Mixed messaging leaves Raptors with slimmest of chances to draft Cooper Flagg

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For the first time in a long time, the Raptors played knowing there is absolutely nothing to play for when, for so long, they played as if a post-season spot was at stake.

April ushered in the final stretch to a season the franchise had anointed as a rebuild, but how it went about its business with the intention to secure the highest lottery odds turned into an exercise in mixed messaging.

Cooper Flagg was viewed by virtually everyone in basketball as the consensus first-overall pick, a status the Duke freshman has only cemented as he takes his place on the Final Four stage this weekend in San Antonio.

He’s no LeBron James and no Victor Wembanyama — two legitimate franchise-altering players who were selected 20 years apart. In other words, two generational players.

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Flagg isn’t that elite category, but the kid is talented, can shoot, handle the ball, create and defend. The team that drafts him automatically will get better.

How much better Flagg gets will depend on the team that drafts him and their surrounding pieces.

In theory, the Raptors may still be that team, but the odds say otherwise and so does history.

It could have been dramatically different had the Raptors fully embraced the art of the tank.

During the COVID season, a built-in excuse was in place with the Raptors forced to relocate to Tampa.

The basketball was bad, the record even worse, but the end result was ideal when the Raptors were slotted in the No. 4 slot and drafted Scottie Barnes. He would soon become the face of the franchise.

This year and for the past two years, the basketball also has been bad and the team’s record just as bad.

Two years ago, Gradey Dick was drafted. A year ago, Ja’Kobe Walter emerged as the team’s first-round pick. Neither is as good as Flagg and neither will be as good.

The Philadelphia 76ers have tanked and were missing 10 players Sunday, when they meekly succumbed to the visiting Raptors.

If Philly wins the lottery and gets its hands on Flagg, it immediately becomes a contender in the Eastern Conference, where the Cleveland Cavaliers and the reigning champion Boston Celtics appear destined to hook up in this year’s conference final.

If the likes of Washington or Charlotte win the lottery, Flagg may wish he had stayed in Durham.

Utah will have just as high a chance of drafting Flagg, who will then play in a deep and high-end Western Conference.

But imagine a world where Flagg is playing on a team featuring Barnes, Brandon Ingram, Immanuel Quickley and Jakob Poeltl, and perhaps even RJ Barrett, if one is convinced the staunchly proud Canadian and a fellow Duke product isn’t traded this off-season.

Expectations will be high next season, as they should, when anything short of a playoff appearance must result in heads rolling.

Still, the Raptors won’t be near good enough to compete for a top-four slot, even if all the main pieces stay healthy and show an ability to play together as a unit at a high level.

Flagg could have provided that impetus to take the Raptors to that next level.

All the positive signs shown by this year’s group of first-year players cannot make up for all that Flagg potentially brings to the table. While he’s not a generational player, Flagg will move the needle.

Again, there’s a chance, but it’s slim, the Raptors will win the May 12 draft lottery.

Following Tuesday’s loss to the host Chicago Bulls, the Raptors remain in seventh place in the NBA’s reverse standings.

A four-game win streak would be snapped as Toronto’s record fell to 28-48, putting the Raptors 3.5 games clear of the San Antonio Spurs, who have greatly benefited from winning the lottery over the years that landed the franchise David Robinson, Tim Duncan and Wemby.

The Raptors’ next tip is Thursday against the visiting Portland Trail Blazers, who are eighth in the reverse standings and 4.5 games ahead of Toronto.

Fans may not like it, especially those in attendance who forked over their hard-earned money, but it makes no sense for a win to be posted against the Blazers.

The Raptors wrap up their season on April 13 in San Antonio. Of the remaining six games, only one opponent boasts a winning record, a Detroit Pistons team that has finally escaped basketball’s wilderness.

During the 30-year history of the franchise, it has been proven and reinforced how difficult it is to attract a top-tier free agent to Toronto, which is why the Raptors had no other choice when a distressed asset such as Ingram became available.

Only time will tell if his skill-set meshes with Barnes, who puzzlingly still gets minutes.

What history has shown is how the draft and exercising the right option often leads to a change in fortune.

When the 2019 championship team was assembled, most of the pieces were the result of draft choices — DeMar DeRozan and Poeltl were in the Kawhi deal, Terrence Ross and a future first-round pick turned into Serge Ibaka, and Jonas Valanciunas as the main piece in the Marc Gasol acquisition.

Three defensive player of the year recipients were acquired to bolster a team built primarily through the draft and the astute signing of undrafted free-agent Fred VanVleet.

Fast-forward to the present and the Raptors are light years away from competing for a title.

No one is suggesting Flagg’s presence would have altered the Raptors’ chances, but he would have pushed the franchise into a new category.

Technically, there’s still a chance, but it could have been different had the Raptors exercised better game management.

Winning has done nothing to increase their lottery odds.

The truth is that winning has reduced their odds, which is an odd way to conduct one’s business.

fzicarelli@postmedia.com