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Raptors expedite rebuild with confusing bet on Ingram
They were reluctant to do it, put it off as far as possible, and waited at least a year too long to pull the trigger, but they finally got there and for a minute or two they seemed to be embracing it.
“There are temptations here to try to make the team [better], try to push and do deals that might not help the team in the future, but we have to look at the future of this team and be patient,” Masai Ujiri said last spring, a few months after trading Pascal Siakam – the last remaining fixture of the 2019 championship core – and unofficially pivoting to the next era, the Scottie Barnes era.
“Sometimes rebuilds can take three to six years. Sometimes teams act before [that]. I think we’re going to see how this process goes and use our instincts with it, but patience is going to be a big thing with this team.”
Toronto was stuck in limbo, clinging to the remnants of its championship past. Then, it settled on a definitive path – short-term pain for, hopefully, long-term gain. Develop a young core around Barnes while simultaneously putting themselves in position to find his future running mate, likely through the draft, in the hopes of building a championship future.
And now? Who knows. The plan seems to have changed again.
On the eve of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, less than 13 months after Siakam was dealt and the rebuild began in earnest, the Raptors acquired New Orleans Pelicans star Brandon Ingram. In exchange, they gave up the expiring contract of Bruce Brown, Canadian centre Kelly Olynyk, the 2026 top-four protected first-round pick that they got from Indiana for Siakam, and a 2031 second rounder.
You can understand the allure. This is a bet on talent and, despite his deficiencies (and we’ll get to those), Ingram isn’t lacking for talent. He’s an all-star-calibre player in his prime and perennial 20-plus point per game scorer.
In its 30-year history, Toronto has never been able to recruit that type of player on the open market, and even if it could, the team wouldn’t have had the cap space to sign Ingram – a pending free agent – outright this summer. Now, they have his Bird Rights without having to pay a king’s ransom. They bought low, which is generally considered good business.
The price was right. But the fit and the timing? That’s where there are questions.
Ingram is an incredibly gifted offensive player; one of the league’s........
© TSN
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