Raptors leave rebuilding season with earned optimism, but real test still to come

Intentionally? Accidentally? Luckily? Maybe a bit of everything.

But one way or another, and on a schedule that no one was likely anticipating, the Toronto Raptors have found themselves at the sweetest of sweet spots for a professional sports franchise — that point where expectations are so low, it’s hard not to exceed them.

This was a team that was supposed to be in Year 1 of a rebuild, which in the NBA typically translates into some serious misery — just check out the Utah Jazz or Washington Wizards or Charlotte Hornets.

Sure, those teams have plans in place, but in each case, the last couple of seasons have been drudgery, and the next one or two likely will be too, barring some significant lottery luck.

And that’s without getting into the Philadelphia 76ers and New Orleans Pelicans of the world, where injuries have forced them into decisions they didn’t want to make and a future they probably don’t want to contemplate.

But other than the Raptors not shoehorning themselves into the bottom three or four positions for the draft lottery — they ended up with the seventh-best odds instead —  their rebuild seems to have gone as well as expected and will be exceedingly short-lived.

Like, at least in the minds of the players involved, it’s over. Yes, the Raptors might have finished 30-52, but somehow the future looks very bright and much closer than it initially appeared.

“I love our team. We’ve got a lot of great pieces,” said Raptors wing Scottie Barnes at the team’s season-ending media availability on Monday. “… I feel like we’ve got what it takes. We’ve got a great young core. [Our] starting five is going to be crazy next year. Like I said, we’re still going to add some talent. But with the things that we’ve got in place, our foundation, how we want to play, and how we want to guard and disrupt teams, we have the pieces, and we’ve just got to make it happen.”

And his expectations for next year?

“My expectations for the team? I expect us to be really good,” said Barnes, who in his fourth season has comfortably taken on the leadership role management has projected for him almost since he was drafted fourth overall in 2021. “For sure getting into the playoffs and make a great run. With the team that we have, there are no excuses. We should be in the playoffs and make a good run.”

The optimism was omnipresent.

“The expectation next year is to be in the playoffs,” said Raptors point guard Immanuel Quickley. “… I feel like there’s a sense of urgency in what I’m trying to do and what we’re trying to do.”

And veteran centre Jakob Poeltl, coming off a career-best year at age 28:

“I’m actually really positive as far as the outlook goes. I think we’ve shown that we have a really good foundation that we can build on here,” he said. “And I think even, like, our front office has shown that they want to build on that foundation quickly with getting B.I. (Brandon Ingram).

“Obviously, we still have to test this whole shift … we didn’t have a whole lot of time on the court together … but I think I’m happy with where we’re heading and trending in the right direction. Now it’s just about going out there and getting it done.”

Is the optimism justified? That is the real question.

You can make the case easily enough. If we arbitrarily divide the season into before Jan. 11 and after, it’s like two different teams: one went 8-31, the other 22-21. One struggled mightily defensively, the other was the third-best defensive team in the NBA. One had questionable depth, the other was winning games while giving more minutes to rookies than any team other than Utah and Washington, who won eight and 12 games, respectively, over the same stretch.

At the very least, it is safe to conclude that the Raptors, as constructed, aren’t all that bad.

And that’s without getting into the possibilities that adding Ingram to the roster might offer, or what good luck in the draft lottery might look like, or another year of development for the youngest third of the roster.

Ingram is the wild card. The former New Orleans Pelicans all-star has yet to suit up for the Raptors due to an ankle injury he suffered in early December (while still with New Orleans) that cost him his season.

He’s still not out of the woods on that yet, as Ingram shared on Monday that he experienced some “agitation” in his ankle as he ramped up his basketball conditioning and so he had a PRP (platelet-rich plasma) injection last week, with a team official saying that he will be re-evaluated in May. That’s still a long time before training camp opens in late October, but it would be more comforting for all concerned if Ingram was ready to roll into the off-season at full gas.

Regardless, Ingram is also excited about what the future holds, having had a chance to watch his new team up close for the better part of two months, and getting to know them off the court as well.

“This is a first-class organization. It teaches you how to be a professional, time management and what I didn’t know about the team was how much grit they had on the defensive side of the basketball,” said Ingram, who will be starting his ninth season next year. “They set a standard for every team that comes in here to know about the Toronto Raptors defence, and I have to go in and think about that in my off-season, how I want to be a reflection of my team, how the organization has set a standard.”

The Raptors have at very least nailed the small stuff, which isn’t so small. After heading into the 2024 draft and having to surrender their own first-round pick to the San Antonio Spurs (which ended up being eighth overall, where Rob Dillingham was selected and in turn traded to Minnesota for an unprotected first and a top-one protected pick swap) and coming off a 25-win season, the Raptors’ rebuild seemed to have gotten off on the wrong foot.

But this is a team that found a promising shooting guard in Ja’Kobe Walter with the 19th pick; a do it all-playmaking big who had two games with double-digit assists in the his last three starts in Jonathan Mogbo with the 31st pick; a point guard and emerging leader who seems more than capable of being an effective backup in Jamal Shead with the 45th pick; and an undrafted wing in Jamison Battle who led the team in three-point shooting accuracy.

“The way I look at it, like having rookies that go out there and are producing at the level that they’re at, it’s not normal,” said RJ Barrett, who counted career-best marks in points, rebounds and assists in his sixth season and first full year playing for his hometown team. “The talent we have, just getting B.I., having Scottie, we already have two guys that have been all-stars. Quick and I are trying to get there. It’s like, we have so much, I think that’s a good problem to have.”

And there’s something else too. It was clear listening as player after player filed through that a legitimate sense of togetherness had taken root, and a shared belief that the best is yet to come.

“We have the attitude for it. We have the hunger, we care for one another, cheering for each other, the coaching staff, and the discipline. We have everything that we need,” said Barrett. “… and we’re going to work. It doesn’t matter how we get there, honestly. Might not be the prettiest, but we know that we’re going to be a good team. We’re gonna be competing, it’s just a matter of work and a matter of time.”

The Raptors have time — the tire won’t hit the road on these good vibes for another six months, and if last summer is any indication, the work will get done.

But what the Raptors have is the benefit of the doubt: the opportunity to prove that what happened in the second half of the season was real.

That comes with an expiration date, but it’s worth enjoying it while it lasts.

Ingram a stand-up guy: The newest Raptor agreed to wear Jamal Shead’s Houston Cougars jersey on the bench at the last home game in recognition of Houston beating Ingram’s Duke Blue Devils in the Final Four before losing to Florida in the NCAA Finals: “It’s something I didn’t think I should have done because they lost to Florida, but I kept my promise. I just kept my word.”

Steph, Ja? No joke: Shead was asked about his toughest defensive assignments in his rookie season. He said two stood out: “I think the first time I guarded Steph (Curry) here, and also, my first start against Ja (Morant) …  two totally different games and trying to guard them the very first time playing them, was two totally different things. And Steph kind of cooked me to a point where Davion (Mitchell)  had to come back into the game. And then, you know, the first start versus Ja wasn’t pleasant. I think just taking it as a learning experience and not keeping my head down. But those were probably the two that just showed me what the NBA was like.”

Poeltl at the line: The veteran centre shot a career-best 67.4 per cent from the line (compared to career mark of 55.5 per cent) and said the biggest difference was not thinking so much: “This year was that I felt like for 90 per cent of the season, maybe even more like, I felt just like, fine, going to the free throw line. There was no doubt in my mind, or anything along those lines. There was no —  I guess doubt is probably the wrong word — overthinking it, trying to think about the technique and how I want to shoot these free throws instead of just going out there and shooting them. Because I’ve done it thousands, millions of times, and just go up there and do it. And if you miss, you miss, you make you make it. I think just that aspect, and being able to kind of trick myself, or get myself away from thinking about it too much has really helped.”