Raptors Made Clear What This Season is About With Questionable Decisions vs Grizzlies

The Toronto Raptors have opted to prioritize development at the expense of winning by using Gradey Dick in the team's closing lineup

The Toronto Raptors are not prioritizing winning.

That’s OK. It’s not a critique. Frankly, it makes sense. It’s probably the prudent decision considering how much change is expected in the coming weeks. Just play the players who will be here long-term regardless of how the chips fall.

That’s what the Raptors did Monday night against the Memphis Grizzlies.

With 3:37 to go in the fourth, Toronto found itself down by 12 points. It was a sizeable hole, but nothing insurmountable against a severely shorthanded Grizzlies squad. And yet, with the game not quite over, the Raptors subbed out Gary Trent Jr. in favor of rookie first-round pick Gradey Dick.

This wasn’t an empty-the-bench moment for Toronto.

It was an admission that Dick will be here long term and the players not on the court might not be. Bruce Brown Jr., Gary Trent Jr., Dennis Schröder, and Chris Boucher might want to keep a getaway bag packed.

“Just wanted to him to get experience of closing the game out there to be with those guys,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said of Dick. “He did a lot of good stuff lately, so he deserved the opportunity.”

With due respect to Dick, he’s been fine. He had a solid performance in a 26-point loss to the New York Knicks on Saturday but was 0-for-1 in 14 minutes against the Grizzlies. He’s done nothing over the past three games to show he deserves minutes in Toronto’s closing lineup.

Dick didn’t give the Raptors the best chance to win.

With two minutes to go, Vince Williams Jr, a 23-year-old sophomore who began the year out of the rotation for the Grizzlies, went at Dick in isolation, blowing right past him for a driving dunk.

Toronto had other options. Had the Raptors wanted a three-point shooter, Trent would have made sense. Need more defense? Brown has been a valuable rotation player on some very good teams. Even Schröder, who had an off night against the Grizzlies, would have given the Raptors a better shot.

But Dick is the future for Toronto and getting him these opportunities in a lost season is a worthwhile venture. At the very least, it gives him a chance to work out of the shooting funk that plagued the first half of his year.

“I’m seeing much more confidence than he had at the beginning of the year,” Thad Young said of Dick. “He’s coming out, he’s being aggressive. That’s all we’re asking Gradey to do when he touches the court. Catch the ball, when you’re open, shoot it, when you have the drive. Playing stampede, playing 0.5 basketball, being aggressive. He’s doing that much more now. And then defensively just say solid on the defensive side of the basketball.”

The Raptors are probably going to see more of this in the coming weeks and months.

Barnes, Quickley, Barrett, and Dick are clearly the group that will be in Toronto on the evening of Feb. 8. Everyone else's future is uncertain. So for now, the Raptors are going to try to let that core group gel regardless of what it means in the standings.