All the signs were already there, but Toronto Raptors boss Masai Ujiri confirmed Monday that this will be a rebuilding season for the franchise.
“I would use the word rebuilding. That’s the right word,” Ujiri told reporters in downtown Toronto at the team’s media day. “We have a clear path going forward. Young team. Growing team. I think everybody sees that loud and clear.”
Later, head coach Darko Rajakovic, echoed those thoughts.
“Obviously, the goal is to compete and win every night. That’s the goal. At the same time, we’ve gotta understand where we are and the moment of the organization,” Rajakovic said.
Speaking specifically of the team’s wretched defence last season, Rajakovic said the team has a “clean slate,” and will start “building our foundation” on that end.
In general, Rajakovic used the analogy for his Raptors of building a house. He talked of finding land and laying a foundation and how those are the hardest steps, but those are under way.
Rajakovic was hired over other candidates a summer ago in large part because of his proven chops as a developer of talent and for his rapport with young players. That was the first clue of where the Raptors were going. Losing Fred VanVleet in free agency and then the trades of fellow stalwarts Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby last season just made everything clearer.
“We want to build this team around Scottie (Barnes, the lone all-star on the roster), who is 23 years old. You play to win. But it is a rebuilding year,” Ujiri said. “In sports, you always want to be competitive and you play to win. But it is a rebuilding team and everybody sees that, loud and clear.”
Ujiri was asked about how the Raptors can bridge the desire to build toward the future, with the fact that the players have other goals, primarily winning more games and proving they aren’t losing players.
“I don’t want them (Raptors players) to talk about rebuilding, that’s me. They should be talking about winning. That’s where their mindset should be. They do our job, we do ours,” Ujiri said. “But competing is what you want them to be and they are competitors.”
Ujiri did admit to the importance of the draft (the 2025 crop is projected as the best in a while in terms of the talent of the top five or six prospects overall, led by Duke’s Cooper Flagg).
“The draft is a way for us to build teams and to acquire players, especially in a market like our market,” Ujiri said.
And how will outsiders evaluate how the rebuild is going? In other words, what should they be looking for from the Raptors this season?
“The progress of our players is going to really tell,” in addition to things like competitiveness each night, how the team is playing defensively, system stuff, etc. Basically, are guys getting better,” he said.