The Toronto Raptors’ rotation is going to look much different this season, as star point guard Fred VanVleet departed for a very expensive contract with the Rockets. With multiple players coming in to replace him and Darko Rajakovic inserted as the new head coach, Toronto is going all-in on this revamped look.
Jakob Poeltl was brought back on a new four-year contract, and recent international standout Dennis Schroder has come to town. Their arrival will give a Toronto team that has struggled with depth a collection of veteran assets that can help spread their offensive responsibilities out more evenly.
The Raptors are more than willing to chuck the old way of thinking, including Nick Nurse’s old rotation, in the trash bin as they try to revamp a group that was kicked out of the play-in picture last season. Some of their holdovers from 2022-23 could feel the sting of this directive.
This trio of Raptors players may have had some rotation time at certain points last season, but they will likely be squeezed out of this group at the start of the 2023-24 campaign. Assuming that Rajakovic uses a traditional nine or 10-men rotation, these three will get the short end of the stick.
3 Toronto Raptors players who will not be in the rotation.
3. Otto Porter Jr.
If Rajakovic extends his rotation to 11 players, he might be forced to decide between the more expensive, battle-scarred veteran in Porter and a younger big man in Christian Koloko. If this is the decision Rajakovic is weighing, Koloko should win that battle 10 times out of 10.
Porter played just eight games last season, which is an alarming trend for a player that has had injury issues for his entire career. These problems do not curtail with age. Knowing this, Masai Ujiri was very proactive in signing a similar replacement player in the younger Jalen McDaniels.
Otto Porter Jr. might not get playing time for the Toronto Raptors.
The only way that Porter could end up back in a healthy rotation would be poor shooting. Toronto is once again starting multiple players who are regarded as substandard 3-point marksmen, and Porter was signed (in part) due to his ultra-effective jumper.
Porter may have gotten a raw deal in Toronto, but the Raptors would only make things even more tense if they trust someone with some of the most brittle bones and thinnest ligaments in the league to play such a pivotal role in the rotation. Expect him to get most of his minutes in garbage time.