Raptors eye busy summer after falling short of expectations

Updated Apr. 13, 2023 3:56 p.m. ET

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TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Raptors have tried some version of “run it back” every season since winning the 2019 NBA title.

As the Raptors slide further and further away from championship contention, a major makeover may be coming in Toronto this summer.

Coach Nick Nurse has publicly mused about his future after 10 seasons with the team, the past five in the top role, and been linked with other jobs. Guards Fred VanVleet and Gary Trent Jr. can opt out of their contracts and choose free agency this offseason. Center Jakob Poeltl, reacquired at the trade deadline, is headed for free agency.

Neither Pascal Siakam nor O.G. Anunoby are signed for the long term and both could become free agents next summer.

“We have work to do,” VanVleet said Thursday as the Raptors met for exit interviews

Nurse said he expects the entire organization to face “a good, hard look” in the wake of a disappointing season.

“There’s a lot of things we do well,” Nurse said. “We’ve got to figure out the things we didn’t do so well in every department and do them better.”

Coming off a 48-win campaign, Toronto hoped to build this season. Instead, the Raptors struggled to keep it together. They finished 41-41, going until January before winning three straight games and never won more than four in a row.

“Last year it clicked at a level beyond maybe what we were expecting,” Nurse said. “This year we got a little bit disconnected at times, especially defensively,”

They sure were. Wednesday's play-in loss summed up Toronto's erratic season: The Raptors held a 19-point lead in the third quarter against Chicago, but the Bulls battled back to win 109-105.

“Everything was going so well, and then it wasn’t,” said Siakam, who endured a sleepless night after the frustrating defeat.

It’s just the second time in 10 seasons the Raptors have missed the playoffs. The other was 2020-21, the “Tampa tank” as team president Masai Ujiri once infamously called it. That year, border restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic forced the Raptors to relocate to south Florida, where they went 27-45.

Anunoby was at a loss to explain Toronto’s confounding inconsistency this season: “Don’t have a why. Sometimes it just doesn’t go as planned.”

The question now is how Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster respond. Will they stick with their core and run it back one more time? Or has the time come for a totally new approac?

Here’s what else to watch with the Raptors this offseason:

NEXT FOR NURSE?

Before a March 31 game at Philadelphia, Nurse said he planned to reflect on his future at season’s end. Nurse, who has one year left on his contract, didn't close any doors Thursday.

“Listen, I love it here, and we’ve built a really strong culture,” Nurse said. “We’ve all got to evaluate how we can get that culture back to where we want it.”

VanVleet said he’d be happy to have Nurse back on the bench.

“Coach has my full support,” he said. “I love playing for him.”

BUILDING WITH BARNES

Scottie Barnes, the NBA’s Rookie of the Year last season, didn’t show much development in his sophomore season. He posted an identical 15.3 points per game scoring average and boosted his assists from 3.5 to 4.8, but his rebound average dropped from 7.5 to 6.6.

“I expected more out of myself,” Barnes said, acknowledging a need for better conditioning and saying his high-energy defensive game sometimes sapped his strength.

Nurse said Barnes, who turns 22 this summer, is still in the “early stages.”

“He’s got to get a lot of time in the gym and continue to work on his offensive skills,” Nurse said. “Handling, shooting, finishing, all the things he can do to really put pressure on teams as a scorer.”

NO SHOT

Ujiri and the Raptors may want to rethink their shooting in the offseason after Toronto had the NBA’s fourth-worst field goal percentage at 45.9% and the third-worst mark from 3-point range at 33.5%. The Raptors averaged 10.7 made 3s per game, tied with Charlotte for third-fewest in the NBA.

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