The Toronto Raptors are viewed by many as a team that is going to regress in 2023-24. With Nick Nurse in Philadelphia and Fred VanVleet in Houston, many are skeptical of Toronto’s plan to replace those two franchise icons with Darko Rajakovic and Dennis Schroder, respectively.
Masai Ujiri, on the other hand, thinks this team is perfectly equipped to be a winner right out of the box. Why else would he refuse to trade VanVleet away before free agency and resist trade offers for many of Toronto’s best players? He thinks this team has made some strides in the right direction.
The Raptors have made some improvements this season, even if the general vibe surrounding this team is one of ambivalence and uncertainty. The team had some noteworthy flaws last year, and the front office has taken steps, incremental as they may be, to fix them.
When one looks at the Raptors’ roster and contrasts it to what they went into last season with, it is abundantly clear that Toronto has taken some steps in the right direction. Look for the team to be much stronger in multiple areas that correspond to winning.
3 areas where the Toronto Raptors improved in 2023-24.
3. Interior Defense
The Raptors were playing like one of the best defensive teams in the league when they finally acquired a true rim-protecting center in Jakob Poeltl at the trade deadline. After a solid half-season stint, Toronto will finally get to unleash him for an entire 82-game campaign after signing him to a four-year contract.
Precious Achiuwa is going to have yet another year under his belt, which should only make one of the best defensive power forwards in the Eastern Conference more feared on that end. The signing of Jalen McDaniels gives Toronto another versatile threat who can slow down wings and bigs alike.
The Toronto Raptors will have a solid defense in 2023-24.
The Raptors ranked as the fourth-best defense in the league in terms of points per game last season. However, the team’s defensive rating showed that they were the 12th-best team in the league. Nick Nurse’s slow, methodical pace made the raw points per game numbers a bit misleading.
While Rajakovic promises to ruin a more exciting, up-tempo attack, it would be a major disappointment if Toronto does not end the season as a Top 10 team in the league in defensive rating. Poeltl will be a big part of this unit, as will OG Anunoby being just as deadly inside the arc as he was last year.
2. Overall Depth
Even those who detested the Raptors were crying out for Ujiri and the rest of the front office to get this team a better rotation. Drafting Gradey Dick, who promises to be an integral part of the team going forward, was a start in getting this bench to perform at peak efficiency.
VanVleet may have signed a monster contract with the Rockets, but the money that would have been used on a deal for him has been allocated to a high-end starting center in Poeltl, a quality bench forward in McDaniels, and the best Sixth Man this team has had in quite some time in German sensation Dennis Schroder.
The Toronto Raptors have more depth this season.
The Raptors still need to figure out what they are doing with names like Otto Porter Jr. and Malachi Flynn, both of whom currently find themselves out of a projected 10-man rotation. At the very least, it’s nice for the Raptors to have too many players for the rotation instead of scrambling to find anyone to soak up minutes.
One of the main reasons Rajakovic’s Memphis Grizzlies teams were so effective was their bench, as they were still able to light teams up when names like Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr. sat. While Toronto’s group is nowhere near close to that yet, Rajakovic has to start from somewhere.
1. Perimeter Scoring
One of (perhaps the) main reasons that Gradey Dick was selected No. 13 overall over a point guard like Kobe Bufkin was the idea that his ace 3-point marksmanship was in such short supply on this Toronto roster that they needed to bring on the best possible shooter available.
Dick coming to town along with McDaniels will make Toronto a much more respected team from 3-point range. Schroder isn’t a dominant shooter, but he’s a proven scorer and finisher who has scored at least 10 points per game in every season except his rookie year.
The Toronto Raptors have more perimeter scoring in 2023-24.
Toronto is taking another bet on internal development, as they think the best way to solve their spacing issues from the prior season is to unleash Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes as shooters. Their ability to make good on that objective will be critical to this team’s success in 2023 and beyond.
Dick and Schroder will help matters out, but either of those two (looking at you in particular, Scottie) taking a step forward far away from the basket would be a godsend for this roster. Rajakovic’s history with shooters in Memphis and elsewhere could give fans some optimism that such an improvement is right around the corner.