Media Day Takeaways: Rebuilding, defining success, measuring growth

With a clear direction, there is plenty of development to track

It feels great to have the Raptors back!

Media Day has come and gone and we’ve had the first couple days of training camp in the books as well.

DEFINING SUCCESS

When Masai Ujiri was asked how success would be defined this season, this is what he had to say:

“The growth and progress of all our players. With Darko, some of the things we’re trying to put [in place]: plays, systems, the way we want to play, what we’re grasping, the progress of our players is really going to tell and you’ll be able to see. Young teams find it difficult to win in this league, that’s just the way this league is but we want to really build on this and there’ll be no excuses on our side.”

One of the themes of Media Day and through the first couple of days at camp has been the emphasis on defence. Toronto finished 26th in defensive rating last season, added players like Davion Mitchell, Jamal Shead, Ja’Kobe Walter, and Jonathan Mogbo to bring more defence to the roster, and are challenging the players who have carried over from last year to be better defensively.

Darko Rajakovic did a great job installing his offence last season, and while seeing that aspect continue to improve will be worth monitoring, seeing his defensive principles get established will be a crucial part of his success this season. When he was asked about defence, he emphasized pick up points and being aggressive with ball handlers. Don’t expect to see Vision 6’9” level risk, this will be more about preventing teams from getting into their offence early as it’s now well established that offensive efficiency dips the later in the shot clock you are.

Player development will be another key element of measuring success. It’s interesting to look at a roster where the only players you wouldn’t expect much, as far as development is concerned, are Kelly Olynyk, Bruce Brown, and Chris Boucher (and who knows if the latter two will be around come February).

MEASURING GROWTH

On that note, what should growth look like for each individual player this season? Here are my notes for each player excluding the trio above, you can kind of look at them as those Kobe challenges from years past:

• BARNES: Leadership, shot creation, mid-range shooting.

  • Barnes spoke on prioritizing improving communication during the off-season.

  • Ujiri mentioned that Barnes demeanor has become more serious and indicated there’s more professionalism to his approach.

• QUICKLEY: Keep dribble alive, improve rim frequency, 1-on-1 defence.

  • Ujiri spoke very highly of Quickley’s work ethic during the summer.

• BARRETT: Improvement primarily as a team defender as well as 1-on-1.

  • Defensive awareness is my biggest concern with Barrett, would love to see progress in that regard.

• DICK: Volume three-point shooting, better grasp of defensive principles.

  • A lot of talk about adding about 10 pounds and how that might help him on the offensive end, but the defensive end is where I hope it helps most.

• POELTL: Pick-and-roll chemistry, average 30 minutes per game or more for first time.

• MITCHELL: Jump shot, floor general capabilities.

  • We’ll see if there’s true rewards for the work his put in on his jump shot over the summer but he really needs to show he can run an NBA offence.

• WALTER: Show basketball acumen carries over to pro level.

  • There were some smart plays from Walter based on pure instinct at Summer League and it will be a great sign if that can carry over at the real pro level.

• MOGBO: Show potential to defend NBA big wing players.

  • Yes, there can definitely be some fun had with Mogbo as a small-ball 5 but — beyond adding a jumper — his NBA ceiling will be actualized if he can defend the best big wings in the league. Let’s see some flashes.

• SHEAD: Bring pest factor to NBA, show passing chops.

  • While Shead’s defensive ceiling may be Davion Mitchell, it’s his playmaking ability that could give him a higher overall ceiling.

• AGBAJI: Jump shot, defend bigger wings.

  • It’s make or break for Agbaji with the jumper.

• FERNANDO: Become a legitimate backup centre.

  • Bruno Fernando’s athleticism will be a nice wrinkle at centre but he’ll be looking to detach from the lable of being a third-string big.

REBUILDING

This shouldn’t surprise anyone. When asked to give one word to describe what to expect from the Raptors this year, Masai Ujiri was quick to go with rebuilding. The bigger question is about how much of a rebuild we are looking at record-wise.

In the East, you expect Washington, Detroit, and Brooklyn to definitively be worse. Chicago finished with 14 more wins than the Raptors last season but lost DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso (Josh Giddey was acquired) while Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic could also be on the way out. Atlanta is also in a waiting game in terms of what happens with Trae Young and possibly Clint Capela. Charlotte has a slightly deeper team if it can stay healthy. For the West, Portland is the only team that seems like a clear-cut option to be worse while Utah will be TBD.

Based on last season’s records, Toronto has the hardest strength of schedule of any team (.566 opponent win%) until the NBA Cup Knockout Round begins on Dec. 10. I would classify up to seven of the first 25 as winnable (and that’s with considering games like at home against Sacramento winnable because of the energy that will be in the building with Vince Carter’s jersey retirement).

Overall, this season isn’t about wins but I’d be surprised if the Raptors avoided a 50-loss season. With the way the first half of the season schedule plays out, I can also see a path to going in full tank mode come February.

NEWS AND NOTES

• Ujiri went out of his way to clear up any doubts that may exist regarding his relationship with Ed Rogers and made sure to separate tough negotiations from the actual relationship. Gotta keep the bosses happy.

• Ja’Kobe Walter told The Raptors Show on Sportsnet that his shoulder’s out of a sling and he should be back in action in about three weeks. He got injured when Barnes did a fly by contest on a pump fake and his knee hit Walter’s shoulder. (Congrats to Blake Murphy and Matt Bonner!)

• For all the talk of defence, I was surprised there was no mention of Davion Mitchell at Media Day. Forbes’ Esfandiar Baraheni did focus on Mitchell at camp and put together a great story on what the Raptors might get out of him this season.