Raptorfan2012 wrote:In my opinion, here are our team's biggest needs heading into this off-season:
Rim-protecting big:
This is one of the biggest reasons why the Raptors have been terrible this year, especially when Poetl is out. All the good teams have some sort of rim-protector that they can rely on. Soon, this going to be Vic's league, and so having a mobile big as part of our core is going to be very important. A big who can also shoot and handle the ball is nice, but there aren't too many of those out there right now.
Potential free agents this summer to fill in this hole: Nic Claxton, Isaiah Hartenstein, Jalen Smith, Richaun Holmes (PO), Mo Bamba, Jaxson Hayes (PO), Bol Bol.
Potential 2024 draft candidates: Sarr (if we get lucky), Clingan, Filipowski, Missi, Ware, Holmes II, Edey, Chomche, Ivisic.
3-D wing
The OG trade was very nice, but it leaves us with a hole at the 3 spot again. Barnes has been left with more defensive duties, but IMO he is best suited as a play-making power forward, which means we need another big wing who can help play some defensive and also hit some shots. I think the Raptors wanted to give Ochai a chance, but IMO he is better suited as a big wing off the bench. We need someone with more talent at the 3 spot.
Potential free agents this summer: OG (lol), Malik Monk (more of a SG), Patrick Wiliams (RFA, but who knows what the Bulls want to do with him), Lonnie Walker, Okoro (RFA), Caleb Martin (PO), Bey (RFA)
Potential 2024 draft candidate: Castle, Risacher, Cody Williams, Buzelis, Holland, Salaun, Silva, K George, Tyson.
Back up point guard
I think this is less important than the above two, but IQ needs a back up that is more reliable than JFL. I prefer a vet back up more than a rookie for next season, but whichever gives us more talent.
Potential free agents this summer: Lowry, Fultz, Tyus Jones, Monte Morris, Delon Wright
Potential 2024 draft candidates: Topic, Sheppard, Dillingham, Collier, McCain, Devin Carter, Kolek, Simpson, Carrington
This is about the size of it for me.
I'm not sure who I want yet with our FRP but interestingly enough, I'm a little more excited about the middle of the draft than I am the top. Guys like Carter and Ware have been on my radar for a while and I think they have a really good shot at out-performing their draft spot. With the Pacers pick at #17, I'm hoping that at least one of those two guys will be on the board at the time - preferably Carter. I think he's a stud.
This would also be a great time to move off of Poeltl's salary. I like the guy and I don't think his salary is out of line objectively but it doesn't make a lot of sense for where we are as a team. If OKC or Memphis is willing to do something around some quality picks, I think we'd be fools to not consider it although this would be a draft day decision for me. My personal willingness to do a deal would highly depend on what's coming back and who's on the board. Memphis could offer something like Kennard, Clarke & #7 for Poeltl + Boucher & #31, which might be worthwhile depending on what happened with our pick and where it ultimately lands. OKC doesn't have much by way off salary to offer but I do like DaRon Holmes as well and an opportunity to draft him with an acquired pick is something I would consider.
If we could get something done around Bruce Brown, that would be great too. Unfortunately, I can't see interest from the Knicks anymore but maybe the Magic? Fultz and Harris are expiring and they'll probably want to keep Bitadze and Wagner long term. Maybe there's something that could be done around Brown and Carter Jr?
As for free agents - we should really only be looking at potentially adding Patrick Williams as a long term pieces. Everyone else we may add should be veterans who would be coming on cheap deals to add some depth and mentorship to our young core. Now that we traded for Agbaji (still don't think this was really great deal but whatever), I don't think we need to keep Trent since we already have Barrett eating up most of the SG minutes. The questions would be 1. How much would it take for the Bulls not to match? 2. What would it take to entice them in a potential S&T?
There are a lot of variations on how this can go but going into the season with:
Quickley(Resign, $80-$100M/4yrs)/Carter (Indiana pick?)/Lowry (Veteran Min)
Barrett/Dick/Agbaji
Williams ($80-$100M/yrs)/Kennard (expiring)/Nwora (Re-sign to minimum), Vet Min (Hayward?)
Barnes/Clarke (3yrs - MLE remaining)/Veteran Min
Carter(2 yrs/~$26M remaining)/Olynyk/Clingan (TOR pick?)
Plus we would still have the Memphis 2024 FRP under this scenario. Young team and everyone is on reasonable team friendly deals.