Toronto Raptors: Does LeBron’s decision change the team’s outlook?

With LeBron James leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Eastern Conference door has swung wide open. Will the Toronto Raptors capitalize now that their one barrier to success has exited?

The day is May 5th, 2018. The city is Cleveland, Ohio. The Toronto Raptors are down 2-0 in the Eastern Conference Semifinals to the Cleveland Cavaliers. This season has featured 59 regular season wins, two all-stars, an eventual NBA Coach of the Year win for head coach Dwane Casey and one of the best bench players in the league in Fred VanVleet.

It has been the best season in Raptors history.

Even down 2-0, heads have to still be held high. Until of course, LeBron goes coast-to-coast in the final seconds of this game and makes a running floater going to his left to win the game. Even though it technically wasn’t the end of the season, with another game to play.

Bye, bye Raptors.

2018 was LeBron James and the Cavs’ third straight year knocking the Raptors out of the playoffs. It was also the second straight sweep of the Raptors in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and after Game 4, made LeBron’s streak of wins against Toronto in the playoffs at 10 games.

Even in the regular season, Lebron treats the Raptors franchise like a little brother. According to Sportsnet Canada, all-time against the Raptors, LeBron is 39-9. His stats read as so: 27.6 PPG, 7.2 RPG, 7.7 APG on 52% shooting.

In the playoffs, it becomes even more evident that LeBron is the better loved of the siblings. His points per game increases to 30. His rebounds go up to 8.4 and while his assists go down to 6.1 a game, he shoots 60% against them. Utter dominance, and the Raptors are left helpless to do something, anything against the king.

Since we are sticking with dates on this one, June 1st, 2018 should be one of the best days in Raptors franchise history. Fans should literally be climbing the CN Tower right now and shot-gunning beers at the top of it in celebration.

This is the day that LeBron James left the Cleveland Cavaliers and thus, the eastern conference. No longer will the Raptors have to face the king in any of the first three rounds of the playoffs. The one thorn in their side has been vanquished and now the Raptors are firmly in position to make some better noise in the playoffs.

What should the Raptors do now? In simple terms, stay consistent but make sure to adapt and add as well. They have already hired their top assistant, Nick Nurse as head coach. He’s been with the franchise since 2013 and has personally seen his top two players Kyle Lowry and Demar DeRozan become two of the best players in the conference. He has been there to nurture growth within the team and hiring him was big for camaraderie purposes after canning Dwane Casey for doing the best job he possible could have.

Speaking of DeRozan and Lowry, they are both under contract until at least 2020. DeRozan has a player option in 2020-21 that could see him walk but for now, the near future is safe with these two. Derozan is coming off a great year in which he averaged 23 PPG, a career high 5.2 APG and 3.9 RPG. He made his third straight all-star game and fourth overall. He was the de-facto leader of the best regular season team in the Eastern Conference and is the cornerstone of this Raptors franchise.

Kyle Lowry also had himself quite the year as well. Making his fourth straight all-star team, Lowry averaged 16.2 PPG, 7 APG and a career high 5.6 APG. 2017-18 was Lowry’s sixth season up north and at 32, is still producing at a high clip. He has showed no signs of slowing down yet and pending injury, will probably maintain this streak of all-star appearances. Lowry can still put up 20, 8 and 5 on a consistent basis. He should be the point guard moving forward.

The Raptors also made a smart move yesterday in re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, $18.6 Million deal. VanVleet finished third in Rookie of the Year voting this past season and became the leader of the second unit for Toronto. He’s a gritty point who can shoot, defend and pass. Who wouldn’t want someone like that on their team? Not only will he continue to be a valuable player for the Raptors, he could be the man in a few years if Lowry does choose to leave.

Despite the Raptors two stars being a bit on the older side, they actually have some good young pieces to work with. Besides VanVleet, the Raptors drafted OG Anunoby in 2017 who showed awesome defensive flashes last year. He also has an improving jumpshot and the upside of a tidal wave. Expect Anunoby to be a big piece moving forward.

Toronto also has the likes of Pascal Siakam, Delon Wright, Jakob Poeltl and Norman Powell. All solid young players who can provide scoring and defense off the bench or in a starting role.

With all of this being said, the Raptors need to start thinking about the future. It has long been rumored that Derozan wants to finish his career back home in L.A. after his deal in Toronto is done. To keep him and Lowry happy, the Raptors are going to have to get more scoring around them. Outside of Derozan Lowry, VanVleet and very rarely Serge Ibaka, go to scoring is sometimes hard to find up north. It doesn’t seem as though Toronto are going to be big players in free agency this season and were without a draft pick this season.

Adding a go to scoring three-guard who can play D would be my first move for Toronto. The Raptors struggled in the playoffs finding a third scorer to help Derozan and Lowry. After Jonas Valanciunas, the Raptors had no one scoring more than 10 points per game in the playoffs. CJ Miles added 9.6 PPG in 22 minutes but you will never get to the finals with your fourth best scoring option only getting 9.6. Unless of course you have LeBron on your team (sorry guys).

OG Anunoby is going to develop into a good player for Toronto but having him come off the bench is better right now. He can score better against second rotations and will be able to develop quicker in my opinion. Adding this go-to scoring wing for the Raptors is imperative for their improvement this offseason.

Where the Raptors are kind of screwing themselves right now is with cap room. After re-signing VanVleet, the Raptors are now $7 Million over the luxury tax. They are currently dolling out $37 Million to Ibaka and Valanciunas. They are also giving Powell over $10 Million a year. One of those guys has to bounce. Along with max deals for Lowry and DeRozan, the Raptors are stretched thin in the money department.

Trying to package a trade deal with Ibaka’s contract would be my first move. Ibaka has been supremely underwhelming for both the Orlando Magic and the Raptors since leaving the OKC Thunder and I really don’t see him improving approaching 30. At $21 million a year, he is simply not worth it. Drastic measures would be waiving or cutting him where they would still potentially be on the hook for paying him, but it would help with cap room.

While LeBron and the Cavs are no longer a threat to the Raps, they now have two new teams to deal with. With the Boston Celtics and Philadelphia 76ers both being in the Atlantic conference, developing great young talent and already having deep playoff experiences, the Raps have some serious competition.

People have already started penciling in the Celtics into the Finals. With a healthy Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward as well as young stars like Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and Terry Rozier it makes sense. With the best coach in the NBA in Brad Stevens, the Celts are squarely in the driver’s seat in the east. The Raptors could have the talent and energy to compete with the Celtics in a seven-game series but like I mentioned, they need more.

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The Sixers also are stacked with young talent and have an immense amount of cap space to add pieces. They are still in the running for the Kawhi Leonard trade sweepstakes and have been aggressive in trying to get free-agents. They already have an all-star in Joel Embiid, a rookie of the year in Ben Simmons and several young players who all have crazy potential. If they re-sign the second-best shooter in the league in J.J. Redick then they will continue to be extremely dangerous.

The Toronto Raptors have a golden opportunity to take advantage of a depleted Eastern Conference this upcoming year. As it stands right now, they have two of the top ten best players in the conference and the same roster as last year, which produced 59 wins. They need to add some pieces and subtract some as well.

It is going to take some wrangling from the front-office but the Raptors are in the best position to advance to the NBA Finals than they ever have. Will they lay another egg or make the necessary push to become great?