After a top-five finish and first-round series that they were able to push to seven games despite injuries to two starters, the Raptors should feel pretty good with where they are and excited about how much better this team can still get. But the Raptors, like every team in the NBA, also have things to fear in the offseason. A lot can go wrong in just one summer, after all.
Bleacher Report’s Grant Hughes listed “shooting is too expensive” as the Raptors’ worst fear this offseason, noting that there aren’t too many great 3-point shooters available and that the Raptors would probably have to “trigger the hard cap at the first apron” and not make re-signing Sandro Mamukelashvili a priority to upgrade their perimeter game.
If that fear ends up coming true, the Raptors will leave the offseason disappointed and with many of their offensive problems still very much alive—a nightmare for a team that’s gearing up to build a contender around Scottie Barnes sooner rather than later.
If shooting is too expensive, it could slow down the Raptors’ process
A team in the Raptors’ position wants to get a bit better every year until it’s finally time to push in all the chips and make a big splash on the trade market. The Raptors took a massive step forward this season when Collin Murray-Boyles, Jamal Shead, and Ja’Kobe Walter got their first taste of playoff basketball, Scottie Barnes learned what it took to be the guy in the postseason, and Darko Rajaković braved his first playoff series as a head coach.
The next step forward is to improve the offense, which includes adding shot creation and 3-point shooting. The Raptors finished the regular season twenty-first in 3-point percentage, on average making 11.4 of their 32.1 attempts per game (35.4%). In the playoffs, they took fewer threes per game but still made 35.6%.
Ja’Kobe Walter was the only Raptors player who shot 40% on at least three 3-pointers per game in the regular season. Sandro Mamukelashvili shot 38.9%, Brandon Ingram landed at 38.2%, and Immanuel Quickley was the only other player to shoot over 35% at 37.4%. In the playoffs, RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes were the only Raptors who shot at least 38% on three attempts per game, both widely outperforming their regular-season numbers.
Running a functioning half-court offense quickly becomes very tricky when defenders don’t have to close out on most players and can just crowd the paint.
If the Raptors have to go into next season with that same problem, they will very likely struggle to build on this season’s success and take the next step.
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