By: Adamo Marinelli
November 23rd, 2019
After shocking the world and bringing joy to millions of fans in Canada and all over the globe by winning their first-ever NBA championship on June 13th, 2019, the Toronto Raptors had some important issues to take care of with free agency around the corner.
Their main goal of the offseason was to try and resign superstar small-forward, Kawhi Leonard. The Raptors and the city of Toronto offered him many amenities such as free dining in all Toronto restaurants and a luxurious penthouse worth over $1 million among many others in an attempt to persuade him to stay, but in the end, he simply wanted to go home to Los Angeles, which is where he grew up and where his family is.
In his first press conference with the Los Angeles Clippers in late July, he said:
“Just before I get started on the Clippers, I want to thank the Toronto
Raptor fans. I don’t have social media so I’m not able to put out a
paragraph or whatever, … I just want to thank all of Toronto,
the city, the country. It was a great, amazing season.
Best parade ever! … I also want to thank the city as far
as the restaurants, you know, giving up that ‘Ka’wine-and-Dine’
throughout the playoffs. I took advantage of that,” he said
laughing. The players, they already know what’s up. Text,
FaceTime me, we’ll talk. The coaching staff as well and the whole
organization really, I just thank the whole city. Thank you.”
You could tell that even though he only spent one season in Toronto, it meant a lot to him. And it should considering he helped lead the Raptors to their first-ever NBA Championship. With Kawhi gone, that meant Danny Green would leave, and he left to join Lebron’s Lakers.
With Kawhi and Green gone, despite all the sadness it caused to Raptors fans, the Raptors were easily able to get out of the luxury tax they were in last season and were also able to dig themselves out of the huge luxury tax hole that they would have found themselves in if they would have succeeded in re-signing both superstars. Before the start of the 2018-19 season, the league-wide salary cap was approximately $101,869 million and there was a tax level of $123.733 million, meaning teams can go up to that amount without paying a luxury tax. The Raptors had an active roster cap-hit sitting around $139.3 million. That is about $15.6 million over the absolute max salary cap which falls into the 4th sector of the NBA luxury tax chart. The Raptors, despite going over the salary cap for many consecutive seasons - having the sixth-highest payroll in the NBA in the 2016-17 season and the fourth-highest in the 2014-15 season - have done a great job avoiding the luxury tax by staying under the tax level amount. Last season, by adding Kawhi and Green, they entered into the luxury tax domain where they paid almost $31 million in luxury tax.
However, ahead of the 2019-20 season with Kawhi and Green gone and with players like Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, Fred Van Vleet, Pascal Siakam, Normal Powell, O.G Anunoby, Stanley Johnson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Chris Boucher among others under contract for the Raptors, they are spending about $121 million in committed salaries. That is $12 million over the salary cap of $109 million but is less than the luxury tax threshold of approximately $132.5 million dollars. Raptors fans were sad to see Kawhi and Green go, but it worked out financially.
With the salary cap under control, the Raptors needed to focus on talent. They did not need to completely rebuild but may have to in 5-7 years with Lowry and Gasol and Ibaka potentially gone and with many key players like Siakam, Powell, Anunoby all becoming free agents in the next few years.
Regarding this season, however, many experts did not consider the Raptors to repeat as NBA champions and I agree with this statement just like many other Raptors fans. But, only very few people slept on them. After all, they had a record of 17-5 without Kawhi and were able to maintain the same core of guys that played around him last offseason. They are almost the same team.
So far this season, the Raptors are fourth in the Eastern Conference with a 10-4 record, only 1.5 games back of the Milwaukee Bucks, who have possession of first place in the Eastern Conference. The Raptors have played well all season long, even without Ibaka and Lowry, who has been out with injuries since November 8th. Ibaka is ahead of schedule and could be returning tonight against the Atlanta Hawks; Lowry is eyeing a return on December 1st. They have even gotten huge wins over some really talented teams like the Lakers, Trail Blazers, Pelicans, and Magic among others.
The skill of their bench, a key factor in their championship run last season, has deteriorated a little bit this season; only because players like Norman Powell, Fred Van Vleet and O.G Anunoby got upgraded to starters once Leonard and Green left and players like Stanley Johnson, Matt Thomas, Patrick McCaw, and Chris Boucher became players coming in off the bench. The play they get from everyone, especially their starters, has been amazing. In particular, both Fred Van Vleet and Pascal Siakam have been dominating the court and Siakam is showing why he was chosen as Most Improved Player last season.
Another extremely important piece in their championship run, their immaculate defense, also remained completely intact. Kawhi was able to help the Raptors have the best defense in the league; without him, the Raptors still have one of the best defenses in the league. Head coach Nick Nurse stressed the importance of their stellar defense in the preseason and in training camp and he even called out all the players who he thought were not playing hard enough, including Johnson and Hollis-Jefferson. Nurse said in a press conference:
“Nope, nope, nope, [t]hose guys have not understood A) how hard
we play [and], B) our schemes [and] that defence is a priority for them.
... I keep telling [them] show me you’re going to play defence, show me
you’re going to play hard, show me you understand our coverages. Then
whatever you do on the other end you’re going to get opportunities.”
By continuing to use this defensive-minded play, for the most part, they have been able to shut down high scoring superstars like Lebron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paul George and Kawhi Leonard just like they did all of last season, including during the playoffs. Their strong, physical defence also allows the Raptors to get plenty of takeaways and score points in transition, another one of their many skills on offence.
In conclusion, the Raptors are not as good as when they had Kawhi and Green last season. However, they are still a relatively young team, they are very talented and are well-coached. They don’t have a lot of cap space left, they still have some, however. They also have a strong pool of previous draft picks on the team and developing in the G-league, including Dewan Hernandez, their sole pick of the 2019 draft. I do not see them repeating as NBA champs, but I do see a team that will make the playoffs and that will compete for top spot in their division and the Eastern Conference.
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