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.
2. Thad Young
It is quite a shame that Young’s Raptors career has come to this point. A terrific veteran presence who has done whatever has been asked of him and played very well in the postseason against Philadelphia, Young’s value to the Raptors has steadily decreased as time went on.
On top of the fact that the pick Toronto traded to acquire Young could have been used to acquire a player like Malaki Branham or Walker Kessler, Young went from starting as a small ball center to only getting on the floor when the outcome of the game has already been decided.
Thad Young has struggled to stick with the Toronto Raptors.
Young is in a peculiar place with the Raptors. While he is not poised for any rotation time, Toronto did guarantee his salary for the 2023-24 season and hasn’t appeared to make any efforts to trade him away. Masai Ujiri believes that both he and Garrett Temple will provide invaluable veteran mentorship.
Precious Achiuwa is too valuable on the defensive end to take minutes away from, and Chris Boucher has a much higher ceiling on offense. Don’t be surprised if the Raptors keep Young on ice in the regular season until a championship contender tries to snag him in the middle of the season.
1. Malachi Flynn
How much longer are the Raptors going to keep trying this? Flynn, who is older than Gary Trent Jr, is starting his fourth year in the NBA, and he has shown next to no indication that he can be a quality rotation player in the NBA. The inconsistency has gone from frustrating to maddening.
Flynn’s shooting is what has really knee-capped his potential, as he is only making 37% from the field. While he is a standout ball-handler who can make some very creative passes when given a chance, he hasn’t been able to replicate the standout scoring fans saw during the Tampa sabbatical.
Malachi Flynn won’t play much or the Toronto Raptors.
The Raptors will likely use some combination of Schroder and Scottie Barnes to handle most of the ball-handling duties, which will push Flynn even further out of the spotlight. Rajakovic is a solid developer of young talent, but he can’t simultaneously get eight young players to perform at peak efficiency.
Flynn and the Raptors just need a fresh start. There is no way that Flynn establishes himself as a rotation presence barring either a shocking regression from one of the veterans, Gradey Dick looking much rawer than he appeared in Summer League, or calamitously bad injury luck.