There’s NO Denying it now…

There’s NO Denying it now…

There is no denying it now as there’s no one outside of Raptors fandom and maybe Kendrick Perkins that believes in this Toronto Raptors team heading into next season. Despite the Raptors making some moves to improve this roster going into next season, there’s a lot of doubt in how successful this team will be, especially with how some middle of the pack Eastern Conference teams have improved their roster in free agency. Now, I’ll discuss how everyone can get proven wrong out here in this video, but also break down some of the legitimate criticisms and concerns people have with this Toronto Raptor team heading into next year, assuming no more blockbuster trades end up happening regarding this roster. So, we’ll break down what people are saying, how the odds are predicting the Toronto Raptors to be next season, and why they can prove everyone wrong this year like they have in years past, not necessarily the past couple. But, we’ll dive into all that in this video. Before we do, folks, again, appreciate everyone that’s been subscribing to the channel. We are currently at 38,649 subscribers. So, we’re on that mission to hit that 40,000 subscriber mark. So, if you want to join the daily Toronto Raptors news updates, to join the community we are building here at Raptors Die, just make sure you guys hit that subscribe button so you don’t miss a single thing that’s going on with this Raptors team that I am very, very hopeful is about to prove everyone wrong. Now, what’s this all this coming from? What are the updates happening regarding this Toronto Raptor team? Well, first things first, there was a a notable, you know, Toronto Raptors hater, you know, class of haters that are constantly coming out there disrespecting this Raptors team that had some quotes. Now, I’m going to be open and candid. I love listening to Bill Simmons, Ryan Rillo podcast. It’s a it’s, you know, fun background noise, whatever. You don’t always have to agree with their takes. It’s fun to disagree with them and stuff, but they ripped into the Toronto Raptors and specifically Ryan Mercil saying that they are the worst team in terms of their future and positioning moving into the future. And you know, it’s uh he gives he gives some fair criticism saying that I don’t want to be Toronto. I don’t want to be Toronto. I don’t want to be Toronto because even though Scotty Barnes is better than some of the other names, other teams best players. It’s $38.5 million for him. And it’s $38 million for Brandon Ingram. It’s $32 million for Emanuel Quickley. It’s $28 million for RJ Barrett and Yakapurle who’s fine. You know, at $20 million that’s going to go up with the extension. Now, you want to argue last year that Ingram didn’t play, RJ Barrett didn’t crack 60 games. Purdle didn’t crack 60 games. Quickly only played 33. Scotty Barnes only played 65. Yo, that is what it is. And went on to say, I think there’s something uh there’s some Scotty Barnes numbers that are going in the wrong direction in an alarming way, but I’m not ready to write him off like somebody who’s going to now be like, hey, their best year was their second year, and now it’s all downhill. So, that doesn’t seem entirely fair. So even though I like Scotty Barnes better, there’s no moves here really for Toronto and all of these players other than RJ Barrett are under contract for the next three years. So essentially his argument was that no, the Toronto Raptors aren’t going to be the worst team in basketball aren’t going to be the worst team in the league, but given the fact their contract situations has all these guys locked up on very very long-term deals, they are just a tough team that’s going to be, you know, tough position to improve and take their team to the next level moving forward into the future. So, that’s Ryan Rascil’s argument and discussion. And frankly, I saw a lot of criticisms. I think he, you know, backed his argument fairly well. I’m going to take over some things that uh I believe he’s overlooked in regards to roster, but it’s not just him. It’s not just the media outlets. It’s not just all that essentially we uh have the list in terms of overunders out there in the NBA for win totals out there across the NBA. And the Toronto Raptors, you see, are very much at the bottom in the bottom 10 and at 34 wins over under projected going into next season. So, if you’re not familiar with this is, it’s what you can bet on. It’s where the Raptors are predicted to have record-wise next season. And if you go over, you know, you’re over expect, you know, you you can bet over so they’ll improve over this odds or they will be worse than those odds and you can essentially bet over under on that position. So, the Raptors are expected to be, you know, in the bottom 10, 34 wins next season, which of course would keep them out of the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. And, you know, we look at the past two seasons, that’s not, you can’t say, oh, the Raptors being crazy disrespected and stuff like that. I guess you could cuz you they’re not factoring development or anything like that, but the Raptors 2023 24 season 25 wins. Last season 30 wins. It’s tough to really, you know, they’re projecting a higher win total. Of course, bring in Brandon Ingram and some of the moves does make that make sense, but it’s uh it’s not that dramatic of a win total that the Raptors would be very excited about. Frankly, I would view the season unless we tank fully, you know, that would be an extremely disappointing season if we end up with 34 wins and essentially would validate what Ryan Bums and these guys are saying about this roster because of course this team doesn’t have an, you know, an influx of draft picks coming in. We have our own draft pick next year, but we gave up the Indiana Pacers pick to acquire Brandon Ingram. We don’t even have our second round pick next season as that is uh sent away. We do own the LA Lakers second round pick, but you know, we look at our roster. We have a lot of guys tied under a lot of money, lots of long-term contracts, you know, for this Toronto Raptor team moving forward in the future. And to be one of those mid-level Chicago Bulls levels teams moving into the future, it would be bad. It would be a bad position for this team. And there’s no denying, you know, that that no one expects this team to overachieve or anything like that. And while I was very excited, you know, heading into this playoffs, you know, and I’m not excited about injuries by any stretch of the imagination, but the Eastern Conference was wide open once Damen Lillard went down with his Achilles, once Jason Tatum went down with his Achilles, once, you know, Tyrese, the same injury, all these guys out for this entire season. Now, of course, Bradley Dame Lillard is not even with the Milwaukee Bucks right now. Uh Tatum’s out and the Pacers are out. Given how thin the Eastern Conference was in the first place and then three of the top teams out there in the conference lose some of their best players, the Raptors had a golden opportunity to burst onto the scene and take a push out there in that Eastern Conference. But if we look at uh you know some of the teams that were out there in the you know standings picture that were in the mix with the Toronto Raptors last season, the Atlanta Hawks, the Miami Heat, heck even the Philadelphia 76ers are getting guys back healthy next year. There are some concerning trends in terms of those rosters improving and the Toronto Raptors. I think we improved as well, but staying fairly stagnant. As we take a look, let’s dive into the actual analysis because the Miami Heat had a really sneaky good off season. As right now, they have a starting lineup they can put together of Tyler Hero, who’s an all-star last season. Norman Pal, anyone that’s been watching this channel for years knows I am the biggest Norman Powell stand out there in the NBA. You know, you have Andrew Wiggins who can play and be a two-way guy out there for that Miami Heat squad. Bam had a bio in the front court and you have wear out there at that point. You know that’s a very very solid starting lineup. They don’t have a natural point guard but they do have off the bench Yakunis who was I’m shocked fell to them in what the 20th overall pick wherever he fell. You know they ended up getting Fontekio Fonte from the Detroit Pistons who is a very sneaky good player. They still have Haimey Hawkins. They have Haywood Highmith. They have DaVon Mitchell who we saw last season. They have a very very solid roster in their Miami and scrap together a team that frankly can be very very good next year. I don’t want to uh discount how good that team can be. So, you know, the Heat look to have improved. Uh you have the Atlanta Hawks who I think have won the NBA offseason. You have Trey Young, KP, even if KP is not healthy. You’re getting Jaylen Johnson back. They picked up Naw. They picked up Anaka Kongu. They have Reese Shay. They have Luke Canard. You know, in terms of new pickups, you still have Tyson Daniels out there on that mix. And you still, you know, in the NBA draft, you picked up uh Newell, who’s a very, very interesting acquisition. I mean, the Atlanta Hawks, you start that uh lineup of what whoever the heck it’s going to be, right? Like you have Trey Young, you have Naw, you have Reese Shay, you have Dyson Daniels, you well, you pro N’s probably going to come off the bench, but Trey Young, Dyson Daniels, you have uh, you know, out there at the mix, Reese Shay, you have Jaylen Johnson, and then KP or Kongu at the center spot, and then Na Canard, these guys coming off the bench. That is a very very strong team out there in the Eastern Conference as well. So you know the Hawks definitely have improved. The Orlando Magic are a team that you know if we look at the standings they just picked up Desmond Bane. So they just extended Palo Banko. There’s a lot of improvement there. The Pistons took their leap last season. And even the Bucks who we thought would completely fall off and even though why I think they mortgaged their future significantly, they did bring back Miles Turner out there in the mix. Of course Damen Miller is gone. Their front court is fairly solid. You know, you do have Kusma under a bad contract, but you have Bobby Portoris, you have Kevin Porter Jr., they were able to bring back Gary Trent Jr., they have Gary Harris, Torion Prince, Jericho Sims, they uh just brought back Ryan Rollins. Like, this is a team that is going to be very, very interesting in terms of what they can actually provide. And AJ Green knocks down threes at a high clip. You know, Andre Jackson had some solid moments for them. Like, the Bucks aren’t going to be bad either. So, the Eastern Conference isn’t as wide open as a lot of people thought it was going to be. and the Toronto Raptors didn’t make any gamechanging acquisitions. You know, hopefully Mamu can, you know, really take this team to the next level. So, that’s where a lot of the concern, that’s where a lot of the discourse is coming in regards to, hey, the Toronto Raptors might not have you, we might be in for another tanking year this year, which, you know, given the moves we made, wouldn’t be ideal. But the thing that a lot of people are overlooking regarding this Toronto Raptors group is frankly that internal development is where this team is going to get better. And we did bring in uh CMBB. We did bring in, you know, Elijah uh Elijah Martin. So, we do have some talent coming into the mix out there on the wings, but this season is determined by how good Scotty Barnes can become this year. What leap RJ Barrett Emanuel Quickley, can these guys jump into that allstar category? Can Brandon Ingram bounce back healthy out there into the mix for this group? We know Yaka Purle is going to stay steady, but can someone off the bench, Could it be a Jamal Shed? Could it be a Grady Dick? Could it be a Kobe Walter, could it be a Jonathan Mo? Could it be ZMBB shocking everyone his rookie season? Can we just have two of those guys just take their games to a serious next level? And given the amount of guys, the amount of young talent, Jill, Jameson Bell, whoever the heck it is, given the amount of young talent, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibilities of, you know, one of these guys, two of these guys taking a major major leap. And then you factor in that Brandon Ingram has added to your squad. You factor in the amount of depth that are out there on the scene. and factor in the moves that the Toronto Raptors could make to improve this roster given uh you know we look at how this team can develop. I think there’s a real possibility the Toronto Raptors exceeding a lot of these teams expectations and all of that but it requires internal development and that’s never something people are going to factor in in terms of a roster improving. So let me know what you guys think about the Toronto Raptors future. Are you worried about next season? Do you agree with the doubters or are you optimistic about this Raptor team going into next year? Anyways, you guys the best. Subscribe to the channel if you guys haven’t already. Anyways, I’m signing out. Cheers.

The Toronto Raptors have been doubted and overlooked by the national media for years, and despite making some moves to make this team more competitive for the upcoming season, there is still SERIOUS doubt in this group. Ben Rogers breaks down the truth in the situation and what path this team has to break the mould.

Raptors Digest is a YouTube Channel that covers all the latest news, trades, reports, and rumours regarding the Toronto Raptors. We provide comprehensive coverage on topics such as game highlights, player performances, and in-depth analysis of team strategies. Our channel features discussions on key players like Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Gradey Dick, Jamal Shead and Jakob Poeltl, as well as insights from Head Coach Darko Rajaković and General Manager Masai Ujiri. Stay tuned for all the exciting updates and engaging content on everything Raptors!

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