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Toronto's front office still has work to do if it wants to repeat history and win a championship in Year 1 of Kawhi again.
Sequels aren't always better than the original, and it'll be quite hard to top the first time around featuring Kawhi Leonard in Toronto with the Raptors winning their first and only championship.
Those Raptors had been to the playoffs for five straight years and had a deep veteran roster entering Leonard's arrival in 2018-19. These Raptors have a young group that has been to the playoffs once. The goal remains the same, though: win a championship. And Leonard certainly helps better position the Raptors to do that by solving a clear area of need.
In the first round of the playoffs last year, the Raptors shot just 34.5% out of pick-and-rolls and 32.4% using isolations. Both of those numbers ranked nearly the worst of all playoff teams, per Synergy Sports. The Raptors weren't any better during the regular season either. Seven years removed from the four-bouncer in Philadelphia and the Finals MVP performance against Golden State, Leonard is still an elite scorer even at age 35.
Since he left Toronto in 2019, Kawhi ranks first in the NBA in isolation scoring efficiency during the playoffs. Of course, Leonard made it to the finish line for the Clippers in only three of those seven seasons. But when he does play, his team always has a chance to win.
That's why Toronto paid so much to get him — Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick, two unprotected firsts, one first-round swap and two seconds — and extended him for two years and $115 million. And nobody could benefit more than Scottie Barnes, who now has a co-star by his side who can complement all his greatest strengths. Barnes can still run the show, but he can also screen for Kawhi, crash the boards or cut away from the ball.
Part of what makes Barnes such a special player is his ability to impact different dimensions of the game, and Leonard's presence will allow him to do so much more of everything without having to always focus on scoring. Leonard addresses Toronto's biggest offensive need without requiring the team to abandon what made it so competitive last season. The Raptors were fifth in the NBA in defensive rating and played a versatile, aggressive style.
Leonard isn't his prime self on defense anymore, but he's still very good. And he's surrounded by a bunch of dawgs on this Raptors roster.. Why? The team still has two holes that the championship team in 2019 was able to fill.
And to repeat history and win a championship in Year 1 of Kawhi again, the front office still has work to do. The Raptors didn't just acquire Leonard from the Spurs in 2018. Danny Green came with him, and he proved to be a pivotal part of the title run. In Game 3 of the Finals, he buried six 3s, including three in the final few minutes of the third quarter.
Then early in the fourth, he chased down Quinn Cook to block a layup to protect a lead. That two-way impact is exactly what this current Raptors roster still needs. Toronto shot 35.4% from 3 last season, which ranked 21st in the NBA. The Raptors also ranked 26th in attempts.
Kawhi helps! Leonard has made 41.8% of his catch-and-shoot 3s, so he can simply play off-ball while Barnes or RJ Barrett go to work generating shots for themselves. But look at the rest of the team:Immanuel Quickley, Ja'Kobe Walter and Jamison Battle are the only other reliable 3-point shooters on the team.
Battle looked like a sturdy role player last year, Walter has 3-and-D qualities, and Quickley's return will help provide a boost after he missed the entire Cleveland series with a hamstring injury. Even rookie Allen Graves could help, but his college success came on a small sample. If Leonard, Barnes and Barrett are fixtures in the closing lineup, there ideally would be two more shooters filling out the remaining spots. Quickley will probably be one of them.
The other? Well, it depends on how the Raptors want to play. Inserting Walter would make the Raptors too small. So does Jamal Shead or Alijah Martin.
Collin Murray-Boyles could play a small-ball center, thanks to his Draymond-like defensive ability, but it's pretty pivotal that he improves as a spot-up shooter in terms of both efficiency and volume. And if the Raptors want to go big, they have their lone center on the roster in Jakob Poeltl. But Poeltl doesn't shoot. He sets hard screens, rebounds and finishes in the paint.
Those traits all have value. But he doesn't space the floor for the stars, and this is why Toronto should be looking for a different option at center who can both address the need for more shooting while maintaining the ability to play big. In early February 2019, the Raptors had the second-best record in the East and made an aggressive move to acquire Marc Gasol from the Grizzlies.
It proved to be a pivotal decision given how Gasol could knock down 3s, playmake from the perimeter, and play as a lone big or alongside Serge Ibaka. The Raptors beat up on teams all postseason, which was a defining trait that led to the championship. Center has been a weakness in Toronto ever since Gasol and Ibaka left.
It's especially a concern now given Poeltl suffered through a back injury all of last season and looked nothing like the guy the Raptors just signed to a four-year, $104 million deal. Even if Poeltl returns healthy, that's a lot of money for a big man who can't score outside the paint and doesn't offer verticality as a lob threat. That type of contract can sink a team's chances of contending.
Most teams that have bigs who can shoot 3s and protect the rim aren't trading them. But the Raptors should definitely call the Bucks about Myles Turner, the Warriors about Kristaps Porziņģis and the Grizzlies about Isaiah Stewart. Other targets worth keeping in mind include Kel'el Ware , Moe Wagner and Mo Bamba . Yes, it's pretty slim pickings out there.
There aren't that many Gasol types in existence! Even after acquiring Leonard, the Raptors still own an unprotected first in 2029 plus first-round swaps in 2027, 2028, 2030 and 2032. So they're running out of picks but still have enough assets left to make one more move, and Poeltl's $19.5 million salary is the perfect filler to make a deal happen. There's a world in which the Raptors can't find a needle-moving trade that makes any sense.
That means we may see a lot more of what we saw last year, and that's small ball: Murray-Boyles at center, Barnes, Leonard and Barrett on the wing, and Quickley at guard. Maybe it could work. Even if the Raptors had prime Gasol at center today, I'd still want Darko Rajaković exploring those small-ball possibilities. Going smaller doesn't make shooting concerns disappear, though, when the Eastern Conference will present some big challenges.
As nice as it is to play small ball, finding a big who can shoot would give the Raptors another way to play while helping improve the team's shooting flaw. So if Toronto wants this sequel to end the same way as the original, bringing back Kawhi can't be the last big move.
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