Being a fan of a sports team is often like being married to a philanderer. Sure, you can ignore all the signs you want and pretend everything is fine, but eventually you’re going to end up with that burning sensation when you pee and some uncomfortable questions from your doctor.
We’ve been witnessing that burning sensation during the last three Raptor playoff games and those uncomfortable questions have been coming fast and furious by writers and fans alike.
The thing is the signs have been around since the beginning, they’ve just been mostly ignored.
Sure, you can blame Dwane Casey and his poor coaching, or Kyle Lowry and his drop off in play since New Year’s, or Valanciunas’ inconsistent play, or Amir Johnson’s physical decline, or DeMar DeRozan’s willingness to force too many shots, but you’d be ignoring the bigger picture.
This team was flawed from the start.
And it’s not the first time we’ve witnessed something like this. In fact, it’s astoundingly similar to when Bryan Colangelo was running the team.
– Both Colangelo and Masai Ujiri surprised everyone by leaving successful teams where they had won Executive of the Year by building exciting, fast-breaking teams that focused more on offense than defense.
– Both took over a young Raptor roster that had become a perennial lottery team, coached by tough-minded coaches for the previous two seasons.
– Both Colangelo and Ujiri immediately made an impact by making some popular trades and both teams ended up surprising everyone by winning the Atlantic Division in their first year and winning a franchise record number of games (well, technically Colangelo’s team won a record-tying number of games).
– Both teams lost hard-fought first round series against lower seeded teams in the playoffs in the first year, but followed it up with a disappointing second season (the Ujiri Raptors improved on their record, but played so poorly after New Year’s it would definitely be described as disappointing).
– Both teams flamed out in their second playoff appearance against teams with big, burly centers who had their way with the team.
The similarities are eery.
Don’t worry, though, I’m not suggesting Ujiri is the second coming of Colangelo. But it should be a warning. A warning to Ujiri that repeating the same mistakes of the past aren’t going to lead to success. And a warning to Raptor fans to stop mistaking competitiveness for success.
When your franchise has only been able to reach 49 wins in a season (once) in twenty years, it’s not a reason to celebrate. It’s a reason to demand things change. Just to highlight how bad that is, in the last twenty years, only one other franchise failed to win 50 games in a season. Washington. The same Washington Wizards that are one win away from booting the Raptors out of the playoffs. And it will be their third visit to the second round in twenty years compared to just once for the Raptors.
When fans accept mediocrity, there’s little pressure on management to do anything but build a competitive team1 similar to the current one. [aside]1. Jack Armstrong and Matt Devlin lauded DeRozan’s accomplishment of hitting 20+ points in 7 playoffs games, the second most 20+ point games in franchise history. While it’s certainly nice that DeRozan has hit at least 20 points seven times in just nine playoff games, is that really a record you want to advertise? Paul George had twelve 20+ point games just last year in the playoffs, which would be the most in Raptors history.[/aside]
Raptor players and fans alike didn’t like it when Paul Pierce claimed that the Raptors simply didn’t have “it”. But he wasn’t wrong. Pierce saw what Raptor fans, players and apparently even Masi Ujiri didn’t. And he became public enemy number one in Toronto for saying it. Then he went out and proved to everyone he knew what he was talking about.
Back when Colangelo took over the Raptors, he decided to surround Chris Bosh, a player no one was mistaking for a top ten player, with a bunch of role players and then drafted a 7 footer who couldn’t rebound or play defense. No one in their right mind would think this was a team built to actually win anything of significance. But fans ignored the flawed roster and rejoiced in the franchise record-tying 47 wins, the Atlantic Division title and the first playoff appearance in five years.
In reality, no one should have been surprised that a team full of mediocre to decent players became anything but a mediocre to decent team. Bosh realized that this philosophy was doomed, and no one can blame him for jumping ship.
When Ujiri took over, hopes were high, and after trading Andrea Bargnani and Rudy Gay away the team’s sudden competitiveness gave Ujiri pause. And that was how he made the same mistake Colangelo did, which lead to the situation we find ourselves in right now.
Let’s be clear, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan are good players. They’ve both been All Stars and would start for just about any team in the league. But if they’re your two best players, you’re not going very far. And surrounding them with mediocre to decent players isn’t going to have a different effect than when Colangelo did it.
It’s natural to want to look for quick fixes for the team. Firing Dwane Casey is a no-brainer, but a new coach isn’t going to turn DeRozan into a good defender, raise Kyle Lowry’s basketball IQ or make Valanciunas a better passer. Adding a solid veteran big man could definitely help push the Raptors above the 50 win mark, but this would just be a continuation of the same strategy.
While it’s not going to be a popular approach, Ujiri needs to start again. Contenders are built on talent, defense and high basketball IQ, all of which are in short supply on the Raptors roster. No one on the roster should be safe, including longtime Raptors like DeMar DeRozan or Amir Johnson. Even Valanciunas, previously untouchable, should be considered simply a moveable asset.
The Raptors may win a game or possibly even two before they start their summer, but this isn’t about them losing a playoff series. This is about years of poor planning and accepting less than we should.
And we, as Raptor fans, need to say ‘enough’.
