Why the Raptors WILL Make the Playoffs Next Season

Why the Raptors WILL Make the Playoffs Next Season

Hello Raptors fans and welcome back to Raptors Report. Today we’re going to be discussing the Toronto Raptors visav the NBA playoffs because if you are an NBA fan as well as a Raptors fan, you’ve been watching these playoffs and you will know that this is one of the best playoffs that I have seen in my life. It has really been that good. just a lot of really epic series, a lot of really exciting games, huge finishes, comebacks, overtime wins, tons of drama, and a lot of really good performances. Even in the earlier rounds, there were a lot of really entertaining matches. And if you are a Raptors fan like me, you can’t wait to get back get back to the playoffs and see your team compete in some games that actually matter. And that’s what I want to talk about this episode. I want to discuss why I believe that the Toronto Raptors are primed to make the playoffs next season. And how I’m going to be sort of looking at this is through the lens of the teams that remain in the playoffs. So all of the teams that are in the semi-finals, the conference finals, I’m going to be taking a look at them as a group and see what I can glean from them from a team building context and see if there’s any lessons to be taken and whether the Raptors actually measure up to those qualifications. So without any further ado, let’s jump in and take a look. So first of all, I think that one of the most important things to look at when examining other teams is the roster construction. So how are these teams built? What are the things that are in common with all of these teams? What kinds of players do they have on their teams? And I think that this year, and I think that this is a trend that has developed and we’re really starting to see within the NBA, is team balance and not having significant flaws on your team. I think that every single team left in the playoffs this season do not have a singular flaw that other teams can exploit. So, in my estimation, there are four main positions in the NBA. So guards, wings, forwards and bigs. Some other people have only three. They go guards, wings and bigs. I think that there is a forward position and I think it is distinct from the wing position. So let’s go through those four positions. First of all, guards. Guards are generally smaller players who can uh help run your offense, handle the ball, and shoot. uh there’s less of an emphasis on defense, although point of attack defense is important from gu from guards, but a lot of the time you will overlook some defensive shortcomings if those types of players can do a really good job running your offense. So, for example, Jaylen Brunson, uh and also Tyrese Hallebertton, um Luca Donuch. There are many other players. Two of those guys I mentioned are still in the uh the finals right now, the Eastern Conference finals, but those guys aren’t very good defenders. But what they can do is score, shoot, run your offense, do that kind of thing. Uh the next are uh wings. Wings are slightly bigger. A lot of the time they can even be much bigger, but their jobs are essentially to shoot, score, and play perimeter defense. And wings are generally seen as the kind of commodity that you want to hoard within the NBA because you can play, you know, sometimes even up to three wings at the same time at the 2, three, four spot. And so those are usually the most coveted pieces within team building, but as we’ve seen in this playoffs, they are not the only position. So you can’t focus completely on them. Uh next up we have forwards. Forwards are generally larger players uh you know 66 67 and up. And they are generally uh a mix between a wing and a big. So essentially they can guard the perimeter but they’re expected to help out around the basket a little bit. Rebounding is very important here. So, they are one of the team’s main rebounders. And then they have some kind of plus offensive skill. So, they don’t have to be necessarily big-time scorers. They can be connectors, guys who can move the ball. Maybe they can dribble a little bit, set screens, uh, or maybe they’re good shooters. They have to have something. They have to bring some kind of plus skill to the table on offense to make themselves somebody that the other team has to pay attention to. A lot of the time stretch forwards are kind of the guys that you would expect to play at this position where they can shoot the ball and then do the other stuff on the other end. Play defense around the rim and on the perimeter, set screens, uh, grab rebounds, that kind of thing. Last but not least, and I think that this is the biggest thing that people have come around to realizing is that bigs are important. So maybe about five, six years ago, centers were seen as a dying breed and something that I think a lot of teams were looking to kind of purge themselves of. And I think within the past 5 years, there has been a resurgence of bigs. Obviously, Nicole Joic, Joel Embiid, those two players were winning uh MVPs and uh competing against one another. They were excellent players. uh Jokic won a championship and there was kind of you know a nod where you said okay well these players exist we need to have guys who can play against them so for example the Minnesota Timberwolves traded for uh Rudy Gobear because Rudy Gobear played very good defense on Nicole Joic but there’s other elements there that they bring to the table that are often you know the things that are extremely important they do things that other players do not so forwards a lot of the time they will grab rebounds set screens and do those kind of kinds of things, maybe help out a little bit inside, but they aren’t going to be protecting the rim. Um, bigs are specialists. They are guys that are role players, but they perform a role better, much better than uh other players do. So, the things that they bring to the table are rim protection, rebounding, and the ability to finish inside uh finish via dunks, floaters, th those kinds of things. The floater has been, you know, on the uptick, a huge level of importance. Uh Israia Hartinstein has a great floater. Avita Zubots, uh Nicoolola Jokic. There are a lot of players in the NBA who are centers now that have that little floater game to them, and that is an important element that we’re starting to see a resurgence of. OKC, for example, uh short up their biggest weakness this past off season, which was their center problem. uh they didn’t have a center before Isaiah Hartinstein and they added him and he was instrumental in plugging the last little weakness that that team had and giving them another element that they added to their repertoire, the ability to get offensive rebounds, the ability to, you know, have a beefy body that can body up against guys like uh Rudy Goar, keep him off of the glass, stop him from finishing inside, Nicole Joic, just having a guy who can bang with him, make life a little bit harder on him. That was a big element. But when you look at the totality of the teams, the four teams that remain, there are no real positional weaknesses for those teams. They have uh guards that can shoot. They have wings that can score, defend, shoot. They have forwards that can rebound and have plus skills. And then they all teams have bigs. Since uh the New York Knicks got back Mitchell Robinson, he is a traditional center and he’s really uh helped their team uh uh on the boards and and on the inside as well. All of the teams have the pieces that they need to move forward. And why do I mention that with the Toronto Raptors? Well, I think that the Toronto Raptors actually do have a pretty balanced roster. They have guards that can shoot. They have wings that can shoot and play defense. They have forwards with uh the defensive chops on the perimeter that can playmake, that can do that kind of thing. Uh they have perimeter score scoring wings. Uh a guy that they just went out and got who is, you know, very large in that category is Brandon Ingram. And then they have the center position with Yaka Purle. So they have the elements that you should have. There are no major positional weaknesses which I think is a key point in the Toronto Raptors favor next season. Next up, I think that depth uh in this year’s playoffs has been enormous. So um Jokic has mentioned uh after in the exit interview when he left he he said basically we were eliminated because I think other teams especially OKC who they were facing had tons of depth. Uh the OK Oklahoma City Thunder run you know 10 deep even in the playoffs. They have a lot of players playing a lot of minutes and they spread it out uh and keep themselves fresh. Um the Knicks and the Timberwolves, they don’t play too deep within their bench. But one thing to note is that those teams are very deep one to seven. Th this is no longer like years past maybe a decade ago where you would have two or three you know superstar players and then a bunch of replacement level guys that come in and you know grab a rebound here very one-dimensional players playing alongside those players and then you would win because of your three stars. I don’t think that that’s the world that we live in now. You need good role players. You can’t be playing bad players uh you know deep into the playoffs. Other teams are too good. They have depth and scoring at other positions. They can hunt matchups better than ever. I think that having few weaknesses uh within your rotation is going to be very important. And I think that the way that the Toronto Raptors are building, which is through the draft, uh giving lots of development minutes to their younger players, that is something that we have seen uh in this year’s playoffs pay big dividends. So the Indiana Pacers, that has been their model. They have brought guys along off of the bench, given them a lot of minutes, and we’ve seen the benefits of that. Guys like Andrew Nehart, guys like Benedict Matin, and that gives them a lot of depth. And also the Oklahoma City Thunder ditto. uh they have brought players off of their bench, given them a lot of minutes, a lot of runway to develop them and I think that that’s something that the Toronto Raptors can emulate and I think that they have done a pretty good job. I think that Darko Rayakovic that is kind of his MMO is bringing guys along, giving them minutes to develop, allowing them to make mistakes while it’s okay to lose. I mean, that is what the last season, this past season was for was, you know, seeing what the Toronto Raptors have, giving them a bunch of minutes, developing them, and then, you know, looking for next year, seeing if you can bring some of those guys along and make them into good bench pieces. So, I think that that is a strategy that is going to serve the Toronto Raptors pretty well moving into next season. And and last, but I think not least, is that this is the new guard. We are seeing turnover like we haven’t seen in a very long time. All of the teams remaining in the playoffs, their best players are under the age of 28. So 28 or younger. Uh, one of the older teams that have a bunch of veterans at every position are the New York Knicks, but they are all young veterans. Almost everybody, everybody in their core is under the age of 30. All the players that play uh, major minutes for them, and they have a very tight rotation, but all of those players are under the age of 30. Uh Anthony Edwards and Tyrese Hallebertton are 23 and 24 respectively. There’s a lot of youth on these teams and the teams have vets. Don’t get me wrong. They’re a bunch of key players that are over the age of 30, but I feel like there is a freshness here. There is a new guard coming to the four. It seems as though that there’s a lot of fun. There’s a lot of youth. There’s a lot of enthusiasm. It looks like the new cream is rising to the top and the older players are aging out. And I think I we’re going to go into this in the next section, but I think that this serves the Toronto Raptors very well. I think that being able to have high spirits, I feel like there’s a level of fun and excitement and, you know, in this year’s playoffs that I have not seen in playoffs years past. It’s not like a business-like environment. It is more about kind of vibes and fun and like huge swings, momentum shifts. Everything seems like a lot younger and fresher. And I don’t know if you can quantify that. I don’t know if that’s something that, you know, is a a needle mover necessarily, but I feel like the Raptors are part of that movement. They could be part of that movement moving forward. I think that their spirits this past season, one of the greatest things that I saw from them this season was that even after losing all of the games that they lost, the overall feeling within the dressing room was one of hope, uh was one of excitement, was one of growth. I think that you see a positive mindset that is exemplified within the remaining teams in this year’s playoffs. And I think that another thing is that all of these teams because they’re young um and they are in their prime and they are starting to make waves. That’s something that you could say about the Toronto Raptors as well. I think that the the majority of the core of the Toronto Raptors are either entering their prime or are already in it. I think that we are going to see, you know, a power surge of these players who are all kind of reaching their best years together. At the same time, I think that that could help them reach the uh level that they want to get to next season. So, those are some things that I took away from this year’s playoffs. But, there is another reason that I think that the Toronto Raptors could be in the playoffs next season, and I think that they will be, is that the East sucks. Okay. Um, there have been some major developments recently that are going to make winning games next season a little easier. And obviously one of them has to do with an injury. So I’m not like too enthusiastic about it. So first of all I mean the Boston Celtics who have been one of the juggernauts in the East, one of the teams that has really run rough shot over the East and has been a very difficult team to get a win off of. Although the Raptors did pretty well last season, but they have been a very uh you know imposing figure within the East. And as you know, in uh the Eastern Conference semi-finals, Brandon Ingram badly injured his Achilles heel, and he will be out for the rest of next season uh after his surgery, which will be a big deal. I think I think that Tatum is a very important piece to their squad. They’re very deep. But I think that I mean, obviously losing him is going to make them an easier team to beat. And you know, not nothing to celebrate necessarily, but it is the reality of the situation. Uh, another thing is that the 76ers who have been one of the better teams over the past couple of years, they have kind of aged out slash, you know, injured out. Uh, Joel Embiid, I think we might have witnessed the end of his prime. So, that’s going to be a big deal. Uh, the Bucks also are very old and very thin and they might be losing Giannis, although there are conflicting reports, some people saying that he wants out, but there was another major one that said that he is looking to stay with the Bucks. With that said, I see them as a franchise in decline. They proved me wrong this season. I thought they they were totally done this season, but then they strung together a pretty good second half to the season and then Dane got injured and I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to sit. Uh I’m not exactly sure what the timeline is for him, but I don’t see them as a major player in the Eastern Conference next season. Uh there are a bunch of teams kind of trying to figure it out. the Heat have been a staple within the playoffs, but they had a miserable end to the to the season and they did make the playoffs eventually, but they um really had a bad second half of the season. They lost Jimmy Butler, of course. There’s a lot of teams like that in the Eastern Conference. There are a bunch of teams on the rise. I mean, the Magic, the Knicks, the Indiana Pacers, of course, and obviously the Cleveland Cavaliers are still a very good team, even though the Pacers beat them. But what I’m saying is that underneath some of those top teams, there’s a lot of flux. There are a lot of teams that are in a similar situation to the Toronto Raptors where they are were below uh the threshold to make the playoffs or even the play on this year uh but are figuring to try and put it together for next season. And I think that the Raptors could be part of that tide. I think that they could take advantage of the flux within the Eastern Conference and put together a strong season. I don’t see why not. I really think that there could be some major shakeup in the Eastern Conference and the Toronto Raptors could be the beneficiaries of it cuz I don’t think that the East is going to be very good. In any case, that is the episode. Those are my thoughts on what the Toronto Raptors are, you know, trying to do. I think that their timeline could be as soon as next season in terms of when they could start becoming competitive. Let me know what you think about the Toronto Raptors and their chances of making the playoffs next season, either through the playin or just making it legitimately by being in the top six. If you think that’s likely, if you think it’s unlikely, leave a comment and also follow me on Twitter and Blue Sky where you can reach me at rapsreport. I love talking to Raptors fans. We are the best, of course. Um, if you haven’t already, please leave a like and subscribe to the channel because that really helps the channel grow, helps the algorithm know that this is content that other Raptors fans have to see. And as always, thank you for tuning in to Raptors Report, your source for in-depth Raptors content.

By examining what the Conference finalists have in common, Raptors Report examines why the Raptors will make the playoff leap next season!