Success continues unabated?
The Toronto Raptors tip off their 26th NBA season on Wednesday night. Like the 2019-20 version, this season will be abbreviated, and the Raptors’ home court will be in Tampa, FL. However, they are still our team, even at a distance. Let’s consider how many wins Nick Nurse can coax out of this group.
Guards
As you can tell, I’m not a believer in the traditional 1 through 5 positional discussion. The modern game isn’t played in such an arbitrary fashion. We’ll consider the Raps’ roster in the categories of guards, swingmen and ‘bigs’. Toronto is all but certain to roll out a starting five of Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet as the primary ballhandlers, Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby on the wings, and Aron Baynes at center.
Klo and FVV will be playing lots of minutes, and perhaps too many. Backing those two established stars are rookie Malachi Flynn, mercurial sophomore Terrence Davis and the sharpshooting Matt Thomas [Patrick McCaw is on the roster, but disabled for the foreseeable future]. There’s a lot of duplication, which I don’t like at any position. The Raptors guards might be the shortest in the league. High-scoring opposition bombers will enjoy playing the Raptors, particularly in the half-court, where they are likely to get quality shots off with relative ease. Our newish guards must grow up fast, and become pesky defenders, with impressive steal and deflection numbers.
Conclusion: The starters are proven, the backups are raw.
Grade: B-
Swingmen
Here we find the newly-signed Paul Watson, veterans Norman Powell, OG Anunoby and DeAndre’ Bembry, dangling-by-a-thread Stanley Johnson, and surprise! Yuta Watanabe. If another player makes the team on the last day of camp, I will revise; for the moment, these are the men on the spot. The group is competent at the top.
OG has just signed a contract extension, which provides him a fresh level of financial security, plus the knowledge he has the confidence of the organization. He’s just 23 years old, and has shown improvement every season. The Raptors will need another giant step forward, particularly on offense. He averaged 10.6 PPG in ’19-20, and if he doesn’t bump that by 50%, the team will suffer.
Powell will provide better sleep for coach Nick Nurse if he maintains his mid-teens scoring average while minimizing his too-frequent shooting slumps. There’s a big drop-off after those two, which is worrisome. Bembry will be given the first chance to plug any gaps, although his ceiling isn’t high. Paul Watson offers size and the hunger of a career minor-leaguer who’s finally getting his chance. He’s my choice as the player most likely to push his way into the rotation.
Conclusion: A respectable collection, though more potential, and less achievement, than we’d like.
Grade: C+
