The 2020 NBA Playoffs came to an end for the Toronto Raptors in a seven games series loss to the Boston Celtics. Now, the Toronto Raptors have several roster adjustments to consider, and here is a look at five moves the team should make this off-season.
2020 did not end as well as 2019 did for the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors fell nine wins short of their 2019 success this season. What that ultimately means is that the 2020 roster minus Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green is competitive and good enough to challenge the best teams in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. However, the team was flawed and will need to be tweaked.
It does not mean that general manager Bobby Webster and president Masai Ujiri need to revamp, blowup, or completely remake the roster. The management team has kept the Toronto Raptors competitive for seven consecutive seasons, and there is no reason this run of success cannot extend to eight.
There are several contractual decisions such as Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, Fred Vanvleet, and Rondae Hollis Jefferson that might be harder to manage in this off-season. The NBA salary cap may dwindle league-wide because of financial losses due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a 29th overall draft pick that could be swapped for a future choice to save cap space or package with other draft picks and players to upgrade the roster talent.
Masai Ujiri has repeatedly proven that these tough choices do not scare him, and he usually makes the correct decisions. From that standpoint, the Raptors are in good hands, but Masai Ujiri has not discussed an extension to his contract that runs out next season.
Despite the uncertainty with the roster and management, the five moves the Toronto Raptors should make this off-season are:
Re-sign Serge Ibaka
It would be an understatement to say that Serge Ibaka was the best center employed by the Toronto Raptors in the 2019/20 season. When healthy, he was productive at both ends of the floor, providing rebounding, muscle, and rim protection defensively. Offensively, Ibaka provided the Raptors with 15.4 points per game.
All things relative, considering he had to come off the bench and split time with starter Marc Gasol, Ibaka’s numbers are awe-inspiring. Combined, Marc Gasol and Ibaka made over 48 million this past season. Ibaka was a complete player while Gasol was a shell of his past self and an unreliable liability on the court, especially on offense.
Ibaka, age 31, can likely expect a salary bump after his contributions to a championship team in 2019 and a very productive 2020. The Raptors may want to offer the seven-foot free agent a two-year deal, 1+1 (one year guaranteed with a team option for year two) totaling 60 million or 30 million a season.
If rumors are correct and the situation works out, and the Toronto Raptors want cap room to sign Giannis Antetokounmpo next season as a free agent, the Raptors could decline Ibaka after a single season. By declining the option year on Ibaka, the Raptors would automatically free up 30 million in cap space depending on other contractual situations, of course.
In any event, Ibaka is a productive big man who, in today’s style of NBA play, can stretch the floor and make three-pointers while also being athletic enough to defend his position. Serge Ibaka would be a welcome returning asset to the Toronto Raptors roster in 2020/21.
Do not sign Fred Vanvleet
The most challenging decision the Toronto Raptors will have to make this off-season should be not to offer a contract to Fred Vanvleet. He did average 17.6 points per game, 6.6 assists per game, and shot the three-pointer at 39%.
Its other qualities that make Fred VanVleet a bad signing for the Toronto Raptors. The Raptors get to free up nearly 50 million invested in the center position on the roster. While it would be prudent to bring back Serge Ibaka, paying almost 50 million to two short point-guards would be just as crippling as the salaries paid to the unproductive Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka at center this season.
It is absolute a bidding war will start for Fred VanVleet’s impressive skill set, taking his salary from nine million this season to a range between 20-25 million a year. Kyle Lowry has an extension for one more season at 30 million for next season.
In the recently completed series against the Boston Celtics, the Raptors’ lack of size on perimeter defense was a detriment as Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker, and even Jaylen Brown was able to shoot over the top of the Raptors’ guard tandem. It also wasn’t difficult to pass around either Kyle Lowry or VanVleet, either.
There is also the issue that Norman Powell averaged 16 points per game and shot 39.9% from the three-point arc. Powell also is under contract for one more year at a manageable10 million. At six-foot, four-inches, Powell has more size than VanVleet and is just as good.
Norman Powell ended the season with a +9 difference between offensive and defensive rating per 100 possessions, whereas VanVleet was +7.
The only difference between Norman Powell and Fred VanVleet is Norman Powell has one more season of experience, four inches in height advantage, a guaranteed contract, and Norman Powell was drafted in the second round while VanVleet was undrafted.
While Norman Powell is ready to take over at the shooting guard, Terence Davis had a strong rookie season on a winning team. He is sure to take another positive step in his development as a sophomore. Fred VanVleet is just too expensive in the grand scheme of things for the Toronto Raptors.
Select a center with the 29th pick of the 2020 NBA Draft
One of the Toronto Raptors’ flaws this season was their size. The Raptors were a guard and wingman loaded roster with six small forwards. The team did not have an adequate backup to Pascal Siakam, with Stanley Johnson nearly nailed to the bench all season long.
There were also times that both Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol were injured, and it meant small forward Rondae Hollis Jefferson had to play center against the Phoenix Suns one night. At 29th overall in the NBA Draft, the Raptors could select prospect Zeke Nnaji, a six-foot eleven-inch pf/c from Arizona.
Even if Zeke Nnaji needs to develop at the G-League level, the Toronto Raptors organization has done exceptionally well in this department. The Raptors 905 have played a massive role in Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, and other young players regularly contributing to the main roster.
At the moment, Zeke Nnaji has moved up about five spots on mock drafts with he current projections on nbadraft.net, suggesting the New York Knicks could take Zeke Nnaji at number 27.
If that is the case, it might be possible to work out a deal with the Knicks for center Mitchell Robinson who recently signed a manageable three-year deal at 4.7 million. He is averaging 2.2 block shots per game and could back up Serge Ibaka while Chris Boucher could back up Pascal Siakam.
Should one or neither of these moves work out, Montrezl Harrell of the Los Angeles Clippers is an unrestricted free agent. He earned six million this past season, and depending on cap restraints and the market; the Raptors could offer him a three year 45-50 million dollar deal.
He could be a useful and productive backup at both the power forward and center spot. Harrell averaged 18.6 points and 7.1 rebounds per game with the Clippers this season and would provide the size the Raptors lacked in 2019/20.
The Raptors should not trade Kyle Lowry
Kyle Lowry has aged like a fine wine with the Toronto Raptors. There have been rough spots along the way in his eight years in Toronto. However, he has reached legendary status as a Raptors’ fan favorite.
He is not a flashy player, nor is he a top-five talent in the NBA. What he is is a six-time NBA All-Star (all as a Raptor) and the heart and soul of the Toronto Raptors franchise. It would be a gut punch to rip him out of the lineup before he is either unwilling or incapable of playing in a Raptors uniform.
At age 33, he just completed a season in which he averaged 19.4 points and 7.5 assists per game. He will earn 30 million next season. For the Toronto Raptors to remain competitive, it’s not required that Kyle Lowry stay a member of the roster. Still, it certainly wouldn’t hurt the team chemistry and identity since the Raptors’ smallest player on the court is also their most ferocious competitor.
His unceremonious and unnecessary removal from the roster would be heart-wrenching to the fanbase and the team. Management would be removing much more than a 33-year-old player and 30 million from the roster if they traded him. Yet, conventional wisdom suggests handing the point guard position to Fred VanVleet, and moving on from an aging Kyle Lowry is a viable option.
The trouble with that reasoning is that Kyle Lowry’s value to Toronto may be higher to them than to any other team, and the amount received in return could be disappointing.
Extending Masai Ujiri’s contract
The architect of the last eight years, the most extraordinary consecutive run of competitive basketball in Toronto history, is Masai Ujiri. First, signing as the team’s general manager in May of 2013 and currently as the president of the team’s basketball operations.
Masai Ujiri is a one-time NBA executive of the year, with the Denver Nuggets, and it’s hard to explain why he hasn’t won it in Toronto yet. Since he arrived in 2013, the Toronto Raptors have not missed the playoffs. In the summer of 2018, he took the considerable risk of trading then Raptors’ star DeMar DeRozan for a one year rental of Kawhi Leonard.
It worked. Toronto won the 2019 NBA title. His brilliance can also be measured because the Raptors have been a winning team without lottery picks. Norman Powell, Pascal Siakam, and OG Anunoby were drafted in consecutive years and were all late first-rounders or second-round draft picks. Players like Fred VanVleet and Chris Boucher were undrafted.
Masai Ujiri tends to make all the right moves, and now Toronto Raptors ownership needs to do what’s best for the organization and re-sign Masai Ujiri. He is currently in the last year of his contract and recently took care of head coach Nick Nurse’s contract extension.
The excellent news is Masai Ujiri may sign soon, according to Marc Stein.
The strong rumble in the Bubble was that Toronto was closing in on new long-term deals for president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri and GM Bobby Webster as well as coach Nick Nurse ...
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) September 17, 2020
Nurse's new deal was announced Tuesday ... now we await extensions for Ujiri and Webster
It would be highly advantageous not to let Masai Ujiri become a free agent and extend his contract now. He has been, by far, the best executive, president, or general manager, by performance, the Raptors have ever employed.