Christmas has arrived and with it, the usual slate of five NBA games for one of the biggest days on the schedule. And as usual, the Raptors didn’t participate.
This is Year 30 for the Raptors, but Toronto fans have only been able to watch their team play on Christmas twice — during the height of the Vince Carter era and after the franchise’s only title win.
There are no signs of another Christmas appearance anytime soon either. Only two teams have fewer wins than the Raptors this season and only Washington has been worse since last Christmas. The lone Raptors game scheduled to be broadcast nationally in the U.S. this season recently got switched off too.
As dire as that sounds, it’s not as bad as it seems. Here’s the good, bad and ugly of the Raptors this holiday season:
THE GOOD
First, the positives. These would include a franchise that desperately needed to start drafting and developing well again appearing to have hit doubles and triples (and maybe more) with its last four selections, as well as undrafted free-agent Jamison Battle, who has shot 43.2% on three-point attempts, to lead all rookies with at least 1.5 attempts per game.
Gradey Dick is averaging 18.2 points, third amongst sophomores, despite being taken 13th two years ago. And that’s with Dick not shooting it the way he’s capable of. Who knows if Dick will become a solid starter or even an all-star one day, but he’s already made solid progress with plenty of upside.
Ja’Kobe Walter, last June’s 19th pick, has also shot below expectations, but has shown intriguing flashes at both ends of the floor. That includes 27 points against Houston, one of the best defensive teams in the league, and 16 off the bench a night earlier. He also scored 19 against a solid Knicks team.
Jonathan Mogbo, selected 31st, still has a lot of developing to do, but can rebound, pass and defend already. He’s seventh amongst rookies in win shares and third in value over replacement player.
Finally, Jamal Shead, taken 45th, has easily outperformed that spot and was outstanding against Houston last week.
The play of RJ Barrett since becoming a Raptor, including a subsequent jump this season, has also been a big plus, as has team chemistry and the willingness to fight in most games no matter how far they fall behind. The losses have piled up, as have the injuries (more on that later), but the atmosphere around the team has remained positive.
Ochai Agbaji’s emergence also stands out, especially since he struggled after being acquired from Utah last year.
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THE BAD
The defence continues to be nowhere close to acceptable. Same with the three-point shooting. Without those two areas being even average, a team has no chance. There’s a long way to go on both ends.
Injuries continue to punish the franchise. Last year it was ailments to Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl that set up a hard-to-watch finish (plus personal situations that sent Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to the sidelines).
In 2024-25, franchise player Barnes has had two separate significant injuries and has not looked right since coming back from the latest one (other than for parts of Monday’s loss at New York); Quickley has missed nearly the entire season; Walter missed camp and much of the early going, which is why he’s only now starting to show what he can do; Poeltl’s been out and so have fellow veterans Bruce Brown and Kelly Olynyk.
Toronto hasn’t had its preferred starting five all available since last March and is just 2-19 the last two seasons minus Barnes and Poeltl at the same time.
THE UGLY
One win on the road to this point is the definition of ugly. Some of the losses have been tight ones and they’ve all come with Toronto at less than full strength, but this can’t continue.
Also ugly: All of the fouls. They just hack and grab way too often. No team fouls more and No. 2 fouler Brooklyn fouls far less frequently than runaway leader Toronto. Part of it is inexperience (Toronto recently fielded its youngest starting lineup ever), part of it is personnel (without Poeltl or Barnes, the defence sinks several levels more).
Head coach Darko Rajakovic wanted more aggression at the point of attack, but the tradeoff has been consistent foul trouble. It hasn’t resulted in plenty of forced turnovers either and the Raptors also have been destroyed on the offensive glass all season.
X: @WolstatSun