The most injury-riddled season for any team ever in the history of the NBA.
Context for this season:
- Lamond Murray didn’t play a game after suffering ligament damage in preseason
- Lindsey Hunter missed 53 games
- Vince Carter missed 39
- Antonio Davis missing 29
- The Raptors were the only team in NBA history to not dress 12 players for a game
- They set the record for most man-games missed due to injury with 519, crushing the Celtics’ record of 480 set in 1996-97
3. Morris Peterson, 14.1 pts, 4.4 reb, 2.3 ast
Before there was Danny Green there was Mo Pete, a good defender, great shooter, position versatile and a solid citizen. He also got herpes. He played seven years for the Raptors which are only eclipsed by DeMar DeRozan, Kyle Lowry and Jose Calderon. The Washington shot that came a few years later has him firmly etched in our history and what he’s perhaps most remembered for, but the neat fact about Mo Pete is that he was the main connecting thread between the Vince Carter and Chris Bosh eras. He experienced the highs and lows of both. Given the injury situation Peter played 36 minutes a game and played in all 82 games, while starting 80. One of the games he didn’t start was on the fourth game of a 4-in-5 stretch a night after playing 47 minutes in an overtime loss against the Lakers on the road. That was in the middle of a 12-game losing streak which was part of a stretch where we lost 16 of 17. It’s years like these that make the Championship that much sweeter.
2. Voshon Leonard, 24.9 pts, 5.9 reb, 4ast, 1.6 stl
Blake and I have gone back and forth on this one – I’m convinced he cost us LeBron James at some level that summer by winning us meaningless games over the course of the season. Yeah, the lottery was probably rigged but man, I would’ve loved to have an extra few balls in the pot. You never know. The ex-Heat guard had a prolific scoring season on a terrible team. Lamond Murray was the man supposed to complement Vince to powered the offense but instead we saw Leonard show off his mid-range game to shore up his retirement by getting a deal with the Nuggets that summer.
1. Alvin Williams, 14.0 pts, 5.7 ast, 1.5 stl
Alvin Williams was the unquestioned leader of this team during this very tough season. It was his leadership during this testing time that earns him a lot of stripes amongst Raptors supporters. Williams was easily the hardest working Raptors player (more so than JYD) and tried to orchestrate a team decimated with injuries. It was a hopeless year by all accounts but don’t tell that to Alvin.
