Raptors' latest moves a bet on youth, development despite being all-in

It's not often you can say a team which traded away two draft picks the same week it spent $165 million on Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka is betting on youth and development, but if their last two moves are any indication, that's exactly what Masai Ujiri's Toronto Raptors appear to be doing.

The Raptors needed to package their remaining 2018 picks to dump DeMarre Carroll's contract on the Brooklyn Nets - a contract that rates as one of the few blemishes during Ujiri's Toronto tenure - but moving Carroll seemingly clears the way for the Raptors to finally thrust Norman Powell into the spotlight on a full-time basis.

Roughly 12 hours later, news broke that the Raptors and Pacers had agreed to a sign-and-trade deal that would send Canadian guard Cory Joseph to Indiana in exchange for C.J. Miles, who would land north of the border on a three-year, $25-million contract (that includes a player option). The loss of Joseph means Delon Wright should get first dibs on the backup point guard spot behind Lowry, while sophomore Fred Van Vleet also figures to get more of a sniff at rotation minutes.

Since selecting Powell in the second round of the 2015 draft (after acquiring the pick by trading Greivis Vasquez), the Raptors have turned to the UCLA product in some of the team's most pressure-packed moments of the last two years, and he's delivered as a versatile 3-and-D option whose off-the-bounce creativity and penetration allow Lowry and DeMar DeRozan additional space to operate. But with Carroll in the mix, Powell's role and minutes have remained as inconsistent as the 24-year-old's shooting, leaving fans clamoring for more Norm.

Wright has shown glimpses of tantalizing two-way potential as a lanky reserve guard, and has even flashed a surprisingly average 3-point stroke in extremely small sample sizes, but between a shoulder injury last summer and third-string status behind Lowry and Joseph leading to D-League time, the 25-year-old has logged a grand total of only 675 NBA minutes in 54 appearances.

Whether he and Powell prove capable of shouldering crucial roles on a semi-contender over the course of an entire season will tell us a lot about Ujiri's draft record and the player-development system he's put in place.

Ujiri's busy weekend did more than simply move a couple of third-year players up a notch on the depth chart, as the acquisition of Miles addresses both a technical and positional need for a Raptors team that was desperate for some shooting around the Lowry-DeRozan-Ibaka trio and had forward minutes to fill. In Miles, Toronto gets a veteran wing who's shot nearly 38 percent from deep on 5.5 3-point attempts per game over the last five years and is capable of filling minutes - while providing passable defense - at the two, the three, and the four.

Shedding Carroll's contract also means a little more financial flexibility for a franchise flirting with its first luxury-tax payment in 13 years, as in addition to creating a trade exception worth more than $11 million, the Raptors now have a much clearer path to dodging the tax, thereby opening up the non-taxpayer mid-level exception worth up to $8.4 million to use in free agency.

Trade rumors continue to surround outdated center Jonas Valanciunas, meanwhile, which could provide a grander stage for sophomore bigs Jakob Poeltl and Pascal Siakam (plus Lucas Nogueira), while the ultimate project, Bruno Caboclo, should now only be a year away.

Ujiri still has plenty of options to consider, but in a weakened Eastern Conference, where LeBron James' potential departure could leave a gaping power vacuum a year from now, Toronto's last two deals signify they're betting on the development of Powell and Wright to give Lowry, DeRozan, and Ibaka the boost they'll need to emerge from the rubble.