SURGING RAPTORS PLOTTING COURSE FOR CHAMPIONSHIP
This is the best team in franchise history, but ultimate barometer is playoff success
After 1,905 Toronto Raptors games in the NBA, we can finally say this: This is the best team in the NBA.
The convenient narrative that follows the Raptors from NBA city to NBA city needs to be put to rest.
This isn’t the team that folded up its tent three times against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Some of the names may be the same, but the circumstances have changed completely.
That old Raptors team that melted down mentally at the sight of LeBron doesn’t really exist anymore, and right now, for the first time in 24 seasons, you can say something you’ve never said before: they are the best team in the NBA today.
And that, by itself, is a stunning proclamation, considering the history and the many directions the franchise has found itself travelling.
You hear it now daily, especially from American commentators not willing to believe in the Raptors for obvious reasons. They won’t believe anything about this team until they do it in April and May. The litmus test comes then for the Raptors. But really, through 30 games of Nick Nurse’s first season as an NBA coach, there is all kinds of evidence of how different this team is from Raptors teams of the past. And how this team stands alone — as it should — with little to resemble the years of playoff series going wrong.
The fact Kawhi Leonard didn’t play against the Clippers or the Warriors, road wins of great significance, is important by itself. It’s shocking they beat Golden State wire to wire without Leonard and with Jonas Valanciunas out of the game early with a thumb injury.
Valanciunas underwent surgery to repair a dislocated left thumb on Thursday and will wear a cast for four weeks.
Nevertheless, those kinds of roster machinations would have derailed Toronto teams of the past. This team seems so different, so varied, so deep, so skilled, and on most nights, so full of Kyle Lowry’s fight.
The trade Masai-Ujiri made with San Antonio to bring in Leonard changed almost everything about the Raptors. And the hiring of Nurse, the altering of the lineup, the growth of the team both offensively and defensively: There isn’t any one reason why the Raptors have the best record in the NBA.
There are numerous reasons. At the end of last season, Serge Ibaka looked close to finished. People were guessing at what his real age was. People wondered if he cared at all about his craft. People looked at his contract and thought, what are you going to do with Ibaka?
This year, it’s a different Ibaka. He’s playing young and strong and with a lovely touch on midrange jump shots. His game and the manner in which he’s been employed has been a revelation of sorts.
This is his third season in Toronto and 10th in the NBA. He’s scoring more than ever before. His rebounding numbers are the best in years, and his assist numbers are the best he’s ever had. His shooting percent- age is the best it’s been since he was a kid.
And he’s doing all this with the least minutes he’s played since he was just starting out in Oklahoma City.
Valanciunas is playing the least minutes of his career, and the best basketball. He’s shooting 61 per cent on two-point field goals, the highest number he’s ever managed, His free throw number is his best ever. And he seems more at ease with his style and how he’s being utilized than at any time in his career.
The combination of Ibaka and Valanciunas at centre has been a startling success for the Raptors and a defensive nightmare for their opponents.
The Toronto teams that lost in playoffs past — and remember the Raptors have been 4-5 in playoff series in recent years, three of those take-a-knee defeats coming against the Cavs — didn’t have a difference maker like Pascal Siakam, who isn’t yet an all-star, but isn’t far away from being that.
This is Siakam’s third season. He’s scoring twice as many points as last year. He’s playing 30 minutes instead of 20. He’s shooting 67 per cent on two-point plays. His free-throw numbers are way up. His quickness has brought a new dimension to the Raptors, and he’s just learning. There’s a whole other level he can reach.
And all that’s without mentioning what Danny Green has brought with offence and defence and common sense and leadership. The Raptors teams that collapsed, they didn’t have anyone like Green, anyone who could do what Siakam does, anyone with the growing toughness and confidence of Fred Van-Vleet. And if C.J. Miles could hit the occasional jumper and OG Anunoby can make some free throws, well, this team is surprisingly stacked, with the hold-your-breath element being Leonard’s almost daily health concerns. It doesn’t matter that Leonard isn’t playing now, so long as he’s playing every night in the playoffs.
And it’s an incredible tribute to coach Nurse, whose mother just passed away, that the Raptors were so strong and so diligent in the wins against the Clippers and Warriors, with the coach in a trying and emotional state. That’s never easy for anyone. Those performances spoke volumes about this team and its relationship with the new coach.
Yeah, all of us are going to have to wait until April and May and maybe June to see what this team is truly capable of, but the comparisons to the past, convenient as they may be, are no longer relevant. This is a new team. This is a great team.
This has nothing to do with last year anymore.
For the first time in 24 seasons, you can say something you’ve never said before: They are the best team in the NBA today.