Day 259

Fresh Start_259: The Raptors are the East Coast Clippers
I have heard the saying “East Coast bias,” but this is the case of the opposite. With the Toronto Raptors getting swept by the Cavilers, the same conversation is going to happen in the Raptor headquarters this offseason. It won’t happen until next season when All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry’s contract is up. DeRozan is signed until the 2020-21 season.

The Raptors aren’t Golden State, Cleveland, or even the Los Angeles Clippers, because of how heavily the Raptors rely on the role players when DeRozan and Lowry are off the floor. P.J. Tucker, Serge Ibaka, and Patrick Patterson are all free agents that will be getting outlandish contracts this summer. The way the Raptors play basketball, the role players have the impact that they have, and that can contribute to not being able to get over the hump against Cleveland.

The conversation of keeping Lowry and trading the remaining $34 million of Jonas Valanciunas to a team that need a center to make a playoff run. If the Raptors are hovering around the .500 mark in the middle of the season it has to be an option to tank in the second half and get a young player that can help DeRozan for the remainder of his career. It would free up some cap space to try to get Demarcus Cousins, Derek Favors, or Blake Griffin as the center for the team. There will also be a couple of important role players like Aaron Affalo, Avery Bradley, Pau Gasol, or Rudy Gay.

This tear down and build back up is extremely similar to the Clippers but it would be as hard because the Raptors don’t have any aging contracts that are in the jeopardy of just aging out and wasting the primes of other players career, and ultimately not winning a title. The East Coast equivalent of the Clippers that isn’t as flashy as Lob City, but it is important to a country that only has one basketball team, and is just as interesting.
Sources:(spotrac.com)

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