26 Jun 2021 04:16:08
Decided I'd do a Fredman style offseason plan for the Raptors. I read the prediction The Athletic had and thought these guys aren't near bold enough. I threw out their rule of using the tax line as a hard cap and set out to improve the roster to top 4 in the eastand go ahead and spend into the tax. I believe that the Raptors plan to stay competitive and be ready to strike when the next disgruntled superstar becomes available...
I borrowed structure and some of the numbers from The Athletics' article (credit where due... Lowry, Trent and Birch deals used their numbers)...

Raptors offseason

June 30 - Raptors announce Masai Ujiri has agreed to a 3 year extension making him the highest paid executive in all North American pro sports

July 26 - The Raptors announce they will guarantee Rodney Hood's $10.85 million contract for 2021-22, ; they also announce they will guarantee Aaron Baynes' $7.35 million salary.

July 29 - The Raptors announce they will trade Aaron Baynes, Rodney Hood, the #4 pick in this year's draft, Raptors 1st round pick in 2023 to Indianapolis Pacers for Myles Turner

Aug. 4: Raptors re-sign Kyle Lowry (unrestricted, Bird rights) to a two-year, $45 million deal
As a product of deciding to sign Lowry, the Raptors will now operate as an over-the-cap team.

the Raptors guarantee the contracts of Chris Boucher (decision must be made by Aug. 8), Yuta Watanabe ($375,000 guaranteed now, the rest if he makes the opening night roster, Aug. 9), DeAndre' Bembry (Aug. 6/7), Paul Watson Jr. (Aug. 5/6), and Freddie Gillespie ($50,000 guaranteed now, the rest if he makes the opening night roster, Aug. 20).

Assuming both Watanabe and Gillespie make the team, and assuming Jalen Harris and the second-round pick agree to two-way deals, that gives the Raptors 10 main-roster players and two two-way players at $102,278,712 - more than $34 million under the luxury tax, which I am NOT using as a de facto hard cap. Lowry's first year salary is 21.6M, so the cap sheet is now at $123,908,712

Here's the roster breakdown as of now.

Guard: Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry, Malachi Flynn, Jalen Harris (two-way)
Wing: OG Anunoby, Pascal Siakam, Yuta Watanabe, Paul Watson Jr., De'Andre Bembry
Frontcourt: Myles Turner, Chris Boucher, Freddie Gillespie
Additional two-way (one of 2nd round picks, or undrafted find)

Aug. 6: Raptors sign Khem Birch (unrestricted, part of mid-level exception) to two-year, $10 million contract.

Aug 11: Raptors sign Gary Trent Jr. (restricted, Bird rights) to three-year, $45.45 million deal, third-year player option

Now 13 players and salary of 142,708,712. Now a taxpayer, so Birch's salary makes up 4.8M of the 5.8M taxpayer MLE. 14th spot gets filled at the vet minumum.

Starting lineup
Lowry, vanVleet, Anunoby, Siakam, Turner
Bench
Flynn, Trent, Bembry, Boucher, Birch

Depth
Gillespie, Watanabe, Watson + 1 or 2 vets at minimum

1.) 26 Jun 2021
26 Jun 2021 09:08:53
So you are going to be a tax payer for the next few years while not being a championship caliber team. Maybe 5th seed in the East behind MIL, BRK, ATL, PHIL.

2.) 26 Jun 2021
26 Jun 2021 12:29:14
Yep. once the team is back in Toronto there is a revenue stream to justify paying tax. The goal is to become a team that can become a serious contender with one deal for one superstar. I honestly believe that the lineup I have would compete for a 3 seed in this year's NBA and I'm not convinced Philly won't end up weaker in whatever moves they make this offseason (Darryl Morey is jinxed) . Brooklyn is clearly the class of the East but are vulnerable to injury.
One place where the similarities between Sac and Toronto diverge is market. Toronto has the revenue streams to profit even when paying tax. Sacramento can't profit if they're into the tax.

3.) 26 Jun 2021
26 Jun 2021 14:36:48
I really dislike the idea of trading that number 4 pick we always complain we never have a superstar well this is a legit opportunity to draft one and people just want to trade it for miles turner.

4.) 26 Jun 2021
26 Jun 2021 15:33:25
Too much for Turner imo.

5.) 26 Jun 2021
26 Jun 2021 17:11:43
Way too much writing for Turner.

6.) 27 Jun 2021
26 Jun 2021 18:00:00
@shizzee. way less writing than you might think. most of it is cut and paste from The Athletic lol.

{Ed001's Note - could you please credit them in future if you are going to do that. It is not right to steal someone else's work and pass it off as your own.}