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More like raptures. OK, it’s not the end of times for a Raptors team that’s set franchise records for wins the past two seasons, but after two straight first-round playoff exits and another dormant — if not degenerative — offseason, Toronto faces a crossroads in 2015-16. [ Yahoo Fantasy Basketball: Sign up for a league today ] On one hand, the Raptors only had Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan for 48 games last season, won two-thirds of them and outscored opponents by almost four points per 100 possessions with that All-Star backcourt tandem on the floor. Now, Lowry looks to be in the best shape of his career, and DeRozan is entering a contract year. Add DeMarre Carroll to a mix that includes fellow versatile shooters Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson spacing the floor around freshly extended Lithuanian 7-footer Jonas Valanciunas, and Toronto may have modernized a roster whose fatal flaw was exposed by the Wizards’ small-ball lineup in their first-round sweep last season. On the other hand, they lost Sixth Man of the Year Lou Williams from a bench that ranked among the league’s five best and beloved dirty worker Amir Johnson from a defense that was already sliding into the bottom 10 in the second half of last season. Has Toronto done enough to take the next step toward NBA legitimacy and advance in the playoffs for the first time since 2001? Or is this core simply not good enough? In which case, it might be time to blow it up. It’s judgment season for the Raptors. 2014-15 season in 140 characters or less : Drake a fool lol pic.twitter.com/h5qrj1a28i — Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) April 27, 2015 Did the summer help at all? Caroll was one of the NBA’s most underrated players last season, serving as the fifth starter on a Hawks team that won 60 games with four All-Stars around him. He shot 40 percent from 3-point range on more than 300 attempts and defended multiple positions for a group that allowed a respectable 100.7 points per 100 possessions. Four seasons into his NBA career, Bismack Biyombo earned a bust label in Charlotte after the Hornets drafted him with the seventh overall pick in 2011, but he might actually be a bit underrated on a two-year, $5.75 million deal now from the Raptors. Opponents shot less than 50 percent at the rim opposite Biyombo last season, and he blocked three shots per 36 minutes for a defensive unit that operated at Golden State’s level with him on the floor (98.7 points allowed per 100 possessions). [ Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball] Toronto also added Cory Joseph, a third-string point guard who saw more time on the Spurs last season in the absence of Tony Parker and Patty Mills, for a hefty four-year, $30 million price tag. Joseph, 24, averaged 13.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists per 36 minutes last season, but only played about half that in San Antonio. And then there’s Luis Scola, the Argentinian who performed admirably in stretches at age 34 on the Pacers last season. He’s signed to an inexpensive one-year contract. So, yeah, the Raptors spent some money this past summer. Almost $100 million on those four guys, in fact. But they also traded serviceable backup point guard Greivis Vasquez for draft picks and lost Williams, Johnson and Tyler Hansbrough to free agency. That quartet is guaranteed a combined $40.6 million on their current contracts. Do the additions represent a significant enough upgrade over the subtractions to warrant more than twice as much in payroll? That’s no guarantee.
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