I’ve said for a long time that you need to wait at least 10 games before making any kind of real assessment on a new season. Well here we are. I don’t think every question has been answered, but here are a few of my observations.

1. Darko was the right hire.

While certainly too early to project his future as a coach, I don’t think anyone doubts that the Raptors nailed this decision. Nick Nurse is still a very good coach, as he is demonstrating in Philly. He just wasn’t the coach we needed right now. There is so much I could say about Darko, but I don’t think this is a controversial take, so I will move on.

2. Scottie Barnes

If you ever made a post or comment even tacitly supporting the notion of trading him, slap yourself right now.

3. Spacing, spacing, spacing

At this point, it’s just plainly obvious that we have a fundamental imbalance on our roster. Our starting lineup needs another shooter. We can’t pull that shooter from the bench without sitting one of our best players. So even if Gradey, for example, progresses really fast, he’s still not going to move ahead of Pascal or OG.

Something has got to give.

4. Keep OG. Trade Pascal

Look…I love Pascal Siakam. He is one of my all-time favorite Raptors. I love his story. I love how far he has come. I love how he plays the game. He’s a stud. I don’t want to trade him because I don’t like him. I want to trade him because it’s the thing that makes sense for all sides.

Right now, we are nowhere near the point where we could be considered “contenders”. We are better than last year, but Boston and Philly are the class of the East and will likely remain so for the time being.

This is the time to regroup and retrench so we can support Scottie through the prime years of his career. And the best asset we have to do that is whatever return we can get for Pascal.

OG, on the other hand, is younger and has a much better fit alongside Scottie. And he has a skillset that is exceptionally valuable, especially in Darko’s less switch-dependent defence.

5. Lets give some credit to the front office

They obviously haven’t been perfect, but they also weren’t wrong in most of their assessments. They didn’t want to pay Fred like a superstar. They nailed the Schroder signing. Gradey was a fantastic pick. Otto Porter Jr. Is a difference-maker when he is on the court. Malachi Flynn may, in fact, be an NBA player.

IMHO they have one massive challenge ahead of them, which is managing the Pascal/OG situations. If both just walk without us recouping some assets, that will be a huge miss. Similarly, if they sign both of them without addressing the shooting issue, they risk capping our full potential. Though, I would argue that’s a less-worse outcome because at least you still have the assets to potentially move later.