Though Bryan Colangelo acknowledged that he’ll be meeting with the Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment board of governors in “two-to-three weeks,” it seems pretty clear that he’ll be back for another season with the Raptors. And if that truly is the case, with the organization likely picking up his option year and perhaps adding a new option too, Colangelo has now publicly stated that his head coach in 2013-14 will be Dwane Casey. He was emphatic in saying that.
So where does Toronto go from here?
For the first time in franchise history, the Raptors are sitting on the outside of the playoffs for a fifth-straight year. Prior to this season Toronto’s longest drought was four years — not that five total appearances in 18 years is anything to write home about.
At the risk of venturing down the path of revisionist history, Chris Bosh and company should have been in the post-season during Bosh’s final season in T.O. That team, on paper, was better than it performed and Bosh’s absence in key games down the stretch hurt the Raptors. Not winning at home in a late-season ‘win-and-you’re-in’ game against the Bulls didn’t help either; Toronto wasted a huge opportunity there.
Had the Raptors made it into the playoffs that season, would Bosh have stayed instead of bolting for Miami? No, but it would have given young players like DeMar DeRozan, Andrea Bargnani and Amir Johnson some valuable experience going forward. It also could have sent a message to the rest of the league that Toronto, in spite of the pending departure of Bosh, is a team that may be heading in the right direction; a playoff team, period.
Again, with hindsight being 20/20, folks can argue all day about whether or not Colangelo should have traded Bosh at the deadline that season; at a time when the Raptors had a franchise high in wins at the All-Star break and were looking to possibly run down the Celtics for the top spot in the Atlantic Division. The president and general manager rolled the dice, in a sense, on retaining Bosh at season’s end and the gamble did not pay off. Dwyane Wade welcomed Bosh and LeBron James to South Beach and the Raptors were left hitting the reset button.
That’s where Toronto now stands. Three years removed from their franchise player leaving, with little coming back to the team in return. Call it a build or a rebuild — call it what you want — the reality is the organization had to start over in many ways. And three seasons into a redo is not a lot of time. You can’t hit the reset button and expect instant gratification.
Season 1, post-Bosh, the team was not going anywhere and few (if any) fans would say otherwise or claim they had higher expectations. But following their struggles the club made a bold move in the drafting of a player, Jonas Valanciunas, who had no plans to play in North America the following season.
Season 2, post-Bosh, Toronto was hoping to catch lightning in a bottle in a lockout-shortened season with a new coach in town too. But few believed the team was a playoff contender. And the Raps patiently waited on Valanciunas.
Season 3, post-Bosh, the plan was for Toronto to build on the defensive philosophies that Casey had instilled while finally welcoming Valanciunas to the line-up along with a new point guard (Kyle Lowry) and a top-10 draft pick (Terrence Ross). There was chatter of staying in the hunt for the post-season and wanting to make some noise but, again, the playoffs were likely a reach (NOTE: I said prior to the year and maintained it all year, the Raptors had to play “all-world” to have a shot for seventh … might battle for eighth … but in the end probably fall somewhere in the nine-11 range).
The team finished four games out of the final seed in the Eastern Conference, finishing 10th overall after losing the tie-breaker to the ninth-seeded Sixers. Toronto’s 4-19 start to the 2012-13 campaign was followed by a 30-29 finish over the final 59 games. But the club took a step back defensively and blew far too many leads in the fourth quarter, late in the game, and the injury bug played a role in stunting things too (Lowry, Andrea Bargnani, Valanciunas, and Landry Fields all missed major chunks of games).
As folks look ahead to Season 4, post-Bosh, are the Raptors in position to finally get back to the dance?
With the chemistry and continuity intact with the GM and coach returning, could this line-up — now featuring a dynamic (though highly-paid) scorer in Rudy Gay too — contend for the post-season? Is a starting five (well, at least four-fifths of it) of Lowry, Gay, DeRozan and Valanciunas (along with Johnson, Fields and Ross) good enough to snag the eighth seed, or higher, in the East?
It should be.
Experience may be Toronto’s biggest deterrent. Of those players listed above, few have post-season experience and only Gay can truly be considered a “veteran” of the game. The Raptors are young. They need a voice on the floor and in the locker room. but they do have talent.
It’s now up to Casey to maximize what he has and it’s up to Colangelo to arm his coach with even more weapons — admittedly, with little financial flexibility — going forward (dealing the enigmatic Bargnani would be a start).
With the Maple Leafs ending their nine-year slide and expectations high for the Blue Jays as well (in spite of their slow start) it’s time for the Raptors to be relevant again and rise from their second-season slumber.