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WASHINGTON -- One way or another, the Toronto Raptors were going to have a different look next season. If they don't turn around their series against the Washington Wizards starting in tonight's Game 3, the makeover could be radical. Down 2-0, the Raptors are within sight of losing as a higher-seeded team in back-to-back seasons. They have set franchise records in victories the past two years and hung a couple of division banners, but those accomplishments ring hollow with postseason letdowns. The way the team finished the regular season, going 12-16 down the stretch, was a strong warning sign that this group might not be as legitimate as its win totals have suggested. The early results in this series are not changing that perception. The mood surrounding the team as the Raptors prepare for Game 3 is ominous. Players and coach Dwane Casey are having to prod each other to raise the intensity level, something that shouldn't be an issue for a playoff game. "We've got to play with supreme confidence and that swag on the court," Casey said. "We've got to get to that." Casey has said this several different ways this week. Once he drew on his Kentucky roots, saying "I've never seen a fat dog catch a rabbit," a reference to the need for his team to play with hunger. In his latest motivational tactic, Casey looked at his players in the locker room before they broke practice Thursday and invited any who weren't going to Washington to compete at the highest level to step forward and he'd make a reservation for them at a nice restaurant and they could skip the trip and watch on TV. If this were high school, Casey would've substituted not getting on the charter aircraft with sending those not ready to fight back to the yellow bus. "Nobody stepped forward, so that means everyone is going to compete," Casey said. Feeling the need to challenge the team in this manner is not the strongest sign that the Raptors believe in themselves right now. The results speak for themselves, though. After getting out to early leads in Games 1 and 2, Toronto lost steam quickly when Washington hit back. Raptors president Masai Ujiri has been widely praised for his work since he was hired two years ago. His approval rating is very high. But it hasn't been thanks to sweeping maneuvers to the roster, which he has left mostly intact. Although his biggest moves have been signing Casey and Kyle Lowry to contract extensions, he didn't bring either to Toronto. The most significant player move he has made was trading away Rudy Gay last season. His biggest move this season was trading for Lou Williams, who won the 2014-15 Sixth Man Award. Lowry and Williams helped the team in different ways, but for the most part Ujiri has shown restraint and patience. Heading into the summer, there are three core players -- Amir Johnson, Tyler Hansbrough and Williams -- who are going to be free agents. Also the Chuck Hayes and Landry Fields contracts expire, leaving the Raptors holding about $18 million in cap space if they don't re-sign their own free agents. Plus, young center Jonas Valanciunas is due for an extension in the fall, and that negotiation could get complex. If Toronto washes out of this series, it seems rather doubtful the bulk of the roster will return. Ujiri said before the series began that this series would determine how he'd evaluate the team, and so far the returns haven't been good. This team has major defensive issues and obviously could use a veteran or two who have proven playoff toughness, something they seem to be short on. Wizards leader Paul Pierce, even in a diminished state compared with his younger years, has more moxie in one of his sore joints than the entire Raptors team has showed thus far. If Toronto is going to break through, it has to find something out on the market. When he was the GM in Denver, Ujiri made several big trades and was not afraid to move centerpieces of his roster. It's possible he could see what he might be able to get for some of the team's leaders, such as DeMar DeRozan and perhaps even Lowry. Casey's speech about leaving players at home could be the inverse of the speech Ujiri might want to give this group. If all of them want to be back in Toronto, they need to find the form that once had them holding a 37-17 record. That team has been missing for some time. "I wouldn't have predicted this," Lowry said about the current situation. "This is a must win for us. Going down 3-0 would be disheartening."
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