It’s been a wild ride for the Raptors this season. From holding down the top spot in the East (and, briefly, the entire NBA) during the opening months to the horrid post-All-Star game stretch and subsequent bounce-back to a return to respectability in recent weeks, 2014-15 has featured a little bit of everything for Raps fans.
With the last game of one of the most successful regular seasons in franchise history tipping off this evening, what better time to take a look back at the year that was? So without further ado, it’s the annual Raptors Awards Extravaganza.
Most Improved: Lou Williams
The potential Sixth Man of the Year (he’s currently considered the front-runner) has been a flat-out revelation for the Raptors this season. And that’s mostly because when Masai Ujiri traded for him over the summer, Sweet Lou had just wrapped up his second consecutive stinker of a season (largely the result of a knee surgery and its lingering effects).
But in Toronto Williams found himself in a perfect situation, on an ambitious team with a defined role that suits him perfectly (in five words: go out there and score), and both the team and player have benefited greatly. Williams will be a coveted free agent this summer—his value has arguably never been higher—and given that the Raptors are 28-10 when he puts up 12 shots or more, his positive impact on the team is undeniable.
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This early season play against the Cavaliers set the table for what Williams would provide this team: clutch offense, consistent scoring and more swag than a winner walks home with on Oscar night:
Least Improved: Terrence Ross
Needless to say, this wasn’t the breakout campaign many expected from the third-year swingman, who has seen his game regress to the point that Dwane Casey pulled him out of the starting lineup for chunks of the season. Ross has been a gunner whose shots miss more often than not, and aside from flashes of defensive aptitude, he’s hardly become the 3-and-D stopper we all thought he’d become.
The low point came during a seven-game stretch in January that saw Ross’s minutes and production drop off dramatically. How dramatically? He averaged 18.5 minutes and just three points per game and shot 18.9, 23.5 and 50 percent from on field goals, threes and free throws, respectively.
Ross has picked his game up of late, and we saw in game seven of the Brooklyn series last season that even when he’s struggling he has the skills to step up and make a crucial play. When Ross is firing on all cylinders, the Raptors are a terribly difficult matchup for opponents. Too bad the engine’s been stalling out most of the year.
Swiss Army Knife Award: Patrick Patterson
Patterson built a name for himself coming out of high school as a back-to-the-basket low-post force. Then halfway through his collegiate career at Kentucky, when a freshman DeMarcus Cousins joined the Wildcats, coach John Calipari asked him to get more comfortable behind the three-point line. Patterson’s game continued to evolve once he got to the NBA and he’s now one of the league’s most versatile forwards. He has terrific poise and awareness as a catch-and-shoot guy from deep, sees the court well and can put the ball on the floor, has the quickness to guard tweeners on the perimeter and the size and strength to defend the hoop in a pinch. His status as a premier utility weapon off the bench has made him a favourite of Dwane Casey’s, providing the coach with a valuable chess piece.
Most Tantalizing: Jonas Valanciunas
We’ve seen him go toe-to-toe with some of the best centres in the NBA—DeMarcus
Cousins, Nik Vucevic, Joakim Noah—and often come out on top. And that’s because JV has made huge strides this season offensively, where he’s already borderline unstoppable (especially when that baby hook is falling). The only problem is, he hasn’t made the same strides defensively, where he’s proven to be too slow to keep up with the NBA’s growing list of faster, craftier bigs. We know what Valanciunas is capable of, we’ve seen the potential, but he’s still trying to find a way to stay on the floor.
Most Frustrating: James Johnson
Like Valanciunas, Johnson has been a victim of Casey’s erratic distribution of minutes. But unlike Valanciunas, Johnson carries a little bit more responsibility in this, as his sometimes-shaky decision-making—particularly on offense—has given Casey enough reason to plant him on the bench. He’s likely the Raps’ best one-on-one defender, and I’d argue has a deeper arsenal of post moves than anyone else on the team (hence Paul Jones’s apt nickname: Mr. Five Feet), but he can’t seem to do enough to gain the full trust of his coach.
Dunk of the Year
No shortage of options. Here are the candidates:
James Johnson on the Sixers
James Johnson on Andre Drummond
James Johnson on the Pacers
Patrick Patterson on the Heat
Terrence Ross on the Jazz
Terrence Ross on the Knicks
DeRozan’s clutch poster in Beantown
And the winner is… James Johnson on Andre Drummond! It was a soul-crushing throwdown on one of the NBA’s biggest rim protectors. Factor in the altercation that followed and this was a season-defining moment for the Raps. Plus, it gave us one of the all-time great Raptor quotes (though nothing will ever touch Jalen Rose’s first reaction to hearing that Vince Carter had been traded: “Did we get Richard Jefferson!?” No Jalen, not exactly.) That was nasty, right?
Team MVP: The Headband
As if there could be another choice.
Behind-the-scenes star: Chuck Hayes
We haven’t seen too much of Hayes on the court, but ask his teammates and they’ll tell you the Chuck Wagon’s fingerprints are all over this club. The Raptors’ elder statesmen, Hayes is one of the more vocal players in the locker room and often stays late at practice game planning with the coaching staff after the rest of the team has left. What’s more, he’s taken it upon himself to help develop this team’s young players, particularly
Bruno Caboclo. There’s a story Hayes told me: On the road there’s a group of veterans that always go out to dinner together—Hayes, DeRozan, Lowry, Williams and Amir Johnson. One night in New York City earlier in the season, Hayes couldn’t make the meal, so he phoned each guy, telling them to call Caboclo and invite the Brazillian rookie to join them in Hayes’s place. Small gestures like that make a big impact in a player’s growth, and on the team as a whole.
The Brian Scalabrine Award: Bruno Caboclo
Speaking of Bruno, remember his big debut against the Bucks? That was awesome.
Biggest Pleasant Surprise: Tyler Hansbrough
He’s played his way into the playoff rotation thanks to his reliability over the past month or so. He’s excelled in the starting lineup in place of an injured Amir Johnson, and is a likely candidate to eat up whatever minutes James Johnson was going to see in the post-season. He seemed lost earlier in the year, like he didn’t have a place on this team, but today that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Most Important Player: DeMar DeRozan
Yes, Kyle Lowry is this team’s all star and they need him on the floor if they’re going to find any sort of success in the post-season, but no player has a bigger impact on this team than DeRozan. His prolonged absence proved as much—the Kyle Lowry one man show was and is unsustainable—and DeRozan’s strong play in March and April helped right the Raptors’ ship. He’s playing the best basketball of his career right now, building off his amazing 42-point performance against Houston a few weeks back, out-dueling potential MVP James Harden and coming through in the clutch.
Factor in his continued evolution as a player (as evidenced lately by his improved passing and decision-making, particularly late in games), and it’s DeRozan, more than anybody else, who dictates the Raptors’ success and can power this team past the first round.