On paper this is an OK group, but any injuries or trades and Toronto will be near the NBA’s cellar
Our Raptors season preview continues with a look at how Toronto’s roster, front office and coaching staff compares to the rest of the NBA.
Our grades aim to be in relation to the league average (ie. a team like Boston would get an A+ for its wings, while Washington would probably be given a D+).
BIGS: GRADE A-
We’re including Scottie Barnes here, even though he operates plenty as a guard, initiating the attack, because we’re defining position by who you usually guard. For Barnes, this year that will mainly be big men, given Toronto’s overall lack of size and its upgraded defensive options at guard.
Barnes gives the team an elite forward, Jakob Poeltl is a quality starting centre, Kelly Olynyk has long been a solid backup, though he’ll turn 34 in April and will have to prove he hasn’t lost a step. Chris Boucher provides rebounding, hustle and three-point shooting.
There isn’t much yet beyond those four though. Jonathan Mogbo will take some time to adapt to the NBA, Ulrich Chomche will take years and Bruno Fernando doesn’t bring a lot to the table. The Raptors need help up front moving forward, especially if they decide to trade Poeltl in February in a bid to significantly increase the odds of landing a high draft pick next summer.
WINGS: GRADE: C+
Boost this grade to a B if RJ Barrett plays all season the way he did upon joining the Raptors after the blockbuster trade with the New York Knicks. Gradey Dick is likely the other starting wing and while it appears he’s made strides, nobody can yet expect him to be a quality NBA starter. Ochai Agbaji provides strong defence, but remains a project at the other end of the floor. Toronto will lean on Agbaji a lot this season and that’s not ideal. Bruce Brown is a steady veteran, but will likely be dealt at some point. Rookie Ja’Kobe Walter has talent and can really shoot it, but like the other young players previously mentioned, will not be counted on until next year, at the earliest. Garrett Temple, a 15-year veteran, is an ideal role model for the rookies.
We’d expect this grade to go up heading into next season once Dick has taken a step and Walter has filled out a bit and gained experience.
POINT GUARDS: GRADE B
Maybe we’re overrating Immanuel Quickley, who is about to become a full-time starter for the first time heading into a season, but he’s got all the tools to be solid. He can shoot, pass, has long arms and the instincts to show more defensively than he has so far and is a hard worker.
Nobody will argue Toronto has Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright or Cory Joseph again at this point, but with Quickley, Davion Mitchell and Jamal Shead, the team has, for the first time in years, three viable options at the point. Mitchell can be an elite defender and can hit three-pointers. Shead is all-out effort, tremendous defensive instincts and speed in one package. Whether he can ever come close to being even an average outside shooter will determine if he’s ever a 25+ minute player, but he’s playable now as a disruptor who makes opponents work at both ends of the floor.
FRONT OFFICE: GRADE B
Masai Ujiri, Bobby Webster, Dan Tolzman and the rest of the Raptors’ brass have a reputation as one of the best groups in the NBA. They have a championship to back up that talk plus the resume of over a decade of being one of the winningest franchises in the league. But … things haven’t been ideal the last four seasons. The developmental pipeline has dried up, the Pascal Siakam trade was a blunder, most of the championship team left without bringing back any return (some of it was of course out of their control) and they had too much faith in the core. But the deal with the Knicks was really good, the one that brought Mitchell, Shead and another second round pick a steal and even Agbaji and Olynyk for a late first in a bad draft was reasonable too. Picking Barnes has proven to be crucial and Dick looks like a wise choice at 13 two years ago. But they’re on their heels a bit as the first rebuild they’ve overseen continues. A
COACHING STAFF: GRADE Incomplete.
We can’t grade Darko Rajakovic fairly at this point, there just isn’t enough to go by. His rookie campaign as an NBA head coach was marred by injuries and personal tragedies that left him without much of a roster for the 2024 portion of the schedule. The 2023 part was muddled by the noise and distractions of everyone knowing Siakam and OG Anunoby would be traded at some point and in the wake of VanVleet’s departure. The defence stunk, the offence was impressive, considering the personnel Rajakovic had at his disposal, but expectations are way higher this year, even if the team might struggle to win 35 games.
OVERALL: GRADE C
There’s a long way to go for the Raptors. Having Barnes in place is great. Ditto Quickley and Barrett. Those are real pieces, but there are so many question marks from Dick, to the rookies, to Darko to how long Ujiri will stick around to how new ownership next year will impact the franchise long-term. Plenty is up in the air and it will take some time before the answers reveal themselves.