going to say he’s open for business, get people excited and hot and heavy for OG, and Pascal, then trade Otto Porter Jr, Boucher, and Gary Trent Jr, and call it a deadline.
What would it take to get OG?
They’d probably trade GTJ for assets and build around Siakam/Scottie/OG/FVV core
I think the Gobert trade really messed up people’s perception of value. Siakim is under contract for 1 more year after this season. You’ll get an excellent return for him for sure but simons and Sharpe plus picks? Nah. Maybe 1 of those plus picks.
I think Keegan Murrary, mitchell plus picks and filler would be decent value.
Knicks though, you might be able to fleece them. Worked for the nuggets
Every year a first domino is declared and every year it doesnt happen.
Siakam would be incredible for us, but I can’t imagine we have the assets for him.
A 3 of Luka, Pascal, and Wood would be great and work well together
FVV for a top 55 protected 2nd round pick. Converts to 50 dollars in 2024.
17 first round picks for Siakim who says no