Atlantic Arms Race, Raptors Caught in a Storm

The Toronto Raptors have tried to win in the past. The acquisition of Jermaine O'Neal and the signing of Hedo Turkoglu were both great moves on paper, but amounted to little. Toronto will miss the playoffs for the third season after this season.

This season though, the team has decided to rebuild through the draft and use strategic trades to earn cap space to bring together a playoff squad next season. At the expense of wins, valuable playing time is helping Toronto's young talent improve their games.

If things keep going as they have, this off season the Raptors will be able to Draft a top five prospect, sign multiple players or absorb contracts with $15 million plus in contracts coming off the books. With another year under their belt, much of this team's young talent should improve, especially if we consider Ed Davis and DeMar DeRozen, two very young high ceiling players.

The Possible Reality:

Unfortunately, it is very possible Toronto misses the playoffs next year. The reason is that currently six teams look like a lock for the playoffs next year, and Toronto isn't on of them:

Miami, Boston, Atlanta, Chicago, Orlando, New York.

Not only that, let's take a look at the teams who might find themselves sitting between the seventh-10th spots next year: Toronto, Indiana, New Jersey, Philadelphia.

All of these teams have solid young players. Philly is currently seventh seed, and Charlotte eighth. The scary thought is that Washington and Detroit are also young and could at any moment start pushing for the playoffs as well.

Toronto next season will have to fight with Indiana and New Jersey for the limited Free Agents out there. This offseason, there won't be many stars coming off the books.

Indiana has enough cap space to sign one to two quality free agents and add to the Granger, Hibbert and Collison Trio. New Jersey has Derron Williams and Brook Lopez. Zach Randolph one of the best players in the FA class wanted to sign with NJ before he went to Memphis. The question to be asked is: How will Toronto lure players and use their cap space when other teams offer a more comfy home?

There is a general feel that this year will be have a weak draft class as well. I'm not sure if I agree with this or not, but if it is true... What the hell... Imagine Toronto with another first overall pick, only to receive an above average player. One thing which we cannot ignore is that Cleveland, Washington Minnesota, and Sacramento are all in it for the first pick. If the Raptors receive anything later then the fourth pick, this year's draft might be a big disappointment.

Every team in the Atlantic Division looks like they know what they're doing. New York has turned itself into a contender adding Chauncey and Carmelo Anthony. NJ has gotten a superstar in Derron Williams, and has plenty of spending money too. Philly is in the playoff picture—this is a team which is young and is very athletic, so these guys are looking to stick around.

This is a problem for the Raptors because of this: when was the last time five teams in one division made it to the playoffs? The reason isn't that your division rank matters much in basketball; it's that Toronto will be facing these guys four times each' it can affect our win/loss column.

Worst Case Scenario:

DeMar doesn't improve much; we miss on any good free agents this summer; we miss the top four draft picks; Indiana, New Jersey, Philly, Washington and Detroit improve; we win 40 games and miss the playoffs again.

With all that said, it could go either way. If we take a moment and be a typical Raptors fan, let's try and come up with a scenario which will bring Toronto a title tomorrow:

Best Case Scenario:  

DeMar DeRozen becomes a 20 ppg scorer; Bargnani moves to PF; Johnson, Davis, Bayless, Weems have breakout seasons; Kleiza plays better; Jose gets 10 assists; Raptors draft an All-Star rookie; Raptors lure Marc Gasol or Zach Randolph, and also sign either Thadeus Young or J.R Smith; The bottom 10 in the East fail to improve significantly; Raptors play like contenders.

This is my first article. I wrote it very quickly, does anybody else think that Raptors' vision of a better season can be interrupted by the recent shift of power to the Atlantic Division? What are your thought on where we stand next season? Thanks.