NBA Playoffs 2017: 5 things we learned from the Cavaliers sweep of the Raptors
The Cleveland Cavaliers have completed their sweep of the Toronto Raptors in the second round of the playoffs. Here are five things we learned from the Cavaliers’ sweep.
Eight games up, eight games down. The second straight year that the Cavaliers have begun the playoffs by winning their first eight games. Last year, it was a young Pistons team and a veteran Hawks’ ball club. This year, it was a hungry Pacers’ squad and a competitive Raptors’ unit.
It doesn’t matter to the Cavaliers, who just continue to win games in different ways during these playoffs. They’ve mounted huge comebacks, blown teams away and won it in crunch time. It’s a battle-tested unit that will be very difficult to take down in the next month and a half.
On the flip side, the Raptors came into the season with high expectations. Led by their superstars, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, they were hoping to make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals. Ironically, the Raptors tried really hard all year long to get out of the No. 4 seed to avoid the Cavaliers in the second round. Toronto finished No. 3 only to find that Cleveland slumped at the end of the season into the No. 2 seed.
Last year in the Conference Finals, the Raptors pushed the Cavaliers to six games, but this year they couldn’t avoid the sweep. Kyle Lowry went down in Game 2 with an ankle injury and never returned to the series, but the Raptors likely would have been swept regardless.
The Cavaliers will move on to their third-straight Conference Finals, while the Raptors will head into a long summer full of questions regarding their future. Let’s take a look at five things that we learned from the Cavs’ sweep of the Raptors.
5. It may be time for Masai Ujiri to blow it up
This isn’t a patented Skip Bayless hot take. The Raptors had the highest payroll in team history. Toronto’s front office has been preparing for a playoff series with the Cavaliers for years. Two years ago, the Raptors signed DeMarre Carroll to a four-year contract in order to lock down LeBron James in May. This past season, the Raptors traded for P.J. Tucker and Serge Ibaka. Both are veterans, who can make a difference on the defensive end of the floor.
Yet, as they walked off the floor on Sunday, they weren’t able to win a single game in this series against the Cavaliers. It’s a critical offseason for Toronto, who have to decide if they want to reload over the summer to take on Cleveland next spring. Serge Ibaka, P.J. Tucker and Patrick Patterson are all free agents. Kyle Lowry has a player option for next season, which he has said he will exercise to become a free agent.
Should general manager Masai Ujiri continue to make moves to compete this upcoming year or wait out LeBron James and plan for the future? Other teams in the East have chosen to plan for the future. One example is the Celtics, who are stockpiling draft picks, rather than trading them away for a current superstar.
Ujiri might have to come to the realization that the current construction of the roster may not be good enough and they might not get over the hump by just adding a few role players. The Raptors have had the most success in years, during this DeRozan-Lowry era, but it will always be known for coming up short against LeBron and the Cavaliers.