Are the Toronto Raptors a Legitimate Threat in the NBA’s Eastern Conference? | numberFire
Our projections don’t factor in things like a lack of previous success or superstar appeal, so let’s see what they have to say about the Raptors and how they’ve performed this season.
As of today, the Raptors are sixth in our NBA Team Power Rankings with a nERD of 63.2 (a number meant to project a team’s ultimate winning percentage based on play-to-date for the season). That number puts them second in the Eastern Conference, only barely trailing Cleveland’s 64.8.
We have them as a near-lock to make the playoffs at 99.9% and even a decent shot at the title at 6.3%. It’s a far cry from the Golden State Warriors at 36.3% and the San Antonio Spurs at 30.4%, but it’s very much within striking distance of the Cleveland Cavaliers at 7.5% and the Oklahoma City Thunder at 7.3%. The next closest Eastern Conference team after that is the Boston Celtics down at 2.7%.
So, if you’re looking purely at the numbers and ignoring the intangible biases of experience and superstardom, the Raptors are looking just as much like contenders as the Thunder and conference rivals, the Cavaliers. At the very least, they are playing like Cleveland’s only true peer in the conference.
Why The Toronto Raptors Could Win The East | The Sports Quotient
There seems to be space in the east for Toronto as well. At this point, it’s not insane to imagine the Raptors giving the Cavs some trouble in the Eastern Conference Finals. First, they’d have to get there. Let’s give them the second seed, just because they’re sitting comfortably there now and no other team has shown any reason why they should be expected to catch up.
There are a myriad of teams they could see in the first round, but the only one that could pose any true trouble would be a Miami team that has underperformed in the regular season due to injury and age, but could get healthy at the right time to be one of those dangerous seven-seeds. It doesn’t take the biggest imagination to see a fully healthy Bosh and Wade tandem knocking off a top-seed in the playoffs, but a lot has to go wrong for Toronto for that to happen. Giving the Raptors the benefit of the doubt (and just for argument’s sake), let’s slide them into the next round.
Toronto Raptors’ DeMar DeRozan launches 2016 All-Star Reading Challenge for kids | CBC
“Promoting literacy and supporting youth in the Toronto community is very important to me because I personally benefited from a strong support team when I was growing up and saw first-hand the difference it can make,” said DeRozan in a press release. DeRozan launched the All-Star Reading Challenge in 2014.
Raptors’ DeRozan hits the books with GTA kids | Toronto Sun
DeRozan posed with children from five of the schools who had read 10 books in ten weeks and submitted book reports. They were accompanied by teachers, parents and a few of the authors. It is DeRozan’s third year supporting the program.
Accompanied by fiancee Kiara Morrison and daughter Diar, 2, the lanky forward told the kids about the importance of reading.
DeMar DeRozan has evolved into a superstar | Raptors Cage
Historically through his seven seasons, DeRozan’s shot selection has been a major problem, a factor in the equation for his volume shooting. But what’s changed, is his mentality to score the basketball; rather then take highly contested pull-ups as a main source of his scoring, DeRozan is among the leaders in the league in drives to the basket at 12 per game. He leads the league in average scoring off of those 12 drives per game. Closer shots to the basket equals a higher probability to score, along with putting the opposition into foul trouble, while releasing defensive pressure (putting good perimeter and interior defenders into an awkward position) and getting to the free-throw line.
Why the Playoffs Should Scare You: Part 1 – Jae Crowder | Raptors HQ
The Raptors got a glimpse of what Crowder is capable of during January 20th’s 115-109 shootout win over the Celtics. The Celtics defensive anchor scored 17 points on 7-of-11 shooting (3-of-5 on threes) and added five boards and four assists. But it’s not Crowder’s offense that should worry Raptors fans should the Celtics come up north for a playoff series. On that end of the floor, while he’s effective, he’s just one member of the point-scoring committee led by Isaiah Thomas.
Nope, it’s on the defensive side that Crowder has the potential to give the Raptors night sweats in April. He showed exactly why that is in last week’s meeting.
In that January 20th game, DeRozan went off. He punished the platoon of Avery Bradley and Marcus Smart to the tune of 30 points in the first three frames, including a dazzling 18 point third quarter. Bradley and Smart are slightly undersized, and while they relentlessly pestered DeRozan throughout the evening, he managed to snake his way out of trouble without forcing many – if any – bad shots against that tandem.
When DeRozan entered with about seven minutes left in the fourth quarter though, things got real. Brad Stevens deployed Crowder as his DeRozan-stopper, and it worked.
A photo posted by Patrick Patterson (@pdpatt) on
Raptors 905 rookie Delon Wright makes short trek to big show | Toronto Star
When it became obvious the Toronto Raptors needed a point guard for practice on Wednesday because a sore left wrist was keeping Kyle Lowry off the court, they had to make an emergency recall from the D-League in case Lowry can’t go Thursday against the New York Knicks.
Less than an hour later, rookie Delon Wright was back from the minors, having made the short drive from Mississauga to the Air Canada Centre.
“It’s perfect for us, the fact he can get down there and get back, get practice in, go through a practice and be ready, I think it’s huge,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.
“I think that’s something we had in mind when the team was put there. The guys can get there and get back, it’s just a matter of paperwork of letting the league know, in and out. It’s a great situation for us to have our D-League team there.”
Road To The Six: Week 10 Recap | Toronto Raptors
Another great week for Raptors 905, as the club went 2-0 and have now jumped to a season-best four-game win streak. Absent any affiliate players and on a short nine-man roster, the team easily took care of business in Erie on a wire-to-wire 20-point victory. Raptors 905 then headed to Westchester where the Knicks came back from a 20-point deficit only to fall in overtime. Check out the highlights from the thriller in Westchester:
Toronto Raptors rookie Delon Wright wants to grab his chance | Toronto Star
If Lowry were injured, Cory Joseph would assume starting point guard duties, and that would likely mean an increase in minutes for Wright, who has logged just 31 minutes of game time this season.
“I’d be ready,” Wright said of his minutes hypothetically increasing. “I think I’m ready to play. I’m learning a lot from (Lowry) and Cory. (I’d like to) just get a chance to prove myself.”
Through 12 games with Raptors 905, coach Jesse Mermuys has seen Wright in action more than most this season. Wright has put up 18 points, 6.8 assists and 4.6 rebounds per game in the D-League.
“I think he would (be ready),” Mermuys said. “He instinctively has some poise and I think he’d be able to handle that. I’m sure other teams would try to go at him and take advantage of that but because of his size his length, I think he’d be able to hold down the fort.”
Five Thoughts: Joseph impressive for Raptors | TSN
CORY JOSEPH (Raptors): The Toronto point guard has bounced back of late, showing the playing form we saw from him earlier in season. The improved play of Terrence Ross and Patrick Patterson creates a lot of space to drive the ball to basket, which Joseph does quite well. He and Kyle Lowry operate beautifully together. Joseph competes very hard defensively and gives his team sound leadership. I have been impressed.
Raptors’ rookie Powell plays facilitator in Raptors 905 win | Sportsnet.ca
“[The Raptors] want to see me be a playmaker and set other guys up,” Powell said after the game. “Right now they got scorers on there with DeMar [DeRozan], K-Low [Kyle Lowry], T-Ross [Terrence Ross], [Luis] Scola. They’re looking for me to come in here and provide energy, play defence and get guys the ball in their spots. So that’s what I’m working on down here. Becoming a better playmaker, reading the floor, better IQ, things like that.”
Having Powell work on his decision-making while on assignment makes sense from the Raptors perspective as he isn’t likely to be a scoring machine in the NBA, nor is that a role Toronto has him pegged for.
Powell represents a pretty big part of the Raptors’ future as he checks a lot of the boxes that Casey and the organization look for in a player: Tough, athletic and defensive-minded.
Raptors ‘having fun’ in pursuit of franchise-record winning streak | The Globe and Mail
The Raptors are poised to do one better Thursday night. A victory over the New York Knicks would stretch their win streak to 10.
While streaks are all well and good for fans, coach Dwane Casey said his team isn’t pausing to celebrate the numbers adding up in the win column.
“We can’t dwell on that; we’ve got to go game for game, quarter for quarter, possession by possession,” Casey said after Wednesday’s practice at Air Canada Centre. “To get caught up in those wins, you get caught up in the wrong things, and for me as a coach and for our team, it’s good but it’s not the end goal.”
Raptors Rolling To Franchise Records This Season | Pro Bball Report
Toronto did reach the same 30-15 record as this year a day later last season, but they did it in a very different fashion. 2014-15 was the year of Lou Williams’ instant offense who headlined a high scoring bench on a Coach Casey led team that uncharacteristically struggled on defense.
At 15.5 points per game, Williams was third in scoring on the Raptors and offensively-minded backup point guard Greivis Vasquez was sixth scoring at 9.5 points per game as offense off the bench was winning games – especially in the first half of the regular season.
The result was Casey’s team had the third best offensive rating in the NBA at 108.1 points per 100 possessions last season. Unfortunately, the Raptors had a defensive rating of 104.8 points, 23rd worst in the Association. They also had a 26th worst opponents’ field goal percentage of 45.9 and to make matters even worse, when they did get stops, they were the 25th worst team at grabbing the defensive board.
Tipoff: Knicks at Raptors | Toronto Sun
Carmelo Anthony is having a great season, averaging a career-high 4.0 assists and just 2.5 turnovers per game, the second-fewest of his career, though his scoring is way down (21.3, his worst since his sophomore season). However, Anthony has a sore knee and isn’t expected to play, weakening the Knicks significantly against a team he historically has feasted on.
The team is dangerous from outside, but is in a tailspin, with losses in five of seven games following a streak of five wins in seven outings.
Raptors-New York Knicks: Thursday game preview | Toronto Star
Key matchup:Kristaps Porzingis vs. Luis Scola.
The New York rookie has been exemplary all season and would seem to have all the tools necessary for a good, long career. His versatility inside and out will keep the Raptors’ defence working all night.
Red-Hot Toronto Raptors Host New York Knicks In Big Showdown | VAVEL.com
Kristaps Porzingis has taken the league by storm this season putting up some impressive numbers in his first year. The seven-foot-three Latvian big averages fourteen points and 7.8 rebounds per game. One of the most impressive components of his game is his ability to shoot the ball at his size. Porzingis shoots 42.6 percent from the field and 34.4 percent from deep.
On the other side of the ball will be Scola, who is about as different of a player from Porzingis as you can get. While Porzingis provides energy and athleticism to the Knicks, Scola brings what they call “old-man” game for Toronto. The 35-year-old Argentinian plays a very efficient, fundamental style of basketball. Scola averages 9.9 points and 5.7 rebounds this year on 45.4 percent shooting. Scola has never been an outside shooter but this season he has implemented a three-point shot into his game shooting 41.8 percent from three-point land.
New York Knicks at Raptors: Preview & 3 keys to victory | Raptors Rapture
The Knicks’ bench can’t compare with the Raptors’ at the moment. Kevin Seraphin has never moved past the promising stage, and is lucky to have a job. Langston Galloway’s story gives hope to everyone still banging around the D-League in their mid-twenties. He’s the Knicks’ version of Jamario Moon. I don’t think he’ll have a long career, but to have one at all, given where he was, is remarkable. Jerian Grant will be a player within a few years, but Lou Amundson, Sasha Vujacic and the others won’t.
NBA Preview – New York Knicks at Toronto Raptors – Jan 28, 2016 | CBSSports.com
“Right now we’re too focused on our next opponent, which is the New York Knicks,” Lowry told the team’s official website. “It’s time to get focused for them. We’re just taking it game by game, day by day.”
The Raptors struggled to contain Anthony and the Knicks (22-25) on Nov. 10 in the first meeting at Air Canada Centre. Anthony had 25 points and New York went 11 for 23 from 3-point range in a 111-109 victory.
The All-Star forward has averaged 30.6 points in his last seven matchups with Toronto. Although he’s expected to make the trip north of the boarder, Anthony will likely be a game-time decision due to a sore left knee.
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