The Raptors are in the early stages of an 82-game marathon, so there’s no need to panic.
It has been said many times that the NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint. It seems hard to fathom that you could lose a two-and-a-half hour race in the first 15-20 minutes. So with the Raptors in the early stages of this marathon, there is no need for Raptor fans to panic and call into post-game radio shows to demand changes be made. Save that for another Toronto team.
I suppose it's possible to fall far enough behind that you couldn't catch up, but it’s not probable if you're talented enough and willing to work your way back into contention.
If you draw a similar comparison, the Raptors are about the same15 per cent into their 82-game epic known as the regular season. Don't get me wrong, you can't treat the regular season as if it doesn't matter but you do get to start over once you hit the third week of April if you are in the playoffs. Translation: there is a long way to go and with the expectation that this team will be back in the playoffs, the team is moving at a good pace right now as they sit in the middle of the pack.
"We're not in a bad spot," assistant coach Jay Triano said, making reference to the club's .500 record. "I think the thing we're disappointed about, and I'm sure the fans are as well, is our record at home."
"But you have to be happy with the way we played on the road," Triano said, referring to the proverbial other side of the coin. "We've got to make sure we continue to play that way until we get things figured out at the Air Canada Centre."
Last season, Toronto finished its first month with a 5-10 record but went 42-25 the rest of the way to win its first division title. The expectations are loftier this season but there is no "fast forwarding" to where they were last season. It still takes time to redefine roles and find consistently successful combinations.
The biggest improvement, at least early in this campaign, has been the team defence. Last season, the Raptors were a squad that relied on its offence to keep them in games. It meant that they were always a threat even when trailing but when they held a lead it was always tenuous because defensive stops were not always there when needed.
As the defending division title holders, Toronto has earned respect around the league and opponents are aware of the Raptors’ offensive capabilities and are planning accordingly. With the Raptors’ offensive philosophy a known commodity, teams are making adjustments defensively trying to take away their strengths. It comes down to making shots.
"It does (come down to us making shots) but it also comes down to us (the coaching staff) finding a way to get our guys a little bit more time to look at that shot," Triano said.
The Raptors are the best three-point shooting team in the NBA but getting good looks from behind the arc has not been easy.
"Right now teams have a lot respect for Jason Kapono and Anthony Parker, with the year he had last year, and even Andrea Bargnani and they are leaning on our shooters," Triano said.
"They are not helping off (the guys on the three-point line) and they are going to make T.J. Ford score a lot of points and take the ball to the basket and they are staying attached to our guys on the three-point line. Right now you can't criticize (any of our guys) for not shooting the ball well because we're not really getting them as good a look as we need to."
Opponents making Ford a scorer is something Toronto expected. Ford is still one of the top assist-men in the NBA but while trying to become even better at distributing the ball this season, Ford has been forced at times to become more of a shooter because of opponents’ defensive approach.
"A lot of times he has to hang onto the basketball and he has to exploit the mismatch that he's been able to create," Triano said.
"Teams are going to tell us they'd rather have T.J. Ford scoring 30 or 40 points instead of having our sharpshooters get going and getting hurt from the three-point line."
The next step in the maturation process for Ford is to go back to dispensing assists once the opponents try to curtail some of his scoring.
Adjustments will be made all the way through the season and like the twenty-six mile, three-hundred and eighty-five yard run (that's about 42km for those of you scoring in metric) there will be some points in the race when you run faster or slower than others.
For some Raptor faithful, Toronto's winning effort in certain games -- or its record for that matter -- may not look the way everyone wants it to look right now, but they are ahead of last season's pace. With the expectation that they will pick up the pace and land in the playoffs, it is too early to start sprinting. The final judgment will come next spring.
