Raptors Cage

What If Everything Went Right This Year?

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Photo credit to TheStar.com
Photo credit to TheStar.com

Let’s face it, not many things really did go the Toronto Raptors’ way this season, and if there is one redeeming quality from this season, it has to be the ‘moral victories’. However, the bottom line is that this team’s record isn’t reflective of their performance this year, and it’s time to examine why.

We analyze the different issues that have hit the team, and see, where this Raptor club would be had none of these major issues hit. We look at the point guard situation, the injuries, the missed and blown calls by the referees, and the lack of continuity overall to succeed.

Going into the season, there was much promise with the new players coming in after being acquired in the off-season. Kyle Lowry was the biggest name, becoming the new point guard of the future. Landry Fields, at the time, was to be the starting small forward of the team. And of course, Andrea Bargnani, obviously not a new name, but after the promising, and injury-riddled season, there was much optimism. Unfortunately, very early on in the season, the team had to carry on without them. Lowry was playing incredibly well in the start of the season, he was actually one of the few players that held a statistic streak to start the season, of +20 points, +5 assists, +5 rebounds, and +3 steals, sitting with names such as Kevin Garnett, and the Greatest of All-Time, Michael Jordan. He was injured right after in Oklahoma City, where he had injured his ankle, and did not return to play. After the injury, he simply was not the stud point guard that had Raptors fans optimistic for this season.

Photo Credit to CBC.ca
Photo Credit to CBC.ca

Landry Fields, the guy to be the starting small forward, the counter part to Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, the guy who played defense, the guy who rebounded, the guy who did all of the little things, struggled ever since the beginning of the season. Many thought it was confidence, many thought the production at the time, was the best the fans were going to see in Fields. Until, Fields came out and said he had felt nerve damage and or struggles in his elbow.

Bargnani struggled mightily since the beginning of the preseason, and it became worse when he was injured in December, hitting that elbow, and tearing a ligament. But, the real question, is what would we have seen had that calf injury not happened last year? What if he would have spent time working on his game, rather rehabbing that calf?

Lowry before the injury in Oklahoma City, was averaging 23.7 points per game, 7 assists per game, 7.3 rebounds per game, and 3.7 steals per game. Obviously, very small sample size, being it was only 3 games before OKC, but that just shows what he is, or was, capable of. Looking back at previous seasons, this is the type of player Lowry is, and he admitted this was a season he was disappointed with. Andrea would have added the three point shooting, and given the Raps a reliable scoring option which could have allowed better offensive execution down the stretch of games, where the Raptors struggled in the most part of the season. Fields would have been an efficient player, who plays extremely well off the ball, rebounds, defends the opposing team’s best player, and does the little things on both ends of the court. Long story short, if these three players were healthy throughout the season, that alone might have been able to garner this team a playoff spot. Three different dynamics to a team, and three players that play a specific position, where the team had holes or inconsistencies in the beginning of the season, which probably lead to the 4-19 hole, proven impossible by this team to overcome. The injuries the Jonas Valanciunas and Linas Kleiza also certainly didn’t help, and Jonas showed how capable he really is when he’s healthy and gets his minutes.

Photo Credit to Toronto Sun.
Photo Credit to Toronto Sun.

What about the blown calls? Remember the apology on Bargnani’s shot in Charlotte, after getting hit on the elbow? What about the NBA apologizing to the Raptors, after giving a foul on the side to Amir Johnson, who was clearly going for a shot at the basket? Oh yeah, remember the obvious hack on DeMar in Atlanta to win the game? The Raptors ranked 29th in foul differential, it’s not a secret the team was subject to ‘anti star treatment’. Imagine if the refs blew the whistle, Andrea shoots 84% at the free throw line, that might be a near automatic two free throws to win the game. Amir shoots an average percentage of 73% at the line, and had the chance to win the game. DeMar shoots 83% from the free throw line, that’s probably another rise in the win column. Their current record if the fouls were called? 37-48. Minor improvements, but those are definitely games the team would have won, and would have made that playoff race a lot tighter.

Another clear issue was the coaching. As most of us know, it was the inconsistent approach with a team coming off one year of playing above average defense that was a huge player in the failure this year. Dwane Casey himself had mentioned in the end of season presser, he went into the season with more of an offensive mentality or approach to the team, he had basically assumed the production defensively was going to be sustained. Well, the team came in with 9 new faces. It was also obvious, as the team improved statistically on that end of the floor, but a major drop was present on the defensive end, going from 14th best in the league, to the bottom third of the league. What about Casey and his philosophy on how Lowry should run the team? Kyle Lowry was an offensive minded guard, with terrific defensive abilities, one that was successful in attacking the rim, and solid in the drive-and-kick game.

Photo Credit to NBA, That all changed, when Lowry was injured, and or when Jose Calderon was traded to acquire Rudy Gay. Dwane wanted Lowry to have a bit of “Jose” in his game, he wanted him to be much more passive, which made sense considering the fact the team has two wing scorers that need the ball, but, taking Lowry away from his natural game, results in disappointment, and go figure, Lowry’s statistics and play dropped from his previous all-star caliber season. Had Dwane Casey been more consistent with the defensive approach and culture, had Lowry played like the all-star caliber player he was the previous season, or even the beginning of the season, this team would be looking at more wins, and more accomplishments. Quite frankly, had none of the issues with the coaching showed up, this 4-19 start would not be present.

How about the ever frustrating fourth quarters, and leads the team has lost? More often than not, we saw this team have major breakdowns near the end of games. The Raptors cannot play with leads, it’s proven with the number of incredibly disappointing, and heart-breaking losses this season. What about the game against the Philadelphia 76ers, where the team went into halftime, on the road, up 19 points. Going into the second half, the team lost it, their mind, their lead, and overall, the game. Blowing a 19 point lead, and of course, last seconds, team losses the game to poor coaching offensively, and a bad defensive possession. This was the prevailing result in many of the Raptors’ games, especially when thinking of the 4-19 start to the season. In the first two months of the season, their losses had an average deficit of 4.8 points per game. 4.8 points per game. 4.8 points per game. 4.8 points per game. That’s one or two defensive stops, that’s two good plays offensively, that’s a couple made free throws, or if the refs didn’t make mistakes, if the team didn’t have such bad offensive sets – such as multiple botched inbounds plays – that could easily be a winning margin of 4.8 points. With that being said, with things going right, instead starting the season off 4-19 thanks to bad losses, the team could flirting with a .500 record going into December 6th where the team was circling around a number of homestands. Bottom line is, whether it was Alan Anderson trying to take over the game, blowing a 20 point lead, Casey failing to adjust, or Al Jefferson hitting a 3 point shot to send the game to overtime, the Raps seemed to find a different way to lose every night, and this lead to serious frustration internally.

If the calls were made, if the coaching was consistent and liberal, if the team hadn’t been injured or hurt for the most part of the season – especially the key players – had the team not blown leads and lost multiple close games that they should have won, the team would be in the playoffs. Whether that’s a first round exit, an upset, or whatever that case may be, this team would have had their first post-season birth since 2008. The talent on the team initially to start the season, was obviously better than the previous, the defense the season before made an incredible jump, considering all these factors, had they been healthy – or at least had a consistent rotation –  had the defense stayed at the top tier level it was, it’s hard to think this team is worse than a 10th spot in the East, it’s just as hard to think of them not in the post-season.

The bottom line is consistency is going to be the key going forward, and with Gay on board, closing should be a lot easier. Regardless, improvement was clear this season as indicated by their record, however I hope you can now understand why we classified this season as disappointing.

To answer the question, what if everything went right for the Toronto Raptors? This team would have been a 6th seed. What if some things went right? A playoff appearance. But, like they say, “woulda, coulda, shoulda”.

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3 thoughts on “What If Everything Went Right This Year?”

  1. You clearly have never played basketball if you blame everything on the refs…. U gotta focus on things you can control… you cannot control officiating

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