Raptors President/GM Masai Ujiri shrewdly built a contender last summer. The decision to let Lou Williams walk, along with the additions of Cory Joseph, DeMarre Carroll and Bismack Biyombo (plus the drafting of point guard Delon Wright and second round pick/breakout fan favourite Norm Powell), and the continued growth of a returning core centred around Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jonas Valanciunas all contributed to the Raptors’ record season and memorable run to the East Finals.
With major questions surrounding the future of key pieces of the 2015-16, along with a bevy of options regarding the draft, potential trades, and an intriguing free agent market, there is plenty in flux heading into the off-season.
Meeting with reporters during his season-ending press conference Monday morning, Ujiri addressed all of the above, stating that his top priority was to re-sign DeMar DeRozan, who will be one of the most coveted players around the NBA this summer.
Here’s a quick rundown of what else Ujiri had to say about the pieces of his roster that are also very much in flux:
Most important position to upgrade: Power Forward
If Ujiri and the Raptors do manage to bring both DeRozan and Bismack Biyombo back into the fold (a difficult—unlikely, even— goal Ujiri stated on Monday), it will leave the Raptors with minimal cap space to acquire free agents. But given the teams’ two first rounders (more on those in a bit) and possible trade chips like Terrence Ross (more on that, too), some creativity could open the team up to more options to improve the team via free agency.
When asked about potential free agent targets, Ujiri identified the four-spot as an area he feels the Raptors need to address most.
Luis Scola was a key contributor in the regular season and played a bigger role on the club than most could have anticipated when he was quietly signed last summer, but the playoffs hammered home that he probably shouldn’t be playing big minutes for a team with their eye on the NBA Finals. Patrick Patterson was outstanding at times on both ends of the floor but is more valuable (and seems more comfortable) coming off the bench. DeMarre Carroll can play the four, but projects to again be the starting small forward.
In other words: Ujiri is right. But with the team’s cap situation still uncertain, and a lack of marquee players available at the position (or in the NBA, period, these days) it could affect the Raptors’ options.
“The way the NBA is going,” Ujiri said, “and also the emergence of Valanciunas and Biyombo, [power forward] is a position where we really kind of have to get creative there and figure out what’s going to work, not only financially and not only fitting with the cap but also the type of player that we bring.
Given that Ujiri also maintained Valanciunas is ready to take on a much bigger role in the offense, it means the team needs a player who doesn’t require a ton of touches, but can help protect the low post and, given the nature of today’s NBA, step out to the three-point line and also guard opposing forwards along the perimeter. There are role players out there that fit the description (more on that later this week), but it appears for Ujiri it will all be about fit in context with the existing roster.
One thing the Raptors have going for them now is that they’ve suddenly become quite an attractive destination for free agents, something that, well, hasn’t exactly always been the case.
Drafting a trade
Earlier in the season, Ujiri mentioned that with Lucas Nogueira, Norm Powell, Delon Wright, and Bruno Caboclo his team had plenty of young players as it is, and that he isn’t interested in adding any more development projects.
Which makes his current situation, owning not one but two first round picks (including one in the lottery at no.9 overall, courtesy the New York Knicks) interesting. Here’s what Ujiri had to say about his draft options:
“Looking at it, I don’t know there’s any player, and there might be, our guys…are working their butts off to figure out what kind of players there will be at nine, at 27. Do we draft a guy and hold him out for a year? Do we trade the picks? We’re happy to have these options. We’re appreciative to have these options on our table. I don’t know that our coaches are going to be pushing for two young guys on our team.”
When asked explicitly about trading the picks, Ujiri said “I’m open. I’m open to moving any time. Do you have any suggestions?” Do you have suggestions? Leave ’em in the comment section below.
Second-most important position to upgrade
After power forward, Ujiri explicitly mentioned the backup small forward position as another area of need for his club. James Johnson is a free agent, and while Casey did throw him out there to guard LeBron during the East Finals, Johnson’s role has always been inconsistent. Norm Powell showed promise playing the three in small ball lineups, but is nowhere near an ideal option to back up Carroll. Bruno Caboclo…Well, we’ve still got a couple of years left.
So clearly, the Raptors could use some depth on the wing at small forward, and preferably a consistent shooter at that. Interestingly (or not, I could be reading too much into this), Ujiri did not mention Terrence Ross as an option (cue the trade rumours, or snide comments letting me know that Ross is a shooting guard).
