They need to trade Val and Ibaka which was a dumb signing by Masai
Vs Celtics , gearing the team to be able to matchup Cavs (3 pt defense, versatile long defenders) and obtaining a really good 1 on 1 defender (Morris)
Ujiri's biggest mistake was letting Biyombo go instead of trading JV. He was the main reason why Raptors won 2 games against the Cavs 2 years ago.
JV had 21/21 in game one when the Raptors absolutely froze and gave away a sure victory. He was fine.
Yeah, pinning the blame on Valanciunas is folly. People making him out to be the scapegoat clearly aren't bothering to look at the actual data.
JV had the the highest WS/48 on the team during both the regular season and the playoffs. JV also had the highest +/- on the team during the playoffs, as one of only two players that actually had a positive +/- (Fred VanVleet was the other player). JV also had the second best defensive rating on the team in the playoffs, and tied for the highest net rating.
And even during the Cleveland series, where he wasn't quite as good, he still ended up with the 2nd highest defensive rating on the team. His offensive rating and +/- took a huge dip in that series, but if you look closer at the lineup data, this is almost exclusively due to the amount of time he spent on the court with DeRozan, who was utterly atrocious in the Cleveland series. JV himself averaged 16/12 on 50% shooting and nearly 2 blocks in a mere 24 minutes per game against Cleveland. Toronto was actually 2.5 points worse per game without JV on the court against the Cavs.