Raptors’ roster dubbed one of NBA’s most “confusing” by B/R

The Toronto Raptors have felt perfectly comfortable with building a team that goes against the grain of traditional NBA roster management principles. While that did help Masai Ujiri win a championship, it has also helped make them one of the more unusually built teams in the league.

The whole “Vision 6-9” escapade might be coming to a slight close after the poor results of yesteryear got Nick Nurse fired, but the Raptors still have some remnants of that philosophy pottering around this roster. The team also lost one of its best players in Fred VanVleet.

Raptors fans are not the only ones confused by how Ujiri has put this team together, as it goes against many of the modern principles of asset management. Bleacher Report believes that only a select few teams can claim to have more baffling rosters than what Toronto has now.

B/R ranked the Raptors as the No. 3 most confusing roster in the league. Only the Rudy Gobert-led frontcourt of the Minnesota Timberwolves and an equally mediocre Chicago Bulls team who chose not to run it back rank as more unusual rosters across the NBA.

Toronto Raptors ranked as No. 3 most confusing roster in NBA.

The questions surrounding this roster are obvious. Will new signing Dennis Schroder start at point guard? Can Scottie Barnes handle that role? Where will the shooting come from? Will Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby be willing to secede shots to Barnes this season?

Ujiri’s roster remains quite funky from a stylistic point of view. While he has made strides to improve in the last few months, there is still minimal point guard depth and a general lack of shooting. Gradey Dick can’t save the entire rotation. 

The lack of direction and clarity from this front office is what has the rest of the NBA world in such a frenzy. They are committed to trying to make it to the postseason this year due to the Jakob Poeltl trade and signing, but three-fifths of their starting lineup could hit free agency after this season.

The Raptors don’t seem willing to completely flip their roster style upside down in the next few months, so fans should prepare for more of the same frustrations from last year. Hopefully, Darko Rajakovic adds enough new wrinkles to set them apart from what Nick Nurse did with many of the same pieces last year.