NBA champs preparing to defend their title
Even with Leonard’s sad departure, victory last season gave team, fans a lasting charge
The Toronto Raptors are back for Season 25, but the lead-up to this campaign feels so much different than what preceded the previous 24.
That makes perfect sense since the 2018-19 squad shocked the world by winning the NBA championship in a stirring, heart-stopping run. A massive parade marred somewhat by senseless violence and delays followed.
Then there was the unfortunate helicopter surveillance of Kawhi Leonard and daily free agency updates before the best player in franchise history decided to return home to Los Angeles to play for the Clippers (with fellow starter Danny Green heading to the Lakers).
In the aftermath, basketball has never been more popular in Canada, even if many new fans have been left a bit jaded by Leonard’s departure, meaning the Jurassic Era of dominance might be short-lived. Still, the rest of the core returns, with promising forward OG Anunoby ready to reclaim the starting role Leonard took from him and a few new pieces added to the mix.
Even the most optimistic observer would have to admit though that a repeat will not be in the cards. That said, this group should compete for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a chance to advance and give a rival a good battle in Round 2. Or, Masai Ujiri, Bobby Webster and Co. could blow it up, knowing that crucial pieces Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Fred VanVleet are all heading to unrestricted free agency next summer.
No team projects to have more cap space moving forward than the Raptors, even though the cap is going up more than expected, negating that advantage somewhat, but there’s still a season to play — one that should be an interesting ride, even if it doesn’t reach the roller-coaster highs and lows of that 2018-19 campaign for the ages.
Again, on the eve of camp, it all just feels so weird. The Toronto Raptors will be the reigning NBA champions until June.
In the past, media day was a time of great expectations and bold promises that seldom got fulfilled. We even saw it elsewhere around the league on Friday, when Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan were introduced in Brooklyn and Russell Westbrook and James Harden were reunited in Houston.
Here in Toronto, every once in a while a Damon Stoudamire, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter or Chris Bosh would emerge as a star, but team success rarely followed and there was never too much of a feeling that the Raptors would actually do anything substantial.
Amazingly, all that changed with the arrival of Leonard, as a savvy group powered up by the emergence of young star Pascal Siakam coalesced around firstyear NBA head coach Nick Nurse and brought the Larry O’Brien Trophy north of the border.
What’s next? Who the hell knows, but the Raptors organization and its fans will be hardpressed to shake the feeling that they are playing with house money for a long time to come after what went down last season.
All we know for sure is the team is heading to Quebec City and then to Japan to get a first look at the reformed Harden-Westbrook combination, before hosting one of the most heralded rookies to come along in ages, Zion Williamson and the revamped New Orleans Pelicans on Oct. 22. A banner will be raised on that night and rings will be handed out.
The whole thing is going to feel so strange after all of the zaniness and losing that became the norm over much of the first 24 seasons. Basketball is back, the Toronto Raptors reign over the NBA world and it’s time to find out what they’ll do for an encore.