Raptors end of season grades: Questions about core remain

That’s all, folks.

The Toronto Raptors‘ 30th-anniversary season is in the books, ending with a 125-118 loss to the Spurs in San Antonio in which typical starters RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl all sat out.

Scottie Barnes finished with a season-high-tying 35 points, along with 11 rebounds and eight assists. Jamison Battle had a career-high 25 points on 7-of-15 shooting from deep. The seven makes were a career-best for the undrafted rookie, while Jonathan Mogbo just missed his second-career triple-double as he contributed nine points, 10 assists and a career-best 14 rebounds. Rookie point guard Jamal Shead had 11 points and nine assists, playing in front of a large crowd of friends and family from nearby Austin.

The Raptors ended up 30-52 overall, albeit with a better-than-.500 record since their 8-31 low point on Jan. 11.  They also can claim the NBA’s third-ranked defence over that span as heading into Sunday the Raptors had allowed just 109.7 points per 100 possessions — only half a point worse than the Oklahoma City Thunder, which seems impossible — and at least in part attributable to playing against a steady stream of slightly better than G-League opposition on most nights.

But it can’t only be that. It’s clear that Toronto is planning to make a leap next year – and for what it’s worth, 44 wins (Detroit) was good enough for a playoff spot this season – and the optimism for said leap has been fueled in part by both the Raptors second-half surge and the presence of Brandon Ingram sitting on their bench. We’ll see.

For now, here are my highly unscientific player grades for the season that was:

Scottie Barnes: An even year that petered out to a desultory finish. Where you land on Barnes at the moment reflects your expectations and how much context you’re allowing for. He missed 17 games due to injury and played through some, too. Overall, his numbers were mostly flat, year-over-year, when you adjust for minutes, which were cut down as the Raptors hit the tanking button in the last quarter of the season. But even with that, 19.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists with 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks on 48.2 effective field goal percentage in year four does not scream “max money.”

To be fair, his on-ball defence took a significant jump, and the emerging outlines of a go-to jumper in the mid-range were both encouraging developments. Another nice development was Barnes making more of an effort and being more effective as a communicator with the media, which is a small part of his job, but not to be completely overlooked as it reflects a growing maturity. But this is the last season of Barnes’ rookie deal, and a year from now, all the talk about him being a franchise player – with the $225 million contract to go with it – will be very much at the “tire hitting road stage.”

Overall grade: The grading will become much harder, but for now, it’s a B.

RJ Barrett: Barrett deserves a lot of credit for continuing to build out his strengths and whittle down his weaknesses in his sixth season, and doing both with an open mind. The Mississauga native had the best year of his career in his first full season playing for his hometown team, putting up career highs in points (21), rebounds (6.3) and assists (5.4), numbers that would have been higher were it not for the Raptors dialing everything back down the stretch. He was challenged to be more of a creator early in the season and responded with multiple double-digit assist games. He was challenged to pick up his defence in the second half of the year and made progress there, too. His three-point shooting was still pretty average at 35.0 per cent but a bigger issue was the free throw shooting as Barrett shot just 63 per cent on 5.5 attempts a game, his worst mark since his rookie campaign.

Overall grade: Barrett is heading into a contract year next season, so decisions will get harder, but for now, it’s easy to give him a B+.

Immanuel Quickley: By the first year of a second NBA contract everyone typically has a pretty good idea about where a player’s potential lies, but given that Quickley signed his five-year $175-million deal last summer and then missed all of training camp and 38 of the Raptors first 48 games, It probably makes sense to roll any hard and fast conclusions on Quickley and the value of his deal to next season. But a note of concern: in the 17 games he played after the all-star break, all while benefitting from considerable rest, the NBA’s softest schedule and being tethered to Raptors centre Poeltl, Quickley was rarely more than just fine.

He did average 18.8 points and 6.0 assist with a sterling 4:1 assist-to-turnover ratio while shooting a very respectable 38.2 per cent on nearly eight threes a game. But Quickley struggled if he wasn’t taking threes. He shot just 40.9 per cent (post all-star) on shots in the five–to-nine-foot range, where he needs to live because he’s not the kind of physical driver that can routinely play at the rim. For contrast, Celtics guard Peyton Pritchard was at 63 per cent for the season and Cavaliers guard Ty Jerome was at 58.3 per cent from that distance. Quickley struggled even more from 10-to-14 feet, shooting just 31.8 per cent.

Overall grade: The Raptors are paying the 25-year-old to be an above-average starting point guard. There’s good reason to believe he will be, but for now, C+

Jakob Poeltl: The big Austrian centre is one of those students who always gets his homework done, knows when the next assignment is due and already has a summer job lined up. A model student. Poeltl had the best season of his nine years in the NBA, hitting career highs in points (14.5), rebounds (9.6), steals (1.2) and free throw percentage (a leap to 67.4 per cent from a previous career-best of 55.5). More importantly, he was very connected to the Raptors even having a chance to win games: after going 4-28 last season with Poeltl out of the lineup last year, Toronto was 2-11 this season without him before the team started using Poeltl part-time.

Overall grade: The only issue with Poeltl is that because he’s a poor shooter (his one three-pointer made this season notwithstanding), it limits what the Raptors can do offensively in some respects, but that’s nothing to blame him for. A-.

Brandon Ingram: The Raptors knew when they acquired Ingram at the deadline that he was unlikely to play for them this season. A far more significant priority was making sure the 27-year-old would be fit, healthy and ready to go to start his ninth season, and first of the three-year, $120 million extension he signed shortly after the move. It’s a little concerning, however, that Ingram took a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection in his injured ankle last week. On one hand, it was described as a boost to a recovery that was on schedule and progressing well. On the other hand, why does he need PRP treatment four months after the original injury? It highlights the gamble the Raptors made with this trade: If Ingram can play 65 to 70 games on average over the next three years, it will likely work out very well for Toronto. But he hasn’t played 65 games since he was a 19-year-old rookie with the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s missed an average of 21 games a season since, not including the 64 he missed this year.

Overall grade: Going forward, the Raptors’ strength-and-conditioning staff and their ability to help Ingram stay healthy could be the real MVPs. Incomplete.

Gradey Dick: You can’t fault the effort. The second-year wing led the Raptors in willingness to take charges from oncoming rhinos and showed a lack of concern for his body, generally. It makes it easy to root for him. He showed some nice signs early in the season as he averaged nearly 18 points a game (17.8) on close to league-average efficiency (50.6 effective field goal percentage and 35.4 per cent from three) on nearly seven attempts per game through his first 28 games. Which is pretty good, given he was still 20 years old when the season started.

But the sophomore dipped as the season progressed (10.6 points per game on 48.4 eFG and 34.4 per cent from three over his last 20 games) before injuries sidelined him for the last quarter of the schedule. There is still good reason to be encouraged about his potential – six-foot-seven wings with playmaking feel and cutting smarts who can shoot (in theory) are very useful.

Overall grade: Next season it will be important for Dick to shoot better than league average (36 per cent) from three and finish more than 45.4 per cent of his lay-ups, as the competition at the wing spots the Raptors are lining up demands it. C+.

Ochai Agbaji: The third-year wing drafted 14th overall by the Utah Jazz in 2022 has turned himself into a serviceable NBA player with some upside. Anyway you cut it, that’s a win for the Raptors and Agbaji, who Toronto acquired at the trade deadline in February of 2024 after the Jazz were willing to move on from for the price of the 29th pick in the 2024 draft, with which they took Isaiah Collier. For most of last season, Summer League and even pre-season, it seemed like the Jazz had it right as the Kansas product looked like a 3-and-D wing that couldn’t shoot, which is problematic. But once the lights went on, Agbaji’s jumper started to fall as he blossomed into a high-energy defender who could fly in transition, was a willing cutter and a reliable three-point shooter — connecting on 39.9 per cent on nearly four attempts per game.

Overall grade: What his ceiling ultimately is still needs to be determined, and at six-foot-five, he might not be big enough to be an elite defensive stopper, but he understands his role, which is a nice start. B+.

Jamal Shead: The rookie point guard out of the University of Houston has been found money for the Raptors, almost literally. As a 2024 second-round pick on a team friendly deal – he’ll be playing next season for $1.9 million, and the Raptors have an option on his third year for $2.3 million – Shead has shown signs that he can be a low-cost, high-quality option at back-up point guard for a team that is going to be sweating every penny if they want to stay below the luxury tax next season. Shead’s box score numbers are relatively modest, though putting up 13.2 points, 7.8 assists and 1.4 steals on a per-36 minutes basis as an NBA rookie is impressive in its own right, as was his near-3:1 assist-to-turnover ratio. All the while, after being a non-shooter in college, he had a two-month stretch mid-season where he shot 41 per cent from three. That he shot 32.2 per cent for the season indicates work is still needed.

Overall grade: He also oozed good teammate vibes with an easy-going, fun nature that helped keep things light, to go along with a fierce competitive spirit. A-.

Ja’Kobe Walter: The numbers were solid, maybe even encouraging, but averaging 8.6 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists on 40.5 per cent shooting isn’t typically the kind of production to get the heart racing. Although there are some elements and context that justify the buzz that Walter picked up as the season ticked along. First off, he missed all of training camp and 14 of the first 18 games of the season with a shoulder injury. Speaking with Raptors staff, the rookie’s ability to keep up with game plans and stay engaged was very impressive to everyone and helped him hit the ground running when he was ready to play. He also shot 34.9 per cent from three, which was better than might have been expected, given his draft profile, and the eye test suggests he will graduate into being a more than capable three-point shooter. He also passes the ball reasonably well, and plays a tough, physical style on both ends that belies his lean frame.

Overall grade: Mostly, he looks like he belongs in the NBA, which is all you can ask for a 20-year-old taken 19th overall. B+.

Jonathan Mogbo: There are plenty of questions left unanswered about the 31st overall pick, the two main ones being: what position can he play at the NBA level, and will he be able to shoot well enough so that he can be something other than a situational, undersized big man? His 26.2 per cent mark from three indicates there is work still required.  But he answered two big ones also: he can defend at least three positions, as his feet and hips are quick enough to manage a good selection of wings, and his length and ability to read plays lets him compete against all but the biggest and most physical bigs. As well, he clearly has the kind of feel and vision that are hard to teach.

Overall grade: There are more positive signs than red flags – he was averaging 3.9 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks per 36 minutes before having 10 assists and four steals against the Spurs, all of which suggests a rookie who has the processing ability to stick around and contribute, whatever the shape or form. B.

Jamison Battle: There are plenty of examples of other teams finding quality shooters in the far corners of the draft or as undrafted free agents. Just off the top of my head: Max Strus, Sam Merrill, Duncan Robinson, Sam Hauser, AJ Green, Isaiah Joe … the list goes on. The Raptors have never really tapped into that well, but Battle is showing signs he could buck that trend. He fits the main requirement in that he makes shots – he led the Raptors with 40.5  per cent conversion on nearly nine attempts per 36 minutes. He’s also shown signs of being able to be at least a modest threat as a cutter, or a driver when teams run him off the line, and his attention to detail defensively makes up for a pretty average athletic package.

Overall grade: The 23-year-old basically needs to take what he’s done this season and do it all a little bit better and should have himself a career, a tremendous opportunity for an undrafted prospect who played five years of college at three different schools, a nice win for the Raptors scouting and development staff. A-.

Chris Boucher: When he played, he was very good, putting together his best all-around season, arguably. The eight-year pro out of Montreal averaged 10 points and 5.1 rebounds a game and shot 36.3 per cent from three, but finished the season on a heater: converting 44.9 per cent of his threes and 68.4 per cent of his twos over his last 20 games. The assist numbers (0.7 per game) don’t reflect it, but I thought this was the best Boucher executed as a ball mover since joining the Raptors. There were more quick swing passes and passes of dribble drives and fewer catch-and-hoists. He also conducted himself well when the team shut him down as they pursued lottery balls, which couldn’t have been easy for a 32-year-old heading into free agency.

Overall grade: It’s hard to know if Boucher will be back next season, if he’s not, he’ll be missed. B.

Ulrich Chomche: The six-foor-10 forward just turned 19 in late December and unfortunately missed a great opportunity for NBA minutes when he partially tore his MCL in February, ending his season. He would have been front-and-centre in the Raptors’ efforts to gain lottery position, while simultaneously gaining much-needed experience. It would have been a lose-win. Chomche was tagged as a long-term project from the beginning when he was drafted 57th overall last June. He had some nice minutes in the G-league – he averaged 4.2 blocked shots per 36 minutes – but is still some distance from being NBA-ready.

Overall grade: It looks like he’ll be fully recovered to take part in the Raptors summer development program, and we should get a better picture of his progress at Summer League. Incomplete.

AJ Lawson: The two-way signee from Brampton has done well since becoming part of the Raptors rotation in early March. An active, handsy defender and passable shooter with an upbeat personality. Lawson was rewarded when the Raptors converted him to a standard contract for the last two days of the season, with a non-guaranteed deal for next year that will keep him in the development pipeline at least through training camp.

Overall grade: The Raptors will have a need for some low-cost depth options with upside, which is the niche Lawson is trying to fill. Incomplete.

Jared Rhoden: See above.

Overall grade: The Seton Hall product has another year on his two-way deal and – like Lawson – fits the bill as an active, low-usage player who can defend, cut and shows some signs of developing as a shooter, all on budget. Incomplete.

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