By: Adamo Marinelli
May 29th, 2019
Clearly, on the verge of appearing on their first ever NBA finals against the Warriors' dynasty after beating the Bucks in six games in the ECF, the Raptors are a very talented and strong team, with plenty of talent all around the roster, possibly on the verge of becoming a dynasty.
However, it hasn't always been this way. The Raptors had several years of losing seasons and playoff failure with older and unproductive players. But, bit by bit, especially with the addition of GM Masai Ujiri, the Raptors' luck would begin to turn around.
Let's flashback to July 11th, 2012, about a year before the start of Masai Ujiri as general manager, the Raptors acquired Kyle Lowry from the Houston Rockets for Gary Forbes and a 2013 first round pick.
On May 31st, 2013, Masai Ujiri was named the GM of the Toronto Raptors. Once in office, he had a few things to take care of. The first was Andrea Bargnani, who wasn’t as productive as he was projected and was labelled as a bust to many. Due to the New York Knicks’ desperate need for a power forward, Andrea Bargnani was dealt to the Knicks on July 10th in exchange for: Marcus Camby, Steve Novak, Quentin Richardson, a 2014 2nd round pick (OKC own), a 2016 1st round pick (via NYK), a 2017 2nd round pick (via NYK), and cash considerations.
Later that year in December, the Raptors had to address an ageing Rudy Gay. Luckily, the Sacramento Kings were right there to help the Raptors rebuild. Quincy Acy, Rudy Gay, and Aaron Gray were acquired by the Sacramento Kings from the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Chuck Hayes, Patrick Patterson, John Salmons and Greivis Vasquez. By the end of 2013, the Raptors were still a team with a losing record but they were seeing a lot of progressions especially the chemistry between Demar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry.
Ujiri then needed to address the lack of depth on his team especially on the bench, which leads to the 2015 draft. With the 20th pick, the Raptors selected Delon Wright, a 6’5” guard from Utah and Wright would end up filling the role of Vasquez. Later that night, with the 16th pick of the second round, the Milwaukee Bucks selected UCLA shooting guard Norman Powell. Ujiri saw this as an opportunity to pounce and traded Vasquez for Powell and a 2017 first round pick.
In the 2016 draft, the ninth overall pick from the Nicks materialized into Jakob Poeltl and with their 27th pick, they selected Pascal Siakam, easily the most improved player this season. Looking back at it now, their late first round pick turned out to be better than their lottery pick but Poeltl helped the Raptors out in other ways.
Later that summer, the Raptors decided to bolster their depth even more by adding undrafted prospect Fred Van Vleet. He became one of the more productive bench players after bouncing in and out of the G-League. This season, he’s become an elite scorer, scoring 48% from the field and 36% from beyond the arc. He was extremely clutch in games four, five and six against Milwaukee.
Before the 2017 trade deadline, Ujiri needed to make improvements to the Raptors’ weakest position, the power forward spot. With the Raptors acquiring many star guards from trades, the draft and even undrafted free agent prospects, the need for Terrence Ross quickly vanished. Like Ujiri normally does, he found a desperate organisation to trade for Ross. The Raptors received power forward Serge Ibaka and in return gave up an ageing Terrence Ross -- who was beginning to be less productive and the Raptors no longer required his services -- and a 2017 first round pick. But for the second straight year, the Raptors fell short to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs.
Which leads us to the 2017 draft. Their other first-round pick in 2017, which came from the deal with the Bucks, became small forward OG Anunoby. He was projected to go a lot higher in the draft, being just a sophomore from Indiana University and already oozing with talent but a knee injury and season-ending surgery deemed him as too much of a risk and dropped him off to the 23rd pick where the Raptors got him. Anunoby played some big minutes in his rookie season and was very good off the bench with his long wingspan and good ball-handling skills. He also played very well alongside Pascal Siakam. However, in the playoffs, he was tasked with guarding all-star LeBron James. As a rookie, that didn't go so well and the Raptors were swept by the Cavaliers falling short to LeBron for the third straight season.
It wasn't all Anunoby’s fault though. the Raptors despite having lots of talent couldn't make it over the hump; they couldn't get past LeBron James in the playoffs. Due to their playoff struggles, Masai Ujiri had massive decisions to make. In the summer of 2018, he fired coach of the year Dwane Casey after a 59 win season and decided to trade away their franchise player: a longtime and beloved Raptor, Demar DeRozan. When this happened last summer, I was very shocked and intrigued. I was worried Kawhi would be unable to play because of injury and then just walk and that we had given up our star for nothing. And as it turns out, so were many other people. They all hated on Ujiri for getting rid of the coach and the franchise player. But they couldn’t beat the Cavs. They still struggled in the playoffs. Changes were inevitable. I was very sceptical, considering Kawhi threatened to sit the season out. However, looking back at it now, Ujiri’s genius came through again in another transaction win.
Kawhi was dominant all season long, offensively and defensively, especially in the playoffs with 12 games of more than 30 points already, and he was not overplayed in the regular season, getting 20 games of rest in which the Raptors went 15-5. So the Raptors could win without Kawhi if he leaves but I doubt that he doesn't resign in Toronto, especially because of all the success he has and the team is having this season. Anyways, the Raptors sent over Demar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a 2019 first round pick for all-star and MVP calibre talent Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. Poeltl was received from a lottery pick from the Knicks from the Bargnani trade. Finally, the Raptors decide to strengthen their depth even more and close out any remaining weak spots on their roster by trading CJ Miles, Delon Wright (another late first round pick), Jonas Valanciunas (the Raptors’ final lottery player selected 5th overall in the 2011 draft class who was thought to have so much potential, the Raptors then general manager declined a trade to land James Harden) and a 2024 first round selection, which they got in a trade with Orlando to the Memphis Grizzlies for Marc Gasol, a tall and fast center who can defend and make plays on both sides of the ball. Several years later, Valanciunas is now just part of a package for Gasol. It’s amazing how the Raptors finessed so many teams by offering them lottery players (which they got from trading older and underproductive guys like Rudy Gay and Andrea Bargnani to gullible and desperate teams) and in return got many amazing players that they have on their roster today like Kawhi, Lowry, Powell, Siakam, Gasol, Green, etc.
All of this has led to the Raptors appearing in their first ever NBA finals to play the Golden State Warriors after beating the league-best Milwaukee Bucks in six games after beating the 76ers in a seven-game second round series and the Magic in five games in round one. This all simply highlights Ujiri’s genius when acquiring players and building a formidable roster. Obviously, the team and all the players played well all season long and had excellent chemistry, Nick Nurse was an amazing coach all year long -- he's a really excellent coach who develops young talent, mentors players and is phenomenal making offensive and defensive schemes. And don't get me wrong, I loved Dwane Casey but hiring Nurse to be the head coach was the right move -- and LeBron being out of the East helps too, but alas.
Whoever, doubted Ujiri’s judgement to trade DeRozan and fire Casey, does not doubt it anymore, the Raptors are in the NBA finals and despite being the underdogs; have a great chance to win the championship, after all they beat the Bucks who were the league's best team this season, so what can't they do. Congratulations to the Toronto Raptors and good luck to them against Golden State in the Finals.
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