The Toronto Raptors are coming off their best season in franchise history after recording 56 regular season victories and then pulling to within two wins of reaching the NBA Finals. But even so, there isn’t a lot of optimism surrounding the franchise that they can get much further than that point. They brought most of their cast back, but did lose a couple of key players – like Bismack Biyombo – that helped them make their run.
Building on last season’s success won’t be easy in an improved Eastern Conference but the Raptors are once again primed to contend for Atlantic division supremacy.
Offseason Changes
Toronto locked up DeMar DeRozan with a long-term contract, which was important. All of that talk about him signing in Los Angeles proved to be false. The Toronto Raptors then proceeded to turn a lot of heads with the selections of Utah center Jakob Poeltl and New Mexico State big man Pascal Siakam in the first round of the 2016 NBA Draft. The Raptors failed to substantially upgrade their roster with either pick when there appeared to be a number of other options hat would have done exactly that. The loss of Biyombo hurts and Toronto did little in free agency with the exception of adding Jared Sullinger to replace the departed Luis Scola at power forward.
Strengths
The All-Star tandem of DeRozan and Kyle Lowry should help the Raptors remain among the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Jonas Valanciunas’ emergence at the center position will be the key to improvement on the floor. Terrence Ross and Norman Powell have both shown promising athleticism and both players should be primed to take another step forward this season. Toronto needs DeMarre Carroll to stay healthy in order to maximize his immense potential at both ends of the floor. That’s where they are counting on growth. They went to the Eastern Conference finals last season with virtually no contributions from the former All-Star. If he can get back to full health and shine, then the Raptors will be a better team.
In terms of the power forward position, Sullinger should provide more offensive pop than Scola but he likely isn’t a starter on a championship team. However, he’s in Toronto on a one-year prove-it type of contract and is probably the best power forward they’ve seen in many years.
Weaknesses
The Raptors failed to address a major hole at the power forward position this offseason. Sullinger may be a minor upgrade from Scola but he still isn’t what this club needs to challenge Cleveland at the top of the Eastern Conference. It also doesn’t help that Toronto lost one-half of their talented center duo, with Biyombo leaving town following an impressive postseason performance. Poeltl has enough talent to be a serviceable center down the road but he lack experience and will immediately step in to the No. 2 role behind Valnaciunas. The Toronto Raptors also failed to improve their outside shooting and that could come back to bite them. Toronto’s lack of three-point scoring was another issue in last year’s playoffs and there is no reason to expect major improvement in that area. This is what makes their decision to draft a center with their top pick in the draft instead of addressing a pressing team need all that more puzzling.
Outlook
Barring an injury to either DeRozan or Lowry, it simply doesn’t make sense to expect a major drop off from this team. The Toronto Raptors got a taste of what they can do and after pulling to within two wins of the NBA Finals they should be motivated to produce another strong season. The emergences of Valanciunas, Ross and Powell will be among the x-factors for how far this team can go and it will be interesting to see if they can successfully defend their title with the Celtics on the rise within the Atlantic. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see this team take a small step back in terms of its regular season record in 2016-17 with an improved Boston squad knocking them out of the top spot in the Atlantic.
Prediction: 2nd in Atlantic Division; 4th in Eastern Conference
