ESPN Future Power Rankings

[rocwell]

26. Toronto Raptors | Future Power Rating: 469
PLAYERS MANAGEMENT MONEY MARKET DRAFT
232 (22nd) 82 (20th) 84 (22nd) 37 (22nd) 34 (25th)

The Raptors have seen better days. Toronto slid in our rankings this year after a season whose tumult was illustrated by then general manager Bryan Colangelo desperately putting his former No. 1 pick Andrea Bargnani on the trading block during a live local TV broadcast.

Bargnani was never traded, but the Raptors did absorb Rudy Gay and his swollen contract ahead of the deadline. In Toronto, Gay shot 42.5 percent from the floor, doing little to shed his label as an overpaid volume shooter. Gay is set to earn $37 million over the next two seasons.

The Raptors sputtered to a 34-54 record and a last-place finish in the Atlantic Division behind coach Dwane Casey. Colangelo has since been removed from basketball operations. The good news is that 2012-13 Executive of the Year Masai Ujiri of the Denver Nuggets might be taking over the reins in Toronto soon, but the deal has not been finalized at the time of this writing.

Aside from Gay, the Raptors have promising young talent in Jonas Valanciunas, DeMar DeRozan, Amir Johnson, Terrence Ross and Kyle Lowry. Whoever takes control of the organization would be wise to invest in developing Valanciunas, who showed flashes of dominance while sometimes looking like a mere pup. But at 21, he has the potential to become another Marc Gasol.

The Raptors rank in the bottom 10 in every category across the board. To change that, a star must emerge for Toronto. But they probably won't find him in the 2013 draft -- the Oklahoma City Thunder will be picking in Toronto's place at the 12th slot.

Also: http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/page/...ankings-debate

Strauss: "it's quite difficult to convince free agents that they should leave the United States. Because of this, the Raptors have overpaid the likes of DeMar DeRozan and taken on Rudy Gay's terrible contract. "

[NoPropsneeded]

Terrible article. They can take this and shove it up their ass's, we'll be laughing if their faces when we make the playoffs.

[enlightenment]

I dont know how you can write off the Raptors future when we have JV on board.

[The Great One]

Garbage.

[Soft Euro]

#clown

[isaacthompson]

How is this a terrible article? Apart from the low ranking, everything said is correct.

[stretch]

The truth is a bitter pill.

[Apollo]

Well, based on how this team has been operated for nearly it's entire existence, I don't care what the narrative says, 26th is a fair rating until this team actually does something positive and consistently positive at that. Seriously, the Raptors are this generation's L.A. Clippers(of the 90's).

The team has been consistently horrible and so they're an easy target.

[2KJ]

Well, based on how this team has been operated for nearly it's entire existence, I don't care what the narrative says, 26th is a fair rating until this team actually does something positive and consistently positive at that. Seriously, the Raptors are this generation's L.A. Clippers(of the 90's).

The team has been consistently horrible and so they're an easy target.

The Bobcats/Hornets are this generation's 90s Clippers. They make the Raps organization look like the spurs. LOL. I think the Raps are more like the Knicks of the mid 2000s (post-Ewing/isiah,starbury era). Too mediocre to make the playoffs, but not bad enough to get a lottery pick (JV is the exception).

[NoPropsneeded]

Well, based on how this team has been operated for nearly it's entire existence, I don't care what the narrative says, 26th is a fair rating until this team actually does something positive and consistently positive at that. Seriously, the Raptors are this generation's L.A. Clippers(of the 90's).

The team has been consistently horrible and so they're an easy target.

That's way over exaggerating. The Clippers had a stretch where they didn't make the playoffs for 14 straight seasons! followed by 3 first round exits and another 8 year drought. This franchise isn't even that old yet, we started off good and we've dropped off a bit over the years. But it looks like things are going our way now, but we are by no means this generations clippers. That title should go to Sacremento or Minnesota

[Apollo]

A little higher than 26th is still mediocrity

Not worth debating how poor they are in comparison to past poor teams but we can all agree they've stunk for about a decade and prior to that they only had a small stretch of being interesting.

Could they be a little higher? Maybe but really what's the difference between 26th and 20th? It's still mediocrity.

[Soft Euro]

Mediocre is when you're constantly in the 10-20 range. They say mediocre is the worst position in basketball to be in, yet we've been in the upper poverty range for some time, which isn't good either.

[Apollo]

I'm not going to split hairs but mediocre is something that's not very good. We no doubt will all have our own interpretations of what can be classified as that. I'm saying 26th is mediocre and it fits.

They've averaged 33 wins in the last decade. Two of their high picks have bloated contracts and they're so unimpressive/disappointing that they have threads dedicated to trading them. They're hugging the luxury tax threshold for the next two seasons if nothing changes. I can understand how someone could rank them 26th and if the Raptors were ranked 20th I would feel no different. When we're talking back end of the league, all those teams are comparably bad.

I do think they can make the playoffs next season but this future rankings junk takes into consideration history, along with current circumstances.

[ceez]

Article's about right. What have we accomplished exactly? And since it was published before Ujiri came on, it's fair to say they were correct in saying we don't have much of a future.

Val is a great player and all but he's one player. We owe oodles of cash to a bunch of inefficient guys. I'd say the article is spot on.

[Apollo]

Right and so with Ujiri I'd bump them up to 20th personally. Ujiri did great things in Denver but he doesn't have a Melo asset and so Toronto is going to be a much larger challenge for him. Maybe he rises to that challenge, I think he has ability, and so we'll see but right now he's only rolling up his sleeves. His first thought was "trade Bargnani, call all 29 other teams" and so there are good signs. .