The Toronto Raptors are trying to win the right way
This summer, the Raptors have managed to stay under the luxury tax while adding pieces to a competitive roster. It’s the kind of thing NBA optimists focus on when they describe teams in the league’s middle class; one stroke of luck from the top.
Under Masai Ujiri, Toronto has never won fewer than 48 games. The organization made a star out of the homegrown DeMar DeRozan, traded and then twice kept Kyle Lowry in town, and added excellent complementary pieces. All the while, they have nailed draft picks up and down the board. The 2016-17 Raptors will feature nearly as many young pieces as veterans. It’s the way a championship-caliber roster should look.
Toronto operates aggressively toward the possibility of higher achievement, not to simply maintain. The team should be able to count Delon Wright, Lucas Nogueira, Norman Powell, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl as contributors next season. All are under the age of 25.
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Obviously, DeRozan and Lowry will do the heavy lifting on offense and they now have Serge Ibaka around for supporting duties. But Powell will start in place of DeMarre Carroll, who was traded to Brooklyn last week. And Wright, as a result of a corresponding move that sent Cory Joseph to Indiana, will presumably be the backup point guard.
Somehow, Ujiri made deals this summer (he acquired versatile shooter/defender C.J. Miles in the Joseph trade) that lowered his team’s payroll below the luxury tax line while actually improving his team. For most executives, it’s one or the other. Philadelphia for years added assets at every juncture to become more competitive in the future, while Houston this summer has added mountains of salary in hopes of challenging for a championship next year. The Raptors have managed to maneuver in such a way that they have become a more versatile team with the additions of Wright, Miles and Ibaka while also avoiding paying the luxury tax for a team whose ceiling is in question after an Eastern Conference semifinals sweep.
Keeping that flexibility also means that they can focus more heavily on development over the next three years, at which point (in the summer of 2020) they could say goodbye to Lowry, DeRozan and Ibaka. If one of the youngsters — like this year’s first-round selection OG Anunoby — happens to boom, they will be ready to offer him a maximum extension when he’s eligible.
Perhaps they might finally dip into the free agent pool that summer, something Ujiri has really never done as an executive. Over the course of his tenure in Denver and Toronto, he has instead shown a preference toward acquiring players via trade and using the advantage that doing so offers when it’s time to extend his new players.
But over the next three years, Toronto will have the chance to develop its draft picks next to competitive veterans and chart the course for the future. Wright looks like an intriguing two-way guard, with the length to disrupt opposing gameplans. Powell has long been a breakout possibility, and this season will be his chance; he’s a restricted free agent next summer. Nogueira will be able to compete with Poeltl and Siakam for frontcourt minutes, with the opportunity to prove that last year’s elite defensive statistics were not a fluke.
Many teams are stuck in a similar situation to the one that scares the Raptors. They have a good team, with good players, and a good chance to win lots of games every single season. Those players make the team very expensive, but aren’t good enough to win championships on their own. It is the hardest kind of team to improve. This summer, faced with that dilemma, Ujiri again flashed his brilliance. He made his team younger and more malleable with two cheap and easy moves.
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The rest of the league sat waiting for a Melo trade and twiddling their thumbs over Gordon Hayward’s decision. The Raptors moved things around, and might be onto something.