Much remains up in the air for the Raptors despite strong close out of the season

Wednesday night marked the final game of the underwhelming 2012-2013 season for the Toronto Raptors.

Despite a fair share of hype generation prior to the beginning of the campaign, the Raptors finished without a trip to the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season.

Toronto was a streaky team this year, seemingly undertaking a number of different identities as they dealt with the integration of new personalities, injuries and a midseason trade.

"Three different teams, three different seasons," Dwane Casey told reporters after the Raptors season-ending 104-90 victory over the Boston Celtics. "We are disappointed. I am disappointed. But if you disregard the 4-19, then we are knocking on the door of the playoffs."

The Raptors got off to a horrendous 4-19 start, but finished the season 30-29 -- a nice looking record that will undoubtedly be utilized by Bryan Colangelo and company to defend the moves that he has made for this team, but ultimately that proves very little.

Toronto also finished the season off with five straight wins. The wins themselves are meaningless in terms of their position in the standings, yet the way the starting lineup came together during those games is not insignificant.

Fans were treated to a glimpse of the potential that a unit of Kyle Lowy, Rudy Gay, DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas possesses.

Valanciunas has made steps forward on both ends of the court, but has been particularly impressive on the offensive end, opening up the floor for the other players.

Lowry has shown that he can lead this team if given the freedom to do so, while Gay and DeRozan are slowly learning how to play off of each other and have even hinted at the possibility of improved three-point shooting.

"Everyone has seen it," Casey said. "The growth of DeMar DeRozan-- with him shooting the three-point shot, the growth of Valanciunas and Rudy Gay, integrating in. There are so many positives. I see so much growth."

Again, it is difficult to get excited about such a small sample size, especially a five game stretch that featured at least a couple of depleted opponents.

For better of worse, the majority of Toronto's starters are locked up for the long term.

There are two important positions within the organization that are not locked into long term deals though: the head coach, who is entering the final year of his contract, and the general manager, who has yet to have the option picked up for the final season on his deal.

The future is uncertain for both of these men in Toronto.

Player development and potential moves aside, those two positions remain the most important for the organization moving forward. How the MLSE board deals with the decisions of whether or not to bring Casey and Colangelo back will drasticaly alter how the Raptors go about their offseason plans.

You can look at the roster the Raptors currently have and project the type of moves they should make all you want, but until those two contract situations are dealt with, it is impossible to predict how this organization is going to move forward.

There may be not be any more games left to play, however work is far from done for the Raptors organization.