Patience Going to be Key For Raptors Who Turn Attention Toward the Future Following Loss to Knicks

When last season came to an end for the Toronto Raptors, team president Masai Ujiri made it clear the organization was looking to get back to its draft-and-develop roots.

From 2015 to 2017, the Raptors could do no wrong. They somehow seemed to nail every single draft pick and undrafted free agent signing over the span of three years. In hindsight, it’s unfathomable how hot that streak was.

But since then, Toronto’s track record has been problematic.

Save for Scottie Barnes who has been a resounding success so far, Toronto has not hit on a single draft pick or undrafted free agent singing in the past five years. Even the young prospects they’ve targeted in trades haven’t worked out.

To be fair, that championship-winning three-year stretch can’t be the standard. Hitting 1.000 over any multi-year sample is an unreasonable expectation. But the lack of success lately has taken a toll on Toronto who has found itself without adequate depth for the last three seasons.

“You’re not going to get all of these, right,” Ujiri said earlier this week. “It’s not been Fred and Pascal and OG and Norm, it’s not been that, but I always say, in the NBA your time comes and it goes, comes back around again and our time is coming again.”

Saturday’s 126-100 loss to the New York Knicks was a reminder of just how bad the past few years have been for Toronto. Sure, Anunoby looked great with his new team, but Toronto’s inability to build a contender around him and Pascal Siakam forced these trades. The organization’s inability to develop Precious Achiuwa and Malachi Flynn had left Toronto bereft of depth for far too long.

The Raptors need to change that.

For the first time in Ujiri’s Toronto tenure, the Raptors are going to have to rebuild this team from the ground up. Barnes is here to stay, as is Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett, but after that, this Raptors roster is pretty barren.

The biggest question right now might be the future of rookie first-round pick Gradey Dick who Toronto had hoped would be a contributor for the team this season.

The 20-year-old did look better than he had in his previous NBA stints. He saw regular rotation and connected on three three-pointers, including his own 5-0 run to end the third quarter. His night was only ruined by Anunoby who hit him with an unfriendly hello, lowering his shoulder into the Raptors rookie and bullying his way through Dick for a layup to give the Knicks the lead in the second.

The former Knicks, Quickley and Barrett, both looked good in their return to New York. For Quickley, it’s been a bit of a slow start since joining the Raptors, but his playing looked impressive against the Knicks. He had eight of his 11 assists in the first quarter, leading to 18 points for Toronto, and finished the night with 12 points.

Barrett, meanwhile, continues to be impressive with 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting. Considering he was thought to be a pretty mediocre asset when Toronto acquired him, his resurgence since joining the Raptors would be a huge victory for Toronto’s scouting department.

Defensively, Toronto remains a work in progress since Anunoby’s departure. The Raptors were pesky in the first half, forcing 13 Knicks turnovers for 21 points, but if New York wasn’t turning it over, there wasn’t much resistance from Toronto.

New York eventually ran away with it in the third quarter with 33 points in the frame to pull ahead by as many as 20 in the quarter. Jalen Brunson caught fire with 14 of his 38 points including two three-pointers, the second of which he celebrated with the Quickley-esque skip move.

What’s clear is the rest of this season is going to require patience.

Barnes had a disappointing night, scoring just nine points on 4-for-14 shooting and there are bound to be more of these nights as he tries to become the No. 1 option for the Raptors.

But this year is no longer really about this year. Toronto has turned its attention toward a future with flexibility and extra draft assets. The hope is the wheel will turn and the rut of bad drafting the Raptors have been mired in will turn.

Soon it’ll be clear what the truth was.

Is this front office the one that couldn’t miss on its draft picks for three straight years or has the recent trend been more indicative of what Toronto really has leading the way?

Up Next: Memphis Grizzlies

Toronto will be back home after a one-game road trip to take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET.