The Toronto Raptors organization will be extremely happy to put 2024 in the rearview mirror.
Heading into Tuesday’s finale for the year at defending NBA champion Boston, Toronto is in the midst of one of the worst three-game stretches in franchise history and just turned in one of the dreariest calendar years of the 30 the Raptors have been around.
A day before 2023 ended, the team traded away longtime stalwart OG Anunoby and in January an all-time Raptor, Pascal Siakam was also dealt for an underwhelming return. Before that, things had actually appeared to be moving in the right direction. The team won 3-of-4 to start 2024 to improve to 15-21 before things went off the rails. First Jakob Poeltl went down for most of January and the Raptors collapsed, going 2-9 without the starting centre, with the Siakam deal happening during that stretch. Franchise player Scottie Barnes got hurt on March 1 and missed the final 22 games (a run that included a 15-game losing streak, the second-longest in franchise history). RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley were lost for much of the second half due to off-court tragedies and Poeltl was sidelined again, missing the final 21 games.
The team limped into the off-season clearly in need of the break but vowed to return better in 2024-25.
A silver lining came at the draft lottery in May, with the Raptors falling from sixth to eighth and therefore losing the first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs from the Poeltl trade a couple of years prior. While it hurt to lose a Top 10 pick, that draft class was considered quite mediocre vs. The 2025 crop, which is seen as one of the most top-heavy with potential all-stars in years. Surrendering the pick to the Spurs last summer meant the Raptors had no risk of losing it this year if things once again went off the rails — which they clearly have. Now the Raptors — and Raptors fans — can dream of seeing Cooper Flagg, Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, V.J. Edgecombe, Egor Demin or whoever else emerges suiting up for Toronto next season and know there’s a decent chance it comes to pass even if there’s another lottery drop.
But in the meantime, there are still 50 games to be played and they can’t be like the recent ones, which included a non-competitive loss at New York, followed by one of the worst defensive outings in Raptors history in Memphis and then one of the worst offensive performances at home on Sunday against Atlanta.
Toronto is at a talent and shooting disadvantage every night — especially with Immanuel Quickley, who signed the second-biggest contract in Raptors history other than the massive Barnes extension last summer — out for all but three games so far, but cannot pair those flaws with a lack of fight and effort.
Head coach Darko Rajakovic was looking for a response when he got himself turfed at Memphis, but his players gave him none. That was troubling. Then he put them through a marathon practice the next day, hoping it would carry over against the Hawks. But then they came out completely unserious (Rajakovic and Barnes even said as much after), committing turnovers on the first five possessions and 10 in the first quarter on the way to a home record for miscues.
Rajakovic talked of the team hitting a wall. Bruce Brown said an illness has been going around, sapping them of energy, but in the NBA there are no excuses. This can’t continue. Ticket prices went up in the off-season and many were there Sunday with Christmas or holiday gifts. Why would anyone come back after witnessing that game? Effort should be the bare minimum from any Raptors team. It was there until everything piled up last season and disappeared in March and April when every night brought a new humiliation. It was there early this season when the Raptors kept losing hard-fought, but poorly executed late contests. But now it’s gone, without any opportunities to rest and regroup on the horizon.
Toronto starts a three games in four nights stretch with the game in Boston. Rebuilding Brooklyn is in town on Wednesday, while the Orlando Magic, arrive on Friday. The Raptors braintrust should be bugging good friend Jeff Weltman, the Magic boss who was formerly Masai Ujiri’s No. 2 and is close with Ujiri, Bobby Webster and the rest of the front office, for suggestions. After all, plucky Orlando, beset by injuries (including to its two best players), yet fourth in the East, is the NBA’s gold standard for heart and effort.
Yes, the Magic has a more talented roster than Toronto’s, but not at the moment without Paolo Banchero, Franz Wagner, Moe Wagner and possibly now Jalen Suggs and Anthony Black. But they keep getting it done on the strength of tough defence and extreme intensity.
Rajakovic needs to find a way to get that out of his charges again. “I’ve got to do a much better job of teaching guys, keeping guys to a higher standard,” Rajakovic said on Sunday.
Barnes, anointed the leadership role, even though it might not suit him, at least not without the help he doesn’t have at the moment in that department, must play smarter himself and will the group into a turnaround.
“We’ve just got to take it upon ourselves to come out with a better effort. Wanting to guard and be better … This is unacceptable,” Barnes said.
This is the eighth time a Raptors team has lost at least 10 straight games. It hadn’t happened since 2010-11 until this one and last year’s 15-game horror show.
Bruce Brown, the veteran who finally made his season debut Sunday was asked by this corner how to avoid this skid snowballing into something like last year’s. “Just take it game by game, right? We can’t be worried about each game,” Brown said. “We can’t worry about a losing streak or whatever. That shouldn’t be on our minds. We just go out there and play as hard as we can, and I think we’ll win games.”
They had better, because right now the possibilities of a New Year are about all they have.
“This isn’t fun. Losing games by 30, this isn’t who we are,” Barnes said. “And we can’t just keep allowing this to happen. At some point we got to stand up and we’ve got to put up a fight, starting with me. Start off the game better, guard better. We’ve just got to come together and do this thing the right way. The effort has got to be there.”
@WolstatSun