Young guns provide hope

A tumultuous season for the Raptors has hit another low point, with the team mired in a sevengame losing streak, but that doesn’t mean everything has been gloomy.

Any hope of reaching the final play-in spot appears to be slipping further away after Sunday’s loss to Orlando Magic. And a tough final stretch is looming, with 10 of the team’s next 14 games coming against opponents with winning records. But the Raptors like how their young players have responded to increased workloads in the absence of a number of regular starters dealing with injuries.

Rookie Gradey Dick and recent trade acquisition Ochai Agbaji have been inserted into the starting lineup and young bench players like Jordan Nwora and Jahmi’us Ramsey have seen a significant increase in minutes.

Ramsey, 22, is on the tail end of his second 10-day contract.

“Jahmi’us (has done) a really good job, especially on the defensive end, just applying a lot of pressure on the ball,” Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic said after the team’s open practice Tuesday.

In Rajakovic’s assessment, both Ramsey and Nwora have shown improvement and a willingness to fight for more playing time.

“With Jordan, it’s a constant battle,” he said. “We know that he can really score but at the same time we need him to improve his defence, and he’s showing us some very positive signs of improving on the defensive end and taking it much more seriously than he did over the course of his career.”

Nwora, who came to Toronto as part of the deal that sent Pascal Siakam to Indiana in January, has logged over 20 minutes on average over the past three games and has scored in double digits in each of those games.

With starters Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl sidelined for the foreseeable future, the Raptors continue to experiment with different lineups.

A key will be the defensive fundamentals, Rajakovic said.

Dick, who spent an early chunk of the season playing in the G League, is learning is how to properly manage his body.

“So many guys play even more minutes and do that consistently, so if it works for them, you’ve got to work on your recovery and that’s the biggest thing I’m learning right now,” he said.