Even though Labour Day only arrived this week, plenty of Toronto Raptors players already have been hard at work in the lead-up to the next NBA season.
Franchise player Scottie Barnes and his good friend Jonathan Mogbo, who the Raptors happened to select 31st overall at June’s NBA Draft, have been doing some training in Spain. Others like Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl have been doing the same in Miami.
Second-year swingman Gradey Dick clearly has been busy in the weight room — he looks a lot bigger than he did as a teenage rookie — and he’ll be joined by a bevy of new prospects at training camp next month. Dick already has been seen helping them get acquainted.
Second-year head coach Darko Rajakovic will tell us how he has spent an important summer at media day. Rajakovic’s summer a year ago was a whirlwind following his hiring, so it will be interesting to get his thoughts on how beneficial a normal off-season was for his preparation.
It’s not crystal clear what Rajakovic’s group is at this point.
The general expectation though is that Toronto is not likely to be a playoff team in its 30th season. Only Washington and Brooklyn look significantly worse in the East on paper and little appears to separate the Raptors from perennial basement-dwellers Charlotte and Detroit, especially if injuries mount as they did in 2023-24.
The play-in is probably the ceiling for the team for now. Even if Toronto stays healthy, the team has been dealt the most-challenging schedule through mid-December, with only three of the first 25 games coming against opponents that missed the post-season last year.
As we’ve written here in the past, expect a lot of distractions and activations for Year 30 to take attention away from the on-court product. It’s not that these Raptors lack talent, it’s more the league is pretty loaded at this point and they don’t yet have enough of the high-end variety.
That’s why the tough schedule and low expectations could be good things for the franchise in the long run.
Celebrate the past (Vince Carter will be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in mid-October and will be honoured during the year, along with other former franchise icons) and land a high draft pick in what is expected to be a loaded class (it goes well beyond expected top choice Cooper Flagg).
Then, come back next year with the core more seasoned and ideally another long-term pillar added.
TRENT SAYS GOODBYE
Gary Trent Jr. said farewell to Toronto and the Raptors in a brief Instagram post last month.
“Learned a lot & Earned a lot in the 6,” Trent Jr. wrote. “The city (is) part of me forever, thank you.”
Trent spent three full seasons and part of another with the Raptors after being acquired from Portland for Norman Powell and averaged 16.4 points, 1.4 steals and shot 38% on three-point attempts with the team.
With the free-agent market all but dried up, Trent surprisingly signed for only $2.1 million US with the Milwaukee Bucks looking to chase a championship and rebuild his value for his next contract.
Trent’s post included many photos of his time as a Raptor. His father also played for the franchise.
AROUND THE RIM
Well worth your time to check out the NBA Africa-produced documentary on Raptors rookie Ulrich Chomche: “Born and Bred.” The youngest player in June’s draft was taken 57th overall and won’t turn 19 until December 30. Chomche flashed intriguing glimpses of his upside at NBA Summer League and, while he’s a major project like Bruno Caboclo once was, it’s easy to see why the Raptors were intrigued. The documentary touches on his remarkable journey from goat farmer to basketball prospect with NBA Academy Africa.At this point the documentary can only be watched on the NBA’s app.
@WolstatSun