2024-25: Why to expect fun / plenty rookie promise + minutes

[nivisi9]

Even from the front office's early off-season activity it appears winning isn't the goal this upcoming season, therefore I think it's highly likely our collection of rookies + prospects play alot throughout the year and show promising flashes.

I think there are a number of factors to expect this:


1) Think of OG / Siakam / Powell / D. Wright / Van Vleet /Banton/ Koloko / Dick

Who all ended up playing alot more as rookies then initially projected and those teams all had higher expectations then this pure rebuild team.


2) Also consider those dog days of winter games 60-80 when teams pack it in/trying to grind through the schedule, aren't trying, playing young guys, and every roster has injuries and shorthanded.


3) This Raptors team also won't have a log jam of veterans on the depth chart with status + demanding mins to leap frog. It really appears this will be a very young team which will force the young guys to sink or swim somewhat, even more so when you consider injuries.


4) Incentive to lose. It's a great draft so even more reason to play the young guys and secure better lottery odds especially later in the year if we're bad.


5) Loaded East of Contenders. The East is stacked with more legitimate title contenders in decades? Celtics- Knicks- Sixers -Bucks can all arguably make this claim. There may even be more deep and legitimate East playoff teams as well - Magic - Pacers- Cavs-Heat. Masai and Bobby are smart guys who see this lanscape, which should be even more reason to lean into philosophy of playing + developing young players this season.


6) Incentive to trade remaining veterans. It should be highly likely we trade our remaining veterans either early or by the deadline ( Poeltl, Brown etc.) when we are definitively not a playoff team, increase lottery odds + great draft , and players such as Poeltl will likely want to be moved -- all of which will mean even more young minutes.


heck it won't surprise me if by games 65-80 we we even see Chomche if he looks even slightly promising in the g-league to give him some late NBA reps/ and a taste.

because of all this should be a fun team to watch even if we lose.

[TorontoBarneys]

Brown & Boucher are obvious trade targets but Poeltl is an interesting case. He's useful as-is and especially as the lone true C on the team. But he's also likely the only one of the 3 with significant value on the market, especially depending on how the season goes pertaining to other players.

If Masai plays his cards right, we could be looking at holding multiple 1sts in both the '25 and '26 drafts.

[deeps6x]

All of our star players are now getting paid very well. Scottie has some incentive to work his ass off for the extra $50M, but IQ, Poeltl, RJ, even BB and KO are getting theirs, and would probably be willing to look at the bigger picture and accept that the best thing we could do is tank for a top five pick. Then perhaps make a push in 2026. Ideally the goal for 2026 would just be to make the Play-in, get another good couple of assets (as that draft will be loaded as well), then rocket higher in 2027 as a super competitive playoff team.

[nivisi9]

All of our star players are now getting paid very well. Scottie has some incentive to work his ass off for the extra $50M, but IQ, Poeltl, RJ, even BB and KO are getting theirs, and would probably be willing to look at the bigger picture and accept that the best thing we could do is tank for a top five pick. Then perhaps make a push in 2026. Ideally the goal for 2026 would just be to make the Play-in, get another good couple of assets (as that draft will be loaded as well), then rocket higher in 2027 as a super competitive playoff team.

The only way I could see this taking a completely unexpected 180 is if..

Barnes / Quickley are so motivated and out to prove something after their franchise player level contract deals and there is some insane level of improvement -- Barnes goes close to baby superstar + Quickley borderline Allstars performance wise.

Might change things and have us 9th or slightly better

think I'd put 5-10% on that possible outcome since they're both capable

[dagger]

All of our star players are now getting paid very well. Scottie has some incentive to work his ass off for the extra $50M, but IQ, Poeltl, RJ, even BB and KO are getting theirs, and would probably be willing to look at the bigger picture and accept that the best thing we could do is tank for a top five pick. Then perhaps make a push in 2026. Ideally the goal for 2026 would just be to make the Play-in, get another good couple of assets (as that draft will be loaded as well), then rocket higher in 2027 as a super competitive playoff team.

The only way I could see this taking a completely unexpected 180 is if..

Barnes / Quickley are so motivated and out to prove something after their franchise player level contract deals and there is some insane level of improvement -- Barnes goes close to baby superstar + Quickley borderline Allstars performance wise.

Might change things and have us 9th or slightly better

think I'd put 5-10% on that possible outcome since they're both capable

I suspect it will be harder to be bad this season. None of the teams below Toronto in last season's standings are noticeably better, and one team - Detroit - beat the Raptors twice so is unlikely to do better because it added Tobias Harris. Atlanta has dropped Murray, Chicago seems poised to lose Demar, Brooklyn traded Bridges for picks, the top six in the East seem securely above the Raptors, but a playoff berth is not that outlandish a thought. I'm not saying that is Masai's goal, but just looking at whom the Raptors lost last season among the play-in teams it's not unimaginable that Toronto is dragged into the thing.

[Tacoma]

All of our star players are now getting paid very well. Scottie has some incentive to work his ass off for the extra $50M, but IQ, Poeltl, RJ, even BB and KO are getting theirs, and would probably be willing to look at the bigger picture and accept that the best thing we could do is tank for a top five pick. Then perhaps make a push in 2026. Ideally the goal for 2026 would just be to make the Play-in, get another good couple of assets (as that draft will be loaded as well), then rocket higher in 2027 as a super competitive playoff team.

The only way I could see this taking a completely unexpected 180 is if..

Barnes / Quickley are so motivated and out to prove something after their franchise player level contract deals and there is some insane level of improvement -- Barnes goes close to baby superstar + Quickley borderline Allstars performance wise.

Might change things and have us 9th or slightly better

think I'd put 5-10% on that possible outcome since they're both capable

I suspect it will be harder to be bad this season. None of the teams below Toronto in last season's standings are noticeably better, and one team - Detroit - beat the Raptors twice so is unlikely to do better because it added Tobias Harris. Atlanta has dropped Murray, Chicago seems poised to lose Demar, Brooklyn traded Bridges for picks, the top six in the East seem securely above the Raptors, but a playoff berth is not that outlandish a thought. I'm not saying that is Masai's goal, but just looking at whom the Raptors lost last season among the play-in teams it's not unimaginable that Toronto is dragged into the thing.

At last season ending presser, Masai said this group will be given a chance to win next season. So I expect we will start next season trying for the play-in / playoffs, and then see where we stand at the halfway point to decide whether to tank or continue the push to the playoffs.

In other words, as per the last many seasons, we are not tanking to begin the season but rather trying to find that balance between trying to win and develop at the same time.

[Duffman100]

I think you have a conversation with Bruce Brown.

We're committed to helping you get to a better situation but we need you committed. We're going to start you, you slot in nicely into that starting lineup as a hustle guy, off ball. Get your trade value up, make it hard for us to want to trade you. The deal will come along.

Ochai, Dick, Walter, etc..none of them are quite ready for the SL yet. So it makes sense.

[nivisi9]

The only way I could see this taking a completely unexpected 180 is if..

Barnes / Quickley are so motivated and out to prove something after their franchise player level contract deals and there is some insane level of improvement -- Barnes goes close to baby superstar + Quickley borderline Allstars performance wise.

Might change things and have us 9th or slightly better

think I'd put 5-10% on that possible outcome since they're both capable

I suspect it will be harder to be bad this season. None of the teams below Toronto in last season's standings are noticeably better, and one team - Detroit - beat the Raptors twice so is unlikely to do better because it added Tobias Harris. Atlanta has dropped Murray, Chicago seems poised to lose Demar, Brooklyn traded Bridges for picks, the top six in the East seem securely above the Raptors, but a playoff berth is not that outlandish a thought. I'm not saying that is Masai's goal, but just looking at whom the Raptors lost last season among the play-in teams it's not unimaginable that Toronto is dragged into the thing.

At last season ending presser, Masai said this group will be given a chance to win next season. So I expect we will start next season trying for the play-in / playoffs, and then see where we stand at the halfway point to decide whether to tank or continue the push to the playoffs.

In other words, as per the last many seasons, we are not tanking to begin the season but rather trying to find that balance between trying to win and develop at the same time.

I think this is potentially the most dangerous reality of this year and may derail this rebuild.

This team is desperate for high end talent and needs atleast 1 top pick during this rebuild.

If we did this right and sucked this year we legit may be able to turn this into a quick 1 year rebuild and be ready to push forward starting next season.

The alternative is we don't and already start going for "play-in /playoffs" and all of a sudden we are a consistent treadmill mediocre team long term just like the Siakam / FVV teams.

Avoiding this is critical, I wonder is Masai/ Bobby consider this big picture...

They will have to consider making moves to avoid this.

Barnes/ Quickley/ Barrett are already slowly entering their primes, this is the last chance/year to possibly get a top pick. (in a great draft too)

we should be even better in yrs to come but we will miss the chance at contenders if we don't add atleast one more top talent during this "rebuild" ? Isn't that what this is suppose to be?

Are we already treadmilling?

[Scase]

I think you have a conversation with Bruce Brown.

We're committed to helping you get to a better situation but we need you committed. We're going to start you, you slot in nicely into that starting lineup as a hustle guy, off ball. Get your trade value up, make it hard for us to want to trade you. The deal will come along.

Ochai, Dick, Walter, etc..none of them are quite ready for the SL yet. So it makes sense.

I feel like this is/should have been a convo they had last year. And if they did, yikes.

[Scase]

I suspect it will be harder to be bad this season. None of the teams below Toronto in last season's standings are noticeably better, and one team - Detroit - beat the Raptors twice so is unlikely to do better because it added Tobias Harris. Atlanta has dropped Murray, Chicago seems poised to lose Demar, Brooklyn traded Bridges for picks, the top six in the East seem securely above the Raptors, but a playoff berth is not that outlandish a thought. I'm not saying that is Masai's goal, but just looking at whom the Raptors lost last season among the play-in teams it's not unimaginable that Toronto is dragged into the thing.

At last season ending presser, Masai said this group will be given a chance to win next season. So I expect we will start next season trying for the play-in / playoffs, and then see where we stand at the halfway point to decide whether to tank or continue the push to the playoffs.

In other words, as per the last many seasons, we are not tanking to begin the season but rather trying to find that balance between trying to win and develop at the same time.

I think this is potentially the most dangerous reality of this year and may derail this rebuild.

This team is desperate for high end talent and needs atleast 1 top pick during this rebuild.

If we did this right and sucked this year we legit may be able to turn this into a quick 1 year rebuild and be ready to push forward starting next season.

The alternative is we don't and already start going for "play-in /playoffs" and all of a sudden we are a consistent treadmill mediocre team long term just like the Siakam / FVV teams.

Avoiding this is critical, I wonder is Masai/ Bobby consider this big picture...

They will have to consider making moves to avoid this.

Barnes/ Quickley/ Barrett are already slowly entering their primes, this is the last chance/year to possibly get a top pick. (in a great draft too)

we should be even better in yrs to come but we will miss the chance at contenders if we don't add atleast one more top talent during this "rebuild" ? Isn't that what this is suppose to be?

Are we already treadmilling?

This is a legitimate fear, I wouldn't go so far as to say we are already treadmilling, but we are flirting with it as a high possibility based on the upcoming season, barring any wild trades.

[SpezNc]

I think you have a conversation with Bruce Brown.

We're committed to helping you get to a better situation but we need you committed. We're going to start you, you slot in nicely into that starting lineup as a hustle guy, off ball. Get your trade value up, make it hard for us to want to trade you. The deal will come along.

Ochai, Dick, Walter, etc..none of them are quite ready for the SL yet. So it makes sense.

As much as I can’t wait to see him , at the moment he is arguably the favourite to be the fifth starter. I am not saying he will plays 35 minutes a game like Scottie Barnes and he will definitely get the privilege to start the game.

It’s possible that Gradey is not is SL but end up with similar minutes if not more than Brown.

I also think that Walter / Mogbo / Shead will be brought it very slowly . They will plays but gradually and never three rookies + Gradey in same times