Raptors News: Catastrophic injuries, draft odds, Porter retires, embracing the tank

Embracing the tank

After losing four-straight games and without Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl for an extended period, the Toronto Raptors are functionally eliminated from the postseason, even if there is a mathematical possibility. It's time for Toronto to pivot to embracing the tank and trying to "organizationally lose" as much as possible over the rest of the season.

There are some obvious ways to do that, including being conservative with injuries and giving increased run to their young players, but there are some more subtle avenues to that as well. We looked at four moves the Raptors could make, both obvious and subtle, to maximize their lottery odds.

Current lottery odds

The Raptors owe their first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs if it falls between 7 and 30 in the first round this year. They currently sit in seventh in the "reverse standings" which means they would need to leap into the Top 4 to keep their pick. If they can "catch" the Memphis Grizzlies, who have one fewer win, they would have a much better chance of retaining the pick.

If they keep the seventh-best lottery odds, then they would have a 31.9 percent chance of retaining their pick. If they slide up to the sixth-best odds, they would have a 45.8 percent chance of retaining their pick.

Toronto's schedule the rest of the way rates as the 18th-most difficult, while Memphis has a much easier schedule, ranked 27th-hardest (or fourth-easiest if you prefer). There is a very real chance they can win fewer games than the Grizzlies the rest of the way.

What's Next

The Toronto Raptors wrap up their road trip in Detroit on Wednesday night to take on the Pistons. If the team is still trying to get wins, that would be one to circle. Then it's a home-and-home series with the Orlando Magic and their suffocating defense; they lost by 19 points to the Magic in November in a game where they started Dennis Schroder, OG Anunoby, Scottie Barnes, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl; none of those players will be available this time around.