Post-Draft Pressure: It's Time for the Raptors to Get Creative

The first move of consequence that Masai Ujiri made as Toronto Raptors general manager was trading Andrea Bargnani. This served two main purposes, optically speaking. The most obvious was that it severed ties with the team's former general manager, Bryan Colangelo—Bargnani was the player who Colangelo picked with his first selection in 2006, and he is the player who Colangelo stuck with even when the entirety of the fan base (and most of the league) thought a breakup would have been best for both parties. There was nothing Ujiri could have done to endear himself to the fans more than jettisoning Bargnani. Symbolically, it was obvious.

The second purpose is that the trade provided hope. Somehow, in exchanged for The Distressed Asset, Ujiri plucked the New York Knicks' 2016 first-round pick, in addition to two future second-round picks, out of Gotham. No matter which way Ujiri was going to steer the Raptors—and he did not know what direction that would be at the time—there would always be something for fans to cling to: "Don't worry, we have the Knicks' pick in 2016."

And as the Knicks fell swiftly from their 54-win season, that hope only grew. That pick could be gold. As the Raptors' fortunes improbably improved, it became gravy. Ujiri's team was in the conference finals, and now he was picking in the lottery. That's a pretty comfy spot.

It turned into a fairly pressurized spot the closer it got to Thursday's Draft, however, even as Ujiri tried to describe having the pick after the Raptors had as—to borrow from David Kahn who borrowed from the bible—manna from heaven.

"There's no pressure," Ujiri said on Tuesday. "We're just lucky to have it."

The Raptors took two games from the eventual champions, but they certainly did not feel particularly close to the Cavaliers in those four losses. Ujiri's mission, once he chose this route, was always to get to a place where his team could put an honest scare into LeBron, without having a player at all like him. (Well, it was the mission once they won a bloody round.) As sweet as this postseason run was, the path to that destination does not by any means seem any simpler than it did last year or the year before that.

Ujiri did not use the return for Bargnani to get much closer to that goal post, at least in the short term. By taking Utah centre Jakob Poeltl with that pick, the ninth in the draft, Ujiri made a safe bet, despite those who immediately identify all European big men as projects.

Poeltl is nimble for his 7-foot frame, with coach Dwane Casey saying his quickness was one of the most impressive things about him. College teammate Delon Wright said he rolls to the basket hard every time. There are hopes that, eventually, he can play power forward and share the floor with Jonas Valanciunas. Given his lack of a long-range jumper, that seems to be a proposition for the future. (The Raptors picked Pascal Siakam, a forward from Cameroon via New Mexico State, with their own 27th pick.)

In the interim, Poeltl figures to be another guy who might fill the void that Bismack Biyombo will likely leave in free agency. That is not nothing, to be sure; in fact, it is critical. However, since this pick, when it was merely a number instead of a human, was the theoretical path to acquiring any marquee established player for the Raptors, Poeltl represents something of an ending. The Raptors could not beat Orlando's offer for Serge Ibaka, and now it will be up to Ujiri to get creative in free agency and on the trade market. He no longer has any sexy picks to dangle.

What he is left with, heading into free agency, is a very good roster without an obvious path beyond internal growth to improve. Depending on which of their free agents' rights they renounce, the Raptors will likely have some room under the salary cap. Given that nearly every team in the league will be able to say the same thing, as the NBA's new television deal will kick in this year, that will not mean much. They will have two key free agents in Biyombo and DeMar DeRozan, and the former is almost certain to leave as he will be able to earn more money and a bigger role elsewhere. As for DeRozan, he should still be a Raptor next year all things being equal, but at a maximum-value contract, that proposition comes with its own risk.

And now, there is no lottery pick to throw around in a trade. Ujiri has collected a nice group of young players, but none of them are good enough to headline a package for a very useful player like Ibaka, let alone a star.

"When the trade deadline passes sometimes you sit back and think should you have done something," Ujiri said. "We have to make those decisions and to me, that's very unpredictable. The free agent market and cap space (opening up for so many teams), it's never been done. …When one team has cap space you're scared, you know, let alone 22 or 23. You don't know what's going to happen out there."

Things are about to get complicated for Ujiri. He is going to need all of the ingenuity he can muster for the Raptors to take the next, precarious step. The obvious moves to please the fan base are all well behind him.