Toronto Raptors: Changes Coming Already?

In our first Toronto Raptors column, we wrote about potential things that we were not a big fan of.  One of those things was the trade market for Rudy Gay if things started badly.  We surmised that given Gay’s contract, 18 million this season, combined with a ridiculously ballyhooed draft next summer, other teams would not be lining up to give up players or draft picks.  Of course, we figured that new GM Masai Ujiri would want some time to be able to evaluate the roster and see what he had before deciding on wholesale changes.  We certainly did not think that such talk would be coming after two games.  However, according to ESPN’s Marc Stein, in the article Toronto Raptors looking to make moves, he reports that it is not only Gay that’s expendable, but everyone except Jonas Valanciunas.  This is bold.  Hopes were high going into the season that this team could make the playoffs for the first time in five years.  It seems obvious that Ujiri is looking to make his own stamp on the franchise, but he has young, talented pieces here that seem hungry to succeed.  We were clear in our first column that Gay could be made expendable quickly, but we are shocked by the report of such a potential blowup, especially for a team that was primed for a playoff birth.  Let’s try and examine what Ujiri may be thinking and what moves might make sense, albeit with no basis whatsoever.

Jonas Valanciunas is a big part of the Toronto Raptors’ future plans. (Photo by Matthew Addie/Flickr.com)

Anyone but Jonas: We knew from the outset that Valanciunas was going to be the Toronto Raptors centerpiece, which is why it is not surprising that he was mentioned as untouchable in the report.  Almost every column that we have wrote has noted our concern about touches and shots for Valanciunas.  While Gay and DeMar DeRozan are very good offensive players, they are volume scorers.  Is it possible that Uriji shares our concern and knows that Valanciunas’s development cannot be maximized with players like this around him?  We would not disagree with this sentiment, but Uriji would need a specific blueprint for what he wants to construct.

Return for Gay: This is what makes us nervous.  We hope that Uriji is not planning on holding an auction and assuming that other teams are going to throw high draft picks in the 2014 draft at him.  It is not going to happen.  All the talk is that this is a transcendent draft, with potential franchise players littered throughout the top 10.  Teams know what Gay is–a good player; the third best player on a championship team–and they also know that he has been in trade rumors consistently since he has been in the league.  If Ujiri is intent on moving him, he needs to temper his expectations.  Gay can also opt out at the end of the season; that is not ideal for the Raptors’ leverage or for their team going forward, either, if they are sure he will choose free agency after not moving him.  We are not even going to speculate about what they may get in return.  Six for 23 nights like Thursday are not good for anyone.

DeRozan too?: We don’t like this, as we have stated in previous columns our affinity for DeRozan and project that he will take a big step up in efficiency this season.  Nights like the first two (14-23 31 pts; 6-11 21 pts) only affirm our bullishness on DeRozan, but perhaps Uriji sees his chance here.  Maybe DeRozan fetches a greater bounty than Gay or bigger than we could expect.  He does seem like a player that could help a team like the Chicago Bulls or anyone else who could use a boost in scoring.  Maybe the Raptors feel like Terrence Ross could do the job that DeRozan does and that he only needs more minutes to prove it.  Simply, we feel that an established 24 year old scorer who has already taken further strides this season is an asset to build around.  The Raptors are not going to win with just Valanciunas and a bunch of role players.

We give Masai Ujiri credit for having a vision of the type of team that he wants to build.  He has to be praised for work already done with the Denver Nuggets, when he traded a big name in Carmelo Anthony for a package of players that made the Nuggets better.  That is the objective.  We have to believe in Ujiri’s vision, but the goal of any move has to be getting closer to winning a championship.  We would like to know if Gay is making any noise behind closed doors, or if he is simply doing what he has always done: be good enough to be coveted while not being good enough to be needed.

[slider_pro id=”28″]