Likelihood of Raptors’ having same roster by end of year ‘zero’ according to Webster

When Bobby Webster said the Toronto Raptors were built to pivot at last season’s trade deadline, he wasn’t just blowing smoke.

While the nature of team building in the NBA means that rosters are constantly in flux on the margins, Webster, the newly “elevated” Raptors head of basketball operations and general manager made an intriguing statement at his press conference on Friday.

“The likelihood of this team being the same team by the end of the year is probably zero,” said Webster. “Put on top of that with one move you can get under the tax. So I don’t see that as the urgent piece.”

All-around, Webster’s presser was calm and candid.

And really, this isn’t too strong of a statement if we take it at face value for what it most likely means. And that is that almost no NBA team remains completely the same throughout a season. There are players released and added on the fringes. Teams buy and sell at the deadline. Teams over the tax (like the Raptors) often maneuver under. So, really, Webster is certainly telling the truth.

“The basketball is always the urgent piece,” Webster continued. “If we don’t come out and we’re not competitive, then it forces us to evaluate it. But I don’t think it exacerbated by any other outside timeline or financial pressure.”

Yet the other angle to consider here is that the Raptors upper brass know that this team is “unfinished” and that it’s not necessarily a bad thing. While they were good, an argument could be made that the first “We the North” era teams of the early 2010s were also incomplete.

The Raptors have never had success adding free-agent talent, so having strong pieces to orchestrate winning trades with is likely the Raptors’ best way to progress. They’ve been accumulating and developing young players in recent seasons, but unless they’re going to go full Sam Presti, that will only go so far. And even then, reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was acquired by the Oklahoma City Thunder via the ill-fated Paul George trade.

So when Webster says the likelihood of the team being the same is zero, believe him. The Raptors have plenty of work to do in going forward, be it swapping out depth pieces or moving mountains.

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