Raptors – Next 10 Games: 15-25
After 14 games in the NBA 2022-2023 season, the Toronto Raptors are 7-7, good for 7th place in the East. The next 10 games will complete the November slate and finish the first 3 games of December. In that time they will face Brooklyn twice, Detroit, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, New Orleans and Orlando. A nice mix of tanking teams, mid-level teams and contenders. How will the local boys fare?
So far this young season we ‘ve seen some good, some bad and yes, some ugly but by far the worst issue to date is injuries. Pascal Siakam, the team’s number 1 player is out for probably close to a month. Fred Flint, their all-star point guard and floor general, has a wonky back and is missing as many games as he is making and bench star Precious Achiuwa is out for 3 weeks or more. What is it going to mean? More losses than wins, unfortunately. Many more.
Compounding the injury issue, it seems no one is really stepping up to pick up the extra work. Most recent example, last night in Indy the Raptors shot 39% from the field and only 20% from 3 point range. Scottie was 4 of 16 and 0 of 4 from 3. Otto Porter Jr played 27 minutes and only took 3 shots. The 3 point specialist only took 1 shot from outside the arc and missed it. Gary Trent Jr was 1 of 13, hitting none of his 5 3 point attempts.
So breaking down the next 10 games will be rather depressing if Nick and Masai can’t figure out how to motivate this young squad. And by this time next month they may have dug a hole too deep to even bother trying to climb out of. Let’s see what the next 10 bring:
At Detroit – Win. After 2 losses in a row, the Raps get fired up and win one. Won’t be a dominating win though.
Miami – Loss. Just not enough fire power.
At Atlanta – Loss. Atlanta get even for our win last time
Brooklyn – Win. Maybe
Dallas – Loss. Not enough firepower
Cleveland – Loss. Not enough firepower
At New Orleans – Loss. On the road and not enough gas in the tank.
At Brooklyn – Loss. They should split the pair with Brooklyn.
Orlando – Win. Spurred on by the losses, the Raptors rally and get a W.
Boston – Loss. Boston is an elite team.
So best case scenario, look at 3-7 over the next 10 games with the real possibility of 2-8. The Raptors are a good team when they are at full strength, but with injuries to their best players, they’re going to wilt against the pressure. So 7-7 today but 2 weeks from now expect closer to 9-15, good for 12th in the East.
Sorry it’s not better news. However, if it’s good news you’re looking for, Jim has a completely different take on it than I do. He’s got the Raptors 8-2 over the next 10! Looking forward to circling back in 2 weeks time to see what happened and why.