Once again, the Raptors have to turn a page. After DeMar DeRozan in 2018 and Kyle Lowry in 2021, he is a third iconic player in the franchise over the past decade. Fred VanVleetwho packed his bags that night, thus leaving the club of Toronto after a great adventure of seven seasons.
But unlike the two former glories of the club mentioned above, “FVV” has not been transferred. He left of his own free will, unsurprisingly choosing financial security and a whopping three-year, $130 million contract with the Rockets, the highest-paying ever signed by an undrafted player. In sum, once again, the Rockford native “bet on himself”, and the Raptors simply couldn’t do anything about it.
Except that now, the Canadian franchise is in the dark. She already was since the end of her dismal 2022/23 campaign, but she is even more so, now that her titular leader is gone. Of course, not overpaying Fred VanVleet was objectively the right choice on the part of Masai Ujiri, but the signing of Dennis Schroder to replace him will not be enough to fill the void that the player, 8th best scorer and 4th best passer in the history of the Toronto franchise, will leave on the job. Especially since the German, for the moment, shares it with the only Malachi Flynn…
Gary Trent Jr. and Jakob Poeltl, what places in the future?
The first night of free agency wasn’t completely bitter for the Raptors either: Jakob Poeltl extended for four seasons and $80 million, and Gary Trent Jr, according to Bleacher Reportwill also soon initial a contract extension, after having activated his “player option” (18.5 million dollars) before the Draft.
Logical decisions concerning two players who are still young (27 years old for the pivot and 24 years old for the back), but which do not clarify any further the future of the franchise, which to date has no defined direction …
If “GTJ”, by his young age and his position which is “easier” to integrate into any project, is undoubtedly a player with whom the club is considering its future, it is surely less obvious to think the same for the Austrian pivot. The former Spur had expressed before the opening of the market its reluctance to engage in a process of restructuring / reconstruction in Toronto. Except that in the meantime, Fred VanVleet has left, and the Raptors, who were finally “forced” to extend Jakob Poeltl to “save” his transfer (which as a reminder cost them their first round of the 2024 Draft), find themselves in an even more uncomfortable position…
A construction site remains: exterior shooting
Another worrying point of Toronto’s offseason, even more tangible: their serious ailments in the exercise of outside shooting, which have not yet been fully addressed.
Penultimate in the league in this area this season (33.5% success), the Toronto club recruited the shooter well Gradey Dick via the Draft (40.3% on almost 6 shots per game with Kansas this season), and retained Gary Trent Jr. (38.4% on 6.3 shots per game in career). But Fred VanVleet left (37.3% on 6.4 career shots per game), and he was replaced by Dennis Schroder, a player who is shooting at 34% career behind the arc…
Logically, Masai Ujiri should therefore turn his attention to outside shooters in the coming days, to avoid reliving, like this season, the same evenings too often poor in attack. In this, the return ofOtto Porter Jr. (39.7% on 3.3 career shots per game), who had activated his “player option” in April after playing only 8 games this season, should be a big reinforcement. Just like Terence Davis, who the club could bring back, capable of supporting behind the arc (36.6% on 4 career shots per game).
Pascal Siakam, only option to maneuver in Toronto?
With a workforce to date almost unchanged, and even should we say reduced after the departure (not qualitatively replaced) of their titular leader, the Raptors thus seem to be on the way to stagnation.
A place in the soft underbelly that leads nowhere, especially as Pascal Siakam is entering his last year of contract, as is potentially OG Anunoby, if he declines his “player option” next year for the 2024 season/ 25. There is therefore a scenario in which the two players leave Toronto next summer for a better sporting horizon, which would leave the club completely destitute, and faced with the obligation to rebuild.
But how do you start a rebuild without the tools to do it? Because as a reminder, the Raptors do not have their first round of the 2024 Draft, sent to San Antonio last February (protected Top 6), as part of the exchange of Jakob Poeltl… One more thorn in the legs of the Raptors , which accumulate.
The observation is not glorious, and then suggests that the Raptors finally have only one option this summer, to avoid the purgatory towards which they seem to be heading next season: transfer Pascal Siakam, whose rating is very important on the transfer market, to recover “assets” (choice of Draft, young players, etc.) in return, and thus start a real new project. In other words, break the current workforce, accept losing a lot of games next season in order to try to keep their choice of the first round of the 2024 Draft, protected in the Top 6.
Because if we have no doubt that “Spicy P” is attached to his lifelong club and will no doubt wish to extend there in the summer of 2024, we must also, and above all, ask ourselves if this is the right choice for the Raptors in term. After the end of the VanVleet chapter this summer, perhaps it is indeed time to also close the Siakam chapter, and accept that the current era, radiant in the past but today more sluggish, is over, and must give way to the Scottie Barnes era.
| Shots | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | bp | Int | CT | party | Points |
| Pascal Siakam | 71 | 37.4 | 48.0 | 32.4 | 77.4 | 1.8 | 6.0 | 7.8 | 5.8 | 2.4 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 3.2 | 24.2 |
| Fred Vanvleet | 69 | 36.7 | 39.3 | 34.2 | 89.8 | 0.4 | 3.6 | 4.1 | 7.2 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 0.6 | 2.8 | 19.3 |
| Gary Trent, Jr. | 66 | 32.1 | 43.3 | 36.9 | 83.9 | 0.5 | 2.2 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 1.5 | 17.4 |
| Og Anunoby | 67 | 35.6 | 47.6 | 38.7 | 83.8 | 1.4 | 3.5 | 5.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 3.0 | 16.8 |
| Scottie Barnes | 77 | 34.8 | 45.6 | 28.1 | 77.2 | 2.3 | 4.3 | 6.6 | 4.8 | 2.0 | 1.1 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 15.3 |
| Jakob Poeltl | 26 | 27.2 | 65.2 | 0.0 | 56.9 | 3.2 | 5.9 | 9.1 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 3.0 | 13.1 |
| chris butcher | 76 | 20.0 | 49.3 | 32.8 | 76.2 | 2.1 | 3.5 | 5.5 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 1.9 | 9.4 |
| Precious Achiuwa | 55 | 20.7 | 48.5 | 26.9 | 70.2 | 1.8 | 4.1 | 6.0 | 0.9 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 1.9 | 9.2 |
| Otto Porter | 8 | 18.3 | 50.0 | 35.3 | 100.0 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 5.5 |
| Malachi Flynn | 53 | 13.0 | 36.0 | 35.3 | 75.8 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 4.6 |
| Dalano Banton | 31 | 9.0 | 42.3 | 29.4 | 70.8 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 1.1 | 4.6 |
| Will Barton | 16 | 13.2 | 35.4 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 4.5 |
| Thaddeus Young | 54 | 14.7 | 54.5 | 17.6 | 69.2 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 3.1 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.6 | 4.4 |
| Christian Koloko | 58 | 13.8 | 48.0 | 8.3 | 62.7 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 3.1 |
| Juancho Hernangomez | 42 | 14.6 | 42.1 | 25.4 | 56.3 | 0.6 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.0 | 2.9 |
| Jeff Dowtin | 25 | 10.3 | 43.9 | 31.3 | 66.7 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 2.4 |
| Ron Harper | 9 | 5.3 | 50.0 | 33.3 | 100.0 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 2.2 |
| Khem Birsh | 20 | 8.1 | 59.4 | 50.0 | 80.0 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 1.2 | 2.2 |
| Justin Champagnie | 3 | 3.6 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 2.0 |
| Joe Wieskamp | 9 | 5.5 | 21.4 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 1.0 |
