Toronto Raptors: 2016 Offseason Grades

Re-Signing DeRozan

Does the term “necessary evil” ring a bell?

That’s not to say that DeMar DeRozan is a bad player, or that the Raptors would’ve been justified in letting him walk in free agency this summer.

In fact, it’s a significant victory in and of itself that for the second year in a row, Toronto has been the favorite to retain one of its prized free agents despite plenty of interest from other suitors around the league.

Keeping the Kyle Lowry-DeRozan backcourt intact ensures the Raptors will be in the running for a top seed in the Eastern Conference again next year, and ponying up for a player who just averaged a career-high 23.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game on 44.6 percent shooting makes sense.

But a five-year, $139 million contract is a whopping amount to play for such a flawed player when it comes to his three-point shooting and defense. Seriously, without the allure of “We The North” and his fun chemistry with Lowry, what is DeRozan other than a less talented, less efficient James Harden?

Harden got paid up, and there’s certainly enough money to go around for one-sided players like the Beard and DeRozan in this league, but paying $27.8 million a year — 29.6 percent of next year’s salary cap — for DeMar is still a significant chunk.

However, DeRozan played massive minutes for a Raptors team that won a franchise-record 56 games and made its first conference finals. Toronto wouldn’t have been able to find a better replacement with their cap space had DeRozan walked, and under the booming salary cap, this deal won’t look so massive a few years down the road.

The Raptors really had no other choice here, and his deal is $13 million shy of the full $152 million max DeRozan could’ve pushed for. But like a college student just trying to get by that last psych class with a passing grade to graduate, the Raptors putting their heads down and doing what needs to be done is only enough for a C+.

Grade: C+

Next: Signing Sullinger