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Rule of three

The Cleveland Cavaliers and their barrage of 17 three-pointers in the series-clinching Game 6 win showed just how effective the long ball can be as a weapon in today’s NBA. It also showed a weakness in the Toronto offence, where only Lowry shot them regularly among the starting unit. A healthy DeMarre Carroll should be more of a three-point threat, but if DeRozan can extend his game beyond the arc, it could dramatically improve the Raptors offence by creating better spacing on the floor. Casey has said that even Valanciunas needs to add that shot to his arsenal.

Photo by Jason Miller / Getty Images

Youth movement

Casey talked this spring about how the Raptors were a growing team, but he wasn’t wrong. The nine players who saw regular playoff action averaged 26 years of age, more than two years younger than the Cavaliers and five years younger than San Antonio. Toronto received major minutes from rookie Norm Powell in the closing stretch of the regular season, and he had moments in the playoffs but was little-used against Cleveland. How Casey incorporates him, plus 23-year-old Lucas Nogueira and whatever Toronto gets with two first-round draft picks (at No. 9 via the 2013 trade of Andrea Bargnani and their own at No. 27) will be a challenge for a team that will be building toward another playoff run.

Giving the Biz-ness

The injury to Valanciunas likely made tens of millions of dollars for Bismack Biyombo, the backup centre who had a starring role in some of Toronto’s playoff wins, most notably his 26-rebound effort in Game 3 against Cleveland. But with Valanciunas’s four-year, $64-million contract extension kicking in next year, it’s highly unlikely the Raptors will want to pay starter money to two centres. Someone will almost certainly give Biyombo a boatload of money this offseason, but unless he wants to move an existing rotation player — or, gasp, loses DeRozan — that someone will not be Toronto GM Masai Ujiri.