Two years after winning the championship, the Toronto Raptors struggled last season with a 27-45 record, good for the 12th seed in the East. With the recent moves they made, it’s clear that they’re in somewhat of a rebuild mode, as they hope to make significant progress next season.
That being said, what can we really expect from this Raptors team moving forward?
Toronto Raptors 2021-2022 Season Preview
Offseason Changes
With them having the fourth pick in the draft this year, the Raptors wanted someone who could transition to the NBA smoothly. That was Scottie Barnes. Barnes has a lot of potential, as he has a 7-foot-3 wingspan. He can facilitate the offense pretty well and he could be a great defender in this league. Despite picking Barnes over someone like Jalen Suggs, the Raptors still looked smart since Barnes had a pretty solid showcase during Summer League in Vegas.
The Raptors also had the 46th and 47th pick. They ended up using it on players Dalano Banton and David Johnson.
In terms of what the Raptors did during the off-season, most of it had to deal with them going into a rebuild mode. Long-time Raptor Kyle Lowry left Toronto for Miami. Despite that, they were able to land Goran Dragic via sign-and-trade, and Precious Achiuwa.
The Raptors also made some interesting moves which included re-signing Gary Trent Jr. to a 3-year/$54M deal. Trent Jr. averaged 16.2 points per game while shooting 35.5% from behind the arc once he landed in Toronto. The Raptors also picked up a few players like Sam Dekker and Isaac Bonga. They also locked in Khem Birch. Despite all of these moves, the biggest one Toronto made was keeping Masai Ujiri. Ujiri was wanted by a good amount of the league, and he is viewed as one of the best executives in the league.
Ujiri has a plan in mind, and that includes keeping a good amount of the core from the 2019 championship team: Pascal Siakam, O.G. Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, etc.
Toronto Raptors – Expectations For This Season
Many are expecting the Raptors to not make the postseason this year. Especially with how much better the conference got, not many people are giving the Toronto Raptors a chance to make it to the postseason. Regardless, the Raptors did what they had to do this off-season and we can fully expect them to be in the hunt for the play-in tournament at least.
With a solid core of Siakam, Anunoby, Vanvleet, and Barnes, we can expect the Raptors to play hard every single night, while being competitive in each game. Head Coach Nick Nurse is one of the better coaches in the league and there is no doubt that the Raptors will be able to contend for a spot in the play-in tournmanet.
With regards of how far they’ll make it in the postseason, that is yet to be seen. For now, it is safe to say that the Raptors’ expectations for this upcoming season it to be in the play-in tournament. So probably around the 9th to 12th seed.
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