Toronto Raptors- The Rumors Have Died Down

By: Greg Rector

Toronto Raptors fans and media rumors of deals for OG Anunoby and Pascal have died down. Masai Ujuri and GM Bobby Webster have reloaded the roster and with a new head coach in Darko Rajakovic the Raptors are hoping to be better than they were in the 2022-2023 season. While Fred Van Vleet is now a Houston Rockets player the time has come for a change as to who runs the floor for the Toronto Raptors.

Toronto Raptors Roster

Otto Porter Jr. Thaddeus Young and Will Barton are the longest-serving NBA players on the Toronto Raptors. While Gradey Dick is the newest rookie for the Raptors. Porter Jr missed most of last season and he will need to be a key cog off the bench in order to give the Raptors a much better unit than they had last season.

Last season was a horrible year for the Raptors bench and much of that might explain why Nick Nurse is no longer the head coach. Too often Nurse punished players coming off the bench and guys who made a single mistake were sitting for games afterwards.

Having Jakob Poetl as the starting center will also be a better situation than last year when the Raptors had to play rookie Christian Koloko far too often as the rookie needed much more time in the G-League than playing NBA games. Having two 7′ players is a nice change from the 6’9″ roster that the Toronto Raptors had going into last season.

Pascal Siakam made it clear that he wasn’t interested in signing an extension with any other team and that’s likely why he wasn’t traded because he simply wants to remain in Toronto which is home for him. OG Anunoby likewise wasn’t traded because the Toronto Raptors didn’t like the value of what they were offered. If either one is moved it will be at the trade deadline.

Scottie Barnes is the new floor general for the Raptors and he has shown an ability to deliver great passes when he was tasked with doing so last season. getting Gradey Dick on the floor will also be a key factor in how the Raptors play in the 2023-2024 NBA season. The young man has the game to be a floor stretcher and that aspect makes him a valued commodity. The Raptors must improve from the outside in order to stay competitive with the rest of the league.

While Deuce Vaughn might only be 5’5″ and made the Dallas Cowboys roster there’s another smaller player Markquis Nowell who also went to Kansas State and he will attempt to become a Toronto Raptors guard. The other big news was the signing of Dennis Schroeder. How head coach Darko Rajakovic divides the floor time for his guards will be interesting since SG Gary Trent Jr. is still in town as well.

Darko Rajakovic

The new head coach of the Toronto Raptors has his work cut out for himself. How he determines the floor time allotted to veterans like Chris Boucher and Precious Aichuwa and the other veterans while getting Gradey Dick and Christian Koloko more time to grow and develop will be the key to seeing the Toronto Raptors hopes for the 2023-2024 season and he has a honeymoon phase of course so if he can develop the new players while keeping his veterans happy he will be far ahead of where Nick Nurse was last season.

My Outlook

The betting experts are convinced the Toronto Raptors will only win 36.5 games for the 2023-2024 NBA season. I am more optimistic than that. I have the Raptors competing for the 8th spot in the NBA Eastern Conference and they should win 42 to 44 games.