{"id":713,"date":"2021-04-19T20:25:07","date_gmt":"2021-04-19T20:25:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/?p=713"},"modified":"2021-04-19T21:15:02","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T21:15:02","slug":"where-do-the-toronto-raptors-go-from-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/2021\/04\/19\/where-do-the-toronto-raptors-go-from-here\/","title":{"rendered":"Where do the Toronto Raptors go from here?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/04\/Raptors-after-Malachi-Flynn-hits-game-winner-1024x682.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-714\" srcset=\"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/04\/Raptors-after-Malachi-Flynn-hits-game-winner-1024x682.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/04\/Raptors-after-Malachi-Flynn-hits-game-winner-300x200.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/04\/Raptors-after-Malachi-Flynn-hits-game-winner-768x512.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/04\/Raptors-after-Malachi-Flynn-hits-game-winner-1536x1023.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/116\/2021\/04\/Raptors-after-Malachi-Flynn-hits-game-winner.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption>The Toronto Raptors gather around Gary Trent Jr. after he hits a game winner against the Washington Wizards on April 5th, 2021 (Photo Courtesy via Toronto Raptors)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>This season has been less than ideal for the Toronto Raptors. The team is stranded in Tampa Bay, playing games in front of fans who don\u2019t entirely support the team. The 2019 champions are currently sitting with a record of 24-34, currently in the play-in tournament. With less than 20 games left in the season there are tangible takeaways that can be gleaned from this season despite the team being over 2000 kilometres away from Toronto.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Raptors sold their immediate future for the 2019 title. Given how everything played out, that&#8217;s a decision that should be made every time it\u2019s on the table but certain concessions have been made to the team\u2019s depth. The infrastructure was cracking last season when the Raptors were trying to find their ninth man, giving Terence Davis and Matt Thomas a run for limited minutes. They were traded for second round picks at the trade deadline.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.knightlab.com\/libs\/timeline3\/latest\/embed\/index.html?source=1m0-aEmyEyhNrN974QVgN2qTjxuqRYm3CLgJHhpHVAS4&amp;font=Default&amp;lang=en&amp;initial_zoom=2&amp;height=650\" width=\"100%\" height=\"650\" webkitallowfullscreen=\"\" mozallowfullscreen=\"\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>The stakes were low when there was a core rotation of seven guys you could count on but when that rotation is shaken up with departures there\u2019s nowhere to go but down. Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka departed in the offseason and Norman Powell was traded for Gary Trent Jr. and Rodney Hood. Out of the championship team only five players remain after Patrick McCaw was waived two weeks ago: Kyle Lowry, Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Chris Boucher.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Trent and Hood are two reliable pieces but Trent has the potential in the Raptors system to become a star which he\u2019s shown in more playing time.&nbsp; He recorded a career-high 31 points against Oklahoma City on March 31st, posted the best plus-minus in franchise history, plus-54 in the win over Golden State on April 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, and hit a game winner against the Washington Wizards on April 5<sup>th<\/sup>. That\u2019s quite a stretch for the third-year guard out of Duke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-involve-me wp-block-embed-involve-me\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Raptors Quiz 2\" src=\"https:\/\/dhigney.involve.me\/literature-pop-quiz-7aa7-copy?embed=1&#038;oembed=1&#038;noresize=1#?secret=aTcMXw9Wpb\" data-secret=\"aTcMXw9Wpb\" width=\"1000\" height=\"600\" scrolling=\"yes\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>As well as Trent, Chris Boucher was thrusted into a big-time role, with the off-season addition of Aron Baynes being unsuccessful. Recently the Raptors signed Khem Birch for the rest of the season and Freddie Gillespie from the G-League but those are additions on the margins at best.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So how do the Raptors add legitimate talent? The T word, also known as tanking. Getting a talented player, no matter what the position will help the Raptors out immensely. Whether it is Cade Cunningham or Evan Mobley, the Raptors main objective should be trying to get in the position to get one of these guys for next season, hopefully in Toronto.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-genially wp-block-embed-genially\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" title=\"Toronto Raptors Draft Targets\" frameborder='0' width='1200' height='675' src='https:\/\/view.genial.ly\/607dd9629e1e8d0cf7741660#?secret=gyo2jnLdL0' data-secret='gyo2jnLdL0' scrolling='yes'><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This season has been less than ideal for the Toronto Raptors. The team is stranded in Tampa Bay, playing games in front of fans who don\u2019t entirely support the team. The 2019 champions are currently sitting with a record of 24-34, currently in the play-in tournament. With less than 20 games left in the season [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":264,"featured_media":714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[62],"class_list":["post-713","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-toronto-raptors"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/264"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=713"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/713\/revisions\/749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/project.journalism.torontomu.ca\/jrn-305-2021\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}