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You play GM: Decide the fate of the Toronto Raptors offseason

By Mike Bossetti

Toronto Raptors - Masai Ujiri (Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images)
Toronto Raptors - Masai Ujiri (Photo by Ron Turenne/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Toronto Raptors – Danny Green (Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images) /

Re-sign Danny Green

He had a rough postseason, but Danny Green is too good to let walk. He fits in perfectly as a two-way starter. Teams don’t find value on the free-agent market, and the Raptors are better off sticking with a known quantity in Danny Green.

With Green and the rest of the Raptors back, you’ve brought back nearly the same team that went to the Conference Finals just a year ago. Yes, Kawhi Leonard is gone, but this team is still solid enough to fight for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

With Green, this team now looks like:

  • Point Guard: Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet
  • Shooting Guard: Danny Green, Norman Powell
  • Small Forward: OG Anunoby, Malcolm Miller
  • Power forward: Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher
  • Center: Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka

The team also has Dewan Hernandez and a few other undrafted free agents. For now, we’ll assume Hernandez is signed to an NBA deal, but anyone else is either on a two-way contract or off the team.

It’s reasonable that,  for the time being, the Raptors will enter the season with only 14 players. You want to keep as much room as possible in order to offer a veteran more than the minimum contract and to give the team a little flexibility heading into the trade deadline if needed.

The team is set in the post and is fine in terms of playable point guards. In today’s NBA you can never have enough wings, and that’s what the Raptors will want to sign first and foremost.

Again, the team will also want to focus on staying below the luxury-tax line, so while they have more exceptions and avenues to add talent, the Raptors really only have $3 million to play with.

That’s barely more than the veteran’s minimum. Toronto can’t get much and will have to hope to win a lotto-ticket.

Possible wings available at $3 million:

  • James Ennis
  • Patrick McCaw
  • Wilson Chandler

You can choose whoever you’d like. For illustrative purposes, we’ll move forward with James Ennis. After that, the Raptors will need to fill out their roster with strictly minimum contracts.

A couple of possible guard options:

  • Raymond Felton
  • Isaiah Thomas
  • Rajon Rondo
  • Shelvin Mack

A couple of possible wing options:

  • Thabo Sefolosha
  • Alec Burks
  • Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot
  • Jodie Meeks

For illustrative purposes, we will move forward with Isaiah Thomas and Alec Burks but you can choose whoever you’d like.

That means the final roster you’ve chosen is:

  • Point Guard: Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Isaiah Thomas
  • Shooting Guard: Danny Green, Norman Powell, Alec Burks
  • Small Forward: OG Anunoby, James Ennis, Malcolm Miller
  • Power forward: Pascal Siakam, Chris Boucher
  • Center: Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka, Dewan Hernandez

Not happy with the results? Feel free to start over.