Big words, I know, and unusual — it's early in the season yet, and almost every Eastern Conference contender (and their superstars) have plenty of time to wake up before the All-Star break even looms on the horizon. However, for now at least, contenders the Toronto Raptors remain, even as super-early darlings like the Bulls have largely regressed back to the mean.
And their success has looked sustainable as well. Toronto doesn't just own the third-most wins in the NBA, but also the league's fourth-best point differential and assists per game average. Their sheer efficiency as a team continues, as the Raptors also boast a top 10 scoring offense while also taking the fourth-least threes in the NBA. They are top 10 in both offensive and defensive rating. Only the Celtics have taken better care of the ball relative to assists. The stats speak for themselves.
The Toronto Raptors: A contender with no star power
And yet, not a single player in Toronto has emerged as a centerpiece, at least on offense.
Brandon Ingram is the team's leading scorer (21.8 PPG), but is one of only 10 team points-per-game leaders to average under 22 per game. He is also the only scorer to average under 25 points per game for any top five seed.
If the Raptors keep this up, they are going to be a historically weird playoff contender — one that doesn't boast a clear All-Star candidate. As many as four or five names can be floated as Toronto's representative to the mid-season festivities (though, if they keep up the second seed momentum, they probably deserve two names).
Who is the Raptors' best All-Star candidate?
Scottie Barnes is technically the most likely — he's just ahead of RJ Barrett for second on the team in scoring average and posts the team's best advanced stats by far. If Toronto has a 'leader' in the traditional sense of the word, it's Barnes.
But even he would probably have to wait for the coaches to name him to the team, as none of Toronto's 'Big Three' of Barnes, Ingram, or Barrett has the traction to take the fan vote away from someone like Detroit's Cade Cunningham or Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell. Even eye-openers like Norman Powell in Miami or Tyrese Maxey would draw more attention, even from the coaches.
Such a weird team composition has only been seen once before: the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks. Atlanta finished with the best regular season record in the East, notching 60 wins under an All-Star quartet of Jeff Teague, Paul Millsap, Al Horford, and Kyle Korver. None of them averaged even 17 points per game, and Korver only averaged just north of 12 — and yet all four made the All-Star game. That won't happen with Toronto.
And yet, even if Barnes remains the only Raptor to make the All-Star game, Toronto is proving to be deep enough talent-wise that they can compete with anybody in the NBA, at least the Eastern Conference. Time will tell if they are able to keep it up, but as the quarter-season mark rapidly approaches, the Raptors look like the real thing, star power or no.