Heading into the 2024-25 season, the Toronto Raptors gave an honest self-assessment of the direction they expect to be moving.
Toronto's president of basketball operations, Masai Ujiri, made it apparent at the team's media day on Monday: the Raptors aren't going to be contenders entering this season.
"I would use the word 'rebuilding,' that's the right word," Ujiri said when asked what adjective defines the Raptors heading into this campaign. "I think we have a clear path now going forward."
That path hadn't been so clear in recent years following their title run in 2019, as the Raptors found themselves in the middle ground of a changing Eastern Conference and a new era of basketball in Toronto.
However, the team finally came to terms with its fate last season, picking a direction to head down and trading away franchise stalwarts Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby ahead of the deadline.
The moves firmly entrenched the Raptors as a team looking to build around first-time All-Star Scottie Barnes, with the Anunoby trade netting fellow developmental players Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett in return — two players who fit in on the same timeline as Barnes — and the Siakam deal giving them a bevy of picks and a player in Bruce Brown that could be flipped to a contender.
"Young team, growing team. I think we set a path that went into the draft last year," Ujiri said. "Got a couple young players and we want to continue to grow and build this team around Scottie [Barnes], who's 23 years old, and continue to grow as a team.
"In sports, you always want to be competitive and you play to win, but it is a rebuilding team. I think everybody sees that loud and clear."
Along with 2023 first-round pick Gradey Dick, the Raptors have opted to take more shots at the draft, with four new faces joining the team for this new campaign: 19th-overall pick Ja'Kobe Walter, 31st pick Jonathan Mogbo, 45th pick Jamal Shead and 57th pick Ulrich Chomche.
Though it's no sure thing that each finds a role on the Raptors from Day 1 or that all the pieces on the current roster stick, the goal for this year for Ujiri is simply seeing growth from the young players on the squad.
"I think the growth and progress of all our players," Ujiri said, when asked about how he'll measure success in a rebuilding year. "The progress of our players is going to really tell. You'll be able to see. Young teams find it difficult to win in this league. That's just the way the league is. But we want to really build on this.
"We'll continue to try and compete every night, and we'll see where progress will be."
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