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The Raptors' Offseason Agenda

The Toronto Raptors are coming off their most successful season in franchise history, 56 wins and an appearance in the Eastern Conference Finals. Ultimately, no one expected the Raptors to eliminate LeBron James and the Cavaliers. Masai Ujiri and his staff are entering the summer on a high and must figure out how to improve this roster in order to become true championship contenders.

The NBA Draft is over. The Raptors will add two more young front court players, who may be able to contribute to next year’s team.

Free agency officially kicks off on July 1st. Players can sign contracts on July 7th after the league wide moratorium is over. Anyone expecting the Raptors to be big players in free agency will likely be disappointed.

The number one off season priority is resigning DeMar DeRozan. It appears that barring some unforeseen circumstances, DeRozan will be back in a Raptors’ uniform next season. He has not scheduled meetings with any team other than the Raptors.

There has been a lot written about whether the Raptors can and will resign Bismack Biyombo. This is almost impossible, without a trade. Biyombo is set to receive a substantial raise. He earned roughly $2.8 million last season. Many observers are expecting that Biyombo’s salary will be between $15 and $17 million beginning next year.

Toronto has 10 players with guaranteed contracts. In addition to those 10 contracts, there are various cap holds, most notably for the team’s 2 first round draft picks and DeRozan. The cap holds for the draft picks are negligible, but DeRozan’s is approximately $15 million. This takes the team’s payroll to approximately $88 million, which leaves about $6 million in cap space. Not enough to add an impact player with a rising salary cap.

Trading away a player like Terrence Ross or Patrick Patterson to resign a backup centre, who can’t share the floor with Jonas Valanciunas simply doesn’t make a lot of sense. Instead, Ujiri must turn his attention elsewhere.

The Raptors have 2 big holes that need to be filled: (1) a starting power forward; and (2) a backup wing.

Unfortunately, Toronto missed out on Serge Ibaka, traded to the Orlando Magic on draft night. There has been speculation that the Atlanta Hawks may be entering a rebuilding phase and Paul Millsap is up for grabs. While, he would be the ideal front court partner for Valanciunas, it is more likely Jeff Teague was moved to make room for Dennis Schroder and allow the team to resign its own free agents.

Given the lack of funds available to acquire players, Ujiri must get creative in his approach. He could package some of the team’s assets in order to make a trade and acquire a starting 4 man. One option would be to look to his former team, the Denver Nuggets. Denver is in the midst of a rebuild, with too many players at each position and 3 first round draft picks that need to be added to the roster. Some of their veterans don’t fit the team’s timeline and could be moved.

Most readers are likely thinking I am going to propose that the Raptors trade for Kenneth Faried. After all, Ujiri drafted him in Denver. He is a high energy player and a power forward. The problem is that Faried does not provide the requisite space next to Valanciunas that is required in the modern NBA. Instead the Raptors should look to Danilo Gallinari.

Gallinari is still only 27, turning 28 next season, and a versatile player. He is 6’9" and has a consistent 3-point shot. Gallinari can play both forward positions and would fit well next to Valanciunas and DeMarre Carrol.

Gallinari has 2 years remaining on his contract, with a player option after next season. He is set to earn $15.5 million next year. The Raptors could package Terrence Ross along with one of its 2017 first round draft picks (either their own or the Clippers’ pick) and potentially one other asset in order to make the deal work. The salaries don’t match. Ross is set to make $10.5 million next year. But the Raptors could absorb the rest of Gallinari’s salary into their cap space, as long as the deal is completed before DeRozan signs his extension.

Norman Powell showed that he is ready for a larger role on the team and could step in to the void left by Ross. The Raptors can then use the $5.6 million mid-level exception to sign a backup wing.

Three players come to mind that would provide positional versatility and allow Coach Dwane Casey to get creative with his rotation. However, the big factor will be price and what these players are willing to accept in order to play for a borderline contender.

The first player is Luol Deng. Deng reinvented himself this past year with the Miami Heat as a stretch 4. Deng is 6’9" with a 7’ wingspan. He is not the All-Star he once was, but is more than capable of contributing meaningful minutes either as a starter or off the bench. Deng earned just over $10 million last year. He is 31 years old. This is likely his last opportunity to score a big contract. Would he be willing to sign a 4 year, $24 million contract, when he may be able to get more on the open market? He has a connection with Ujiri through Basketball Without Borders. But will that be enough to leave approximately $15 million on the table.

The next player is Jared Dudley. He fills a similar role to Deng. Dudley has turned himself into a knockdown 3-point shooter, both in Milwaukee and last year with the Washington Wizards. Washington recently brought in Markieff Morris and has their sights set on Kevin Durant this summer. Therefore, if a team is willing to act quickly, they might be able to sign Dudley before the Wizards have an opportunity to react. Dudley is the opposite of Deng, in that he only made $4.25 million last year. He will also be 31 next season and looking for his last big contract. This may be Dudley’s first and last big payday. As such, he might not be prepared to accept the type of offer that the Raptors can make.

The final player the Raptors should consider is Evan Turner. He is coming off a successful season in Boston and is a Swiss-army knife type player. Boston has too many players and likely cannot bring him back. Turner does not do any one thing great, but he does a lot of things very well. Turner can initiate the offence for the second unit. He will give you around 11 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists per game. Turner does not have a good shot from distance, but he provides the type of positional versatility that teams crave. Turner is younger than the other 2, at 27 years old. He is entering his prime and would fit nicely with the rest of the Raptors’ roster.

There are a number of young, restricted free agents available this summer that Ujiri and the Raptors could make a run at. However, Toronto already has so many young players. The team needs to add a few more veteran players in order to take that next step. Will a few minor roster tweaks, along with internal development from players like Valanciunas and DeRozan be enough to get Toronto past Cleveland and into the NBA Finals? Only time will tell, but this will be an exciting offseason for the Raptors.