Five things the Raptors need to address this off-season

The off-season to-do list for the Raptors is filled mostly with obvious tasks that are all intertwined, but that doesn’t make any of them unimportant.

Here are the top five priorities this summer:

Deal with the coach

Nick Nurse says he wants take some time to decompress and consider his future. The same holds true for vice-chairman Masai Ujiri and his assessment of the coach.

But getting it quickly resolved — either way — will allow everyone to get on with the business of restoring some lustre to the franchise.

Deal with the free agents

Management has said it can find a way financially to keep all three key free agents — Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr. and Jakob Poeltl — but the question is whether they want to. And, of course, the players are going to have to want to come back, as well.

Getting an early indication may help the front office as it tries to fill other gaps.

Deal with depth

The Raptors bench production was, at times, abysmal and it cost the team a handful of games over the course of the season. It’s partially a coaching issue in trusting the backups; it’s partially a skills issue for backups who need to be better. It’s a huge task for Ujiri and Bobby Webster who have to get more better players for the end of the roster.

Deal with shooting

It goes hand-in-hand with the depth but the Raptors didn’t have enough shooting the day the season started and they don’t have enough shooting two days after the season ends. And players like Scottie Barnes have to become more adept shooters because it opens up so much more space for them to operate.

Deal with development

This becomes a vital off-season in skill development for everyone from all-stars to those at the end of the roster. It’s hard to find time in the grind of the regular season to add stuff to a players’ repertoire and that’s why this summer becomes vital in having returning players better when they get back.

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