1. Discovering the bench
With the departure of Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka, the seven-man core of the 2019 championship roster had dwindled down to three (Kawhi Leonard, Serge, Marc, Danny Green, Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam).
Cementing VanVleet once again as the team’s starting 2-guard and giving OG Anunoby more opportunity softened the blow somewhat, but the elite frontcourt depth that had contained Giannis and stymied Embiid had all but evaporated.
Watching our former rotation guys grow and find their way into greater responsibility has been a pleasure, but it also begs the question “who is going to replace them off the bench?” Acquiring Aron Baynes in the offseason (the one turd in the Raptor’s 2021 front office punchbowl), Masai Ujiri dressed no less than TEN new players in black and red this season.
This carousel of backups is usually a telltale sign of a team in free-fall. The result of having no grounding force so the coach and GM are forced to try out random G-leaguers and free agents just to see if anyone will stick. While in the case of the Raptors, nearly all of these former bottom feeders have overachieved in their rolls off the bench.
The Toronto Raptors had some solid bench contributors.
Yuta Watanabe was stuck playing for the Memphis Hustle last year before he came in a became a staple as a backup. Malachi Flynn spent half the year with the Raptors 905. He was the last pick of the first round, a 23-year-old, undersized, rookie point guard, but has earned himself rookie of the month honors in April due to his greater roll off the bench.
Paul Watson had a 30-point night this season. Freddie Gillespie went undrafted in November and unemployed until the Raptors signed him in April. He’s now the team’s backup PF/C. Khem Birch was fighting for minutes off the Magic’s bench before the team signed him. Now he’s a starter averaging 11 points and 8 rebounds a game.
This is what Masai Ujiri does best. History will remember the Kawhi Leonard trade and the ring and rightly so, but these savvy, quiet, yet valuable signings have allowed the Raptors to be a playoff team for nearly a decade. How does he do it? How does he continue to find these pearls in an enormous pile of coal?