14. Toronto Raptors
Going into this summer, the best the Raptors could have hoped for was to bring back Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka on three-year deals that paid them annual salaries of roughly $30 million and $20 million, respectively.
They got their wish. Now they face reality.
No one wants the next three years of Jonas Valanciunas. Kyle Lowry cannot get much better, and they have no appreciable money to spend until 2020. Worst of all, even on their best day, they are no match for whoever comes out of the West the next few seasons.
This assumes they can even make it that far, which would be a stretch for this team as currently constructed, even if LeBron bolts Cleveland next summer.
The good news is that they’re core is solid and knows how to play together. They also have Masai Ujiri at the helm. Those two things alone at least give them an outside shot to make a Finals at some point during the Lowry/DeRozan/Ibaka era.
Path to Glory: A couple of their young guys play well enough that they become a player for the next Paul George, and they mortgage their future for a shot at a ring in either 2018-19 or 2019-20.