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Breaking Down Offseason Priorities for the Toronto Raptors
- Updated: June 3, 2016
Even Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James had to marvel. He immediately moved past Doris Burke’s postgame question after Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals, choosing to dish out praise instead.
“I’ve never been part of anything like this,” the four-time MVP proclaimed, referring to the roaring Toronto crowd—still in the arena, chanting their lungs out for a beloved team that had just been eliminated.
The Toronto Raptors are appreciated, and every spectator was going to make that abundantly clear.
The Raptors reached new heights this season, bowing out of the playoffs with dignity. But as offseason reality sinks in, there are plenty of riddles to solve.
The front office will now look for ways to progress further, a key element in keeping any fanbase satisfied. Even with the impending cap boom this summer, addressing the following concerns won’t be easy, as one contract extension could put Toronto out of the free-agency bonanza.
Make a Decision on DeMar DeRozan
Whether Toronto should bring back DeMar DeRozan has been a dilemma for some time now—he will certainly get a max offer amid the impending cap boom, but is he worth it?
Major free-agent acquisitions will be out of the question if such a deal is struck, and it would almost certainly guarantee the departures of Luis Scola, James Johnson and Jason Thompson.
Toronto reached the Eastern Conference Finals but could easily have been eliminated during either of its seven-game brawls against the Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers. The team will need to get better to keep up, and it could with Jonas Valanciunas filling a larger role, along with the No. 9 pick in this year’s draft.
But even that might not be enough.
Then again, the Raptors don’t really have a choice if they want to remain competitive. With Terrence Ross’ and Valanciunas’ extensions kicking in, Toronto would only have around $19 million in cap space if it cut ties with DeRozan, according to Spotrac. That’s not enough to find a suitable replacement.
Masai Ujiri: “Our No. 1 goal is to bring DeMar back here.”
— James Herbert (@outsidethenba) May 30, 2016
It appears as though Toronto general manager Masai Ujiri’s priority is to keep his starting shooting guard, and the feelings are mutual on DeRozan’s part, per Sportsnet’s Michael Grangeo:
My mindset has always been Toronto. I always preached it. I was passionate about it when we were losing. When we were terrible, I said I’m going to stick through this whole thing and I want to be that guy who brings this organization to where it is now. I definitely don’t want to switch up after we win.
DeRozan wasn’t great in the playoffs, shooting just 39.4 percent from the field, but he did put together an All-Star regular-season campaign.
Despite a shaky three-point shot, he fits seamlessly next to Kyle Lowry, even when the starting point guard dominates a possession. DeRozan never stops moving off the ball, and that constant motion neutralises the spacing issue. He has also made further progress as a ball-handler, dishing out four assists per game and ranking third in the league in free-throw attempts.
The fact that DeRozan is 26 and in his prime should also ease the headache of handing him a juicy contract, so it’s abundantly clear he needs to be brought back.
Let Go of Bismack Biyombo
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