The Toronto Raptors and the challenge of topping the best year in team history
How do you have a year better than the best in franchise history?
By
Matt Moore
•
6 min read
On Saturday night, all eyes were on the super-team. The Golden State Warriors debuted their new small forward, Kevin Durant, and that was the crux of the conversation. How Durant looked, how he fit, what the future holds for this remarkable collection of players.
But somewhere in there, everyone ignored the other side of it, the team that actually won the meaningless game, and the team that looked significantly better than the squad that won 73 games last year and then added Durant got lost. The Toronto Raptors have a lot going for them, and after one (I repeat) meaningless preseason game, there's some hope they may have more than many believed.
The Challenge
The biggest obstacle for the Raptors headed into this season is trying to match, or exceed, the best season in franchise history. Toronto crossed the 50-win mark for the first time in team history, made the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history, and were clearly the second-best team in their conference for the first time in franchise history. There's a lot for the Raptors to be proud of about last season. Getting back to that level without a true superstar, however, is a tough challenge.
Take the Atlanta Hawks, best regular season record in the East in 2015, for example. They followed up in 2016 with a good season, and were one of the best teams in the East by the time the playoffs came around. But they weren't as good as they were in 2015. Teams with superstars can follow one hugely successful season with another; the superstar's growth emboldens the team's trajectory. However, as good as Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are -- All-Stars, both of them -- they don't have much room for expansion of their impacts. Even if they improve, it will be marginally, and in the areas they are already successful in.
Likewise, seasons like last year for Toronto are partially built on "everything going right." The Raptors were healthy last year, unlike in 2015 when DeMar DeRozan missed major time. They found ways to win games while the rest of the East struggled through different portions of the season. Their consistency allowed them to outpace and separate themselves from the pack, but the odds of the fortune repeating itself are low.
Then there are the very real changes to their makeup. Bismack Biyombo, who gave them such great defense and rim protection off the bench is gone in free agency, along with James Johnson and Luis Scola. DeMarre Carroll made it clear he's not 100 percent in training camp. They added Jared Sullinger, a flawed, limited power forward in free agency and are counting on first or second-year players to fill in the depth of a playoff conference title contender.
There are just so many ways that the Raptors can take a step back. But Saturday made you think maybe things aren't that bad after all.
The Promise Of The Known And Unknown
It was a preseason game and the correlation between things that happen in the preseason and things that wind up mattering is incredibly low. But the things you wanted to see from Toronto were there Saturday against the Warriors. Sullinger was disruptive defensively, using active hands in pick-and-roll situations which is a strength of his, and finishing inside offensively. He looked in shape, spry, and ready to really contribute as the starting power forward.
The kiddos showed up as well. Pascal Siakam was a real bright spot. Norman Powell continues to look like the team's future best defender, and he can make some shots as well. Jakob Poeltl struggled with rookie fouls, but also had good energy.
It's important to remember that these fill-in players don't need to thrive, they just have to contribute in any meaningful way to not drag the team completely down. The Raptors have continuity, a rare commodity in the NBA, with Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, and Jonas Valanciunas having played together for years. Carroll looked much more comfortable coming into his second year in the system. It's easy to forget that the Raptors have constantly switched out the pieces around the core three, and last year injuries prevented Carroll from getting comfortable and staying on the floor. If anything, the Raptors could have been better last season than they were.
This is where Dwane Casey really needs more credit than he gets. The Raptors' playoff foibles have often resulted in criticism for Casey, when in reality, last year's rough stumble into the Eastern Conference Finals was mostly a result of Lowry and DeRozan being unable to find themselves, struggling with tougher defense and fewer whistles. There are things Casey can do to make the offense less reliant on getting to the line, but some of that is simply built into DeRozan's DNA. He's one of the league's biggest foul drawers, and it's a huge skill advantage for him ... in the regular season.
Getting back to Casey, though, Saturday was a good example of the strengths Casey provides. The young players were ready to contribute, even in a preseason setting, and the team came out with a gameplan and ready to play. Preparation is something Casey has really excelled at with Toronto, they rarely have games where they just "don't have it" or look like they lack personnel awareness. Toronto wins and loses games on the merits of its team strengths and weaknesses, which is how it should be, and that consistency has made them into one of the East's top teams.
At the end of all this praise, however, is the unfortunate reality that barring an injury, the Raptors are not getting past the Cavaliers. Sports surprise us all time, the Finals are proof of that. But any reasonable analysis will lead to the conclusion that the Raptors do not present a significant threat to the Cavaliers. No team in the East really presents such a concern for Cleveland, just as no team in the West, outside of maybe the Spurs or Clippers if you really squint, present a real threat to the Warriors. This isn't a knock on Toronto, but it's still a fact. They're not ready to go after the big dogs.
But they don't have to. Toronto doesn't need to win a championship to validate the progress that they're making. The Spurs were good for two decades, regularly making the playoffs and winning more than 50 games before Tim Duncan showed up and they won their first title. GM Masai Ujiri is changing the culture and putting an expectation of winning into a market that was once northern wilderness to NBA players. Toronto is somewhere players want to play. They win games. They're prepared. They keep a pipeline and pay their best players.
Toronto is doing things the right way, which is why this season should be less about trying to match or exceed last year's franchise-record success and more about continuing to establish themselves as a good team in the East. There's a lack of dominant NBA programs in the East right now. The Raptors' window is open to establish themselves as a real power not just for however long the Lowry-DeRozan combo remains viable, but beyond that into being a franchise players and fans really associate with success.
The Raptors won a checkers game with their history and the East last year. Now they can start to learn chess.
