This is a guest post from Jade “Auxillary Things” Johnson.
If I see one more list of the most-likely NBA Champions for the 2019-20 season where the Raptors aren’t even listed in the top five, I will not be responsible for my response. Seriously, how long does an exceptional team have to be exceptional before they put some respect on their name?
From so-called ‘NBA fans’ on Twitter (we’ve all seen them) to the Vegas books that I’m sure the aforementioned Tweeters are pulling their takes from, once again #WeTheChamps are being given only an outside chance of hoisting the Larry O.B. again this season. I’ve about had it.
Yes, I’m a Raptors fan first, so any defence of them almost immediately comes with an accusation that I’ve drunk the Kool-Aid. Uh, yeah I have! This particular Kool-Aid is made up of a roster full of high-character, socially conscious men with chemistry, camaraderie, and likability (even when Kyle Lowry is being snarky with the media) in spades. A player’s coach who is a brilliant strategist and just a ridiculously cool dude. One of the only black executives in all of sports who is a fierce competitor, and a charismatic and effective leader within basketball circles and without. The diversity of The Raptors, both in terms of gender and race, is a direct reflection of that leadership. He’s made this organization a shining example for NBA teams from top to bottom. I’d even go so far as to say all of North American sports. Those are some delicious base elements. Add to that the sweetness of being a very good team on the floor and defending Champs!? You bet I drank the Kool-Aid! When a fanbase’s biggest bone of contention is Patrick McCaw getting too many minutes, I’d say we’ve got it pretty dang good.
Being shamelessly fond of Raptors-flavoured Kool-Aid doesn’t, however, mean I don’t see this team through the objective lens of a real fan of the game. Besides knowing that the Raptors have earned every iota of my fandom, I’m an inherently critical person, often much to the chagrin of those closest to me. I was that Raptors fan who was elated to hear that the Coach of the Year, Dwane Casey, had been released by Masai Ujiri. I was that Raptors fan who was driven crazy by DeMar DeRozan’s lack of defensive effort and literally cheered when I heard he had been traded.
Now, hopefully, I haven’t lost too many of you with those near sacrilegious admissions. For those of you who are still with me, my point is that my exasperation with the Raptors being ranked as sixth most likely (and sometimes even worse than that) to win it all this year does, indeed, come from a balanced place of critical thinking. So, let’s dive into the specifics of why it’s ridiculous that the Raptors are appearing sixth on so many of these lists.
Two-Headed Monster
There’s no question in my mind that the finals go through LA this year. The Lakers and the Clippers are the only teams that I’m okay with being listed above the Raptors. Don’t get me wrong, I believe that the Raptors have just as good a chance of winning the Finals as either the Clippers or Lakers. I give 50/50 odds regardless of which one-two punch of Angelinos makes an appearance in the Finals this year.
Usually, a lack of continuity plays heavily into my conversations regarding a team’s likely (or unlikely) playoff success. In the case of the Clippers, the depth of the team, the coaching of Doc Rivers and having seen first-hand what Kawhi Leonard is capable of in the playoffs, we know they are unquestioningly a force to be reckoned with.
When it comes to the Lakers, well… you can never discount the LeBron James of it all. He’s got that intangible ability to put a team on his back and will them to victory. We’ve seen it. We’ve felt it. We’re happy we won’t have to face it before the Finals ever again. The Lakers aren’t as deep as the Clippers but I think they’re still most likely to represent the West in the Finals this season. That said, third is the lowest ranking for the Raptors odds to go back-to-back this season that I’d have been okay with.
Failure to Launch
Just by simple logistics, it’s a little cray for the itty-bitty ball Rockets to be listed above the Raptors. ‘Cause let’s face it, the Rockets aren’t coming out of the West. Their chances of even making the Finals are already less than the Raptors just by virtue of their inevitable playoff path.
Every time I have this debate I hear about the star power of Russell Westbrook and James Harden. Well, star power, star shmower. If Lowry and DeRozan had almost beaten LeBron James all those years would anyone be arguing in favour of Lowry and DeRozan’s greatness based on those almosts? We all know the answer is a resounding, I’m going to laugh because this is such a ridiculous notion, “No!” So why am I supposed to jump on the James “10K Dribbles” Harden bandwagon cause he almost made it to the Finals in the 2014-15 and 2017-18 seasons? To borrow from Brandy, “Almost Doesn’t Count.”
Harden has not proven he can get it done in the playoffs, nor has Westbrook. This isn’t a personal opinion, this is quantifiable, verifiable fact. Are they exceptionally talented players? Absolutely! But in the NBA, in life in general, talent is not enough. Whether it’s a change in coaching or a change in supporting cast that is needed, history tells us that the Rockets aren’t even Finals-bound. Their being assessed as having better odds than the Raptors of winning this season is absolutely beyond me.
Green With Envy
Are the Celtics an up and coming team? Yes. Am I worried about them this season? Not even remotely, and I can narrow that reason down to one word: continuity. The Celtics are right now where the Raptors were a few short seasons go. They’re a team on the up-swing, but for now, they can only covet the status and top spot currently held by the Raptors. Historically, teams who have made significant changes to their starting lineups and who are relying on young stars simply don’t have enough to make deep playoff runs against teams like the Bucks and Raptors who retain the same core pieces they’ve had for a while.
I’m pretty confident that there’s a Boston/Toronto rivalry in our future. As the games of Jayson Tatum and Marcus Smart continue to grow they’re going to be even harder to stop. Combined with the kind of camaraderie and true veteran leadership Kemba Walker brings to the point, whatever they do in the playoffs this year is likely to be a stepping stone to deeper, harder fought playoff runs in the future. In the bubble though, there’s no way they’re more likely to win the Finals than the Raps.
No Need to Fear the Deer
Giannis Antetokounmpo has elevated his game. The Bucks have added pieces and they’ve played their way to the best regular-season record in the league this year but I’m still not shook for one simple reason. The Raptors have Nurse, while Mike Budenholzer might be the Bucks’ Casey. Coach Bud does good work. He’s contributed to a culture of winning but he hasn’t shown himself to be flexible enough to be a successful playoff coach.
Before the season was suspended, Budenholzer came right out and said, (I’m paraphrasing), “This is what we’re going to do.” The Raptors’ air horn went off in my head because as we all already know, Nurse will absolutely think circles around a coach who believes what they’ve already been doing is going to be enough. How soon they forget that Nurse made the box-and-one the stuff of Steph Curry’s nightmares in last year’s Finals.
They Just Don’t Know
All of these reasons the Raptors have a better than sixth place chance of designing an even more karat-laden ring in the coming months. The Raptors are a special team for reasons that you can’t put on a stat sheet or box score. They are one of the most complete teams in the NBA today.
Their defence is stellar for a couple of reasons. Sure, Matt Thomas and other end-of-rotation guys aren’t going to handle their individual coverages as well as Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol, or my favourite Raptors defensive presence, OG Anunoby. Not everyone is a charge-taking savant like Lowry. That said, they don’t have any outright defensive liabilities on the roster who will see significant playoff minutes. Any remaining man-defence deficiencies are offset by the fact that the Raptors play such excellent team defence. Excellent to the tune of second best in the league, in fact.
Which brings me to my second point. The Raptors have the ability to switch seamlessly between zone and man-to-man defence. This is made possible by the high basketball IQ possessed by every guy on the roster. It’s a characteristic that is apparent throughout the team absolutely by design. I saw this during the Raptors/Rockets scrimmage. No matter how many passes the Rockets made, there was still a man on the ball.
That was not just a result of quick feet. That’s correct defensive decision-making through an entire sequence and it’s not easy to execute. They know when to switch off and when to stay with their man. They know when to help on and off the ball. When someone does make the correct decision to help, someone else has shifted to fill the gap left behind. It’s wildly satisfying to behold. It’s the kind of defence that I often enjoy more than most offensive trips.
The long and short of it is, the Raptors are a team that is more than the statistical sum of their parts. There’s no way to know whose night it’s going to be when the team takes the floor. Will they get 20-point 3-charge Lowry or 4-made threes in a quarter Thomas? Will they get a block party courtesy of Anunoby, Chris Boucher and Serge “Iblocka” or playoff cheat codes Fred VanVleet Sr. and Norman Powell? Will first-time All-Star Spicy P continue to make a case for back-to-back most improved player nods or will it be a night when low-key Gasol makes high-impact passes and muy inteligente defensive plays? Will Rondae Hollis-Jefferson remind us why Matt Devlin replaces the Hollis with Hustle, or will Terence Davis II continue to show and prove why if he played for a lesser team he’d be in the Rookie of the Year conversation?
This team is stacked top to bottom in ways that two superstars with surrounding pieces that fit into the salary cap can’t duplicate. Nurse has an embarrassment of riches and the player buy-in, plus creativity, to keep opposing coaches completely off-kilter. These are the kinds of things that you can only see when you watch a team every week.
They’ve also got an entire roster healthy for essentially the first time in two seasons. The Raptors have had the second and third-best records in the league in seasons that were absolutely riddled with starting lineup changes. Not to mention they’re the defending NBA Champs. Were these odds-makers ranking a championship team that included James or Curry, “been there, done that” would be an important piece of the puzzle. Apparently, the same doesn’t apply to the Raptors even though they’re the most recent team to end their season on a win.
As Raptors fans, it’s natural to react with bemusement and befuddlement to lists like the ones that inspired this rant masquerading as a basketball article. The people making those lists? They just don’t get it. They can’t because they think the occasional nationally televised game combined with stat sheets tell the Raptors’ entire story. Between the Rockets’, Celtics’, and Bucks’ clear deficiencies and the boatload of intangibles that can’t be underestimated the Raptors bring to the table, the sixth best odds of bringing home another ring is just unconscionable.
This is a guest post from Jade “Auxillary Things” Johnson.
