It was a disappointing season for the Raptors, who shipped away a cornerstone of their franchise mid-season. Toronto finished the year with a 25-57 record, and while there were some good parts of the season, there were a lot of ugly parts. Let’s dive into Toronto’s past season to see the good and the bad and then what to watch for next year for them to get back into the playoffs.
Toronto Raptors Review: The Good
Once it was clear that the Raptors had no chance of making the playoffs, they decided to pivot to a rebuild. That meant shipping away a cornerstone of the franchise to get rid of his massive contract. Pascal Siakam was getting paid over $34 million a year, which limited what Toronto could do in the offseason. Getting his contract off the books allowed them to go after younger and cheaper players.
Enter Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, who were teammates on the Knicks but are now two of the stars on the Raptors. Once on the Raptors, Quickley averaged over 18 points, and Barrett was putting up over 20 a night. The two look very comfortable in their new roles and are surrounded by other young talent like Scottie Barnes and Chris Boucher. Toronto was smart to lock up Barnes after the season, as he agreed to a 5-year extension worth over $200 million. Toronto’s young core is here to stay.
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Toronto Raptors Review: The Bad
Unfortunately, there was a lot of bad. Let’s discuss the elephant in the room first. Jontay Porter was a bench player for the Raptors who was on a 2-way contract, but he didn’t become well known until he came under investigation for illegal gambling. Porter was involved in an illegal gambling group that would bet on his player props, and he would purposely take himself out of the game to guarantee a win. He has since been banned from the NBA, but it still wasn’t a good look for the Raptors.
As for on the court, the Raptors struggled to create chemistry. Toronto finished the year ranked 24th in offensive rating and 26th in defensive rating, so both sides of the court hurt them. But one aspect that hurt the Raptors the most was rebounds. It was a revolving door in the center position, considering they had Jakob Poeltl, Precious Achiuwa and Kelly Olynyk, among others, and the Raptors finished 27th in rebounds per game. And to finish off the bad, the Raptors lost 15 games in a row towards the end of the season. That’s nearly a fifth of the season.
Toronto Raptors Review: Prospects to Watch for
The Raptors are a very, very young team. That means plenty of rising stars will get their chance this season. One prospect they have that should bring plenty of excitement this year is their 1st-round pick, Ja’Kobe Walter. The Baylor star was on Toronto’s radar from the jump, and it’s safe to say the Raptors got their guy. Walter will bring explosiveness and elite defense to the team, which are two aspects the Raptors need.
In addition to Walter, keep an eye on Gradey Dick and Davion Mitchell. Dick was a star at Kansas and didn’t play much of a role this past season because of the veterans ahead of him. But with the team in a rebuild, Toronto will want to see how their pick from last year will grow in the new system. He’s a great 3-point shooter with good size for his position, so he could play an important role off the bench. As for Mitchell, he was traded from the Kings to the Raptors a few weeks ago. The former Baylor standout had a great rookie season with the Kings, but his role got smaller in the last two years because of Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter. These three players could greatly impact the 2024-2025 season.
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Toronto Raptors Review: Steps to Get Back to Playoffs
The Eastern Conference is stacked with talent. The Celtics, Knicks, 76ers and Bucks are the conference's elite and likely will finish as the top four teams this coming season. There are also a lot of young teams that showed promise last season and might be a year or two ahead of the Raptors in their rebuild, like the Magic, Pacers, and Cavaliers. But if the Raptors improve their chemistry and add depth to their bench, they could certainly be in a fight for the play-in spots.
Toronto’s biggest competition in the East this year will be the Hawks, Heat, Nets and Bulls. The Raptors are a young team that's hungry to make a statement, so it’s not out of the question for Toronto to earn a spot in the playoffs next year.
