Not with a bang, but with a whimper

Raptors’ playoff exit was swift and embarrassing

Five teams faced the proposition of a firstround sweep over the weekend. The Bucks and the Mavericks won their games, which is the objective in professional basketball. The Pelicans and Celtics could not delay their fate, but they went down swinging against clearly superior teams.

As for the Toronto Raptors, well, they capitulated completely. Their series against the Washington Wizards was supposed to be the only competitive one in the Eastern Conference, and it ended up being the biggest laugher of the bunch. The Raptors were not close to Washington’s level, and the Wizards were a team that spent the season mired in the same kind of mediocrity as Toronto.

“Once they hit us with the haymakers,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said, “we didn’t have enough emotional fortitude or whatever it was to sustain it.

“The way we played in the entire playoffs was not us as far as execution offensively, execution defensively. We didn’t get it done as a group. I don’t think you can pinpoint one person. It was all of us. Coaches included. We’re all in it together.”

Well, not for long. If the Raptors finished the season strongly, the series could be identified as an outlier — maybe a bad matchup, maybe the result of some bad luck. This team had been average since 2015 started, and verging on bad since the all-star break. In the playoffs, they either could not or would not adapt their offensive style when the Wizards tried to force the ball out of the hands of Raptors guards. For general manager Masai Ujiri’s purposes, it does not really matter which one it was.

The biggest challenge for Ujiri after such a thorough dismantling might be knowing what not to change. Here is a look-ahead to the Raptors’ off-season.

THE FREE AGENTS

Landry Fields, Amir Johnson, Greg Stiemsma, Tyler Hansbrough, Chuck Hayes and Lou Williams are all unrestricted free agents. Do not expect any of them to be back.

Johnson and Williams are still useful NBA players, and Ujiri might decide to bring them back if he can get them at a discount. However, these Raptors clearly need some change, and not re-signing free agents is the easiest way to achieve that. Williams had an excellent year, but the team seemed to adopt his shootfirst, defence-optional identity. The Raptors might feel as if they need to remove that influence.

The Raptors badly need a versatile forward for their starting lineup — either on the wing or up front, next to Jonas Valanciunas — but one trade could change that. In that sense, it is too early to start looking at other teams’ free agents in a search for fits.

THE KIDS

Valanciunas and Terrence Ross will be entering their fourth seasons next year. The Raptors can extend their contracts before Halloween, if they choose.

Valanciunas did not have the breakout season that the Raptors hoped, and looked overmatched against Washington’s Marcin Gortat and Nene. His development came in fits and starts, and his place in the modern NBA is uncertain, given the abundance of fast guards and small lineups. Still, from a pure supply-and-demand perspective, Valanciunas is extremely valuable: a 7-footer who can protect the rim, score in the post and hit his free throws. The Raptors will likely explore extending him.

As for Ross, his season was a massive disappointment. You cannot pay him — not yet, and maybe not ever.

THE VETERANS

Of the US$48 million in committed salaries on the books for the Raptors next year, more than US$34 million is heading to Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson. This is where it gets complicated.

At his best, Lowry is a top10 point guard in the NBA. He looked spent as the year went on, though. Additionally, in a league full of point guards, the ones that are a little less than great do not have a ton of trade value. DeRozan is the spiritual centre of the Raptors, which is not such a good thing at the moment. However, he is also a former all-star, a hard worker and a respected player around the league.

Vasquez did not have a good year, although the front office could attribute that to some positional duplication with Williams. Also, next year will be the final season of his contract, which negates the urgency to move him. Patterson might have been the most consistent player on the roster this year. He is beloved by the front office and the coaching staff, and his combination of size and shooting make him a perfect fit for today’s NBA. That is to say, he should have a ton of trade value right now.

For different reasons, there are no locks among the four to return next season.

THE COACH

The biggest question on the board. Casey has led the Raptors to franchise records in wins in successive years. He has been outdueled in the post-season by Jason Kidd and Randy Whitman, hardly among the league’s coaching elite. He is a defensive coach who led a terrible defence this year. He could not get the Raptors to share the ball this season. The players deserve most of the blame for that, but there appeared to be little buy-in to what Casey was preaching.

Still, the wager here is that Casey is back next year, the final guaranteed season on his contract. Perhaps if there is a coach out there who Ujiri really likes — the Bulls’ Tom Thibodeau, maybe, if coach and team part ways after the season as is expected — he will make a change. In the absence of that, Ujiri probably gives Casey one final chance to build the Raptors in his image. He is just unlikely to give him the type of veteran-heavy roster necessary for the makeover.

THE GLOBAL AMBASSADOR

There were rumblings that Drake was not happy with the team’s new logo. Still, the All-Star Game is in Toronto in February 2016. He will be back. Drake Night 3, anybody?