Raptors treating rare schedule break as second "training camp"
It’s been a month full of change for the Toronto Raptors.
To recap: Toronto’s seen RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley, Bruce Brown, Kira Lewis and Jordan Nwora all come into the organization, while sending Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Malachi Flynn and Precious Achiuwa out in a series of two franchise-altering trades.
And with the Raptors having won just two of their last 10 games, everyone in and around the organization understands that there’s still plenty of work to do for the franchise to be considered one of the NBA’s top dogs once again.
It’s an open secret that Brown could be on the move again, and with the Raptors sitting at a record of 16-28, the focus has shifted more to long-term growth rather than prioritizing immediate on-court success.
Monday night was another defeat for the Raptors, falling 108-100 to the similarly ill-fated Memphis Grizzlies.
Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic spoke before the game about how the franchise has been working with its players on their long-term development plans, with a focus on skill development and workout goals to be put in place throughout the offseason.
Barring a big second-half turnaround, it’s looking like Toronto will once again find themselves on the outside of the playoffs for the second year in a row.
“I was about to say [we have] three new guys, like I’m not the new guy,” the recently acquired Barrett joked following the loss to the Grizzlies. “It’s a completely new team. We’ve just got to focus in on how we’re going to play now with this group that we have.”
And Toronto is hoping perhaps for a bit of an in-season reset due to a rare break in their schedule.
The Raptors return to action Friday night at Scotiabank Arena, where they host Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers. That’s a rare three-day period in their home city without any games, and one that could come at a time when the team needs it the most.
“We’re at the beginning of training camp right now and [these] three days are coming in good time for us,” Rajakovic said. “We’re not connected offensively or defensively.”
Given the short window of how quickly the dynamic of his team has changed, Toronto’s coach was honest about how his team has felt a little bit disjointed around so many moving parts.
“[I’d] just like to be better organized on offensive end, a lot of times we don’t call anything, we’re just randomly playing basketball out there. I want us to be unpredictable, but I don’t want us to be randomly playing basketball. We need some time to work, and install [plays] and understand where guys need to be on the court and how to play off of each other,” he added.
Given their position in the standings, fixing the direction of the Raptors’ season at this point might be a long shot. But for an organization preaching patience, they can only look forward at this point — and that starts with day one of their mid-season “training camp.”