VanVleet speaks candidly about up-and-down Raptors season

Twenty-three games into the Toronto Raptors’ season, there’s a lot to like about a still-growing squad filled with personality and talent.

Toronto, which has picked up wins over Cleveland (twice), Miami, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Atlanta has shown that they’re capable of beating just about any given opponent on any given night.

O.G. Anunoby is amongst the front runners for Defensive Player of the Year, Pascal Siakam was generating early season MVP buzz before going down with an injury, and rookie Christian Koloko seems destined for greatness with his early returns in his first pro season.

On paper, the Raptors seem to be filled with great vibes, and look poised to take a step forward after last season’s 48-win campaign.

But in reality, they’re sitting at only 12-11 — good enough for just eighth place in the Eastern Conference.

One hallmark of Toronto’s season has been a lack of consistency: both with their starting lineup, but also their end of game results: their longest winning — or losing — streak this season has been just two games.

Toronto has four two-game winning streaks, and four two-game losing streaks, mixed in with a number of one-offs.

Following Friday night’s loss against Brooklyn — their second in a row where they gave up 40+ points in the opening quarter  — the Raptors held a players-only meeting.

“Nobody really likes to be harping, yelling, cussing, or fussing around here so I think some things just go unsaid. There are times when you need to say it out loud, let people know what our standards are, and just tighten the ship a little bit,” Raptors point guard Fred VanVleet said on the Raptors’ players’ only meeting, per TSN’s Josh Lewenberg.

“Nobody really likes to be harping, yelling, cussing or fussing around here so I think some things just go unsaid. There are times when you need to say it out loud, let people know what our standards are & just tighten the ship a little bit,”- FVV on the Raptors’ players meeting https://t.co/lQQSC9FZL2

— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) December 4, 2022

While Toronto was able to get into the winning column last night with a 121-108 win over Orlando, VanVleet seems to be going with the “prove it to me” leadership method.

“We’ll see,” VanVleet said when asked if he thinks the team’s players-only meeting will help push the team well above .500. “[The young players] always say ‘yeah’ and nod their head, and they’re receptive when you [give them feedback], but actions speak louder. So we’ll see how we fare over these next couple weeks. We haven’t been able to put together any stretches of anything, so if we put together a couple streaks that’ll show some maturity.”

It’s been an experimental season for Nick Nurse as well, who has relegated regular starter Gary Trent Jr. to Toronto’s bench for each of the last three games.

“I thought that, for the most part, you know, we also addressed that maybe our offense needed to, you know, get the ball moving a little bit more,” Nurse said. “I thought we really did that tonight, all night long. And it just obviously created a lot, a lot, a lot better shots and a lot more cuts to the basket.”

Toronto returns to the floor Monday night when they host the Boston Celtics at 7:30 pm ET. One can only wonder what version of the Raptors will show up for that one.

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