What Raptors EOS Pressers Tell Us About Future

Takeaways from when players and Ujiri were asked to look into the crystal ball

There’s usually a pretty specific spectrum for end of season pressers ranging from what transpired during the season that just ended and what to look forward to in the summer and next season.

Answers can be generic but there can also be some very specific things to pick up on.

Here are the most important bits I picked up on:

Scottie Barnes

The biggest thing for Barnes heading into the summer is that his hand needs rest. He said he can’t really feel or grip the ball as he’s accustomed to and his follow through wasn’t consistent as a result, either.

He feels confident about getting to his spots whether it be in the post, attacking downhill, or in the pick-and-roll. The next step is ramping his efficiency in scoring from said spots. Specifically, Barnes shot just 47 percent on post touches and 46 percent on drives. Both those numbers need to be higher for him really consider them “his spots.”

Barnes expects the team to make the playoffs “for sure” next season.

Brandon Ingram

There wasn’t much that was too revealing about Ingram other than that he is continuing with his rehab and needed the PRP injection because of some new agitation that occurred with the ankle.

He’s expected to be in constant communication with the medical staff over the course of the summer and will hopefully hit the ground running at training camp.

I do like what he said from a leadership standpoint in terms of wanting to get to know his teammates better and what motivates them both on and off the court. We know he’s taken Ja’Kobe Walter under his wing and through the pressers we found out that, upon learning Immanuel Quickley likes to read, he bought him a book.

Jakob Poeltl

Poeltl said his next step is to make the secondary read in delay action. Delay action is when the big man trails the play and initiates offence. Poeltl felt that he became very comfortable with making the initial read but wants to recognize counters and process the next option faster. Might we see a little Jokic in Poeltl’s passing next season?

He took a big step with his free-throw shooting improving from 55.1 percent last season to 67.4 percent this season. Poeltl noted that overthinking was a mental hurdle for him at the free-throw line and that he has now addressed that. Perhaps getting over the 70 percent mark is a possibility next season.

Immanuel Quickley

Quickley said his biggest goal for next season is to improve his 3-point shooting volume. He believes it starts with him taking more pull-up threes in transition a la Kyle Lowry.

When I made an appearance on the Locked On Raptors podcast earlier this week, I set a lofty goal for Quickley to hit 250 threes next season. His career-high was 171 last season in 68 games.

I’d say a more reasonable goal is probably closer to the 210 mark so let’s see if he can land somewhere in the middle around 230. 12 players made at least 230 threes last season. They were Anthony Edwards, Malik Beasley, Stephen Curry, Derrick White, Payton Pritchard, Tyler Herro, Jayson Tatum, Zach LaVine, James Harden, Jordan Poole, Jalen Green, and Donovan Mitchell.

Reading books is a priority for Quickley this summer, saying he’s currently re-reading Chop Wood, Carry Water but that the Bible is his most important book.

Masai Ujiri

Ujiri, as always, touched on a variety of subjects but here are the ones I found most intriguing:

IS THE FRANCHISE/OWNERSHIP COMFORTABLE GOING INTO THE TAX?

“I think it depends on the kind of talent we have on the team and the kind of players we have on the team,” Ujiri said. “We’ll see how the draft goes and where we are and I think ownership will be fine with it depending on the kind of talent we have on our team. It’s our jobs to say and to project where this team is going to go.”

Translation: Ownership will likely be comfortable seeing how the team performs in the first half of the season before providing a clear directive on their preference to duck the tax or not. Remember, you only pay the tax if you exceed the luxury tax number at the end of the season.

PRIORITY WHEN IT COMES TO EXTENSIONS FOR BARRETT/POELTL/AGBAJI

“Longer term we address at the end of the season, I’m always going to do that,” Ujiri said. “I would not talk about that now but it’s our intentions that these guys are the type of players we want on our team and I think all three you’ve mentioned have done really well. Jakob has been like a backbone for us when he’s played here. I’d say he’s one of the guys who’s had one of the better years here. We saw Ochai’s improvement on the team and also RJ. I told RJ, he told on himself, he can defend.”

Translation: Expect Poeltl negotiations to be positive as he has a player option for 2026-27. He’s earned the security and is a no-nonsense, low maintenance player. Barrett is going to be held accountable for his defence and perhaps the Raptors will say let’s see it for a full season next year. Barrett is committed through ‘26-27 anyway. With Agbaji, there is probably a number they are comfortable with and there’s no serious pressure since he will be a restricted free agent as opposed to an unrestricted one in ‘26-27.

WILL CHRIS BOUCHER BE BACK AS A RAPTOR?

“The best way to say this is: I know who Chris is and it’s a tough place to put him in,” Ujiri said. “I don’t know who Jonathan Mogbo is, I don’t know who Jamison Battle is in terms of where they are going and I have to put them in a position to start to find out what types of players they can become. And that’s by throwing them in the NBA and giving them that opportunity. I only gave those two as an example but there are more we really need to find out about.”

Translation: Sadly, this does suggest Boucher’s tenure as a Raptor is coming to an end.