Raptors eyeing season with no distractions
Eastern Conference getting tougher, and Toronto will be targeted, GM says
A season of heightened expectations for the Toronto Raptors kicked off on Monday, when the team gathered for physicals and the annual media blitz, before flying off to Vancouver.
The initial message: No distractions. That means no resting on laurels. “I know where we got to last year, I know there are expectations but what are expectations in sports? Winning, that’s the mandate,” said team president Masai Ujiri.
“People would talk about the West, but the East is creeping up now. We recognize that it’s going to be harder. When you win a little bit you become more of a target,” Ujiri said.
“Cleveland is Cleveland, the best team in the NBA. I don’t care how we talk about it or how we do it, there are 29 losers, or 29 I shouldn’t say losers, 29 teams that didn’t win. Every one of them is coming right back at you trying to win. And we’re one of them.”
Or as DeMar DeRozan, back after signing a rich new contract with the club put it: “We’re at the bottom of the hill now. We’ve got to work our way up and take on every challenge that we’re going to face. That’s the beauty of playing sports, being a competitor and facing challenges,” DeRozan said.
Sticking with the no distractions or excuses theme, fellow all-star Kyle Lowry insisted his status as a free agent due for a big raise next summer will not be an issue.
“I won’t focus on any of that, probably won’t answer it, because I’m really not focused on it,” Lowry said. “I’m really focused on helping my team be the best team they can be, getting to the point where we can take the next step to our game and to add to our team.”
Ujiri and his staff added to the team by inking big man Jared Sullinger, who enters camp as the presumptive starter, though head coach Dwane Casey said that is not ironclad, because one of the key questions will be how centre Jonas Valanciunas and the big man mesh defensively.
“(Patrick Patterson) is such an important part of our team, as far as what we do, how we play and he’s going to be in there. Pat’s going to play starter minutes,” Casey said.
“I consider Pat the sixth starter for me, but for the balance of the minutes, balance of the first unit-second unit, I would say Sullinger is the guy now that it would be his to lose, but I reserve the right to change my mind. It’s going to be important to see how our transition D — if we start giving up layups after layups after layups, we may have five guards in there. I’ll hold the right to see how that goes. (Rookie) Pascal Siakam may come up and just blow everybody out of the water, but as I sit here right now, that’s here in my mind.”
Sullinger didn’t want to weigh into the starting issue, opting instead to say how happy he was about no longer having to guard the rambunctious Valanciunas down low. “I’ve had all of the elbows I can take from JV,” Sullinger said.
Patterson has been down this road before and stayed on message.
“You all should know by now there’s no preferences,” Patterson said. “As long as I have a solid role on this team, I have a good impact at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”