Raptors rearrange the chairs, no more
Millions and millions of dollars in contractual commitments changed hands. Several veteran players moved, including one experienced starter. Large salary cap exceptions were created.
And at the end of the day, were the Raptors any better? Nope. Well, if you’re a true optimist, maybe better by a smidge. Maybe a little better beyond the arc with lefty C.J. Miles, a 30-year-old who arrives with the same promise in many ways that the now departed DeMarre Carroll did two years ago. Different players, but a similar belief that a void will be filled.
If you’re more of a pessimist, meanwhile, you look at the Raptors after all the gyrations and manoeuvres of the past weekend and imagine this all looks about the same as it did at the end of last season, except without the edgy defensive conscience of P.J. Tucker.
Looks like treading water, mostly. We’re left to imagine that one or both of two variables will alter the team’s trajectory in an upwards direction;
That youngster Delon Wright, after losing much of last season to injury, is poised to become an impact NBAer.
That there’s another significant shoe to drop.
With Wright, there were surely moments a year ago that made observers believe he was ready to offer more, particularly in the ball-handling and defensive departments. We didn’t see a whole lot more offence in terms of putting the ball in the hoop by driving or shooting from the outside, but that doesn’t mean those elements aren’t there.
In terms of the possibility of another sizable move, that appears to surround the possibility that another team will find big man Jonas Valanciunas extremely appealing and will be willing to offer a noteworthy asset, or assets, in return.
At a time when large post-up players who can’t step outside and shoot the three seem to be less valuable than at any time in the last 40 years, this could be wishful thinking.
Then again, with so many teams looking to move salary to ease luxury tax concerns, moves that might otherwise not make sense start to make sense. Look at the Carroll salary dump. Who would have thought when the Raps signed him as a free agent that halfway through the contract they’d have to pay the Brooklyn Nets two draft picks, including a first, just to move his salary? But that’s what happened on the weekend as president Masai Ujiri ran out of belief that Carroll would be anything but his biggest error while running the Raptors.
The luxury tax issue is an interesting one.
Toronto is hovering in the danger area, and very conscious, it appears, of not being put in a position where ownership has to start coughing up luxury tax dollars. Right now, it appears only Golden State and Portland will be luxury tax teams next year. The Warriors won the NBA title and the Trailblazers couldn’t win a round, so it shows the very different positions in which teams who decide to go down that financial path can find themselves.
With no other strategy readily available right now to unseat Cleveland in the East, wouldn’t spending more on player salaries, even if it meant getting into big luxury tax penalties, make sense for the Raptors, particularly with MLSE being so very deep-pocketed?
Well, yes and no.
Yes, in that in theory it could bring a stronger roster to the team in the short term. No, in that it could also handcuff Ujiri in terms of making future trades. The NBA salary cap system is to the NHL’s what Tolstoy is to The Cat in the Hat, so there are no direct lines between simply spending more and getting better.
It’s complicated, in other words. In a headache-inducing sort of way.
So we wait for Ujiri’s next move. As Toronto’s big three pro sports teams — the Raptors, Maple Leafs and Blue Jays — have become more competitive over the past three seasons, there have been fascinating contrasts between the directions, aims and plans of the clubs. And watching what these teams try to do has become equally interesting as what they actually do in terms of winning games.
The Leafs, having realized that the playoffs demonstrated their window of opportunity may have already opened and may close quickly depending on their ability to keep their young stars, moved aggressively via free agency to bringing in thirtysomethings Patrick Marleau, Ron Hainsey and Dominic Moore earlier this month.
There’s no confusion with what Lou Lamoriello and Co. are trying to do now. With a legitimate franchise player now in the fold in Auston Matthews, they’re trying to win in a league where you don’t have to be a great team to win. The Jays seem to be humming and hawing over what they should do before the non-waiver trade deadline later this month, but the truth is Mark Shapiro, Ross Atkins and the rest of the front office understood after the horrible start to the season that, with the oldest team in baseball breaking down and underachieving, they would have to be sellers. So the Jays, with Vlad Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette making waves in the minors but still in need of much more prospect depth, are moving in the opposite direction from the Leafs.
And the Raps? We still don’t really know. Sort of spinning in a circle. Right now, it remains the DeMar DeRozan/Kyle Lowry Show, with disappointing Serge Ibaka back to prove he can make more of an impact than he did in the post-season.
In signing Lowry and Ibaka, moving out Carroll and Cory Joseph, and bringing in Miles, it would seem a lot has happened to change Dwane Casey’s options, but that may be more perception than reality. If you said they would have a shot at landing R.J. Barrett, well, that would change things, but Ujiri isn’t going down that rebuilding path. Not yet, anyway.
He’s going to shuffle the cards and see if he gets a full house this time. Or hold steady, bide his time and wait for the Cavaliers to weaken. Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for The Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.