Holly MacKenzie - Raptors.com
During one of the busiest trade deadlines in NBA history, the Toronto Raptors decided to let everyone else do the dealing. Sitting in second place in the Eastern Conference and holding a 14 ½-game lead in their division, the Raptors plan to finish out their season with the group that got them there.
“We feel confident in this team,” Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri said. “In terms of growth, in terms of growing, we’re still a long ways away. We understand that, but a lot of things that were put in front of us were things that maybe [helped] immediately, something that makes you a slightly better now, but it also takes away from younger guys continuing to grow. We felt it wasn’t the time.”
Ujiri said the decision to remain inactive should be taken as a positive by the roster.
“A vote of confidence to our players, team, coach,” he said. “Keep plugging away.”
Although Toronto’s front office fielded calls and listened to what was available, they ultimately decided that they would rather stand pat as the deadline passed. After working hard to establish an identity over the past season, making a move simply to make a move isn’t what Ujiri had in mind.
“Talking to Masai last night and again [today], we're sticking with our guys,” head coach Dwane Casey said. “These are the guys we believe in. We're going to grow with our guys. It's a process. It's going to take a little longer to get to where we want to go but we believe in our young players, we believe in our core. Our development and our growth and our progress will depend on how fast our guys grow. So that's the commitment we're making to our players.”
One of the challenges of the team’s quickest start in franchise history has been figuring out how to handle expectations that have skyrocketed since the beginning of the season. Thanks to a 36-17 record at the All-Star break, many forget this was a group that was supposed to be developing together slowly.
Preferring to take the patient approach and observe how things unfold throughout the rest of the year, Ujiri pointed to the offseason as an optimal time to reassess the roster.
“We’ve made a commitment to give this group a chance,” Ujiri said. We’re a summer team, I think. In the summer you can do more due diligence. You can study more and you have a little bit of space. You have guys to re-sign, you have the draft, we have future picks…For now we’re second in the East. I know it could go up and down, but I think we have good placement for now. In the summer we’ll evaluate again.”
With the Miami Heat, Milwaukee Bucks, Boston Celtics and Detroit Pistons all making big moves on Thursday, Ujiri preached patience with the process.
“The [Eastern Conference] is going to get better,” Ujiri said. “We know that. That’s why we have to kind of plan for the future rather than trying to do something now because teams are going to get better in the East and we have to build a program here that is going to sustain long-term.”
The Raptors spent Thursday practising in Atlanta and will take on the conference-leading Hawks Friday night. Lou Williams, acquired from the Hawks last summer, expressed his desire to keep the roster as is.
“I would hope so,” Williams said. “[We’re] second in the East. I think we had a really consistent year. We haven’t had a lot of really bad lapses. This is a very tight-knit group and I’m considered one of the new guys in this group. The relationships that these guys have and the chemistry that we have, we would hope that we would keep this team together.”
Casey wanted his players to take advantage of the opportunity they’ve been given to keep their locker room in tact.
“I hope they understand that we didn't go out and move anybody or change anybody because we believe in them,” Casey said. “I think that shows the commitment we have with our guys here because there were other people that wanted our guys and they were calling us about our players.”
Ujiri, known for his willingness to take a chance when a move he likes presents itself, summed up the trade deadline quite well:
“There are always calls in the NBA, you just have to pick which ones you want to do.”