When we were in elementary school, our naiveté had us thinking that our Toronto Raptors were great. The likes of Joey Graham, TJ Ford, Morris Peterson, Jamario Moon, and Rasho Nesterovic were the Raptors of my childhood. We believed that Jose Calderon was an elite point guard and that Shawn Marion would change our fortunes. I never thought we could actually be on the top of the basketball world. In 2019, the Raptors became National Basketball Association (NBA) champions. In 2023, the Raptors need to tank.
It’s not about phenom Victor Wembanyama or the freaky athletic Scoot Henderson. Both prospects are worth tanking for, but there is much more to why the Raptors should tank than just the prospects. If Masai Ujiri is serious about doing whatever it takes to win, then he must—like the rest of the rational Raptors fan base—see that this iteration of the Raptors has no chance of winning a championship. Just recently, the Raptors embarrassed themselves on national television by going over six minutes with zero field goals against the Bucks. The modern NBA requires, at the bare minimum, the ability for players to shoot. The Raptors cannot shoot. The average three point percentage around the league is just over thirty-six percent. All five of the Raptors starters shoot below this metric. The Raptors have not had a centre since Gasol and Ibaka left the team. They constantly have to sell out on defence to double the centre in the post. As a result, the corner three is always open for the opposition to take advantage of. As I write this, the Raptors sit eleventh in the East. This team is clearly at an impasse.
I know this may be difficult. Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet are players who have been nurtured by the organization and were integral to the championship run. However, Siakam may be eligible for a supermax extension, while Freddy has been shopping around for a max level contract. The Raptors should be trading both players. League analysts have determined that this is a seller’s market. This means that players have more trade value since there may be a shortage of valuable players that can push a team from pretender to contender. At the very least, Gary Trent Jr should be traded, simply because he will opt-out of his player option to enter free agency this summer. The Raptors cannot afford to pay him. He is a coveted player around the league and will likely fetch two first round picks.
Beyond the starters, the Raptors have no bench. Now, I personally think the bench production correlates much more strongly with Nick Nurse being stubborn, but the bench could certainly use a facelift. We need picks to do that. We need to trade our players for picks. The equation is simple. For all the suffering Raptors fans that may be new to this era of failure and ineptitude, I can tell you that it will get better. Take it from someone who had to watch Andrea Bargnani and Rafael Araujo. Kobe Bryant dropped eighty-one points against us once. It has to get worse before it gets better. However, with Scottie Barnes and OG Anunoby being young stars, the tank will not last longer than a few seasons. I have faith that the Toronto Raptors will be back stronger than ever.