RAPTORS BUZZ
New uniforms, new optimism
TORONTO This is going to be the best year ever for the Toronto Raptors — for the brand, at least.
This season is poised to be about everything that is happening around the club, and not necessarily on the floor. There are new uniforms, which we have already seen in the pre-season. “And we haven’t even worn the black and gold ones yet,” president and general manager Masai Ujiri said earlier in October. There is the new practice facility, scheduled to open in the winter. There is Raptors 905, the franchise’s new Mississaugabased D-League affiliate that will develop talent just down the road.
For glamour, there will be the NBA All-Star weekend, coming in mid-February. It is all very exciting. “It’s crazy, especially for me,” said DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors’ most significant remaining link, with Amir Johnson leaving for Boston in July, to the bad old days. “I’ve seen everything change and grow. I take much pride in just being a part of it all and being able to see it. It’s definitely a cool thing to see.”
“We’ve got space to do all of our work in, which is what it’s all about,” coach Dwane Casey said of the new practice facility. “It’s a great recruiting tool. The championship-level programs have it.”
The D-League team is surely more integral to Ujiri’s vision. When he re-joined the Raptors in 2013, Ujiri said he wanted to stack the bottom third of the roster with developmental players. Two years later, he has already done that: Bruno Caboclo, Lucas Nogueira, Anthony Bennett, Norman Powell and Delon Wright are all between 20 and 23, and are not expected to contribute much to this year’s team. However, if you cannot give them regular playing time in the D-League with your own coaches, that plan is meritless.
When we last saw the Raptors, they were embarrassing themselves, suffering a first-round playoff sweep by Washington.
Ujiri was cursing. By the end of it all, the Raptors were the most depressing and uninspired team in basketball with 49 wins.
“Honestly, I hate to say it this way, but I blame myself because I don’t think the composition of the team (was right),” Ujiri said. At the end of the day, the responsibility was on me.”
As such, Ujiri made some pretty rational moves, even if the expended money was jarring. Defensive albatrosses Greivis Vasquez and Lou Williams are gone, as is Johnson, whose ankles rolled over too many times to continue to invest in.
To replace them, Ujiri bet that players who thrived within model systems could excel in bigger roles with Toronto.
DeMarre Carroll comes over from Atlanta to improve the team’s perimeter defence. He is briefly the highest-paid player on the team until Jonas Valanciunas’s extension kicks in.
Cory Joseph will be an interesting test case as to whether San Antonio Spurs magic is transferable; Bismack Biyombo comes over from Charlotte and gives the Raptors a solid rim protector.
Still, this team’s success will come down to the core issues that have remained unanswered for a season or two: Can Kyle Lowry stay healthy, happy and productive? Can DeRozan, likely entering free agency after the season, cut some of the mid-range fat from his game while still getting to the foul line? Can Valanciunas make a sustained advance on both ends of the floor? Can Casey adapt on the fly, and coach to maximize the talent of a flawed roster?
The Raptors are in fine shape. They have financial flexibility going forward — although, with the rising salary cap, thanks to the new national television deal, that does not make them exceptional — and they are owed two extra first-round picks.
Yet, they are still firmly in the middle tier of the league. Their ability to develop some of the endof-roster players would give them a map toward grander success, via their production or trade value, but it is a perilous route that requires a lot of moving parts to line up in unison.
Ujiri has to know that the honeymoon phase of his time in power is over now, although he refuses to think in those terms.
“Every day I go home and honestly pinch myself. This is a dream come true,” Ujiri said. “Winning is part of our business, performing. If you don’t perform, you get out. It’s very simple, in my opinion.”