Toronto Raptors: The Best Team Nobody’s Watching

The Toronto Raptors are the best team nobody in the NBA is watching

The NBA is a star driven league, always has been, always will be. Stars drive TV ratings, stars drive jersey sales, stars drive website hits and attendance and sell luxury suites. Its why LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin are always on our TV’s. It’s also unfortunately part of the reason why we will be force-fed a diet of 20 nationally televised games of Kobe Bryant jacking up 30 shots for a putrid Los Angeles Lakers team and Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks, scowling at each other as they make the Triangle offense truly offensive to watch.

It’s why the Toronto Raptors, last year’s third seed in the Eastern Conference, with perhaps the second best backcourt in the entire NBA, but without a recognizable star, have only four nationally televised games, after not having any in last years regular season. It’s why the Toronto Raptors, off to a franchise best start and sitting atop the Eastern Conference, are the NBA’s equivalent of the Invisible Man; the the best team nobody’s watching.

The Raptors young and emerging roster is led by the NBA’s most underrated player, the tough as nails, Kyle Lowry, ably complimented by backcourt running mate, All-Star DeMar DeRozan and one of the most skilled young bigs in the league; Jonas Valanciunas. The Raptors continue to build on their success of a year ago, when they were one of the biggest and most pleasant surprises in the NBA.

Rallying from a 9-14 start to finish 48-34 and reinvigorating basketball in Canada along the way, the Raptors secured the third seed in the East, eventually getting bounced in the first round of the playoffs in seven games by the Brooklyn Nets.

Expectations are higher this year and a franchise best 7-1 start has done nothing to dampen them. Doing it at both ends of the floor, the Raptors are combining the third most efficient offense with the seventh most efficient defense to give the second best point differential in the league (+10.6). Whilst they haven’t played the toughest of schedules and we are working with a small sample size, the Raptors have won and won ruthlessly, a trait that true contenders tend to share.

Any conversation about the Raptors begins and ends with point guard Kyle Lowry. Like all great point guards, Lowry is the unquestioned leader of his team, with a toughness and fearlessness that belies his stature. A much improved shooter and creator Lowry was egregiously snubbed at last season’s All-Star game, and whilst I can’t see that mistake being made again, he somehow remains outside of Canada, one of the NBA’s most under appreciated players; but I guess it is hard to truly appreciate someone when you don’t get to watch them play.

Last season, advanced stats placed Lowry comfortably in the stratosphere of not only of point guards, but the entire NBA; eighth in Win Shares, sixth in Box Plus / Minus and sixth in VORP (Value Over Replacement Player). Lowry’s ascension into the elite is continuing this season, ranking fourth in Win Shares, fifth in Box Plus / Minus and fifth in VORP and 13th overall in PER.. Make no mistake, Kyle Lowry is elite, a stone-cold killer and a pleasure to watch.

Whilst Lowry is the undisputed Alpha dog, he partners with DeMar DeRozan to form one of the NBA’s most dynamic and criminally underrated backcourt duos. Don’t be fooled by their one combined All-Star appearance, these are two elite guards on the rise, who both sit comfortably in the very upper echelon of their respective positions. We are not talking about a hot start or a small sample size; both ranked fifth in PER at their positions last season and both are again in the top five this year.

DeRozan, the ninth pick in the 2009 draft is an outstanding athlete with the prototypical two-guard scoring mentality; combining an improving perimeter game with a fearless rim attack, he gets to the free-throw line at an elite level, making recent statistical jumps more sustainable. DeRozan has shown consistent improvement throughout his career and there is no reason to think he can’t make another leap forward, especially if he can improve his three-point shot.

Whilst having a good big man is not a prerequisite for NBA success, it is an element rare by its omission. The key for Raptors to make the leap from playoff team to potential conference finalist of better, lies with 22-year-old, 7’0″ Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas.

The young center is already one of the most skilled big men in the league, having all the physical tools, the body, the hands, the touch and the footwork, now he only needs the ball. Playing with two ball-dominant guards will always limit touches, however Valanciunas continued evolution as a reliable low post option demands an increase in usage rate, which we have seen in the early stages this year. If Valanciunas can start delivering on his massive potential, the Raptors just might have a Big Three of their own.

Whilst the Raptors might have their own burgeoning Big Three, they also now have one of the league’s deepest benches. Returning the same starting five from last year, general manager Masai Ujiri augmented a shaky bench by adding James Johnson’s scoring and a long athletic defensive stopper to shore up the Raptors issues guarding big wings, in Lou Williams.

The importance of the bench declines once the playoffs start with coaches playing their most effective units extended minutes, however the NBA season is an 82 game grind, and the importance of a quality bench cannot be overstated. Not only does it provide cover for the inevitable injuries, but it also provides lineup flexibility and allows coaches to manage workloads. Greg Popovich put on a PHD level clinic in managing the minutes of his aging rotation last season, unbelievably, no player averaged more than 30 minutes a game for a team that finished 62-20 and won the NBA Championship.

With the Raptors offseason additions, all the primary backups have been starters at one stage of their careers, and it has shown on the court; the Raptors bench ranks fifth in scoring at 36.0 points per game, only a year after having the NBA’s fourth lowest scoring bench (26.1).

Prior to the season there were concerns voiced by prominent media outlets that the Raptors had too much depth, that they had too many good players and not enough minutes to go around. Coach Casey, albeit in a small sample size, is handling it with aplomb thus far; winning whilst finding everyone minutes.

The Raptors players have clearly defined roles, and a chemistry and camaraderie that is obvious to all who watch; these guys like each other and it shows, both in the way they interact and the way they play together. Whilst locker room chemistry won’t help you hit a corner three, its way more fun to watch teammates enjoying each other, rather than Kobe looking incredulously at whoever else plays on that awful team after they miss another open shot.

Do yourself a favor, use the parental lock feature on your TV the same way you block your kids from accessing porn and avoid having to watch anymore Lakers or Knicks games. Tune in to the Raptors, they have an exciting young nucleus, a deep and solid bench, play in front of one of the loudest and most passionate crowds in the entire NBA at the Air Canada Centre and regardless of how you feel about Drake, don’t wait until the playoffs come around to jump on the Raptors bandwagon.

Give your eyes a rest from Kobe and Melo jacking up contested iso-jumpers for unwatchable teams at the end of the shot clock and tune into a Raptors game on NBA League Pass, sadly that’s the only way will see them, but you will be glad you did.

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