OUR SECOND GROUP .. ARE LIABLE TO WIN GAMES FOR US.

Siakam was a second-round pick, as was Powell while VanVleet somehow went undrafted all together.

But together that group is not just holding its own, it’s changing games to the point where the expectations have grown so just matching other bench units is no longer sufficient.

“I think a lot of teams when their bench comes in they kind of sustain or go in there to just try and buy the starters minutes,” DeMar DeRozan said of Toronto’s bench. “Our second group comes in with a lot of energy and they are liable to win games for us like (Tuesday vs. Boston) and the last game (vs. Memphis). They come in with that energy and that tempo and we encourage that. Every time they go in there they can win a gameforus.”

Toronto’s starters do not play at a slow pace by NBA standards but compared to the young guys that come in behind them and get up and down the court, that first unit is snail-like.

VanVleet is normally the guy pushing that pace and he does so with a very specific result in mind.

“Our job is to not have any drop-off when we sub,” VanVleet said. “That’s the problem that a lot of teams face in the NBA is that when they take their main guys out, there’s a drop-off there. When we’re really rolling, there’s no drop-off when we sub. We try to take the lead in the other direction.”

There was a time this season when this group could sneak up on opponents but those days are over.

Stevens has clearly spent plenty of time studying and apparently enjoying them but even Kyrie Irving was giving Toronto’s second unit its props after Tuesday’s game calling Toronto’s subs the best second unit in the NBA.

The thing is this group is still getting better.

Come playoff time it’s not hard to envision a scenario where it’s the second unit breaking games open for this team.

Certainly, no one considers this particular youth movement a gamble anymore.