The Toronto Raptors are coming off of a franchise record season and that means any trade ideas with DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Patterson and Terrence Ross are off the table, as the team brought back Kyle Lowry and now Masai Ujiri has signed Lucas Nogueira after acquiring him from the Hawks over other players in free agency, including Andray Blatche and Ramon Sessions.
The Raptors won 48 games to set a franchise record and they also won the Atlantic division for the first time and now Toronto could be a dark horse in the east. According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Raptors signed Nogueira to a deal and that comes after the team acquired him from the Atlanta Hawks in a trade this offseason. The Raptors now have 15 players and they still have DeAndre Daniels to sign after taking him in the second round.
According to ESPN.com, the team met with Andray Blatche this offseason, but they have not signed him and they also grabbed Will Cherry to add to their back court behind Lowry. Masai Ujiri had chances to sell the farm with DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Patterson and Terrence Ross as trade targets last season, but he made the smart move of sitting tight and now he has a playoff team coming back. The Raptors were in the top 10 in defense last season and Dwane Casey will be looking for the team, to finish there in points per game again.
The Raptors added Cherry and got rid of forward Steve Novak and now with Lowry coming back, the team should be set for a strong season. Lowry had a career best season and DeRozan made the All-Star team and now with the Pacers losing Paul George, the Raptors can step up into that middle part of the east and could end up with a top seed this year. The Knicks should be better in the Atlantic division, but with the way Brooklyn looked at the end, it's likely that the Raptors will be right in the mix for the division for another season.
The Raptors have a young core of players and now Ujiri has the team on an upward trajectory after taking over from the Denver Nuggets. Ujiri helped turn the Nuggets into a winner and now he is doing the same thing with the Raptors and this comes after everyone thought the team would tank last season to try and get Canadian star Andrew Wiggins. Instead the team did the exact opposite and even with the trade of Rudy Gay, which everyone thought was another sign of tanking, the team got better and added players like Patterson and Greivis Vasquez and now they are looking to keep it going.
Cherry comes in after being with the D-League and he signed a minimum deal with the Raptors that is for two years and comes after he played for the Cavaliers summer league team. Cherry is a solid option off the bench behind Lowry and Greivis Vasquez and he can provide depth for the team and he also is a solid shooter.