The Raptors have more roster moves to make

Amit Mann and Asad Alvi discuss the state of the Raptors roster, where they could benefit from better skill balance and more. Listen to the full podcast on the 'Raptors Over Everything' podcast feed.

Video Transcript

ASAD ALVI: I think the Raptors do still have some moves that they can make, whether it's taking one of those salaries, packaging it with another younger player who might be out of their rotation. Because again, the question is if Jeff Dowtin beats out Malachi Flynn in training camp, if they see him further along in the depth chart than Malachi Flynn, Malachi Flynn is going into his final season. It's like, well, you're not going to play again this season?

Maybe they look to move Malachi Flynn and get him to a different spot as he's going to be an upcoming free agent. So they go take Malachi Flynn, you tag on an $8 million salary to him and Thad Young, or a $6 million salary in Otto Porter. Maybe a second round pick or a protected second round pick and you try to get someone on an expiring deal that might be more likely to crack your rotation and that opens up a spot for Jeff Dowtin as well.

Again, I think there's pathways to it. Again, the Wizards traded Monte Morris for, I believe, just straight up a second round pick. So they also still have Delon Wright sitting there on their books. That could be a potential target. Maybe I don't know in terms of targets, but there's a couple routes they can go. They do have some salaries that can tag together.

If they don't go with the complete package together, just the guys that aren't going to play and maybe a pick to get one player that might play then you could potentially see Chris Boucher, who's on probably the fringe of the rotation now, especially realistically, if the Raptors have their core five guys, they have Precious Achiuwa, who's part of their core and has been at least part of their core for the last few years. So you're going to tag him in at six-- you're going to tag him in as a bench guy. Dennis Schroder is going to be a bench guy. Jalen McDaniels is someone you just signed is probably going to come off the bench as well.

So that's eight guys you're already at. The rotation's only about 9 or 10 deep. You need a backup big for Jakob Poeltl anyways probably. So Christian Koloko is likely going to play and he played really well in his first season. So there's no reason to believe he wouldn't continue playing in the second season. Now you're at nine. You have Gradey Dick, who just signed to a-- signed to a rookie deal. He's going to have to play at some point as well this season.

AMIT MANN: Yeah, maybe more of a second half.

ASAD ALVI: That gets you to 10.

AMIT MANN: But yeah, for sure.

ASAD ALVI: Yeah, that gets you to, like, 10 by the second half of the season. So now the question is, well, where does where does Chris Boucher fit in that rotation? Who is he playing over? Is he playing over Precious, Koloko, Gradey, Jalen? Potentially at the beginning of season. Maybe not at the end of the season. And he's definitely probably got less invested-- the franchise probably is less invested in Chris Boucher than they do in those three names.

So that becomes a question, like, hey, Chris Boucher is a valuable player. Is there a spot that you can find for him? He's on a good salary at $11 million to be tradable. Maybe you can package a Chris Boucher plus an $8 million Thad Young, that gets you $19 million. That can then go out and get you maybe a player who is slightly overpaid at, like, $19 million or $18 million, but is someone who will crack your rotation for sure. And I think there are pieces in that range that they could go for, someone who's more of a guard or a wing, to balance out the roster.

And then that opens up the roster spot for a Jeff Dowden as well. So I do think there's still moves to be made just because of how the roster is panning out on the bench side of things. I think our starting lineup and our first two or three guys off the bench are kind of already set. But that back half of the roster, those last seven, eight guys, feels like there's too many bodies that probably need minutes that aren't good enough to get minutes on this team. So you can kind of move them around and figure out good spots for them. That's where I'm thinking, at on, what, August 1st, or August 2nd, what's--

AMIT MANN: It's the first, we're good. It's the first.

ASAD ALVI: Yeah. What the thought process is for the front office.

AMIT MANN: Happy birthday to Scottie Barnes too. August 1, it's his birthday. Go ahead, man and celebrate. Think he's vacationing somewhere right now, doing that damn thing. So good for you.

I do think that Jeff Dowtin Jr, he will be on the opening night roster. But the Malachi Flynn, that connection between those two and where it goes, I think it does need clarity. Because also I mean, you look at just traditional rosters. And those back end roster spots are typically for some of those two-way guys to go up and down, just like we've seen with the Raptors do with other players in the past. And Dalano Banton, obviously, he's now a Celtic.

But even going into the process, you had those three Malachi, Dalano and Jeff, you're like, you probably only need maybe one of them going forward because you still have Scottie Barnes. And whatever's going to be happening with the Toronto Raptors and how they're going to handle the point guard position, you maybe don't always need necessarily to have that many kinds of players on your roster when there's other holes that you need to fill.

So I still think there's going to be, as you said, some movement there. Thad Young, you know, him not being in Summer League was kind of strange to me. Maybe it's nothing. Maybe it's something. I don't know. But for someone like him, been in the league for a very long time and he knows how important a Summer League camp, so to speak, with all the team under a new coach after the season they just had, and he wasn't there.

I was like, that's kind of odd. But maybe it's nothing. I saw he had a few other things going on, an event or something like that. But also we'll just have to see how things go. I still think that Otto Porter Junior, he's also in a contract year. He needs this year to go well. And I'm not saying that his on-court product won't be sufficient. It's more about, can he stay healthy? If he's on the court and he's shown us many times, if he's on the court, he's usually pretty good. But it's him staying on the court.

That's what we're not sure about. And Chris Boucher, I mean, yeah. Like you said, valuable contract, valuable player. He has a home on many teams I would think. But maybe if the Toronto Raptors, Pascal Siakam sticks around, then maybe you do want the services of Chris Boucher and you just have to sort of navigate this Christian Koloko, Precious Achiuwa, Chris Boucher, slight overlap between the players, although Christian, obviously, is actually a center. But we'll get into some of that stuff.

ASAD ALVI: And I'm not even saying that Chris doesn't have a spot on this roster. Like realistically, Chris could very easily play on this roster. He'd be good as a cutter, as someone who's just kind of has to attack the basket on offense, attacking the back line, stuff like that. But he may not be-- he might not be the best decision-maker with the ball so you wouldn't use him as a big in that scenario.

But if he's shooting like he does in the second half of the season out the gate, then he becomes incredibly valuable. With Chris, you see his 3 point shot kind of comes and goes at times. But when he's hot, he becomes a very valuable player for this team.

And then when the shot's on the other side of the fence, where it's not really hitting as much, then that's where you start feeling the crunch. Where it's like, OK, Chris is going out there. He's meant to be this relief, stretch, power-forward type. And if you're not really getting the 3 point shooting and he's not bringing-- it's not like he's going to bring you playmaking, really, it's a lot of energy plays. And then 3 point shooting, catch and shoot 3 point shooting, and if you.