It is almost here, and try to find one Toronto Raptors fan who isn’t thrilled about it.
If it only feels like the regular season has been a long time coming, maybe it’s because the anticipation has been building since – take your pick – the Raptors' better-than-expected showing in pushing the Cleveland Cavaliers to seven games back in early May? The trade for Kawhi Leonard first became public knowledge on June 30? The trade being officially completed in early September? Training camp opening?
The waiting is finally over. The Raptors host the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night at Scotiabank Arena to kick off the regular-season marathon.
So what do we know about the Raptors now, after five pre-season games and the second last of what will end up being roughly 14 practices since training camp opened?
Let’s discuss:
Leonard good to go
He may have played only 39 minutes across two pre-season games and taken just 17 shots, but the 35-year-old upon whom the Raptors have so much riding on this season (and the next two after that, given his two-year, $115-million extension covers him through 2028-29) feels like he’s ready to start playing for real.
“Just going through everything, playing with the guys, getting those games under my belt, seeing how I'm feeling, just like any other year,” said Leonard, who is in his 15th year of his pre-season preparation.
“I just trust that the hours that I put in, you know, my 10,000 hours are going to work. I can't go as hard as you used to (in training). Obviously, you gotta get more smart about everything, and recovery, you know, you’re not 20 years old no more, so recovery is good. Those are things you learn as years go on and you get these games under your belt.
Barrett and Barnes, still a thing
One of the most eye-opening takeaways from the Raptors' playoff series against Cleveland was how much of the offensive load RJ Barrett and Scottie Barnes were capable of carrying. The duo averaged 48.2 points combined against the Cavs – and on good efficiency, too.
Five months later? Even with all the usual caveats about it only being pre-season, at the very least they seem to be perfectly poised to pick up where they left off.
Here is Barrett and Barnes' combined slash lines, pro-rated for 36 minutes a game, through the four pre-season games they each played in: 55.6 points per game (split almost equally) on 53-per-cent shooting including 45.2 per cent from deep, and 16.6 rebounds.
It means nothing until the lights go on for real, but at the very least the two players that elevated most in the playoffs are emerging from the pre-season looking very capable of carrying that over.
What about the defence, though?
The Raptors were a top-five defence last season, but they were also just two points per 100 possessions better than league average while more than three points per 100 behind the NBA’s second-best defence (Detroit Pistons) and more than five points behind the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder.
And while their offence seems to be ticking along quite nicely at 117.1 points per 100 possessions, which is sixth in the NBA in pre-season and a nice improvement from their league-average 115/100 last season, their defence is a little bit off as they rank 21st league-wide (though still holding opponents to 112.1/100).
This is especially true of the stretches of the game where their starters play a higher proportion of the minutes – for example, the Raptors' first-quarter defence is 22nd in the NBA.
Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic is not sweating a pre-season blip because chances are that’s all it is, given that it takes a lot more than four pre-season games (which is the most any of the Raptors' projected starters played in) for lineup data to stabilize.
“It's really hard (to get anything from pre-season statistics). It's a small number of games and then (a limited) number of minutes that main guys spend together (in) different lineups, so it's really, really hard,” said Rajakovic.
“Even when the season starts, I find it difficult to look at first 10 games and make big conclusions. I think all that information is important, so we are aware of it and we can analyze it and keep an eye on it. But we cannot say, "Oh, our offence is great, and our defence struggles.' We have to take it one game at a time.”
Depth at centre?
With memories of Jakob Poeltl’s back problems from last season still relatively fresh and the reality that despite all of his talents, the six-foot-seven Collin Murray-Boyles will always be an under-sized solution at centre, the Raptors' size, or lack of it, will remain a potential pressure point this season until proven otherwise.
But what if the Raptors could scrounge up a versatile six-foot-10 backup centre with some shot-blocking chops who excels in putting opposing bigs on skates and earning trips to the free-throw line?
It’s early days but Trayce Jackson-Davis, acquired at the trade deadline from the Golden State Warriors last February, has opened some eyes with a strong pre-season showing against the New York Knicks in Toronto last week (11 points and two blocked shots in nine minutes) before recording 23 points with 16 free-throw attempts against the Pistons starters on Friday.
”All the drives, all the finishes, going to the rim, getting fouled, the and-1s – that's something that really stood out, and he's gotta continue doing that,” said Rajakovic. “We need him to be a beast, rebounding the ball offensively and defensively, and if he can do that and with the ball be a force going downhill, I think he can help us big time.”
Happy Halloween
For years, the Raptors have gotten the jump on Halloween by having their own costume party before the regular season crowds in and ruins things for everybody.
But this year, the Raptors will be flying to Los Angeles on the big night to kick off their first extended road trip of the season, so the team already has celebrated.
Rookie Allen Graves played a big role in the festivities, which were hosted by Jamal Shead. Graves and his wife arrived as Tigger and Winnie the Pooh, respectively, but when it was his turn to take the mic at karaoke he switched into a hot-dog costume for his rendition of Love by Keyshia Cole.
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