Why next year is make-or-break with Malachi Flynn and the Raptors
When the Toronto Raptors hit the floor next season, many fans will be lamenting the fact the team’s roster will be largely unchanged.
Of the players the team currently has under contract — including four projected starters — 11 finished the season with the Raptors last year, with Dennis Schroder coming in and Fred VanVleet leaving for Houston being the most notable changes to the team’s mix.
Add in possible contracts for Ron Harper Jr. and Jeff Dowtin Jr., and it’s hard to imagine the team looking any better than they did at 41-41 a year ago.
Sure, there might be marginal improvements throughout the roster, and new head coach Darko Rajaković might present some fresh ideas, but oddsmakers are currently projecting the team to get just 36.5 wins next season.
But the team’s lack of clear direction presents a possible opportunity for point guard Malachi Flynn — Toronto’s 2020 first-round selection out of San Diego State — to cement himself as a key piece of the team’s future.
The thing is, it’s probably his last chance to make it work in Toronto.
What’s been holding Flynn back so far with the Raptors?
Flynn’s had an up-and-down stint in his time in the NBA so far, with the team opting into the fourth year of his rookie-scale contract this summer.
Flynn’s a restricted free agent next summer, but Toronto will likely need to see a bit more out of him this coming season to see if he’s worth committing to for yet another season after this one.
His career stats aren’t exactly eye-popping: Flynn has averaged 5.5 points, 1.9 assists and 1.8 rebounds in 144 games for the Raptors in his career, though he’s averaged just 15 minutes a night over the course of the last three seasons when in the lineup.
It’s clear that the franchise wants to try to make it work with the 25-year-old, but they’ve probably got just one more season left to see what they can squeeze out of Flynn.
Schroder expects to start, with Flynn and newly signed undrafted rookie Markquis Nowell the only other natural point guards on Toronto’s roster.
Rajaković has no previous coaching ties to Flynn or Nowell, with the possibility of either of the team’s expected backup point guards having the possibility to wow their new head coach.
Winning the Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year in his final year of college, Flynn’s got the chance to try to unlock his two-way potential that hasn’t quite translated to the NBA level just yet.
“[I was] using my foot speed, getting in passing lanes, getting a lot of deflections, getting steals, picking up full court, just making it tough on guys,” Flynn said during a lengthy interview with SDPN’s Esfandiar Baraheni, one of the rare media appearances Flynn has done over the last few seasons. “So I think I really locked into that my last year of college.”
Perhaps, though, it’s simply a matter of getting more reps. In 27 of his 53 games with the Raptors last season, Flynn played under 10 minutes, hardly enough run to really get into a consistent momentum.
The Raptors might not be all that good this coming season if they perform as expected, with trade rumours not expected to slow down any time soon. But if Flynn wants it to work out in Toronto — and vice versa — he’ll have to make it work in whatever opportunity he’s presented next season.
- You might also like:
- Raptors' legend Serge Ibaka is still in love with Toronto and calls it "home"