The Raptors Win Free Agency 2021
I declare the Toronto Raptors winner of the NBA 2021 Free Agency Championship! How can this be you ask as the Greatest Raptor of all Time (GROAT), Kyle Lowry, leaves the team after 9 years and it’s only championship to join his good friend Jimmy, don’t call me James, Butler in Miami. He’s taking his talents to South Beach as the old saying goes and leaving the Raptors without a true leader. Or is he?
I will grant you that Lowry, the little engine that could, was the motor of this team and beyond doubt the floor general and that does leave a terribly big pair of shoes to fill – on the court. But Kyle is 35 years old with a lot of tough miles on that 6 foot frame. Even trying to match the 3 year $90 million contract tendered to him by the Heat would have been folly. The team as constructed simply doesn’t have the horsepower to race to another championship even with the transcendent Lowry doing his distribution thing and taking charge after charge.
Certainly the team is not without it’s own stars: Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam (maybe) and OG Anunoby are a good set of starters. They just drafted what would appear to be a very interesting and yet unproven piece in (surprise, surprise) Scottie Barnes so what gives? Couldn’t Kyle take this group to that next level? No, no he can’t. But even Lowry at his finest and fittest couldn’t carry this group across the championship line. The Raptors as constructed have several gaping holes which cannot be filled in the next 12-24 months. It’s not going to happen. But what they can do is look to the future and take the next step rebuilding a contender that will challenge the best in the league in the next 3-5 years. Here’s how that could happen.
Barnes is a rare find in the draft, a strong, lanky player capable of guarding 1-5 with a 7’3” wingspan who has the personality and mental fortitude to become one of the best team leaders in league history. But that will take some time. While he is cooking, the team must find a solid center, something they have been solely lacking. At the same time, OG still needs seasoning and Pascal still needs to find out how good he really is and regain the form we saw from him during their championship run against Golden State. Mal Flynn still has much growing to do if in fact he has the chops to be a really good piece on a great team.
This is too much of an ask for Lowry, but if so then who? Well how about the architect of the Raptors championship run, the man who is coveted by most NBA teams – Masai Ujiri. Sure, no doubt if there was any person who could pull this off Masai is the first one to come to mind but he’s without a contract and has offers from around the world, right? Wrong. He’s here to stay to use his own words, re-upped as grand leader of the Raptors for many more years to come. The grand prize goes to the Raptors this off season.