Raptors Face Tough Summer After Being Swept By Wizards

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

Back in October, the Raptors season started with extreme optimism. Even after a hard loss at the hands of Paul Pierce and the Brooklyn Nets in game 7, Raptors fans like myself had high hopes of consecutive division titles and another top 4 finish. Except this time, Raptors fans expected a 2nd round playoff appearance in the least. 

The season started out great. The Raptors got off to a 37-17 start, Lowry was an All-Star starter, and the Raptors were at the top of the conference for most of the middle part of the season. Then out of nowhere, they started to struggle. 

It could have been because of DeMar DeRozan missing 22 games due to a groin injury, it could have been because they stopped moving the ball like they used to, it could have been Casey's suspect rotation as well as a lack of structure on offense. You could point many fingers to many people, blaming whoever you want for the Raptors slide in the last 2 months of the season. Even with all of that, you still thought that come playoff time, the Raptors would get their act together and win their 2nd playoff series in franchise history. Until they didn't.

Raptors as we all saw yesterday, got swept by the Washington Wizards, and the series didn't even seem that close. The Wizards flat out dominated the Raptors in every facet of the game. John Wall exploited the Raptors slow footed guards, Bradley Beal was on fire from 3 point land, Otto Porter came out of nowhere and had a huge series coming off the bench, and even Drew Gooden (who was playing YMCA basketball a year ago) torched the Raptors as their stretch 4 off the bench. And of course, Paul Pierce did what he does best. He got into the heads of the Raptors players as well as management. With his comments about the Raptors not having "it", he took the pressure off of his young star teammates John Wall and Bradley Beal and put the focus onto himself. After that Wall and Beal played loose and they used that to pick apart what was left of the Raptors defense.

Now unlike last year, the offseason starts off with full of questions for these Raptors. Dwane Casey looks to be on the hot seat, there are 6 players going into free agency (Amir Johnson, Tyler Hansbrough, Lou Williams, Landry Fields, Chuck Hayes, Greg Stiemsma) and the feeling around the fan base is one of concern. Many fans are demanding changes, whether its with the roster or the coaching staff. And odds are there will be many changes. 

Looking forward to the off-season, Dwane Casey looks like he's on the outs. While the offense ranked 3rd in the league, the team ranked 23rd in defensive efficiency. And for a coach that specializes in defense, that's unacceptable. That along with the unexplainable rotations (James Johnson 8 minutes total in the playoffs, benching Valanciunas in most 4th quarters), and a lack of creativity on offense, but the main reason I think he will be let go is because of him losing the locker room. This is pure speculation on my end, but how else do you explain the way that they played the last 2 months of the season? 25th in defensive efficiency past the all-star break, and during the series against the Wizards, they completely lacked effort on both ends of the floor. Washington led by double digits more than the Raptors had a lead total this series. Game 4 was the most telling for me. When a team is down 3-0, that's usually when you see that team put everything they have on the court, but watching that game, their effort was an absolute disgrace. They showed no fight and they just folded. That was enough for me to figure that they have tuned out Casey and they wanted to put the final nail in his coffin. Firing Casey won't solve all their problems, but with the way this roster has responded to him, removing him as head coach could certainly move them in the right direction. Hiring a guy like Mark Jackson in his place would do that.

And then there's the roster. 6 players are set to be free agents and it's not clear as to who's going to be brought back. You'd think that Amir Johnson will be back in a Raptors uniform next year, but he's been battling ankle injuries the last few years, and this past year he did not look like himself. Was slow in rotations and always seemed to be falling down. If he is brought back I would assume that he's going to be brought in as JV's full time backup and Patrick Patterson would move into his starting role. Lou Williams, reigning 6th man of the year, is also going into free agency. Lou was great for the Raps off the bench this year. He was brought in from Atlanta to be instant offense and he delivered on that front. His defense left a lot to be desired, but you could also say that about most of the players on this roster. Williams actually surprised me with his work ethic on defense most of the season. As for Tyler, Landry, Greg, and Chuck, the only one of those 4 that I expect to be brought back is Chuck Hayes. Hayes is one of the few vets on this team, and I think his mentorship on JV is an invaluable piece for this team. 

Masai Ujiri is going to have the almost impossible task of deciding what needs to be done with this team. From the coaching staff, to the roster, there is no quick fix, and there's still a long way to go. But as a lifelong Raptor fan, I have full belief in what Masai is trying to build, and the close to the vest plans he has for this team. This year ended in extreme disappointment, but I can't wait to see what Masai has in store for the future of this team.

Twitter: @thomas_mooney1