It has been six long months since the Toronto Raptors’ season came to a screeching halt, when DeMar DeRozan’s daughter, Diar, screeched her father’s team into the next round. Alas, the wait is finally over and Raptors basketball is back! With training camp starting on October 3 and preseason tipping off on October 8, it’s like Christmas has come early with basketball right around the corner for all you hoopaholics like myself. Of course, with a new season comes brand new storylines for Raptors fans to follow in the build up to the 2023-2024 NBA season.
One of the biggest things to keep an eye on is Scottie Barnes development and possible position switch to the main ball handler this season. Barnes won’t be brought up in this column too much as there was a column written by a dashingly handsome writer not too long ago.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the five biggest questions that Raptors fans want answered in the build up to the 2023-2024 campaign.
- What’s going on with Spicy P?
Most of the headlines this offseason coming out of Toronto included Pascal Siakam’s name in one way or another, mainly surrounded by trade speculation with one team emerging as a legitimate suitor, the Atlanta Hawks. It should be noted there’s no report of Siakam requesting a trade (recently), but according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Toronto reportedly declined an offer from Atlanta that included wings De’Andre Hunter, A.J. Griffin, and draft compensation. Also, according to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, the Raptors wanted the 15th overall pick Kobe Bufkin in any Siakam trade, whom Atlanta declined to include.
However, in the midst of trade talks, Siakam indicated that he would not sign an extension with any team other than Toronto. The Cameroonian is eligible to sign a max contract worth 30 percent of the salary cap this off-season, but could see that number grow to 35 percent if he were to be selected to an all-NBA team – – it behooves him to wait for any extension conversation. According to Sportsnet’s Michael Grange on the “Raptors Show with Will Lou”, there have been zero talks on an extension for the All-Star. Also, talks of a possible trade have seemingly died down from earlier this summer, and Toronto seems comfortable to move into training camp and the regular season with Siakam on an expiring contract. The 6-foot-9 forward isn’t the only player coming into the new campaign without a deal beyond next season, as O.G. Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. also remain without long term deals. The team will ultimately have to pick a direction, or they risk the possibility of losing these players for nothing, as they did with Fred VanVleet this past summer.
- Will the ship sink or stay afloat with a new captain?
Nick Nurse has been released and has since moved on over to one of the Raptors’ division rivals, the Philadelphia 76ers, to be their new head coach. Since then, the coaching vacancy has been filled by first time bench boss Darko Rajakovic. For the first time in a half decade, a different head coach will be steering the ship. It will be interesting to see the differences between the two coaches, as Rajakovic brings along a “0.5” offense, as well as a reputation for player development. Nurse wasn’t the only coach to be canned, as seven assistant coaches have also been let go causing a complete coaching overhaul. Of the new hires, Pat Delany, Jama Mahlalela, and James Wade will man the front bench, while Mike Batiste, Vin Bhavnani, Drew Jones and Ivo Simovic make up the back bench. You can read more about them here. A lot has changed in the coaching personnel, and growing pains are to be expected as a new era of Raps basketball gets ushered in.
- How will Toronto lineup come opening night?
With a nearly completely new coaching staff in the fold, you can almost forget about what the rotations have looked like in years previous under Nurse. It’s probably safe to assume that Scottie Barnes, O.G. Anunoby, Pascal Siakam and Jakob Poeltl’s starting spots are safe, but that leaves one spot remaining in the starting lineup, likely to be decided between Dennis Schroder and Gary Trent Jr. On one hand, Schroder is coming off an MVP performance at the 2023 FIBA World Cup in which he led Germany to a gold medal. He can get after it on defense and knows how to get his teammates involved. On the other hand, Trent Jr. started in 44 of 64 games for Toronto last season and is one of, if not the, best 3 point shooters on a team that is one of the worst in the league in that area. Regardless, both will play significant minutes in this Raptors’ rotation, as will presumably Precious Achiuwa, Chris Boucher, Jalen McDaniels, and Otto Porter Jr. Some of the younger guys will also look to crack the rotation, with guys like Christian Koloko and Malachi Flynn having moments last year and trying to impress the new coach. Then of course, there is the Raptors’ lottery pick, Gradey Dick.
That’s a lot of forwards with few ball-handlers, a lot of athleticism and little shooting. How will Toronto’s new staff balance the requirements? Who will get squeezed out of the rotation simply because there are seven players all at the same position? Will the front office solve that problem before the coaches have to?
- How does Dick fit and what are the expectations?
The 13th overall pick in this past draft, Dick brings a skill that the Raptors so desperately need, 3 point shooting. The Raptors ranked 28th in three point percentage last season, and the Dick pick was surely to address that. The 19-year-old shot just over 40 percent on 5.7 attempts per game with the Kansas Jayhawks in his lone college season, and he was widely regarded as the best marksman in the 2023 class. Simply put, Gradey will get his shot in the Raptors rotation this year because of the lack of shooting and guards on the team. The extent to how much the Wichita, KS native will help out in other facets of the game isn’t too encouraging, at least for year one. On defense, Dick isn’t known to be a positive on that end of the floor. He has a slight build and the footwork was all over the place in college and in summer league, which isn’t uncommon for rookies. Long term however, Dick has potential to be a serviceable defender. Listed at 6-foot-8 with shoes on and with a 6-foot-9 wingspan, he has the measurements to be effective. Also, the former Jayhawk has really good hands on that end of the floor, swiping at balls and jumping into passing lanes, averaging a steal and a half last season. Once Dick can fully reap the benefits of an NBA weight lifting program, it could work wonders for his defensive game. In other areas, Dick also struggles to make plays for others and to put the ball on the deck, but he is a decent rebounder, snagging 5.1 per game in college with good positioning. You can expect Dick to provide great shooting off the bench by spotting up or off movement, but anything more than that from him in year one will be seen as a positive. He is more than a shooter, but it might take a few years for that to manifest at the NBA level.
- What’s the direction?
The Damian Lillard sweepstakes have come and gone with the Milwaukee Bucks swooping in and stealing the show (And the corresponding Jrue Holiday lottery.) For a split second Toronto fans thought the deal had broken their way, with Shams Charania accidentally tweeting the Raptors have landed the 33-year-old (that tweet will live in my nightmares forever.) Regardless, Canada’s team is in the same position they have been all offseason, with the same group. Masai Ujiri has maintained flexibility to go in any direction, but according to Grange, there is no appetite for the Raptors to rebuild, and the moves they have made seems to signal that. At last year’s trade deadline, everyone and their mothers thought the Raptors were going to sell, so what did they do? Buy of course. They picked up Jakob Poeltl and have since extended him, have decided not to trade Siakam despite all the rumors, and were in the mix to acquire a star in Lillard. So, the direction for now seemingly is to continue to build off of last year, improve internally, and compete. How will that work without shooting and ball-handling? If things don’t go according to plan it will be interesting to see how many of those impending free agents (Siakam, Anunoby and Trent Jr.) remain on the team once we reach the trade deadline in February.
With less than a month until Toronto tips-off a new NBA season on October 25th, these questions and others will have to be answered. Toronto fans will just have to hope the new campaign doesn’t end with a former Raptors icon’s daughter screaming the season away.
