The Toronto Raptors opened the season with a win — a strong defensive performance against an elite team in the Cleveland Cavaliers. To this point, that has possibly been the high point of the season.
Toronto has been defined by inconsistency. On the whole, the numbers for the team are fine. They are .500, having endured one of the worst injury streaks in the league. Their efficiency differential numbers are by and large the same as they were last year, with a slightly better defense and a slightly worse offense. But the means by which the team has limped to its 13-13 record is far more suspicious than the final product.
After Toronto’s season-opening win over the Cavaliers, it went on to lose to the Brooklyn Nets despite a monster triple double from Pascal Siakam. (The Raptors received nine points off the bench.) Then the Raps split two-game series with the Miami Heat and the Philadelphia 76ers. (The latter loss, to the Sixers, came with Joel Embiid out of the game and 11 points from James Harden.
A two-game winning streak — which remains the longest of the season, tied with four other instances of such a streak — eventually led to another series split with the Chicago Bulls. Siakam was out at this point, and though Fred VanVleet went berserk in Toronto’s loss to the Bulls, Scottie Barnes faded from prominence and finished with five points, as many as fellow starter Christian Koloko.
Later, the Oklahoma City Thunder dropped 132 points on the Raptors and the Indiana Pacers 118, both losses. Both teams have below-average offenses, but the Raptors struggled to contain either of the speedy point guards leading both rosters in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Tyrese Haliburton. One might remember, at this point, that Tyrese Maxey also threw 44 points at the Raptors earlier in the year, too. As if to emphasize the point, Trae Young and Kyrie Irving handled the Raptors in consecutive games the following week.
Then the Raptors finally returned to health, barring continued absences from crucial bench players in Precious Achiuwa and Otto Porter jr., and the team won its other contender for High Point of the Season: another win over the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 28. It was a great performance up and down the roster, and the Raptors didn’t need to rely on possession-winning gimmicks. The team looked ready to finally string some wins together.
So what happened next? Miserable losses to the New Orleans Pelicans and Brooklyn Nets in which the Raptors looked small and unathletic. Now Fred VanVleet is slumping, with his jumper falling off a cliff. He shot 2-of-9 from deep against the Orlando Magic. At the same time, the Magic found straight line drives with ease, and the Raptors posed no resistance on the defensive end if they didn’t force a turnover.
With each solution the Raptors seem to find, another problem arises.
The bench was inconsistent, so Thad Young and Juancho Hernangomez rejoined the rotation together and found great chemistry. Also together. Problem, meet solution. But then the defense struggled. O.G. Anunoby stepped into a relative void to become one of the leading Defensive Player of the Year candidates. When the offense couldn’t hit in the half-court, VanVleet found magic with Koloko, and Anunoby’s driving game propelled the Raptors to success. Even Dalano Banton and Malachi Flynn have had their moments.
The Raptors keep finding solutions, which is good! They’re not a bad team, at .500. But for all their problem solving, the thing just ain’t staying fixed. Good teams find what works and then hit that note, over and over, like one hell of a guitar solo. The Raptors have not been that, and it’s been on individual players. Even the stars have been guilty. VanVleet adjusts to his limited jumper with layups and free throws, but then his point-of-attack defense wanes. Barnes finds his efficiency in the paint again, and his defensive activity when rotating falls off a cliff. Anunoby becomes an apex predator as a scorer, but his catch-and-shoot jumper vanishes. The Raptors keep having to reinvent the wheel, every night, pushing the boulder up the hill just to watch it snag on a different root and tumble back down. It must be exhausting.
If the Raptors have anything upon which they can rely so far this season — outside of Siakam’s brilliance — it is that they split two-game series. Fortunately, after a miserable loss to the Magic on Dec. 9, the Raptors will play the Magic again in Orlando on Dec. 11. But even if the formula holds true, the Raptors won’t be fixed; there isn’t a single issue to solve. At first, there was no bench. Then the defense struggled. Then injuries. Then the offense fell apart. VanVleet and Barnes have been offensively inconsistent. Now the defense is an issue again. Until the Raptors solve the root cause, whatever it may be, inconsistency will continue to plague the team. Who knows what new and inventive problem the Raptors will face next?
