The Toronto Raptors are a sort of basketball experiment. Not an intentional one, mind you, but an experiment nonetheless. They weren’t supposed to be here, but have managed to (relatively speaking) succeed.
Masai Ujiri came to Toronto in the summer of 2013 with the goal of turning Toronto into a contender for the NBA Championship. When being introduced he spoke with fondness of his return home to Toronto (a line now stolen by LeBron James), having worked within the organization prior to his hiring in Denver, but also spoke with extreme confidence that he could play a significant part in bringing the Raptors to relevance.
Relevance…that’s an important word when it comes to the Raptors. Outside of Vinsanity, the Raptors have far too often been viewed as a little brother within the NBA landscape. Being given the hand-me-downs, getting everything secondhand, and dwelling in the room at the end of the hall.
That’s the situation that Ujiri came into, but he has always spoken about the Raptors as if in regards to a sleeping giant. A wave that has yet to hit shore and show its complete strength.
But at the time of his arrival the Raptors were coming off a season that saw them finish 10th in the Eastern Conference with a record of 34-48, in large part due to a mini resurgence that came at the hands of Rudy Gay.
A lottery team without a lottery pick, and a franchise with significant financial commitments on its roster.
Masai would leave his first mark on the franchise just 40 days after his hiring, when he shipped Andrea Bargnani to the New York Knicks in exchange for the corpse of Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, a 2014 second round pick, a 2017 second round pick, and, the real prize, a 2016 first round pick (the lesser pick between the Knicks and the Denver Nuggets).
The reshaping had begun, but outside of some free agent signings (most notably Tyler Hansbrough) the Raptors would enter Ujiri’s first season with an almost identical roster as the previous year.
And this is where Ujiri’s accidental experiment truly began.
Despite having some success after the Rudy Gay trade, Toronto started the season just 6-12 before Ujiri jettisoned Rudy Gay (plus Quincy Acy, and Aaron Gray) for Chuck Hayes, Patrick Patterson, John Salmons, and Greivis Vasquez.
As we all are well aware, this was supposed to the beginning of the end for the Raptors season. Ujiri began shopping Kyle Lowry to New York (thanks, James Dolan!) and was ready to begin a rebuild with the hopes of Andrew Wiggins.
But once again, things started to click. The Raptors finished first in the Atlantic Division for just the second time in franchise history.
Once again, Ujiri did the reasonable thing. When something’s working, don’t fix it. Masai simply tinkered by stealing Lou Williams away from the Atlanta Hawks, while also using the end of the bench to store and hopefully develop two young prospects in Bruno and Bebe. He also re-signed Dwane Casey to a three year contract to bring him back as head coach.
Things couldn’t have started much better. After a 24-7 start to the season Toronto looked as if they would cruise to the first 50 win season in franchise history.
Which brings us to today…
Things aren’t working right now and the wheels appear to have come off. There is still time to finish the season well, but it feels as if this accidental experiment of a roster is coming to a close.
It’s the reason that Ujiri left himself with an exit strategy. He was clearly never married to this rendition of the Raptors. Lou Williams was acquired with the knowledge that he had just one year remaining on his contract, Greivis Vasquez was brought back on just a two year deal, and the third year of Casey’s contract is a team extension (which means a firing this summer wouldn’t cost the team much).
Only Patrick Patterson and Kyle Lowry were signed to long term contracts, and both appear to be team friendly moving forward.
It’s been a fun two years, and I believe that the future of the franchise is bright, but it is starting to feel like Ujiri is already beginning to write the team’s eulogy for this summer. With three draft picks in the next two years, plenty of young talent already on the roster, and a clear leader already on the roster in Lowry, the team is well positioned for a minor rebuild.
All of this could be meaningless. The Raptors could correct their recent play and make a run at the Eastern Conference finals and Ujiri could let his experiment play out a little longer, but the odds seem slim.
If the season continues along his recent trajectory, it will be fascinating to see how Ujiri responds this summer. Ujiri may not have a set plan for a teardown, but he has set himself up to do just that. Always good to have a plan ‘B’ ready.
