Raptors had worst offseason in the NBA as voted by other front offices
The Toronto Raptors’ days of being among the league’s most widely respected front offices seem to be well in the past.
With the team coming off a 41-41 season last year, Toronto hasn’t exactly had an inspiring summer from a transaction standpoint.
Sure, they’ve brought in a few new veteran pieces such as Dennis Schroder and Jalen McDaniels, while adding in undrafted free agent Markquis Nowell to pair up alongside first-round draft pick Gradey Dick.
But ESPN’s Tim Bontemps ran a poll of 15 scouts, coaches and executives from across the NBA about a variety of topics, and Toronto fans probably aren’t thrilled with the result about the question asking which of the league’s 30 teams have had the worst offseason.
Despite a bit of a down year last year in relation to his standards, the departure of veteran point guard Fred VanVleet in free agency to the Houston Rockets seems to have hurt the team’s credibility around the league. Ultimately, Toronto passed up the opportunity to sell VanVleet (or any other high-profile assets) at last year’s trade deadline and ended up losing the former All-Star without receiving anybody in return.
Here are the full results of Bontemps’ survey asking about the worst offseason in the NBA:
- Toronto Raptors: five votes
- Philadelphia 76ers: four votes
- Miami Heat: two votes
- Chicago Bulls: one vote
- Houston Rockets: one vote
- Phoenix Suns: one vote
- Washington Wizards: one vote
“You can’t lose Fred [VanVleet] for nothing,” an Eastern Conference executive told Bontemps.
It’s interesting to see Toronto ranked as having a worse summer than the 76ers, who have been dealing with the fallout of star point guard James Harden both publicly demanding a trade request while also calling team president Daryl Morey a “liar” at an Adidas event in China.
While multiple sources have linked Toronto to having an interest in a seven-time NBA All-Star — Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard — none of the 15 polled by Bontemps think the veteran will end up in Toronto by the time training camps kick off next week (nine predict he’ll still be in Portland, with six of them predicting he’ll be in Miami).
In any case, Toronto still has nearly a month before their October 25 season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves, with public and league perception of Toronto’s front office possibly changed by then.