Expectations were high but once again the city of Toronto was forced to endure a heartbreaking conclusion to a season filled with promise. Now that the Raptors are out of the playoff race, we can look at five needs for the offseason.
The Toronto Raptors entered the 2016-2017 NBA seasons as one of the favorites, if not the favorite to dethrone King James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference.
Things seemed to be in place for Toronto, as they had what some consider the best backcourt in the league in the duo of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Jonas Valanciunas and his fresh four-year, $64 million salary was still in the middle. Key role players like Cory Joseph, Norman Powell and Patrick Patterson remained ever present.
The Raptors shot right out of the gate to start the season and continued to fight it out for the top seed in the Eastern Conference throughout most of the season.
Toronto continued to tease it’s fan base, adding Serge Ibaka. The acquisition of Ibaka addressed a critical need for the Raptors, adding interior defending and a level of physicality that seemed to be missing at times. Adding Ibaka’s services came at the expense of Terrence Ross and a first round draft pick, a bargain price for such a significant upgrade at the four spot.
At that point, the sky was the limit. What could possibly go wrong?
To being with, Kyle Lowry suffered a wrist injury and needed surgery which kept him off the court until the end of the regular season. Still the Raptors pushed forward in Lowry’s absence and eventually secured the No. 3 seed in the tightly packed Eastern Conference.
The Raptors would match up against the Milwaukee Bucks in the first round. Though they struggled at times, Dwane Casey made some strategic moves that would get the Raptors into the next round against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team that defeated them in the Eastern Conference finals the year before.
This was the series that the Toronto faithful were waiting for. A chance for retribution against King James and his knights. However, for the second year in a row, they would suffer the same fate and were quickly dispatched in four games.
The city of Toronto must now wait in anticipation to see what type of moves will be made to their cherished franchise. There is still hope and if the right moves are made this offseason, the Raptors will find themselves back in the mix of things in hopes of claiming the first championship in franchise history.
Below are five moves that must be made this off-season by the Raptors’ franchise.
5. Get rid of Dwane Casey
Dwane Casey has done a relatively good job during his time as the Raptors head coach. He is the longest tenured coach in franchise history and also has the highest winning percentage. He has coached more games than his predecessors and also has more franchise playoff wins than all of the previous Raptor coaches combined.
Casey has led the Raptors to the playoffs in each of the last four seasons, making an Eastern Conference Finals appearance in 2016, even though we all know what the outcome was of that.
Masai Ujiri, the General Manager of the Toronto Raptors seemed to be happy with the way things were going, rewarding Casey with a contract extension in 2016 for three years and worth $18 million that would potentially keep him at the helm until the end of the 2019 season.
So what is the problem? Why can’t the Raptors seem to get their proverbial house in order? Is Casey really to blame for Toronto’s failed championship endeavors?
Unfortunately for Casey, the answer is yes.
Casey is well liked, as evident by the contract extension bestowed upon him. However, he has failed to get Toronto “over the hump.” Casey has arguably the best one-two punch at his disposal in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. Add in Serge Ibaka, who is still in his prime and you have the perfect recipe for championship contention.
Even the Toronto fan base is growing restless. Since it’s embarrassing defeat, many of the Toronto fan base have flocked to social media and other outlets calling for Casey’s removal. It’s one thing to lose a game or even a series, but what happens when you lose the fans, the ones who buy the tickets?