The Toronto Raptors got exactly what they needed from the playoffs — clarity

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While Barrett’s trackpants obscured the vision, you could hear icepacks on both knees rubbing up against the synthetic material. The sequence was as good a visual as any to sum up the Raptors by the end of their first-round playoff loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers: beaten, but not broken. By the time Sunday’s Game 7 loss was over, Jamal Shead, already standing in for an injured Immanuel Quickley, had sprained his ankle. Brandon Ingram missed the last 2 ½ games. And somehow, they still pushed the team with the most expensive roster in the league to the limit, only running out of tough once Shead hurt himself in the second quarter. “Being down one starter, being down two starters, guys just came in and gave it their all. … We always believed that we could play at this level,” Barrett said Sunday night. “Obviously, this loss hurts. But I think it also shows the rest of the league, the rest of the world, what we’re building here.” “We don’t really get that many national television games,” Barnes added. “We’re across the border, so people don’t really see it. We work hard. We fight. Can’t really do nothing for their opinion, but we just know how we are together. We’re gonna fight. We’re gonna work hard. We’re gonna scrap.” They displayed all of that emphatically. Just as crucially, the playoffs showed some things to the Raptors, too. With a complicated offseason coming up, this series delivered a few crucial lessons to the Raptors. Since the departures of Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby, Barnes’ status as a franchise tentpole has been debated. His lack of scoring touch — his 11-of-17 masterpiece in Game 3 was more anomaly than baseline — makes him an odd franchise fulcrum. Some of that remains true, but Barnes showed, without a doubt, that he is up to the moment. Barnes was the best player in this series. Whereas his draft classmate Evan Mobley alternated between showing out and disappearing, Barnes was a constant. The Cavaliers felt him on both ends. When the Raptors had nothing going on offence, he would sprint down the court and force his way to the paint, getting all the way to the rim or creating a good look for a teammate. He filled whatever defensive need felt like the most crucial at the time, from guarding James Harden and Donovan Mitchell to helping protect the rim. “I think he shut up a lot of talk. I’m happy he was able to do that, because, man, that’s a winning player,” Barrett said. “Just because he’s not a guy that comes out and tries to get 30 every night does not mean that he’s not one of the best basketball players in this league. I think he’s shown and proved he can score every night if he wants to. But on this team, especially when we’re all healthy, there’s a lot of shots to go around, and he plays winning basketball. But if he needs to do it, he can do it, and he can do it efficiently.” Barnes averaged 24.1 points and 8.6 assists in this series. If anything, that undersells how good he was when he was healthy. This wasn’t his playoff debut, but it was his first series as the best player on the Raptors. He was relentless, the type of player you’d be delighted to be leading the way over the next few years. It’s Collin Murray-Boyles. There’s not much more to say than this. He fits so well with Barnes defensively that the spacing issues are secondary. You can figure that out in time. With that said, Murray-Boyles’ age should, if anything, make the Raptors a little less aggressive than they would be otherwise. Barnes is under contract for four more years, while Murray-Boyles will be entering the second year of his four-year rookie deal. This is Barnes’ team, and his competitive window is the most important thing. But given Murray-Boyles, who turns 21 in June, won’t be hitting his early prime for at least another few seasons — and that Barnes won’t turn 25 until this summer — there is no need to force anything in the offseason just because the Raptors had a surprising year. Even if it means taking a slight step back, the Raptors should concentrate on building around Barnes and Murray-Boyles. Barrett (24.1 points on 47.7 percent and 7.0 rebounds per game) had an excellent series, to go along with an indelible moment. He was very, on the whole, efficient, finding ways to score even with the Cavaliers sitting on his dominant left hand, although his Game 7 performance was a rough one. He also went up a level defensively, asked to play out of his comfort zone and guard one of Cleveland’s bigs frequently. Raptors fans should be proud of what the local kid did. In a perfect world, he would be in Toronto for a long time. He would get to try to evolve from a player who fits well next to Barnes to one who fits like a glove. Short as it is, Barrett has a nice playoff resumé. All things considered, Barrett might have been the team’s second-best player this season. It’s not a perfect world, though. Brandon Ingram had a nightmare series before the aggravation of a heel injury ended his series in the second quarter of Game 5. Taking away his early exit in Game 5, Ingram averaged 14.8 points on 33.9 percent shooting, with nine assists and nine turnovers. The injury is disappointing, given this was his healthiest season since his rookie year. Fans can extend him some grace since he was playing through pain. However, he did not do close to enough to secure his future in Toronto. Barrett is entering the final year of his contract next season. Ingram is owed $81.9 million remaining over the next two seasons, with the second a player option. Barrett is eligible for an extension in the offseason, while Ingram will be eligible just before the 2027 offseason. Barrett is too valuable as a potential expiring contract to be included in a trade to aggressively look to extend him, which certainly doesn’t mean giving him away just for the sake of it. Barrett turns 26 next month and loves being in Toronto. He could absolutely be part of the next great Raptors team. General manager Bobby Webster just isn’t in a position to make that happen right now, given what’s owed to Ingram, Quickley and Jakob Poeltl. The Raptors don’t need to make any decisions about Ingram now, but he was bad in this series. They cannot afford to be too precious in holding on to either — in Barrett’s case, specifically since he raised his stock in the playoffs. The Cavaliers took 65 more 3s than the Raptors in this series. If Quickley had been available, that gap would have been smaller, but probably not dramatically so. The Raptors have to find a way to get more shooting on this roster. That will require internal development and roster moves. On the latter front, the Raptors are squeezed: They owe about $185.5 million to 10 players next season (that assumes Jamison Battle and Jamal Shead, who have a club option and a non-guaranteed deal, respectively, are back, while Jonathan Mogbo and Trayce Jackson-Davis are not.) The luxury-tax threshold, which the Raptors won’t want to enter the season over by too much unless they make a major talent upgrade, is projected to be $201 million. The Raptors’ payroll does not include Sandro Mamukelashvili, likely to be a free agent, for whom the Raptors will have limited means of keeping since he has been with the team for only one year. It also does not include the player the Raptors select with the 19th pick in the June draft, who would have a starting salary of around $4 million. A team must carry at least 14 players on the main roster. The Raptors could look for ways to add spending power. Gradey Dick is owed $7.1 million, and Ja’Kobe Walter leapfrogged him this year, so the Raptors may look to move their former lottery pick. Still, they will have only so many means by which to add to the roster. The Raptors were 25th in 3-point attempts per possession during the year, and the playoffs confirmed it is a problem — especially when building around Barnes and Murray-Boyles, adding shooting is a must. This playoff series did not establish Rajaković as a master tactician capable of carrying a team deep into the playoffs. That’s fine. The Raptors were undermanned (increasingly so as the series progressed) and overmatched. Still, the coach found a way to make this series very close when the Raptors were at their healthiest. It also featured the Raptors blossoming as a gritty, hard-playing tough out in precisely the ways that the coach promised. The Raptors played their butts off in this series, scratching out a pair of 50-50 games. The coach deserves a lot of the credit for that. Rajaković is entering the final year of his contract next season. So long as Tom Dundon doesn’t own the Raptors, there is no good reason not to give Rajaković an extension to keep working with a roster that clearly loves playing for him. He deserves a shot to work with a roster closer to fully formed than this one. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms