The Toronto Raptors 2025 NBA draft roundtable – Part I
[Part I is bigger picture how we feel about the past season and team moving forward. Part II comes out tomorrow and will hit the nitty-gritty of the draft.]
Life just isn’t fair sometimes.
Not for everyone, anyway. Not for Washington. Not for Utah. Not Brooklyn. Nor, sadly, Toronto.
(According to Zach Lowe, the Toronto Raptors, among several other teams, were one ping pong(?) ball away from getting the number one pick overall. Where is the justice in this Godforsaken world we live!!?)
Instead, we’re left to watch idly by as the rich (San Antonio), stupid (Dallas), and rich and stupid (Philadelphia) get richer.
But we shan’t let resentment and cynicism rot our minds. There’s much to be hopeful for. Much to have faith in. Especially when it comes to the Toronto Raptors ability to find talent – whichever draft position the spirit of David Stern divined.
One of the interesting parts of the NBA, in my opinion, is the corollary of the draft and the NBA Playoffs. Each postseason, new trends – good and bad – arise. So much from the regular season is cast aside. [Cue the sad trombone music for the Cleveland Cavaliers]. So much – troublingly so – of it just noise [Especially, the NBA E******* Cup – lols].
In the Playoffs, the true ways of winning clarify. Team vulnerabilities are exposed like open sores; successful tactics spammed like Canadian commercials on Sportsnet.
Suddenly, within a game or two, entire player archetypes or styles of play are rendered useless or mined like gold. And it makes me wonder how that affects teams’ attitudes towards the draft, specifically, and team building, at-large.
For two reasons.
One, not all teams are playoff-contention ready. Do they draft for the most talented player/positional need, despite that type of player not excelling in the playoffs, or do they draft according to what is succeeding at the highest levels of competition? Two, are these trends specific to the particular context of these matchups and playoffs, or are they indicative of something larger developing? How much does a team react to what they’re seeing in real time?
There’s no easy answer. The decision-making at the micro and macroscopic levels is so complex. Factors like the Apron System, free agency, internal development, etc., play major parts in the process.
Toronto is a perfect example. I imagine – nay, I EXPECT – the Toronto Raptors to want to make the playoffs next year. Will they hesitate with a prospect like Khaman Maluach (check Brendan Stewart’s draft preview to learn more about him) because thin, non-shooting bigs aren’t defensively stout nor offensively potent enough to stay on the floor in high-leverage situations? Or, do they bank on his remarkable athletic qualities and vast potential?
I dunno.
Hence, I turn to my fellow Raptor Republic writers, who are much smarter and better-versed in the draft than I am, to answer a few questions I have about the Toronto Raptors and this upcoming draft. Enjoy!
Follow these fellas first!
First, I want to get a sense of how you’re feeling coming off this Toronto Raptors’ season.
Is there a tingle of panic in your throat as you breathe? Swells of optimism in your chest? Are you emotionally dead inside? Where we at – any and all metaphors welcome?
ADON
Think of my feelings this way: I’ve got the optimism of someone about to go for round two at the Pizza Hut Buffet. Like, l’m not full; I’m also not satisfied. I am, however, extremely hopeful that another few slices of Hawaiian and maybe an early taste of dessert pizza will satiate me. And yet, as I saunter over, deep in my bowels, a slight queasiness stirs. It must be that old coffee I had an hour ago…can’t be the za…can it?
That’s how I feel, okay!? Sickly hopeful.
Look. This is just how it goes. There’s never euphoria. There’s always doubt. We live on a big ol’ hard rock of entropy. You know what I mean? We can never be sure of anything.
The order of things can collapse in a moment. One snap of a tiny tendon at the back of a heel. A putback dunk with a millisecond left. A back-rim bounce reaching straight up to the rafters and dropping in at the buzzer for the tie.
All we can do is best make sense of what lies before us. And, in that, I, mostly, take comfort in this iteration of the Toronto Raptors and its upcoming season.
Because I think this season could look many different ways and, still, all be fun. Maybe the Raptors make a sudden, awkward playoff push amidst a weaksauce Eastern Conference; or, maybe, they bide their time, again, watching their young core of starters and prospects continue to grow; or, maybe, Masai Ujuri says Fuckit and goes nuclear with an all-in-type trade for a Superstar; or, maybe, it’s, simply, a few incremental moves around the edges to exploit more desperate teams.
Whatever it is, I think it’s going to be a good year of hoops. I just hope whatever’s making me feel a bit nauseous isn’t anything of note…
BRENDAN
Perfectly neutral [That’s like a sunshine-and-lollipops-level-of-happy for Brendan when it comes to the Raptors]. Brandon Ingram is a fun addition; the development of Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter is something that my scout brain looks forward to. Maybe we get someone exciting at the ninth pick.
Other than that, consider me in the middle ground.
COTY
I feel cautiously optimistic [Better than queasy].
I like to think the reason Toronto wasn’t good last season was because of their limited availability. But it is also a concern that, for the second straight year, injuries have plagued the Raptors with the core logging few minutes together.
With health on their side, Brandon Ingram, a top-ten pick coming into the fold, and development across the team, the Raptors should be better.
ES
All aboard the optimism train, baby [CHOO CHOO!…Burp…].
The East is so underwhelming next season I think the Raptors can surprise folks and land themselves somewhere in the top six in the East.
Now, a few things need to go down for that to happen. For starters: Health. Brandon Ingram also needs to play and play well, same for Immanuel Quickley and Scottie Barnes. But I’m all in on this team being the media darling next season.
A lot of “How did we not see this coming?” pieces are incoming [Can’t wait for the Morris twins to hop on ESPON and call Toronto the worst city in sports].
IAN
I feel hopeful for something new.
The Brandon Ingram trade was great value and should rejig the way the offence functions while also providing some much-needed defensive size at the wing position.
There are areas of uncertainty. Will an isolation-heavy player in Ingram successfully mould his game to a system predicated on movement and quick decisions? Will Darko Rajaković be a capable in-game decision-maker as the coach of a team that’s trying to win? Lots are unproven.
[Awesome metaphor incoming alert!] The Raptors are a person quitting their monotonous nine-to-five to pursue something they care about; it’s both exhilarating and stressful. The games are (God, I hope I’m right here) going to matter again.
There’s reason to think it will work out, but no proof of concept.
Only hope.
LOU
I am mostly just relieved that the intentional losing is over. I think. I hope [Quite the spiritual group here with all this “hope” talk].
The Scottie Barnes era – for which we were all very excited! – has almost entirely been a rebuild to this point. I’m ready to watch them take the scaffolding off and see if this building can stand or not.
On that note, what is one bugaboo you had about the Toronto Raptors 2025?
Something you wish they had or had not done, and want to be corrected now or sometime in the near future (it’s coo if you think they had a perfectly acceptable season and nothing was out of the ordinary)?
ADON
It’s probably nothing, but I can’t help but fret on the arc of Gradey Dick’s past season. [Zulfi Sheikh wrote more on this Saturday].
For the first third of the season, the Raptors were without some combination of Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and Scottie Barnes. As the primary/secondary option, Dick thrived, going full RIP Hamilton. In those 33ish games, Dick averaged 18 points, 2 assists, and 2 turnovers on 51% effective field goal percentage and 23% usage rate.
That all changed with the roster returning to full health. Dick lost his rhythm and rotation status, and slowly subsided into a not-so-efficient shooter. For the final 27 games he played, Dick averaged 11 points, 1.5 assists, 1.5 turnovers on 49% effective field goal percentage and 19% usage rate.
I’m not so worried about Dick’s future in the league. I am worried about his immediate development as the team figures out its offensive hierarchy and priortizes its crowded roster of wings.
Something to keep an eye on.
BRENDAN
I feel a sense of unease towards much of how the rebuild (if we can call it that) was handled [There’s the Brendan we all know and love].
I feel as though they waited too long to start it and could’ve done more with refilling the asset chest before looking to compete again. I think there’s a lot of issues with the roster that need to be fixed before they’re a serious team again.
I also hope we see some more aggressive moves soon. The overly cautious approach has been to this team’s detriment.
COTY
I think the season was fine and everyone understood what was going to happen from day one.
ES
It would’ve been great if this team had been healthier last season.
Of course, some of that was self-inflicted *cough* tank *cough*, but it would’ve been great, especially at the start of the year, to get a better sense of what a fully healthy version of this team would look like.
Sure, adding Ingram into the mix changes their dynamic, but it would have been worthwhile to have more information on Immanuel Quickley and his fit alongside Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett. In the end, those three only played in 285 minutes together with a woeful -12.7 net rating to show for it.
Still, it would’ve been great to see them work through the wrinkles of their games together even more.
IAN
Aside from things that are pretty much out of anyone’s control – injuries and a literal lottery – I’m pretty damn happy with how this past Raptors season went.
Now, of course, I’m not happy that they were bad, but considering the position they were in, I think a lot was done well. Masai Ujiri (and co.) made some shrewd moves on the margins and found five great rookies in what was considered to be a weak draft class. Rajaković successfully implemented a new defence that leapt from one of the worst in the NBA over the first half of the season to second from mid-January onward. He also kept a young – Raptors’ rookies played the second-most minutes in the league after Washington – losing team competitive to the bitter end of the season.
The main thing that sucked was BBQ (mainly Quickley) not getting the minutes together to figure things out or inform the front office’s next decisions. Here’s to hoping Alex McKechnie gets back to his miracle-working.
Also, I’m staunchly anti-tank, so I don’t really care about them not losing more games for better odds. For any doubters, ask yourself, would you rather be the Raptors or one of the Charlotte Hornets, Utah Jazz or Washington Wizards?
LOU
I may be an old man yelling at clouds, but I thought benching the best players in the fourth quarter was disgraceful. [PREACH!] There’s no veil behind which to hide. Just pure, unadulterated, begging for losses.
Ja’Kobe Walter hitting the game winner anyway that one time might have been my favourite moment of the season.
Next, I’m gonna get all corporate-speak on you.
If you’re Team President of the Toronto Raptors, what is a strategic objective(s) heading into next season, and how does that affect your approach to the draft? We talking Loozer for Boozer? Go Detroit Pistons 2.0? A natural tank job vis-à-vis 2025? Big-push-by-trading/signing-a-player-in-his-prime-type-move like the Indiana Pacers did for Pascal Siakam some time ago? Whatcha instructing your underlings to execute?
ADON
Fuck, I’m finally just an old head now. Classic late-thirties guy fighting the inevitable. But I gotta say, I’m very done with tanking. Gimme a hit of that old, delicious winning stuff.
I’m not calling for craziness at all costs just to sneak into the sixth seed. I’m saying it’s time to see what this team can do full-thrust.
Is Scottie Barnes the singular foundational piece of this team? Can Barrett and Ingram be the Robin and Robin to his Robin? What is to be done with Jakob Pöltl extension talks? He’s good for another contract, but is that the direction the Raptors should go? What about this precocious group of rookies, sophomores, and third-years? What is Quickley for this team [Main concern for me]?
Time to see what we got.
BRENDAN
Assuming health, it’s difficult to see the Raptors in the lottery again. It’s also likely that they won’t be contending, so let’s project their pick next year in the late teens to early twenties.
For the draft, I’d focus on acquiring another first-rounder just to help the team shore up some cheap talent as their salary bill is starting to look a little spooky. Maybe look at cashing in on RJ Barrett.
COTY
I think they should be in data-collecting mode.
The core has barely played together and, with even more assets coming in, it’s quite an intricate puzzle to solve without knowing if the pieces even fit.
The goal for me would to get the core playing as many minutes together as possible by the time the trade deadline comes, then re-asses and make calls on players with soon-to-expire contracts like Ochai Agbaji, Jakob Pöltl, and/or RJ Barrett [Check Lou’s look at Raptors with underrated trade value].
ES
If I were the team president of the Raptors, there would be a lot of pressure on me heading into next season. It’s a contract year, and I need to prove this rebuild has some promise. Or at the very least, the core pieces in place are worth investing in more.
That pressure might entice me to make more trades in a summer that should see tonnes of transactions. It might entice me to make risky moves that could bolster the team’s chances heading into next season. But the truth is, there is one M.O.[love a good Modus Operandi corporate-speak drop] for the Raptors heading into next year: Prove this is worth it.
IAN
The first order of business is doing everything in our power to try and swing a trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo [Coty looked at how a trade like this would work, as did Mete Makarnaci].
Multi-time-MVP-winners in their prime are the scarcest commodity in the league. If one is available and there’s the slightest of chances at acquiring him, it’d be negligent not to pursue that opportunity to its fullest. (In reality, sadly, I’m not holding my breath for Giannis becoming King of the Danforth.)
Of course, if any other plus-value moves are possible, it would be irresponsible not to consider making them. I think the Raptors’ current team is built to pivot and is not yet in a position to effectively do so.
Then again, Ingram hasn’t even played a game yet. This is snoozefest stuff, but, ultimately, I would be commanding them to wait and see how they compete with the current configuration before making any rash decisions.
Unless there’s something out there that’s too good to refuse…
LOU
Before anything, I, Mr. Team President, need to see how Ingram and Barnes work together.
If it works, great, add some vets and become the Pistons. If it doesn’t, figure out why – add a stretch big? Add a playmaking guard? – and fix it.
The only way forward is improvement at this point.
Thanks for reading.
Tune in for Part II tomorrow where we talk more about the upcoming draft!
The post The Toronto Raptors 2025 NBA draft roundtable – Part I first appeared on Raptors Republic.