Should the Raptors blow it up and start over?
Toronto was no match for Cavaliers in East semifinal
Even before the Toronto Raptors were officially swept aside by the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday, questions were already being raised about the direction the team should go in this off-season.
While the Raptors were able to post 50-plus wins for the second straight year, the mid-season acquisitions of Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker were not enough to carry the team beyond King James and company.
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In addition to Ibaka and Tucker, the Raptors also have pending free agents in Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson.
Lowry indicated on Monday that he will opt out of the final year of his contract to become a free agent.
The 31-year-old had one year and $12 million US remaining on the four-year, $48 million deal he signed in July 2014.
Whether Lowry and the Raptors decide to commit to each other long term likely won't be known until the summer. However, the possible departure of their starting point guard would leave some big shoes to fill in the backcourt.
"I never looked at it or tried to put it into perspective, what it would be like without him," DeMar DeRozan said of Lowry. "It's going to be a decision on him that he's going to have to make, and I support him 100 per cent.
"We gained something that goes way beyond basketball, so that's why when it comes to things like this, I don't put the pressure on him, or I don't say: do this, do that. He's got to make the decision, as a friend I've got to be there to support him."
Part of the problem for the Raptors is that the Cavaliers don't exactly provide the best measuring stick for making improvements.
Without Lowry
To better assess that, Raptors president Masai Ujiri and his front office staff might want to take a look at how the team fared after the all-star break in the absence of Lowry, and the club's performance in the first round against the Bucks.
Ibaka and Tucker were welcomed additions to the lineup, but both players are likely to garner significant interest on the open market.
What the team has in mind for Patterson, who was somewhat of a disappointment this season, is less clear.
Furthermore, unless Ujiri has an eye towards a blockbuster trade, leading scorer DeRozan isn't going anywhere.
But even if Ujiri decides to write the cheques necessary to bring back the same cast next season, he could still provide the team with a fresh look on the sidelines.
Dwane Casey has guided Toronto through its most successful period in franchise history, but perhaps he has taken this group as far as it can go. He also continues to receive criticism for how he handles in-game situations.
"There's always areas in our team, in our play, that I feel like I can do a better job, our staff, we all can do better," Casey said. "There's nothing we can be satisfied about, with our job performance, especially after the way we went out. Even the season, there were times we could have been better defensively, better offensively, definitely, and adapting to the new age NBA, which is the three (pointer)."
DeRozan said the players stuck by the six-year Raptors coach.
"Even when we had our bad days, our good days, we stuck by him," DeRozan said. "One thing about Case, Case is one hell of a person outside of a coach. When you've got a coach that's a great guy like Case, them bad can flip quick into the good days. He's been the same wit his funny quotes, his sayings...sometimes he hit us with that and the whole room started laughing."
Regardless of what happens, this is bound to be an whirlwind summer for one of the many teams trying to find a way to dethrone LeBron James and the Cavaliers.
With files from The Canadian Press and The Associated Press