Raptors rebuild hits a fork in the road following win over Hawks in Atlanta
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Based strictly on wins and losses — which is all that really matters in the cut-throat world of pro sports — the Raptors are playing their best basketball of the season and by far the best under second-year head coach Darko Rajakovic.
The problem is wins and losses weren’t the measuring stick this rebuild season would be defined by, which pretty much defines how out of sync the entire campaign has been.
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The goal, ostensibly, was to develop young players by providing extended minutes. Outside of a few, there hasn’t been many breakout moments over an extended stretch.
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The goal, apparently, was to showcase veterans in hopes that one, two and perhaps all three of the experienced group would be capable of fetching an asset in the way of draft capital as the NBA’s Feb. 6 trade deadline nears.
With so much invested in Immanuel Quickley, the Raptors’ stated objective was to monitor how the point guard could co-exist playing with Scottie Barnes, the club’s anointed franchise face.
Toss in RJ Barrett and the Raptors were banking on surrounding this core as the franchise moves forward.
Following Thursday’s win in Atlanta, this master plan must be revisited.
It would be hard to wipe the slate clean given the Raptors already have made their bed with little chance of going back to the drawing board.
The team’s second road win of the season represented the club’s fourth in its past five games, each victory produced without an ailing Quickley, whose season has been riddled by injury.
Once again, Toronto’s bench stepped in, a second unit led by the likes of Bruce Brown, Kelly Olynyk — who did exit the win due to calf tightness — and Chris Boucher.
Speaking in hypotheticals, what if Brown and Olynyk were healthy when the season began and what if Boucher was used more frequently as opposed to that stretch when the dreaded DNP-CD designation was affixed next his name in boxscores.
And what if rookies such as Ja’Kobe Walter, who got into foul trouble in Atlanta and barely saw the floor, or Jonathan Mogbo weren’t allotted as many minutes. In each case, injury necessitated starting assignment for each.
Injuries have been a cause of concern for the Raptors almost from the moment they gathered in Montreal for the start of training camp.
What to make of these Raptors heading into the trade deadline has suddenly become both puzzling and intriguing.
Had this team been fully healthy, the Cooper Flagg dream would have been a pipe dream.
The narrative around this season has been fluid with a new chapter inserted in the wake of this stretch that has seen the Raptors beat Golden State, Boston, Orlando and Atlanta. The lone loss came at home against the Milwaukee Bucks.
Granted, the Warriors are a shell of their former championship editions, the Celtics haven’t been playing well, the Magic was decimated by injury and the Hawks were playing the back end of a back-to-back, albeit with each tip at home.
A win is a win and with each win the chances of the Raptors hoisting Flagg decrease.
Heck, a third successive win is doable when the Hawks play host to the Raptors again on Saturday night. Thursday, the Hawks lacked size and the Raptors fully capitalized.
Trae Young, who always torches the Raptors, nearly drained a potential go-ahead three-pointer late, but at least the visitors were able to get the ball out of his hands on a handful of possessions in the fourth quarter.
Even when the Raptors’ defence began to show the predictable cracks, they made the right play in crunch time to post their first road win since Nov. 27 against the New Orleans Pelicans. For the record, the Raptors are 2-19 on the road this season
Barnes has been playing well, though there is another level he needs to unlock. In the fourth quarter, he netted 11 of his 25 points. More importantly, he went to the free-throw line.
Another key is Toronto’s bench, which has flourished of late. The main contributors have been Brown, Olynyk and Boucher, who combined for 46 points in Atlanta.
Brown has been the primary catalyst. Against the Hawks, he scored 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting. Against Orlando, he scored 15 after scoring 17 points in the loss to the Bucks.
Brown hasn’t pieced together this kind of scoring stretch over a three-game period since he served on Denver’s bench during the Nuggets’ championship run two years ago. His run in Toronto might be coming to its end.
Brown’s stock continues to rise, but what remains to be seen is whether the Raptors are able to use him as a trade piece or perhaps even include him in a bigger package.
Equally unknown is what kind of return the Raptors will receive.
In the bottom-line world that is pro basketball, teams want to win. A team such as the Raptors don’t necessarily want to win, which is counter-intuitive.
A team such as the Raptors weren’t expecting to extract so much from their veteran pieces coming off the bench, the same veterans who have helped fuel this mini-resurgence. As long as these veterans step up, their trade value, in theory, increases.
What an unusual time for the Raptors, whose best-laid plans have taken a turn.
Some would argue it has been a turn for the better, while others will say it’s a turn for the worse.
Depending on where you sit on this debate, a case can be made for both sides.
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