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Toronto Raptors: Time To Tear It Down?

By Greg Chin

Nov 28, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) looks on as guard Lou Williams (23) and forward Patrick Patterson (54) and forward Amir Johnson (15) and point guard Kyle Lowry (7) wait for the resumption of play against the Dallas Mavericks at Air Canada Centre. The Mavericks beat the Raptors 106-102. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 28, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan (10) looks on as guard Lou Williams (23) and forward Patrick Patterson (54) and forward Amir Johnson (15) and point guard Kyle Lowry (7) wait for the resumption of play against the Dallas Mavericks at Air Canada Centre. The Mavericks beat the Raptors 106-102. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports /
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Let’s face it: the Toronto Raptors were a huge disappointment last season. Coming off one of their best seasons in franchise history, the Raptors followed it up with an absolute stinker of a season.

They started the 2014-15 season strongly, only to fade as the playoffs neared. Then, in the playoffs, they were the only team with home court advantage to lose the first two games, and found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-0 sweep at the hands of the Washington Wizards.

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With almost two months to dissect and analyze what went wrong, perhaps the simplest answer is the right one: the current batch of Raptors just might not be that good.

After all, general manager Masai Ujiri stumbled upon the team’s success midway through the 2013-14 season. He had originally intended to tear the team down and start a rebuilding process after trading away Rudy Gay, but the team surpassed expectations and actually got better without Gay. He decided to see how far the team could go, but was bullish on their actual ceiling. His hesitation in making a trade during the midseason trade window made one thing clear: Ujiri didn’t completely believe in this team.

And looking back on it, he’s right. Aside from Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, the rest of the team is expendable. You could make the case that Terrence Ross, Jonas Valanciunas, and James Johnson are all core members of the team, but it’s unlikely that you’ll see them playing for a contender when June rolls around. If the Raptors continue on with this team, they could end up in basketball purgatory – good enough to make the playoffs, but never good enough to win it all.

It sounds laughable that the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference needs to undergo a rebuild, but the Raps’ goal here should be a title, not annual first round playoff knockouts. Even their Atlantic Division titles are a bit of a joke; the rest of the teams in the division finished with a win percentage under .500.

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    • The good news for Raps’ fans is that they will only have three guaranteed contracts (Lowry, DeRozan, and Patrick Patterson) when the 2016 offseason starts. Greivis Vasquez and James Johnson will be unrestricted free agents, while Valanciunas and Ross will be restricted free agents. And with the salary cap set to spike then, the Raptors could be major players in the free agent market in 2016.

    If Ujiri decides to tear the team down and start rebuilding, he will have to decide which players are worth keeping around. Amir Johnson, Landry Fields, Chuck Hayes, Lou Williams, Tyler Hansbrough, Nando De Colo, and Greg Stiemsma are all free agents this offseason, and Ujiri could decide not to re-sign any of them. The Raptors could use next season to assess their two prospects Lucas Nogueira and Bruno Caboclo, and give them significant playing time in order to improve.

    The framework for a teardown is there if Ujiri chooses that path. And therein lies Ujiri’s genius – he wasn’t willing to commit 100 percent into this team, despite the success the team had. He still managed to surround the team with enough talent without mortgaging too much of their future. The Raps still have a ton of salary cap flexibility, which isn’t something you can say about many of the playoff teams from last season.

    The post-Rudy Gay Raptors brought a wave of excitement to Raptors’ fans everywhere. It seemed like for the first time since Chris Bosh’s departure, the Raptors were relevant again. However, it was all sizzle and no substance, as they faltered in the playoffs. If the Raptors are serious about winning a title, they should think long and hard about tearing it all down and rebuilding.

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