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Toronto Raptors: Major Changes Need To Be Made

By Gerald Bourguet

Apr 18, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; (left to right) Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) and forward James Johnson (3) and forward Terrence Ross (31) and guard Landry Fields (2) and center Jonas Valanciunas (17) in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Washington Wizards at Air Canada Centre. Washington defeated Toronto 93-86. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 18, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; (left to right) Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) and forward James Johnson (3) and forward Terrence Ross (31) and guard Landry Fields (2) and center Jonas Valanciunas (17) in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Washington Wizards at Air Canada Centre. Washington defeated Toronto 93-86. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Toronto Raptors
Apr 15, 2015; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard Kyle Lowry (7) sits on the bench prior to the game against the Charlotte Hornets at the Air Canada Centre. The Hornets won 92-87. Mandatory Credit: John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports /

If you’re looking for the biggest disappointment of the 2015 NBA Playoffs, look no further than the Toronto Raptors. After starting the season with a stellar 22-6 record, the Raptors had us wondering if they could win the Eastern Conference. This was going to be the best season in franchise history.

But as the season trudged on, Toronto fell back down to earth. Their defense was a bottom-10 unit and their rebounding became a major problem. Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan dealt with injury problems, Jonas Valanciunas was too much of a defensive liability to earn Dwane Casey’s trust in the fourth quarter and the Raptors played sub-.500 basketball after the All-Star break.

All the signs of an imminent collapse were there, but the Washington Wizards hadn’t been blowing teams away down the stretch either. For most, this first round series between the fourth seeded Raptors and fifth seeded Wizards felt like a toss-up.

Two games into the series, everyone knew the sad truth. Falling down 2-0 to the Wizards despite having home court advantage was bad enough, but at least those games were relatively close. Even Game 3 in Washington was only a seven-point loss.

But in the decisive Game 4, the Raptors rolled over and died like, well, the actual raptors once did. And in that 125-94 thrashing, the message from Toronto’s sudden and unexpected extinction was abundantly clear: major changes are needed.

What sort of changes are needed? Who should the Raptors build around moving forward? And how can general manager Masai Ujiri retool this roster so one of his teams can actually make it out of the first round? Here’s a look at the state of basketball in Canada and where it needs to go from here.

Next: The Proverbial Ceiling

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