Title: Raptors roster breakdown: How final cut impacts cap, Raptors 905, more
Date: October 17, 2021
Original Source: Sportsnet
Synopsis: In my latest at Sportsnet, I broke down the Raptors’ roster, cap and tax situation, and G League roster situation following final cuts.
The Toronto Raptors’ trip to the famous Rocky statue in Philadelphia must have resonated with Sam Dekker.
Heading into the team’s final pre-season game, Dekker looked to be on the outside of a very competitive battle for the final few roster spots. He’d barely played through four games, and with Yuta Watanabe all but assured a spot and Isaac Bonga getting heavy pre-season opportunity, it felt like it was down to Dekker against Ishmail Wainright for the last position, if the Raptors opted to keep 15 NBA contracts at all.
Pragmatically, a single pre-season performance shouldn’t carry too heavy an influence. The evaluation process for this part of the roster begins long before exhibition games. For Wainright, that went back to Las Vegas Summer League in early August. For Dekker, it was free agent mini-camps preceding that event. All of the team’s young players, new faces and roster hopefuls took part in a number of mini-camps between then and the official start of training camp in late September. What could one more game really accomplish?
In the famous words of Rocky Balboa’s cornerman Mickey Goldmill, Dekker “didn’t hear no bell.”
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 