They need to get Kawhi Leonard and Allen Graves integrated, but the clock is ticking.
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Two games into the NBA’s pre-season we’ve seen some solid flashes from the Toronto Raptors, even though Kawhi Leonard hasn’t yet been on the court with them. Centre Jakob Poeltl has looked better than at any point all last year, guards RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley have been scoring efficiently and youngsters Ja’Kobe Walter and Collin Murray-Boyles continue to improve.
They’ve won one game, Saturday’s night’s laugher at Vancouver against the Los Angeles Clippers, lost a rusty opener to Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Miami Heat, but mostly seem to be easing their way into things.
That needs to start changing this week. We’d expect it will. Three games are on tap, Tuesday at home against New York, Thursday in a rematch in Manhattan and Friday in Detroit. There’s plenty of work for the Raptors to do before they get four days off and likely two practices in before the season opener at home against the Chicago Bulls on Oct. 21. Job 1 is integrating Leonard into live action. Until now he’s only participated in a handful of scrimmages with his new teammates and while he’s reportedly looked excellent, it will take some time for everyone to get used to each other on the court.
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Toronto also would love to get intriguing rookie Allen Graves into an exhibition or two (he was close to playing on Saturday) to see if he’s ready to contribute right away, or if some big minutes with Raptors 905 to start would be more helpful (a complication there is the 905 don’t play until Nov. 6).
The Raptors won’t get a chance to ease into the campaign. Chicago will probably be bad, but is young and extremely athletic. After that it will be a Washington team that mixes youth (including No. 1 pick AJ Dybantsa and Canadians Kyshawn George and Will Riley) with former superstars Anthony Davis and Trae Young. Then a strong Minnesota team that’s added LaMelo Ball will be a test, followed by two straight against a solid Orlando squad, then a trip West to play the revamped Lakers, Clippers and mighty Nuggets. In fact, only three or four of Toronto’s first 16 games will be against opponents expected to finish below .500.
Head coach Darko Rajakovic has a lot of options for his rotation. This week will help him get a better idea of the best formula to start the regular season.
“Anytime when you add a new player to the team, especially a high-calibre player on a team, you’re getting a lot of positives there,” Rajakovic told reporters in Vancouver, per Sportsnet.
“The challenges are coming from integration of the players, like how quickly the team starts to get together. How quickly Kawhi is going to learn how to play off his teammates? How quickly will his teammates figure out what he likes, where he means to be on the floor? But I think there are a lot of positives,” Rajakovic said. “We have such a team that everybody’s willing to learn and help each other and cheer for each other’s success, so I think it’s going to be great.”
Projecting the rotation
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