Toronto Raptors: Will They Improve Upon Success?

By Joshua Howe | Jul 14, 2015

February 20, 2015; Oakland, CA, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Cory Joseph (5) shoots the basketball during the fourth quarter against the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Spurs 110-99. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /

The Toronto Raptors won a franchise-best 49 games this past season, even though it didn’t taste as good as it should have due to the team basically morphing into a .500 squad after the All-Star break.

Still, success is success and Toronto appears to be moving in the right direction under Masai Ujiri and Dwane Casey. But with the nightmarish reminder that the Raps were swept out of the playoffs in the first round by the Wizards, that success must be taken with a grain (or several spoonfuls) of salt.

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The Raptors’ roster has changed a lot this summer. The core is still intact, but the surrounding pieces have been shuffled and reset.

There still may be some moves left to make before the offseason ends, but from the looks of things, Toronto is going to be in a semi-transition year–a time period in which the team is still capable of being competitive in a weak East, but is not yet nearly close to becoming an actual title contender.

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Some veteran guys were released and younger legs were brought in to replace them. There will no longer be Greivis Vasquez running the backup point position; instead, that will now by fielded by the much younger duo of Cory Joseph and Delon Wright.

The high-volume shooting/scoring of Lou Williams off the bench was also lost this offseason. To replace it? Terrence Ross will now be a bench player, along with James Johnson, who did a pretty good job of scoring last season. Even so, this is clearly a weaker area now for the Raps unless Ross finally breaks out.

The squad did add Luis Scola though, who will provide some solid bench scoring if need be.

For the moment, Patrick Patterson looks like he’s lined up to play the starting power forward position. The Raptors opening lineup of Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll, Patterson and Jonas Valanciunas is pretty well set to play in the new NBA, and there will be various options of the small ball style that Casey will be able to go to.

Carroll, the most important (and highest paid) addition to the roster, is a very good 3&D guy. In fact, he’s one of the best in the league. Defensively, not much should change. But the Raptors’ offensive schemes aren’t nearly what the Hawks’ are under Mike Budenholzer.

Casey runs simple sets and the team thrives when they move the ball among themselves to get the best shot. There isn’t usually a designed play for it. They will need to do that a lot this season, since they essentially gave up some offense for some defense this summer.

Carroll will find things a bit tougher to adjust to in Toronto. He won’t have sharpshooter Kyle Korver running around and causing havoc on the offensive end, forcing players to forget where he is so he can get an open three.

Thankfully, both Lowry and DeRozan can create their own shot, so if things get flowing nicely, Carroll should be able to meld his game into Toronto’s style rather quickly. Still, he may have to show a bit more off the dribble action this year than the last.

But that’s why you get paid the big bucks.

So will the Raps really be better this coming season than the last?

Well, they played extremely well in the first half of last season but constantly (throughout the entire year) relied heavily on their offense (along with mediocre defense). When they started to get bogged down for various reasons (one of the most vital being the DeRozan injury), they started dropping games and their defensive rating took a sharp dive.

That’s what Ujiri has tried to fix this offseason. The Raps should be a much better defensive team. Will this translate into more wins? Perhaps. Offense will be a bit harder to come by, but it truly depends on the production the core players will be able to give; especially Valanciunas and Ross.

It is undeniable, however, that a great defense is almost always easier to sustain than a great offense. Unless your offense is horrific to start a la the 2014 Pacers.

Casey loves defense. He preaches it constantly. That’s where the Raptors will start next season; working on that aspect of the game. The offense will come.

Final answer? Yes, I think they will improve on the success from last season, though it may not be by winning more games. It may simply be by becoming a grind-it-out team that meshes well enough that it’s impossible to look at them and think, “These guys could get swept in round one.”

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