A few days ago, the Raptors were being praised for keeping the core of their team together and not firing coach Dwane Casey after a string of playoff disappointments. Those decisions led to a 59-win season and the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Then came an overtime loss to the Cavaliers in Game 1 of the conference semifinals, followed by an embarrassing performance in Game 2 and tonight’s heartbreaker that left them in an 0-3 hole. With another potential early postseason exit looming, sounds of discord are emerging from across the border.
A second-round ouster may be enough to cause a shakeup in Toronto, but as with most contending teams, major change won’t come easily. The Raptors gave new three-year contracts to Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka last summer, adding to the expensive one already owned by DeMar DeRozan. As a result, Toronto is already above the projected tax line for next season with a potential payroll of $133MM, a figure that could go even higher in 2019/20.
No help will be coming from the draft because the Raptors sent both of this year’s picks to the Nets last summer as the price for taking on DeMarre Carroll‘s contract. That also limits flexibility in pre-draft trades as the team can’t deal another first-rounder until 2020.
Over the next two years, Toronto owes more than $64MM to Lowry and nearly $45MM to Ibaka. DeRozan will make more than $27.7MM in each of the next two seasons, with a player option for the same amount in 2020/21. An extension for Norman Powell kicks in for next season, paying him about $42MM over four years.
Rather than upending the roster, the Raptors may opt for a coaching change. Casey, with one year left on his contract, has won 320 games in seven seasons in Toronto, but has been under fire for his lack of success in the playoffs. Assistant Nick Nurse and G League coach Jerry Stackhouse have both been candidates for head coaching jobs this summer, and the Raptors may decide to promote one of them before they leave.
We want to get your input. How would you fix the Raptors if they flame out in the playoffs again? Give us your feedback in the comments section below.
Add Lebron James. Not that I want Lebron to win the east but he has every year since 2011 and I don’t see that changing. At least not any time soon.
Blow up the entire franchise
What happened to all the Raptor blow horns? What did I tell everybody 2 weeks ago Cavs Pacers what did I tell everybody one week ago Cavs Raptors?
The NBA wants LeBron in the finals just watch the refs the advertisers want LeBron in the finals the Network’s want LeBron in the finals Adam Silver wants LeBron in the finals. It’s easy to figure out.
So? Of course they do. They want to make the most money possible.
The League wanting LeBron there, doesn’t make him hit game winners though.
If not for the refs the Cavs will be down 20 every game ……and stay down 20.
Yes LeBron is incredible and is not a knock on him …..those game-winning shots are fantastic.
But how does he get in a position for his team to be close and he able to even have a game-winning shot?
Bahahahahahahaha. Blaming the refs is so ignorant
I watched the games and that’s how I saw it.
Sorry you can’t see a playoff game from where you’re sitting in Lottery land.
Salty!
Due to lack of better options they have no choice but to just keep going. Pray that eventually they break through. Genuinely impactful changes cannot be financially, plausibly, made.
other than offer Powell around (I think he has lots of upside) there isn’t much. unless they can somehow find someone to man the 3 better than any of the current internal options… they are SOL
They won 59 games. Why is everyone getting upset because they might lose 4 here? The playoffs are really just a case of who gets hot at the right time. Add a piece in the draft, and bring it back and try again next year.
I agree completely (except that they don’t have a draft pick). They’re a couple of plays or a couple of calls from being up 2-1. They have several talented young role players who are only going to get better after this year’s experience. Hope to get a bit more out of Powell next year and go all in with this group until the big contracts expire.
I knew that, I don’t know why I said that. But they can always buy a late 1st or a 2nd rounder for cash if there is a player they want to fill a spot.
Everyone is getting upset because the Raptors underperform in the playoffs year after year.
Blow it up and become the Atlanta Hawks basically.
Darn, suffer through another fine season with little change!
FAs Vanvleet and Nogueira aren’t going to make a difference, at least more than Wright and Poetl, so cut some losses. Replace them with some tough veteran leaders. Enough with young long arms.
Too bad about Norman Powell. I’m not even sure who that $42million man is.
PS the Raptors were trying hard gm3. Gm2 Bron just kept hitting ridiculous shots. I think Beadle & the guys were a bit rough on them!
Don’t replace VanVleet, resign him. He filled in very nicely when Lowry was sitting.
He did, and that’s why he will likely get a decent offer, maybe 3/16, which for Tor to match would be 3/30 with taxes.
For what? All the FO is going to care about is the playoffs. Can Vanvleet dent the Cavs?– no. He got a start and did little.
Delon Wright can do well enough, to the extent it matters. Unless HE gets the offers — he could be next year’s Dinwiddie!
They’re too intimidated by Lebron. They lost to them in the end of the regular season. I knew the Raptors couldn’t overcome the mental challenge.
I don’t see a lot of options for change within the roster. Ibaka and Lowry won’t be trade chips for another year, when they become expiring deals. Had Powell progressed this year, he could be a trade chip, but he didn’t. A lot of the young kids look like the next generation for the team, and I would be reticent to deal them.
That leaves Val, who I think gets a bad rap, but he’s still not easily tradeable. I would keep Fred if you can get him on a reasonable deal, and let Bebe walk. That leaves one big trade chip, Demar Derozan. There should be a couple of interested teams, including the Lakers if they strike out on LeBron, the Clips, and the Sixers should they also strike out on James. I know he has great chemistry with Kyle, but he may be the only way to make a major roster shakeup.
With that also being unlikely, I suspect that the big move will come on the bench, and Casey will be gone. There are still quality candidates in the coaches market, and the two interesting internal ones.
Trade BOTH to teams in the West. Get them away from LeBron. Or move the franchise to British Columbia and join the Western Conference.
Going to be repeated luxury tax players for 2 years without improving the roster. Washington and Portland in the same boat. Cant be giving guys 28M and not have a chance at a Finals. Just dumb. No one is forcing them to offer these absurd deals to non top tier players.
There are a few players I would target in a trade.
McCollum
Lillard
Kawhi – would want Spurs to sign him to Max and then make the trade so we could worry about him leaving in FA
I would see what would be required to get one of them. I’d try to keep the bench intact as much as possible.
As much as I like Casey and think he’s a good coach I do think it may be time to let him walk. I give him credit for reworking the offence but the whole “culture reset” only after Masai said it. Casey had a few years to rework it on his own but never did without being told to. Also the bench and young player ddevelopment I credit more to Stackhouse and Masai’s ability to draft.
I am tempted to let Stackhouse take the reins. Hey, GS became GS after letting Mark Jackson go. And Stack knows our personnel.
Kyle and Demar either need to be traded along with the minimum pieces to secure the players I mentioned above or we need to find a way to add another superstar calibre player.
An aging veteran superstar who could act as a mentor should have been added last season. Kyle and Demar have had to figure things out themselves and that veteran guidance would hav helped give them that mental check to keep them focused. Remember when Vince Carter was playing like trash in the playoffs? Oakley called him on it and he went off after that. You need that vet who is psychologically tough and knows how to bring out that edge in the ppl around him.
I love Masai but he plays things very safe. Sometimes you gotta take a chance especially knowing you had to get past Lebron all these years. We blew the opportunity to get Boogie Cousins, Jimmy Butler, PG13. I know they have all had their issues since leaving their respective teams but who’s to say it doesn’t mesh better over here in Toronto. I mean Demar and Kyle are nice dudes. But to get over the hump Raps need someone who has no conscious either as a replacement or as an addition to what we currently have.
I agree on the Casey part. Even though the gameplan was reworked and the culture was reset, and he might win coach of the year, it might be time to cut ties. Playoff underperformance on a yearly basis is not acceptable when you are pushing for a title. Stackhouse has been mentioned as a head coaching candidate for a few years now, so it makes sense to promote him. After last season, there were talks of firing Casey, but it didn’t happen. Maybe this year is the one for that. And with Stackhouse, he is an internal option so he is already familiar with the organization, which is always a plus.
Every game in post season the Cavs newbies are getting more experience. Something they didn’t have in the regular season with the huge turnovers and injuries. With few exceptions, I think Hood is still injured. They’ve all been available.