After being knocked out by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers for the third consecutive season, we’ve already seen some major changes with the Raptors this offseason.
For starters, they fired head coach Dwane Casey who was at the helm for the last seven years and compiled a 558-320 record over that span. Though there could also be some roster shakeup this offseason, President Masai Ujiri is determined to make sure his team remains a contender. When recently asked about the prospect of tanking and building from the ground up, Ujiri said there will be none of that North of the border anytime soon. Following from TSN’s Josh Lewenberg.
Masai: "Tanking? We're not doing that here."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) May 9, 2018
With a foundational core already in place with their backcourt and a plethora of useful young pieces around them, rebuilding is likely the last thing on the mind of Masai Ujiri. The Raptors are a perennial Eastern Conference contender and blowing that up due to being bounced by the same man over and over probably isn’t the wisest choice.
Though Dwane Casey was voted coach of the year by his peers, a divorce between him and the Raptors was likely needed for both sides. Casey is surely an upper-echelon coach but it was obvious their ceiling had been maxed in Toronto. Despite this, Casey should find a job sooner rather than later and could be back on the sidelines by the beginning of next season.
As for the Raptors, a rebuild likely isn’t needed though some personnel changes surely are, including to their roster. With their core of DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry, Serge Ibaka and Jonas Valanciunas all under contract for the next few years, Toronto will have to maneuver to improve from what they were this past season.
With one of the most intriguing offseasons out of all 30 NBA teams, the Raptors will first have to find an appropriate replacement for Casey before moving on to the rest of their busy to-do list.
