Raptors 19-Player Depth Chart and Roster Needs after Draft and Free Agency

Center:

Jakob Poeltl, Chris Boucher, Branden Carlson, Ulrich Chomche

What Happened: To some extent, this summer featured a lack of decisive movement at the center position. The Raptors would say that is because they are comfortable with the collection of players they have in place, including Jakob Poeltl as the starter and Kelly Olynyk and Chris Boucher as the backups. They elected not to address the position in the draft, taking Ja'Kobe Walter ahead of options like DaRon Holmes and Yves Missi and Jonathan Mogbo ahead of Kyle Filipowski and Adem Bona.

The bold move would have been to find a home for Jakob Poeltl in the midst of a market that was highly coveting centers, moving off of his money and resetting the position. They also could have used some team-building avenue to add a backup center to develop. Perhaps they feel good enough about their two-way options; they signed Ulrich Chomche, their 57th overall pick, to a two-way deal and paired him with former Utah center Branden Carlson.

What's Next: If Chris Boucher is healthy he will likely get the first stab at backing up Jakob Poeltl, but more likely the Raptors will need to find out if either Carlson or Chomche are ready for NBA minutes. The most likely candidate to step into rotation minutes is Carlson, who has been a shot-blocking monster at Las Vegas Summer League and is also comfortable shooting from outside.

The overall lack of frontcourt depth is a major issue for the Raptors, and one they will likely look to address in a forthcoming Bruce Brown trade. Ideally the Raptors would add a combo forward who could fill minutes at the 3 and 4, shifting Olynyk to playing more of his minutes alongside Scottie Barnes at the 5 and filling the needed 48 minutes for the position. Otherwise, the Raptors will be leaning on a pair of two-way rookie centers, likely a recipe for disappointment. Toronto certainly hopes they can be pleasantly surprised.