LOTS TO LIKE
They may not be the coolest kids in town, but with a returning cast from last season, what’s to stop them from being winners?
The Toronto Raptors recently passed the Toronto Maple Leafs in Facebook “likes.” The Raptors, as of Friday, were at 1,242,769; the Leafs were stuck at a lowly 1,183,594. All hail the new kings of the city.
Well, not quite. The usual qualifiers exist: Raptors’ fans skew young, and so do Facebook’s users; there are six other Canadian teams to compete with the Leafs for NHL devotion, and none for the Raptors to contend with; the Leafs’ television ratings (and those of the Blue Jays and Argonauts, for that matter) regularly dwarf the Raptors’ audience.
If the Facebook figure is flawed, though, so are television ratings in an age of online streaming and delayed viewing — two things which, again, young people are more likely to utilize than their parents. The Facebook fact means something, even if we do not exactly know what that is.
“It floored me. It floored me,” Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment chief commercial officer Dave Hopkinson said about the Facebook statistic during a recent interview. MLSE owns both teams, along with Toronto FC and the Toronto Marlies. “I’m so proud of what we’ve done with the Raptors. As somebody who is also tasked with the brand health of the Maple Leafs, I found it troubling all at once. Emotionally, I was terribly conflicted about it.
“I think we’d be crazy to say that [the Raptors overtaking the Leafs in popularity] could never happen. We’re in a city that is driven by immigration. Fifty-one per cent of Torontonians were born outside of Canada. Basketball is a global sport in a way that hockey is not. Hockey is really a regional game. Yes, the strongest region for that is Canada, and the strongest region in Canada for this game is Toronto. But I don’t think it’s impossible. I don’t think we can take it for granted that hockey will always be the number one sport, especially if we can’t get the Maple Leafs turned around and win a Stanley Cup here. I see that Facebook stat, and I see it as the canary in the coal mine that we have a problem [with the Leafs].”
Outgoing MLSE president Tim Leiweke recently expressed a similar thought during a talk at Ryerson University. While one deep Maple Leafs playoff run could make this conversation seem deeply silly, there is no denying that as the Raptors open their 201415 season with media day on Monday, they have a chance to command the Toronto sporting scene. The Leafs are betting an emphasis on math (despite a remarkably similar roster) will turn around their fortunes; the Blue Jays just finished an up-and-down season that resulted in a familiar mediocrity; Toronto FC is engaged in yet another management shakeup; the Argonauts are a civic afterthought without a long-term home; the NFL dream is as dead as Jon Bon Jovi’s working relationship with guitarist Richie Sambora.
Meanwhile, these Raptors might be good — very good by the Eastern Conference’s pathetic standards. They also might be likeable, which is nearly as important.
“Why not go out there and play your butt off every night? Just give it your all,” Kyle Lowry told Grantland.com’s Jonathan Abrams in a feature published last week about the enigmatic career of the proficient, pugnacious Raptors point guard. “You can’t worry if you look cool playing basketball. A cool basketball player is a garbage basketball player.”
Nobody would confuse any of these Raptors players with Vince Carter, the coolest player this side of Allen Iverson the last time the Raptors franchise had this opportunity. (Not to say that either Carter or Iverson were garbage at that, or any other, time.) However, the core of last year’s surprise 48-win Atlantic Division champion roster is back, and the pieces are still delightfully weird.
Jonas Valanciunas, the 7-foot Lithuanian whose tremendous promise is visually undercut by the occasional awkwardness of his game.
Amir Johnson, whose game so magnificently fails the eye test, despite his tremendous value, that even coaches and executives sometimes underrate him.
Terrence Ross, the swingman whose stunning athletic ability and sweet shooting stroke can make scoring look effortless, and whose shyness in front of the camera is unparalleled on the team.
Dwane Casey, the oldschool coach who preaches a no-gimmicks, no-fuss style that pays little mind to a league that is getting stranger and more unorthodox by the season.
Finally, there is the backcourt, one of the league’s best. Still, DeMar DeRozan has made his career on perfecting difficult shots instead of creating easy ones, while Lowry relies on the decidedly unsexy combination of leverage and a knowledge of the angles rather than elite speed or leaping ability.
Indeed, if you are looking for the coolest member of the organization, it is probably a toss-up between the humanitarian-minded general manager and the unendingly hilarious mascot. Taken together, the Raptors give off a ragtag, underdog feel that is easy to get behind — the type of group that this city enjoys supporting. (Cut to incredibly skilled, underappreciated stars Mats Sundin and Chris Bosh nodding.) That they exist in the perpetually weak Eastern Conference, which could be even shakier at the top this year than last, only helps. Cleveland is the favourite, but LeBron James’ new/ old team needs a chemistry lesson to kick in quickly. The Chicago Bulls, meanwhile, need a return to health and form for guard Derrick Rose, an uncertain proposition.
Not that the Raptors are a sure bet, either. They were the healthiest team in the league last year, and despite the presence of Alex McKechnie, the excellent director of sports science, that is unlikely to repeat itself. They need Lowry to show the same urgency after cashing in during free agency that he showed last year heading toward it. They need Valanciunas and Ross to keep progressing. They need lead reserves Greivis Vasquez and Patrick Patterson, also paid well this July, to be content with their roles but ready to step up if and when injuries hit. Most importantly, they need to react well when last season’s charmed campaign gives way to some real adversity.
The Raptors have been here before. They seemed poised to continue an ascent when Carter missed that shot in Philadelphia in 2001, and that turned out to be a franchise peak. The Bosh era never got better than 2007, when the Raptors surprisingly won the Atlantic Division and lost in heartbreak to the Nets in the first round. Sound familiar?
Still, it would seem that fans of Toronto sports are eminently available to be courted, as the Raptors try to build on the frenetic scene that took place outside of the Air Canada Centre last spring. These Raptors might not be cool, but they have a chance to be something a lot better than that.