Keep the Knicks close & their enemies closer: Raptors offseason with Esfandiar Baraheni
The only Atlantic Division team besides Boston to win a title in the past 40+ years is rapidly rebuilding
After hearing from Lucas Kaplan about the Brooklyn Nets heading into this offseason and Dave Early regarding the Philadelphia 76ers, today we turn our gaze north, where Esfandiar Baraheni of Raptors Republic shares his analysis of Toronto’s recent past and near future.
Scottie Barnes recently became the highest-paid Raptor in history after signing a five-year, $270 million extension. Do you think Raptor fans’ expectations of him will climb any now that his salary has?
Absolutely. And they should. Barnes has taken steps to improve his game every season he’s been in the league and this contract is a bet that the growth doesn’t stop here. The 23-year-old has already been Rookie of the Year and an All-Star in his three years with the Raptors, and the natural progression is for him to eventually become an All-NBA caliber player.
Toronto’s first-round pick went to San Antonio as part of the Jakob Poeltl trade, but the Raptors have the 19th pick courtesy of the Pacers from the Pascal Siakam deal. Do you think they’ll look for the best player available, regardless of position, or address more specific needs instead?
From what Raptors assistant general manager Dan Tolzman told us, it seems like they’re casting as wide a net as possible on the outcomes for draft day. There are a few different positions of need for this team — back-up guard; wing; back-up big man — so they’re likely they go best player available and build from there.
Ed. note: They certainly did! Toronto selected swingman Ja’Kobe Walter 19th; then, using the 31st pick acquired from the Knicks in the OG Anunoby deal, they chose big man Jonathan Mogbo. Shipping Jalen McDaniels to Sacramento netted back-up guard Davion Mitchell, Sasha Vezenkov and the 45th pick, which they used on guard Jamal Shead. Finally, the Raptors also acquired the 57th pick from Minnesota, which they used to take 6-foot-11 Ulrich Chomche. It turns out Mogbo is a childhood friend of Barnes.
Darko Rajaković enters his second year as Toronto’s head coach. What do you know about him now that you didn’t a year ago? What do you hope to see more of or less of in year 2?
He’s beloved by the players. His overwhelming positivity instills a level of confidence into any player he comes in contact with. Schematically, he’s more of an offensive-minded coach, drawing inspiration from the play styles of the Warriors, Nuggets and Kings as far as his use of dribble handoffs, high-post making, etc. Naturally as he becomes more seasoned, you’d like to see a more balanced approach to both sides of the ball and improvements as a game-manager in terms of timeout used, rotations, etc.