NBA – Toronto Raptors – New Year Report Cards and Wish list
Merry Christmas, Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year to you and yours this year. Once again the Covid -19 bug has fouled things up, this year fueled by the most contagious variant to date, Omicron. Night after night over the past few weeks we have watched as legions of players hit the Covid protocol sheet and games have been cancelled. On the Hockey side of the ledger, the World Junior Championship has been cancelled, NHL games are being cancelled as many as 8 in a night. Soccer in Europe is struggling, the beautiful game has not been immune. And if the experts are to be believed, the worst is yet to come.
Still, there is cause for optimism. It is likely that this strain which British studies have concluded is less severe than previous strains will infect the vast majority of our population over the next 3 weeks and then -provided no further variant of concern is identified- we should see a tremendous decrease in Covid’d disruptive ability. No doubt the virus will stick around and become a part of the annual influenza regiment, but in short order we will all have enough immunity through vaccination and natural immunity that is will be minimized and the world will get back to business as usual. Covid will be considered no more serious than the flu.
In the meantime, we are left with what we have and that surely is one of the strangest few weeks worth of results we have seen in a long time. Teams in the basement suddenly upsetting the #1, #2 and #3 seeds simply because some teams have lost all their starters to Covid protocol. Glad I’m not a betting man or I could have lost my house on the Toronto Raptors beating the Golden State Warriors last week!
But even the darkest cloud has a silver lining and if there was only one positive to come out of the NBA this month, it is the opportunity for G League talent and journeymen to get a shot they would never otherwise be given. DJ Wilson, Juwan Morgan, Tremont Waters, Daniel Oturo all playing substantial minutes for the Raptors this week and in the case of DJ Wilson, contributing substantial points. Will any of them stick after the Covid tsunami retreats? Perhaps not, or perhaps some will. In any case, their 10-day contracts will pay them almost a year’s salary and give them some good stories for the rest of their lives.
Hopefully, soon Covid issues will be in the rear view and the business of sport will get back to normal. To that end, let’s look at the Raptors at the end of 2021, not far from the halfway point in the season. As Masai Ujiri stated during training camp, this year is not the year for this squad and it appears he was speaking truthfully. 31 games in and the Raptors have a losing record, 14-17. They have been hampered with injuries to their top players prior to the Covid resurgence, but even the few games they have played at mostly full strength have been underwhelming. Let’s break it down by player:
Pascal Siakam – C– Pascal has had a couple of decent games since his return from surgery which resulted in him missing the first month of the season and perhaps, he’s still rounding into form. However, Pascal is paid as the top player on the team and must find a way to make a substantial contribution every game. He’s got to work his 3 point shot back into form, and he has to learn how to finish. I’m afraid his biggest obstacle is himself. He’s got to get out of his head and play basketball. Without a solid contribution from Pascal, the Raptors won’t ever be a threat.
OG Anunoby – B – One of the brighter points of light on a dim Raptors squad, OG’s play was worthy of an A but if he can’t find a way to stay healthy and, on the court, all the skills in the world aren’t going to help the team win games. His defense has been all NBA worthy and his offense has definitely improved to the point where he could be considered all-star material – if he can stay on the floor. You may recall that OG fell in the draft because of injury concerns. Perhaps they were justified?
Scotty Barnes –A- Certainly the brightest point of light on the Raptors this year, the big rookie has under promised and overdelivered to this point. Living up to his defensive billing right from game one, he has since the beginning of the year been routinely 1 or 2 in the ROTY voting mainly because his offence has been much better than advertised. Early review on his ceiling remains undetermined. He may very well have superstar potential although he has several hurdles to clear before any practical prognostication can be make such as the Rookie wall and Sophomore jinx. How he fairs through these will give a good idea about the youngster’s ceiling.
Fred VanVleet -B- Fred, Fred, Fred. Fred definitely benefitted from Kyle Lowry’s play and he may well be more disadvantaged than any other player on the team with Lowry’s loss. Kyle demanded attention and that distracted teams from Fred giving him a little more room and more options. Now that Fred is getting Kyle-like attention with no Kyle to work with, Fred has had a much more difficult time finding his shots. Nonetheless, he’s playing career minutes this year, taking more shots and shooting both 2s and 3s at a career level. Fred’s weakness remains running the team which may improve with time. Even Lowry needed seasoning to become as crafty as he is.
Gary Trent Jr -D/C/B/A – Gary has been very good, good, okay and not very good by times this season. What he needs is more consistency.
Precious Achiuwa – C – After starting the season strong, Precious has more recently been showing that he needs time, he’s far from a finished product. Great energy, excellent effort but often ends up trying to do too much and not getting his teammates involved when he gets in trouble. Has solid potential.
Dalano Banton – B – Not many 2nd round picks get the floor time Banton has seen this year. A tall, lanky point guard, he has been Nick Nurse’s go to back up point guard in front of second year pick Malachi Flynn. Still very young and raw, Banton is a prime example of what the Raptors front office want in a player these days: tall, long wing span and interchangeable with several other positions. Rest assured Dalano will get lots of opportunities to develop and showcase his abilities because of that.
Chris Boucher – D – Sorry Chris but you haven’t demonstrated so far this season that you have taken a developmental step forward over last season. The team needed a centre to step up this year but Boucher has not been able to do it. He’s shooting less, making few shots and earning less minutes. Not a good sign for a guy in his fourth year.
Justin Champagnie – B – Another 2nd round pick, Justin has been used sparingly to date this season averaging about 7 minutes and is contributing a bit here and there. Still too young and inexperienced to determine whether he has longer term potential.
Malachi Flynn – D – The biggest loser this season to date, even with many players out for COVID protocol and injury, Flynn is still only getting half the minutes he got last year and his shooting percent has slipped. For some reason, he has simply not impressed coach Nurse as much as other Rookies. Look for Flynn to be included as ballast in whatever trade Toronto puts together this year. It would seem he simply doesn’t fit the Raptors plans.
The Rest of the Bench – D – Giving the bench a D just might be a little generous. As of this writing, Toronto point production from the bench is last in the league, a full 2 points behind 2nd last. Unfortunately, no one outside of the starters has done much this year.
Coach Nick – C – Not being privy to the long term Raptor strategy, that is to say how badly are they trying to win games vs how badly would they like another high level draft pick vs how badly they want to use this season developing players, means it’s difficult to get a real handle on just how good Nick is this season. But based on wins, he can’t be awarded anything more than this grade.
Overall, it’s been a tough season if you wanted to watch the Raptors win this season. However, if you enjoy watching a young team play hard and get invaluable experience, then tuning into a Raptor game just might be the thing for you.