Three Raptors players share their thoughts on team's rebuild
Throughout the 2024-25 Toronto Raptors season, the team has already seen several different iterations of itself.
Injuries have forced 10 players into the starting lineup at least once this season, while a seven-game slide in early November forced the team right down to the bottom of the NBA standings.
In their last 10 games, they’ve gone 5-5, showing at least some signs of respectability in a rebuilding season. However, they are still prone to being rather unpredictable on a nightly basis.
On Thursday night, well, the team was on the tougher end of the NBA spectrum.
Facing off against one of the NBA’s best teams, the Oklahoma City Thunder, things quickly got out of hand on the scoresheet as Toronto suffered a gruesome 129-92 defeat.
Six of the Raptors’ 16 losses have been by five points or less this season, which forward Chris Boucher sees as a positive building block for the team’s future.
“We’re young, but we’re making strides. I think that’s always good to see. We lost a lot of games by close numbers, so it shows that we’re not that far,” Boucher said before yesterday’s loss.
On Tuesday, four Raptors rookies, Jonathan Mogbo, Ja’Kobe Walter, Jamison Battle, and Jamal Shead, became a set of just 19 players in franchise history to appear in a G League and NBA game on the same day, per Sportsnet’s Blake Murphy.
With Raptors 905 having an 11 am game at Scotiabank Arena, it was an easy commute to then play a second game at night.
“It’s really good to get both experiences, to go to the G League and get your shots up and feeling like you’re the guy, it helps your confidence. When you’re in the big league, [you’re just] trying to do your job [as told by the coaching staff],” Boucher added.
Some fans would prefer close losses and a higher shot in the NBA lottery, with the possibility of drafting a top prospect like Duke’s Cooper Flagg, the projected No. 1 pick next summer.
But for the team’s players, the main thing they can do is focus on what’s ahead of them, sometimes only seconds at a time.
“I’ve always talked about just having a short-term memory as a shooter, moving on to the next possession, not worrying about the past, because if you worry about the last possession, you’re going to be one step behind,” Raptors second-year forward Gradey Dick said in response to a question asked by Daily Hive following the loss.
“You want to build something for the long-term season, but in the middle of a game, in the heat of it, all I think about is thinking about the next possession,” Dick added.
Raptors forward RJ Barrett has been leading the way for the team, averaging 23.6 points per game this season. Averaging a team-high 34.5 minutes per night, Barrett is one of just eight players on the team to suit up in 20 games or more this season.
“We had a lot of injuries, but I think we’ve been able to battle through that. And I think it’s made us tougher,” Barrett said. “I think it’s made the whole team tougher. It’s gotten our rookies some more experience that I don’t think every rookie gets to have, so I think we’ve just grown completely as a team.”
In a beleaguered Eastern Conference, Toronto sits just two games out of a play-in spot. It’s an unlikely scenario, given how things looked earlier in the season, but they look to have found some sense of cohesion, even in the midst of a rare blowout.
While some fans would rather they tank the season, a healthy Raptors squad might make that unlikely, even if they end up on the losing end more often than not.
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