"Vibes are building": Raptors' off-court bonding places focus on next season
The Toronto Raptors might not be having the type of season they envisioned when they began the year, but the players seem to be making the most of the hand they’ve been dealt.
On Sunday afternoon, Scottie Barnes spent some time playing Call of Duty with teammate Immanuel Quickley.
And while Barnes himself is likely done for the year due to a hand injury suffered in early March, Quickley dropped a season-high 31 points en route to Toronto’s second victory in a row just a few hours later.
“The chemistry is building, the vibes are building,” Quickley said on Sunday night following the Raptors’ 130-122 win over the Washington Wizards. “All the guys, they’ve been great. The energy in practice has been unbelievable.”
Toronto sits with a record of 25-53, hardly the class of the Eastern Conference. But in a year defined by trades, rebuilds, a fifteen-game losing streak, and a pair of lengthy personal absences for Quickley and RJ Barrett due to family deaths, the Raptors are looking ahead to build for next season with the core of players they’ll be keeping around.
“You want to win every game you step out and play, but the process of what you do day in and day out [matters]. It’s an 82-game season,” Quickley said. “You have to be able to sustain yourself for the long run… sometimes you’re not gonna be able to have the results you want, but that can’t change the work that you do day in and day out.”
Despite a rough season, many Raptors fans will be quick to forget that they don’t seem to be letting the year cloud their outlook for the future.
“Adversity can make some guys crumble, and some teams, some coaches crumble, and the other people rise to that occasion. It shows a lot about this team, coaching staff, organization as a whole [that we haven’t gotten in a bad mood],” Quickley added. “I feel like we’re not where we’re going to be yet, but we’ll come back to this interview maybe one day, and we’ll see what we get from that.”
The Raptors hit the floor for their final home game of the season on Tuesday night, when they host old pal Pascal Siakam and the Indiana Pacers. Tipoff is set for 7:30 pm ET at Scotiabank Arena.
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