For the third straight year, the Toronto Raptors were booted out of the playoffs by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. But the team is going in the right direction and should keep as many players as possible and retain Dwane Casey as coach.
After missing the playoffs five straight seasons, the Raptors have made it five straight. Their record continues to trend upwards. It's true that Toronto doesn't match up well with LeBron James. They need to add a defensive-minded small forward or two similar to those "Jordan stoppers" in the 80s and 90s (Gerald Wilkins anyone?), but the Raptors match up well with the other teams in the East.
Who knows if LeBron will stay in Cleveland. Who knows if he'll keep up his insanely proficient play if he does stay. And maybe some other team will bounce Cleveland out of the playoffs before Toronto has to meet them. Blowing up the team would be a giant overreaction.
Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan have been fantastic in the regular season, but inconsistent in the postseason. Lowry is 32, but he's really the only key player on the wrong side of 30. He still has a couple of high-level seasons left. DeRozan is in his prime. I'm still waiting for JV to breakout, but he's improving. Ibaka is a good fit. The Raptors have added some good young players: Anunoby, VanVleet, Wright, Poeltl and Siakam. C.J. Miles was a good pickup.
They're just missing that defensive small forward. Someone like (a younger version of) Thabo Sefolosha. A guy like Joe Ingles who would annoy the hell out of LeBron. Andre Roberson fits the bill. They had the right idea with DeMarre Carroll, but that didn't pan out. There are guys like that out there. Otherwise, the Raptors are in a good position to continue to go far in the playoffs for the next few years.
No comments:
Post a Comment