Toronto Raptors solidify opening roster ahead of season tip-off

Hey Toronto! Admittedly, my (Chelsea) mind has been very focused on the thriller WNBA Finals series, but now that we are approaching the deadline to submit NBA rosters — it’s time to pivot to NBA action!

The NBA season kicks off on Tuesday, with the Toronto Raptors kicking off their season on Wednesday. There were a few transactions that went down over the weekend, so let’s recap what Toronto did, and what their opening night roster will look like.

Roster Changes

The Raptors announced several roster changes on Saturday afternoon. First, they waived guards Jahmi’us Ramsey and Jared Rhoden, along with centre Brenden Carlson.

Then, the converted forward Jamison Battle to a two-way contract. This leaves the roster at 15 players (including Bruno Fernando), and three two-way contracts.

Battle had a fantastic preseason, and earned his two-way spot on the team. Going back to what I wrote last week on the young player, he seems to have potential to be a development project for the team.

Opening Night Roster

As it stands, here is the Raptors current roster:

Guaranteed:

Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, Bruce Brown Jr, Chris Boucher, Garrett Temple, Jamal Shead, Jonathan Mogbo, Ja’Kobe Walter, Jakob Poeltl

Non-Guaranteed:

Bruno Fernando

Two-Way:

DJ Carton, Jamison Battle, Ulrich Chomche

For any confused, the difference between guaranteed vs non-guaranteed is that the Raptors are able to waive Fernando at any point in the season for whatever reason they want. The guaranteed players have to either do something that violates their contract, or be traded for the Raptors to get rid of their contracts.

The two-ways are unique contracts that allow NBA teams to develop young players. These players will be on both the Raptors and the Raptors 905 in the G-League. They can only appear in 50 NBA games for the season, and spend a lot of their time with the G-League team. The Raptors can call them up anytime they need them though.

Rotations

Going into the NBA season, barring injuries of course, this is what the Toronto Raptors roster seems to look like by position:

PG: Immanuel Quickley / Davion Mitchell / Jamal Shead

SG: Gradey Dick / Bruce Brown* / Ja’Kobe Walter*

F: RJ Barrett* / Ochai Agbaji / Garrett Temple*

F/C: Scottie Barnes / Chris Boucher* / Jonathan Mogbo

C: Jakob Poeltl / Kelly Olynyk* / Bruno Fernando

*indicates a player currently on the injury report in some capacity

Of course you then sprinkle the two-way players into there when appropriate.

This can all change as the season goes on. Trades, transactions, acquisitions, 10-days, and more can affect how the roster looks, but for now it seems like this is what we are working with.

Small anecdote: I went to a party over the weekend where a party-goer I met that night told me he thought the Raptors were going to go 41-41 this season.

Incredibly optimistic, in my opinion. He wrote that prediction down on paper and it’s now on my desk, so let’s see how that plays out in April.

Do you think this roster can go 41-41? While they lack experience and proven skill as you go further down, they definitely have a lot of chemistry. Along with a true desire to prove people wrong.

I think back to the Minnesota Lynx predictions from before the WNBA season. Most power rankings had that team ranked no.6 or below in a 12-team league. They ended up being phenomenal and coming extremely close to winning a championship.

Different circumstances of course, but still relevant. Maybe this Raptors team will surprise us all — yet maybe they win 25 games and I just called out unnamed party-goer for his delulu prediction.

Regardless, I’m ready for some NBA basketball. See you Wednesday, friends.