Raptors Coach Shares Team's Biggest Needs Ahead of Offseason

The Toronto Raptors want to add more size, skill, and a backup point guard this summer through the draft and in free agency

Feb 12, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic talks to guard Immanuel Quickley / John E. Sokolowski-USA TODAY Sports

The Toronto Raptors need talent.

Adding talented players is really the most important thing Toronto will do this summer. There’s no specific hole that needs to be filled or area that needs to be prioritized over adding the best player available. If that means adding a center in the draft that makes things a little wonky with Jakob Poeltl, so be it. If there’s a player whose skillset overlaps with Scottie Barnes but is otherwise an exciting prospect, that’s OK too.

Always add talent.

“Every team needs the same thing: it needs great players,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said Tuesday. “That's where I'm really excited (about) that flexibility that you were talking about and potential draft picks and all of that. Bobby and Masai are the best in the business and they do a really good job of evaluating the talent and putting the team together so I have absolute trust in in them that they're going to build the best roster possible for us.”

Toronto could have as many as three picks in the top 31 selections if the draft lottery works out for the Raptors. That’s in addition to some offseason options that could create nearly $30 million in salary cap space should Toronto opt to part ways with Bruce Brown and Gary Trent Jr.

But putting talent aside for a moment, there are some areas that the Raptors should probably look to improve.

Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, and Gradey Dick are all offense-first kind of players. None are particularly undersized for their positions, but they don’t offer a ton of defensive versatility, and that certainly cost Toronto’s defense in the second half of the year.

Quickley, Barrett, and Barnes look like a really big starting lineup if Toronto can play the trio at the point guard, shooting guard, and small forward positions. That trio is a little less daunting if there’s another relatively small guard bumping Barrett and Barnes into the small forward and power forward spots.

So what does Toronto need?

“It's size, it’s skill, it’s ability to cover multiple positions,” Rajaković said. “It's potentially a backup point guard.”

Barnes can be Toronto’s de facto backup point guard when Quickley goes to the bench, but it wouldn’t hurt to have another steady pair of hands to run the offense. For now, Javon Freeman-Liberty is sort of the only point guard behind Quickley and he’s not really a typical point guard and has no guarantee to be on the regular season roster next year.

Fortunately for Toronto, there are options.

It may not be a star-studded draft, but there are a few really interesting centers, a ton of dynamic guards, and plenty of versatile wings in this year’s class. None of them has the sort of upside that Victor Wembanyama had last year, but there are going to be plenty of role players and probably a few all-stars who emerge out of the 2024 draft.

The key is finding those players and ensuring Toronto gets the best player available when the opportunities pop up. Fit will be important down the road, but for now, it’s about adding talent and figuring out the rest later.