Mock Off-Season: Toronto Raptors

[ReggiesKnicks]

NBA Draft
#7 Pick - Kasparas Jakucionis
#39 - Rocco Zikarsky

Notable Free Agents
Chris Boucher (UFA)

Contract Negotiations
N/A

Total Salary: 185,655,915

NBA Salary Cap: 154,647,000
NBA Tax Line: $187,895,000
NBA 1st Apron: $195,945,000
NBA 2nd Apron: $207,824,000

Transactions

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Total Salary: 185,655,915 (13 Players)

Roster/Rotation
Immanuel Quickley / Jamal Shead / Kasparas Jakucionis
R.J. Barrett / Gradey Dick / Ja'Kobe Walter
Brandon Ingram / Ochai Agbaji
Scottie Barnes / Jamison Battle
Jakob Poeltl / Jonathan Mogbo / Rocco Zikarsky

Toronto has a shortage of real wings and needs some roster balance with IQ/Shead/RJ/Dick/Agbaji all deserving minutes primarily as back-court players. Drafting the high-upside Jakucionis doesn't change the calculus of a roster alteration needing to happen at some point in order for Toronto to take the next step. I think at this time there isn't a dire need to balance the roster as the core pieces aren't clear (Is it only Barnes? Is it Barnes/Quickley? Anyone else?).

I like the roster as a clear play-in team in 2025-2026 but it isn't an ideal spot to be competing for the Play-In while having no breathing room from the Tax line. Would a team trade a pick in the 20s for Agbaji? Is there a market for any of Ingram/RJ/Poeltl? Is there a clear path to upgrade Poeltl?

Toronto can make a variety of moves this off-season, but my ultimate view of them and where I landed was to stand pat and see how the roster melds and co-exists together in order to identify longer-term pieces and which pieces to move on from. The roster still lacks talent, which means drafting Top 10 is important and trading the pick makes little sense for a roster lacking overall talent.

[Godaddycurse]

Standing pat is very possible/likely. Masai/Bobby did emphasize on looking for 2 way players in this draft so it makes Jak less likely i think.

If we are looking for a high upside guard play like this i wouldnt mind a trade down with OKC for Topic/15/24 to pick up Beringer

[ReggiesKnicks]

Standing pat is very possible/likely. Masai/Bobby did emphasize on looking for 2 way players in this draft so it makes Jak less likely i think.

If we are looking for a high upside guard play like this i wouldnt mind a trade down with OKC for Topic/15/24 to pick up Beringer

Doesn't this put Toronto in the Tax?

[Godaddycurse]

Standing pat is very possible/likely. Masai/Bobby did emphasize on looking for 2 way players in this draft so it makes Jak less likely i think.

If we are looking for a high upside guard play like this i wouldnt mind a trade down with OKC for Topic/15/24 to pick up Beringer

Doesn't this put Toronto in the Tax?

I would trade one of Agbaji or Dick for a pick to make room under tax and free up minutes for topic

[Texas Chuck]

Ugh I just hate where the Raps are. If the idea is to try and be a playoff team, its just so hard having this ill-fitting of a starting lineup and just no quality depth to speak of.

I get why you stood pat because there just aren't really any good options. I guess see if someone would give you a little value for Poeltl or take one of the guards off your hands, but that doesn't really do much for you.

They need lottery luck and they need that player to pan out. Because otherwise its hard to see their path forward.

[babyjax13]

I think the Lakers should take a hard look at Poeltl. He is a good passer, has a lot of size, and is one of the better defensive centers in the league.

[Godaddycurse]

I think the Lakers should take a hard look at Poeltl. He is a good passer, has a lot of size, and is one of the better defensive centers in the league.

But why would we trade him? Ingram trade suggest we are trying to win now.

[babyjax13]

I think the Lakers should take a hard look at Poeltl. He is a good passer, has a lot of size, and is one of the better defensive centers in the league.

But why would we trade him? Ingram trade suggest we are trying to win now.

Because Toronto is going to struggle for spacing. Quickley and Ingram are the only above-average positional shooters in the starting 5, assuming that it is Quickley/Barrett/Ingram/Barnes/Poeltl, and their shooting off the bench is mostly hypothetical so far (Dick at 35% from 3, Walter at 35%, Shead at 32%, Mogbo can't shoot). Getting a floor-spacing 5 will really help that lineup.

[Godaddycurse]

I think the Lakers should take a hard look at Poeltl. He is a good passer, has a lot of size, and is one of the better defensive centers in the league.

But why would we trade him? Ingram trade suggest we are trying to win now.

Because Toronto is going to struggle for spacing. Quickley and Ingram are the only above-average positional shooters in the starting 5, assuming that it is Quickley/Barrett/Ingram/Barnes/Poeltl, and their shooting off the bench is mostly hypothetical so far (Dick at 35% from 3, Walter at 35%, Shead at 32%, Mogbo can't shoot). Getting a floor-spacing 5 will really help that lineup.

Dick was tasked with doing alot more than catch and shoot 3s this year. In a lesser role without handling the ball his numbers should go up. Also has Agbaji as a 40% 3pt shooter.

Trading Poeltl makes us much much worse on defense and a worse team overall. Easy fix for spacing in starting/closing lineup is to replace Barrett with Agbaji

[ReggiesKnicks]

Ugh I just hate where the Raps are. If the idea is to try and be a playoff team, its just so hard having this ill-fitting of a starting lineup and just no quality depth to speak of.

Yeah, same thoughts here and were my overarching takeaways. . They lack an identity (collecting skilled but inefficient wings isn't an identity) but have enough talent to easily be a Play-In team if healthy.

I get why you stood pat because there just aren't really any good options. I guess see if someone would give you a little value for Poeltl or take one of the guards off your hands, but that doesn't really do much for you.

My first thought was who wants to trade a late 1st for Abaji. An easy and recent framework was De'Anthony Melton for #23 and matching/dead salary.

The problem is, of course, the teams in that area of the draft.

Utah: No
Atlanta: Maybe, they have another earlier pick but already have backcourt depth, especially with Risacher being able to play as a long 2-guard.
Indiana: Needs cost controlled depth
OKC: They have enough Abaji level players already.
Orlando: They have a glut of SG but most aren't NBA caliber, maybe.
Brooklyn: No
Boston: Salary
Phoenix: Don't need more 2-guards

After this quick exercise, I just don't see teams lining up to trade for Abaji nor Dick at this time.

I would trade one of Agbaji or Dick for a pick to make room under tax and free up minutes for topic

They need lottery luck and they need that player to pan out. Because otherwise its hard to see their path forward.

Yeah the rebuild continues and the biggest gripe I have, and maybe you if you share a similar sentiment, is Toronto is in a rebuild where:

1) they can't bottom out
2) they can't be competently competitive
3) they don't have a bonafide building block.

Toronto is treading water in mediocrity.

Maybe they can trade Barnes for a budding star like we did with Sabonis.

[babyjax13]

But why would we trade him? Ingram trade suggest we are trying to win now.

Because Toronto is going to struggle for spacing. Quickley and Ingram are the only above-average positional shooters in the starting 5, assuming that it is Quickley/Barrett/Ingram/Barnes/Poeltl, and their shooting off the bench is mostly hypothetical so far (Dick at 35% from 3, Walter at 35%, Shead at 32%, Mogbo can't shoot). Getting a floor-spacing 5 will really help that lineup.

Dick was tasked with doing alot more than catch and shoot 3s this year. In a lesser role without handling the ball his numbers should go up. Also has Agbaji as a 40% 3pt shooter.

Trading Poeltl makes us much much worse on defense and a worse team overall. Easy fix for spacing in starting/closing lineup is to replace Barrett with Agbaji

Agbaji before this season never shot over 35 percent, I think he holds over 35 now, but we will see. Still, I don't think Quickley/Agabaji/Ingram is a lineup that spaces the floor really well considering how much Ingram and Scottie operate in the midrange. It's just a really poorly composed roster.

[Godaddycurse]

Because Toronto is going to struggle for spacing. Quickley and Ingram are the only above-average positional shooters in the starting 5, assuming that it is Quickley/Barrett/Ingram/Barnes/Poeltl, and their shooting off the bench is mostly hypothetical so far (Dick at 35% from 3, Walter at 35%, Shead at 32%, Mogbo can't shoot). Getting a floor-spacing 5 will really help that lineup.

Dick was tasked with doing alot more than catch and shoot 3s this year. In a lesser role without handling the ball his numbers should go up. Also has Agbaji as a 40% 3pt shooter.

Trading Poeltl makes us much much worse on defense and a worse team overall. Easy fix for spacing in starting/closing lineup is to replace Barrett with Agbaji

Agbaji before this season never shot over 35 percent, I think he holds over 35 now, but we will see. Still, I don't think Quickley/Agabaji/Ingram is a lineup that spaces the floor really well considering how much Ingram and Scottie operate in the midrange. It's just a really poorly composed roster.

We will see how it goes. GSW functioned fine with 2-3 shooters in their lineup only. Ditto for Houston. If it doesnt fit well Masai will make changes as needed but Poeltl is here to stay as long as Masai is here imo

[ReggiesKnicks]

Dick was tasked with doing alot more than catch and shoot 3s this year. In a lesser role without handling the ball his numbers should go up. Also has Agbaji as a 40% 3pt shooter.

Trading Poeltl makes us much much worse on defense and a worse team overall. Easy fix for spacing in starting/closing lineup is to replace Barrett with Agbaji

Agbaji before this season never shot over 35 percent, I think he holds over 35 now, but we will see. Still, I don't think Quickley/Agabaji/Ingram is a lineup that spaces the floor really well considering how much Ingram and Scottie operate in the midrange. It's just a really poorly composed roster.

We will see how it goes. GSW functioned fine with 2-3 shooters in their lineup only. Ditto for Houston. If it doesnt fit well Masai will make changes as needed but Poeltl is here to stay as long as Masai is here imo

Toronto doesn't t have Steph Curry providing incredible gravity or spacing or shot creation. Toronto also doesn't have Draymond anchoring their defense.

Toronto doesn't have an incredible defense like Houston. Houston was able to manage with their offense because they were incredible defensively.

[Texas Chuck]

I admire godaddy's ability to be bullish on each Raptors player as individuals, but I gotta be honest I'm surprised even knowing how much more he likes these players than I do that he believes this team makes sense. At one point we could just say we believe in Masai/Nurse but Nurse is gone and Masai hasn't made a good move in years now and when you look at what they have to show for Siakam and OG its just so bad.

[Godaddycurse]

I admire godaddy's ability to be bullish on each Raptors player as individuals, but I gotta be honest I'm surprised even knowing how much more he likes these players than I do that he believes this team makes sense. At one point we could just say we believe in Masai/Nurse but Nurse is gone and Masai hasn't made a good move in years now and when you look at what they have to show for Siakam and OG its just so bad.

Siakam turned into Ingram, Agbaji and Walter, and the TPE from his trade also fetched us Shead and a future 2nd. Its a decent haul.

OGs return hinges on how IQ looks next year. So far its not looking great.

I tend to be optimistic during off season and give the team the benefit of the doubt to start the year ill come back down to earth 20 games into the season

[Godaddycurse]

Agbaji before this season never shot over 35 percent, I think he holds over 35 now, but we will see. Still, I don't think Quickley/Agabaji/Ingram is a lineup that spaces the floor really well considering how much Ingram and Scottie operate in the midrange. It's just a really poorly composed roster.

We will see how it goes. GSW functioned fine with 2-3 shooters in their lineup only. Ditto for Houston. If it doesnt fit well Masai will make changes as needed but Poeltl is here to stay as long as Masai is here imo

Toronto doesn't t have Steph Curry providing incredible gravity or spacing or shot creation. Toronto also doesn't have Draymond anchoring their defense.

Toronto doesn't have an incredible defense like Houston. Houston was able to manage with their offense because they were incredible defensively.

I think they are modelling IQ/Barnes after Curry/Draymond and trying to build a team to emulate the warriors.. definitely not there (yet if ever) but its an interesting blueprint

[ReggiesKnicks]

We will see how it goes. GSW functioned fine with 2-3 shooters in their lineup only. Ditto for Houston. If it doesnt fit well Masai will make changes as needed but Poeltl is here to stay as long as Masai is here imo

Toronto doesn't t have Steph Curry providing incredible gravity or spacing or shot creation. Toronto also doesn't have Draymond anchoring their defense.

Toronto doesn't have an incredible defense like Houston. Houston was able to manage with their offense because they were incredible defensively.

I think they are modelling IQ/Barnes after Curry/Draymond and trying to build a team to emulate the warriors..

That makes no sense. IQ is not remotely close to the shooter of Curry and never will be.

[Duffman100]

I admire godaddy's ability to be bullish on each Raptors player as individuals, but I gotta be honest I'm surprised even knowing how much more he likes these players than I do that he believes this team makes sense. At one point we could just say we believe in Masai/Nurse but Nurse is gone and Masai hasn't made a good move in years now and when you look at what they have to show for Siakam and OG its just so bad.

I think you're really exaggerating how "bad" the current state is. They have a ton of players 24 and under.

Shead was a good back up PG in his rookie year.

Ochai is a good bench piece who plays good decent defense and shot 40% from 3

Walter got better throughout his rookie year and projects to be a solid bench piece.

Add in Battle / Dick / Mogbo and a few others along with the 2025 lottery pick, the depth isn't nearly as bad as you're making it out to be.

The starting lineup as composed doesn't make sense but it also isn't the final state and has salaries to combine for a move.

The reality is the Raptors need to be healthy.

[Godaddycurse]

Toronto doesn't t have Steph Curry providing incredible gravity or spacing or shot creation. Toronto also doesn't have Draymond anchoring their defense.

Toronto doesn't have an incredible defense like Houston. Houston was able to manage with their offense because they were incredible defensively.

I think they are modelling IQ/Barnes after Curry/Draymond and trying to build a team to emulate the warriors..

That makes no sense. IQ is not remotely close to the shooter of Curry and never will be.

Ya its not easy building a team around a player like Barnes. Fingers crossed Barnes and IQ has more growth left in them and/or Ingram opens up the floor for them more

[Texas Chuck]

There simply is no modeling on Steph/Draymond because those are both 1 of 1's. Barnes might could do the passing part, but he's never going to have Draymond's defensive intelligence or impact.

And of course trying to be Steph just isn't a real thing any team should be asking of much better players than IQ. He's not just the best shooter of all-time, he's made the question forever moot. I mean a guy like Ray Allen just looks like a chump in comparison to him. We are talking about 3's from all angles, from all distances, off the dribble, off the curl, off the catch, off balance, just nobody can approach his effectiveness on these kinds of shots.

Nor the defensive attention even when he doesn't have the ball, his relentless and tireless off-ball movement, his quickness and release.

Just a terrible plan if that is really the plan--I hope its just something they leak to fans because it sounds good, but this is even worth than well Lauri is European and tall so we found our Dirk plan.

Those two players cannot be emulated. Then instead of RJ Barrett they had Klay Thompson who could defend the guys Steph couldn't and was an elite shooter. Instead of BI, they had KD the Ferrari of skinny tall scoring forwards as opposed to the Suburu version. Not to mention Iggy instead of Dick/Agbaji.

Oh man I somehow even feel worse about the Raptors after reading that, and I didn't think that was possible.