Where 2014 could not have come with more success for the Toronto Raptors, 2015 could hardly have started any worse. Losers of four of their first five games of the year, Toronto is desperate for something positive to change their current fortunes.
But what exactly is the problem? What needs to be fixed for the franchise to get back on track?
Perhaps the biggest problem currently facing the Raptors is the lofting expectations of the fan base. After starting the year 24-7, expectations were sky high for what the franchise could achieve this year. Toronto was running away with their division (still are), was at the top of the Eastern Conference, and were surrounded by underperforming teams.
With the health questions surrounding Derrick Rose the Chicago Bulls have been fairly inconsistent; and the Cleveland Cavaliers have dealt with their own health concerns, with both LeBron James and Kyrie Irving facing their own injury concerns.
The Eastern Conference was wide open, and the Raptors were starting to look more and more like a legitimate contender for the Eastern Conference Finals, and perhaps even the NBA Finals.
After years of having so very little to celebrate, Raptors fans finally had a winning team to be proud of. And to top it all off, they were doing it in large part despite the absence of DeMar DeRozan.
Everything was finally coming together…and now this. Only one win to start 2015, losers of 7-of-10, and a team that now has the 20th ranked defense in the NBA. If you currently read the majority of Raptors articles, blogs, and fan forums, you would assume the sky is falling on what was once a promising season.
Here’s some good news though: the sky isn’t falling.
The Toronto Raptors are not who they have appeared to be in 2015, but they also aren’t the team that started the season winning 77% of their games. In truth, they are somewhere in between.
This current losing streak doesn’t erase the fact that the Eastern Conference is still wide open. The Cavaliers are playing below .500 basketball at the moment, the Bulls are still inconsistent (much like our Raptors), and the Atlanta hawks…okay…the Hawks are looking fantastic.
A small losing streak does not remove the chance that Toronto no longer has the ceiling we once hoped for from this season. The Raptors are still running away with a historically bad Atlantic Division, are basically assured to have home court advantage in the first round (if not beyond), and they are on the cusp of DeMar DeRozan returning to action.
Let’s all just take a moment and recognize what we have. The Toronto Raptors are on pace to exceed the 50 win plateau for the first time in franchise history, and remain a likely threat in the playoffs.
All of this despite the fact that the Raptors are currently starting two players in their third year, who both still show their youth/inexperience on a regular basis.
As an organization, the Raptors are ahead of where anyone could have expected them to be. The goal was always to build towards competing in 2016-17 and beyond. Toronto remains a few years away from their desired championship ceiling.
This season is about seeing if the timeline can be quickened at all, while enjoying the glimpses of the high future that the organization appears to have. Just look at Jonas Valanciunas’ performance from Monday night’s loss to Detroit. Jonas finished with 31 points, 12 rebounds, and 1 block, while shooting 14-of-15 from the field, and 3-of-4 from the line.
If Raptor fans had been given the option at the start of the season, every single one would jump at 50+ victories, a top three seed, and a chance to advance in the playoffs. All this while still having two high ceiling rookies on their roster, slowly developing for the future.
Losing perspective is an easy thing to do when we all clearly have emotional attachments to the Raptors, but let’s just take a step back from the ledge and enjoy the ride.
