Raptors: Winners and Losers as first half of 2022-23 season ends
By Mike Luciano
Loser: Vision 6-9
Ujiri remains 100% convinced that building the Toronto roster with as many switchable forwards as possible is the herald of what basketball is going to look like in the future. Unfortuantely, Ujiri’s roster construction looks less like that of a new dominant force in the NBA and more like a jumbled mess of players with overlapping skillsets.
Despite the best efforts of Gary Trent Jr. and others, Toronto ranks near the bottom of the league in most shooting categories. The Raptors got high on their own supply just a tad here, as they tasked Nurse with taking multiple bad shooters and turning them into noteworthy offensive players. Naturally, they failed.
The Toronto Raptors may abandon “Vision 6-9” soon.
Too much versatility can, in effect, make your team as rigid and redundant as ever. When the offense is struggling, and all Nick Nurse can do is look down at an army of 6-8 forwards who can’t create open shots for themselves, the Raptors’ ability to make in-game adjustments is severely limited.
The Raptors’ big offseason moves were all “Vision 6-9” related, as they retained Chris Boucher and Thad Young while signing Otto Porter Jr. and talking up Precious Achiuwa. Boucher has been wildly inconsistent, Young is seemingly out of the rotation, Achiuwa has missed time, and Porter is out for the year. Ouch.