Productive Offseason Means Toronto Raptors Are Better, but Is It Enough?

The defensive reinforcements have officially arrived in Toronto. Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri made strengthening the defensive end a priority this summer, adding swingman DeMarre Carroll, point guard Cory Joseph and big men Bismack Biyombo and Luis Scola via free agency. It's not the sexiest haul, but it includes the kind of workmanlike disposition that could transform this roster's two-way pedigree.

Carroll in particular should bring some added fight to both ends of the floor, building upon his emergence with the Atlanta Hawks last season.

"I don't take nothing for granted," Carroll told reporters on Thursday, relayed by NBA.com. He continued:

"

Every time I step onto the court I play my hardest because this game is never promised to you. I lost my brother at an early age. I could go on on how many negatives have been in my life, but today, this is truly a positive.

This is truly a positive to sit here before y'all and the city of Toronto and represent, put the city of Toronto across my chest, and go out and represent y'all. I'm going to do everything I can to try to help this team reach their goals and reach their achievements.

"

That's a welcome sentiment for a team that's lacked postseason success.

Toronto only ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency last season, yielding 104.8 points per 100 possessions, according to Hollinger Team Stats. That kind of territory isn't satisfactory for a club that has title ambitions.

The question is whether three or four complementary players can fulfill those ambitions, whether Toronto's core is good enough to take on the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls or Atlanta Hawks. Even with the additions, the Raptors somehow seem destined to battle with the Washington Wizards or Miami Heat as the No. 4 or No. 5 seed. It's conceivable the North wouldn't emerge victorious in those exchanges.

The Raptors have gotten better, just not good enough.

A few considerations still weigh against them.

The Exiting Talent

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Any way you shake it, the Raptors still lost three key members of the rotation in Amir Johnson, reigning Sixth Man of the Year Louis Williams and reserve guard Greivis Vasquez. That's sort of understandable, given the club's new-found defensive focus, but we're still talking three quality players who won't be easily replaced. 

Who starts at power forward? Who provides a scoring spark off the bench?

Patrick Patterson may be able to address the former, but only time will tell whether Cory Joseph can accomplish the latter. Terrence Ross and James Johnson may be poised to play important roles in the secondary, but it could certainly be argued there is room for more depth in this lineup—and maybe a little veteran leadership too.

One suspects Toronto will miss its departing players, particularly on the offensive end. Johnson didn't score much, but he was a hard worker who ran the floor and did all kinds of good things around the rim. Williams' 15.5 points per contest speak for themselves. Vasquez, meanwhile, had some nice length for a playmaker, a rare virtue.

None of this detracts from the new guys. They'll do great. But their arrival comes with a very real caveat in terms of opportunity cost. This team will be different, perhaps more playoff ready. But it hasn't gotten significantly better on paper.

The Stars

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In fairness, the Raptors wouldn't be where they are without Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. But the former came up woefully short in last season's first round against Washington, and the latter couldn't quite make up the difference. One has to seriously ask whether either of these guys can really carry a team deep into the postseason. They put up solid regular-season numbers, but they haven't proved they deserve to be mentioned alongside the upper echelon of Eastern Conference contenders.

These guys are a step behind, and that starts at the top.

Lowry made just five of his 20 combined field-goal attempts en route to 13 total points in Games 1 and 2 against the Wizards. The 15 points he scored in Game 3 came on a 5-for-22 shooting performance. 

Though Lowry was qualitatively better during the 2014 playoffs, he remained a relatively inefficient scorer, converting on just 40.4 percent of his field-goal attempts and doing much of his damage from beyond the three-point arc.

At times, Lowry and DeRozan seem to be just enough, particularly when they're getting ample help from center Jonas Valanciunas. The trick will be getting all three of them to fire on all cylinders at the same time. Toronto will need even greater production from its headliners without Williams and Vasquez around.

Perhaps an improved defense will give these guys a bit more margin for error. But they still have to play far better in the postseason. That's a non-negotiable reality of what stands between the Raptors and a championship.

The Bench

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The second unit's problem is that Joseph and Williams are entirely different players. Adding one won't make up for losing the other. Williams created his own offense with relative ease, and that's not Joseph's game.

The Toronto Star's Doug Smith described the new acquisition: "He’s a four-year vet with a championship pedigree known for tenacious defence. Pretty much what the doctor ordered."

Pretty much, but not exactly. Joseph will do what he does very well, but he won't be much of a catalyst offensively. He's capable of driving, pulling up from the mid-range and hitting a few corner threes, but taking over an offense isn't in his constitution. He takes opportunities as they come. He doesn't create them.

Without Williams (and to a lesser degree, Vasquez), the Raptors' second unit doesn't really have a creator. That's not Ross' thing, either. That makes you wonder how head coach Dwane Casey plans on keeping the offense humming when Lowry and DeRozan take a seat.

Raptors fans will quickly take a liking to Joseph. He plays hard, and he's a smart Spurs-like guy. He'll have earned that four-year, $30 million contract before all is said and done. But those same fans will miss the outgoing guards. They brought something pretty special to the table, and it may take one more piece to really replace their output and playmaking.

The Verdict

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Bracketing the question of whether the Raptors make another move or two, it's still fair to say they've gotten slightly better. Much of the improvement won't readily show up in the box score, but it should be evident in the way Toronto wins games. It will hold its own defensively, which generally pays off in the playoffs.

The real problem isn't Toronto. It's everyone else. It's the East's elite and its competent second tier of teams such as the Wizards and Heat. It could even be surprise teams such as the Milwaukee Bucks or Boston Celtics. The Raptors will again fall somewhere in the middle of the playoff pack, and that probably won't translate into a protracted postseason stay.

This team still lacks leadership and perhaps needs some additional talent. It doesn't have Cleveland's All-Star pedigree. Nor does it have Chicago's depth or Atlanta's brilliant-coached system. There's no it factor that puts the Raptors over the top.

Not yet, anyway.