Toronto Raptors not getting enough respect?

When the 2013-14 season began, the Toronto Raptors likely just hoped to squeak themselves into playoff contention.

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However, after stumbling out of the gate the front office understood a change needed to be made and Rudy Gay was sent to the Sacramento Kings for a collection of depth. Many wondered what the Toronto Raptors were doing, but without Gay on the roster the team appeared to gel and continued to win game after game.

There were some opportunities to throw the white flag in come the February trade deadline as multiple suitors were lining up to acquire Kyle Lowry, but the Toronto Raptors decided to go for broke and ended up having a nice run to end the season before securing a playoff birth.

Now returning what is essentially the same roster with another year of experience, are the Raptors being slept on in the Eastern Conference? It seems that way, at least according to Nate Duncan.

"I agree with you that Toronto is being slept on. They were the three seed last year, and in my mind the favorite to get that again this year if we have the Cavs and Bulls in the first two slots. Nobody on the team really projects to be much worse this year with the possible exception of a bit of a regression from Kyle Lowry, with young guys like JVal and DeRozan at an age where they could really improve. They have also made some decent additions at the margins, like Lou Williams (could be better in his 2nd year back from a torn ACL) and James Johnson."

While the Eastern Conference isn’t nearly as deep as the West, they are a bit top-heavy so it’s hard to know just where the Toronto Raptors will land this season. Given their roster though, a return to the postseason seems very likely.

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