It's deja vu for the Toronto Raptors, who are preparing for their lone All-Star to miss several w...

It's deja vu for the Toronto Raptors, who are preparing for their lone All-Star to miss <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3156739" href="https://thescore.com/news/3156739">several weeks</a> for the second time this season.Officially, the Raptors said Scottie Barnes' sprained right ankle will be re-evaluated in one week. He suffered the injury Monday, just 10 games into his return from an orbital fracture that sidelined him for 11 games (24 days).As Toronto once again prepares for life without Barnes, the questions and silver linings are much the same as last time. The team's upcoming schedule isn't as daunting as the stretch that saw it go 2-9 without Barnes, but the losses will continue to pile up for a 7-18 squad if this proves to be another extended absence. And plenty of draft lottery-obsessed Raptors fans will celebrate that fact.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>In addition, RJ Barrett will get more reps as a lead creator, Gradey Dick will be promoted in the offensive pecking order, and rookie Ja'Kobe Walter should get to explore the limits of his improving off-the-dribble game. All of those can be positives for a rebuilding team that's prioritizing the big picture.But Barnes remains the foundation of that rebuild, and the Raptors have played too many games without him when they need to gather intel on how all the pieces fit around their franchise player. Barnes' last three injuries have been caused by rotten luck rather than an injury-prone body - a teammate accidentally kicking his hand, an elbow to the eye, and landing on an opponent's foot - so concerns about his durability aren't valid. Still, there's no glossing over the fact he'll have played just 14 NBA games over the last 10 months if he's sidelined through December.None of that will matter if the Raptors strike lottery gold and add a player like Cooper Flagg or Dylan Harper to an already promising Barnes-led core. But even the worst teams only have a 14% chance of winning the lottery, and the absolute worst team still has a better chance of picking fifth (47.86%) than it does of landing a top-three pick (40.17%). Mathematically speaking, Barnes' injury-riddled campaign is unlikely to benefit the Raptors the way some assume it will. The trade-off is Barnes losing valuable time and much-needed reps as the lead dog while hitting the shelf again in the midst of his finest defensive stretch as a pro.Barnes is also averaging career highs in points (20.6), rebounds (8.4), assists (7.4), and steals (1.3) while playing fewer minutes than ever.<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Headline" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-ugqia" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ugqia/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="222" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>Toronto's running out of time to see if this year's squad is worth building on. The Raptors have been surprisingly <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3144670" href="https://thescore.com/news/3144670">competitive</a> despite a litany of <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/injured/_/year/2024/view/team">injuries</a>. They've won more quarters than they've lost and share the league's second-best <a href="https://www.teamrankings.com/nba/trends/ats_trends/">record</a> against the spread despite being 11 games under .500 overall. In their last two losses, the Raptors outscored the contending Mavericks and Knicks by a combined 15 points in 60 minutes with Barnes on the court (and lost the 36 non-Barnes minutes by 27 points).The way the Raptors have competed teases the potential for something more at full strength. But their presumed starting lineup of Barnes, Barrett, Dick, Immanuel Quickley, and Jakob Poeltl hasn't been available once this season. The Raptors have also been without multiple starters in 17 of 25 contests, and they have yet to play more than two straight games with even four of their five starters in the lineup.That aforementioned starting five has logged four minutes together dating back to last season, and the trio of Barnes, Barrett, and Quickley hasn't shared the court since March 1. By the time Barnes returns, the trade deadline could be a month away, and Poeltl will be a hot commodity. Is there a big enough sample to decide whether the veteran center <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3134395" href="https://thescore.com/news/3134395">should continue</a> playing with this young core or be sold to the highest bidder? These are the uncomfortable questions that arise when a roster's been decimated by injury.For all the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3127174" href="https://thescore.com/news/3127174">positives</a> to be found in this young team's losing season, it would still be a shame to come out of it never knowing what these Raptors would have been capable of when whole.The boosted lottery odds are nice, but the draw is still a game of chance. Barnes' latest injury has sidelined the one Raptor who's already a sure thing.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/29397479/related

Boosted lottery odds not worth another Barnes injury

The NBA can be a funny, upside-down place.  A winning team that isn't quite living up to expectat...

The NBA can be a funny, upside-down place.A winning team that isn't quite living up to expectations can spend every day in full-blown crisis mode, while a rebuilding squad that's lost roughly 70% of its games can emit immaculate vibes.The Raptors fall into the latter category, having so far managed to <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3144670" href="https://thescore.com/news/3144670">outperform</a> expectations everywhere but the win column. It's easy to keep things light when you openly admit on media day that it will be a rebuilding year, but it's easier still when the goals of a rebuild are being met.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>The ultimate goal of landing another franchise-changing talent will have to wait for the draft lottery and the draft itself (unless the full-strength Raptors prove <a href="https://youtu.be/5SZVAx4_xxU?si=LUwZpyiJ0ALs2NCI">too good</a> to tank). However, if Toronto wanted to boost its lottery odds while developing as much young talent as possible, then mission accomplished so far.While the play of Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji, and even veteran center <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3134395" href="https://thescore.com/news/3134395">Jakob Poeltl</a> have been positive developments in Toronto's big-picture plans, perhaps the most surprising twist has been the production the Raptors are getting from four rookies.Without the benefit of their own 2024 first-rounder, the Raptors might've snagged the best crop of rookies anyway. None of the team's freshmen project as future stars, but it looks like Toronto found at least three rotation players in what was billed as the worst draft class in at least 11 years. Given the structure of rookie contracts and salaries, such surplus value can be incredibly advantageous when filling out a roster in an <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2940429" href="https://thescore.com/news/2940429">apron</a> world.Second-round picks Jonathan Mogbo and Jamal Shead, in addition to the undrafted Jamison Battle, all rank top 20 in total rookie minutes, while first-rounder Ja'Kobe Walter has started five straight games since returning from the second shoulder injury of his young career."One thing I like about the rookies on our team is they're not afraid," head coach Darko Rajakovic said. "They're not afraid of the moment. They're not afraid to step on the court and play hard. When you play hard and you have your heart in the right place to play for your team, good things happen."Still, Rajakovic acknowledges the two-way challenges that come from playing so many inexperienced professionals, joking that he doesn't know which end of the court brings a steeper learning curve."One day it seems like it's offense, and then you play the next game and it's the defense," Rajakovic laughed. "In the long term, it's the defensive things for rookies. Learning the game, learning how the NBA works, being able to sniff out what actions are coming their way. In the NBA, if you're a half-step late, you're too late."Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault knows what it's like to coach young teams that are rich in enthusiasm but short on NBA know-how. "It's a very patterned game that you learn the patterns of. Later in your career, you can anticipate more, because you've seen the pictures. Early in your career, you haven't seen them yet. You're learning them."But there's benefits to coaching a young team," Daigneault told theScore before Thursday's win in Toronto, noting that young players are often hungrier and eager to prove themselves. "There's a lot of energy behind that. There's a lot of horsepower behind that, and we've always found that to be very invigorating. It's a long season, and when you've got guys excited to play basketball every night, that's a benefit."<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759077/cropped_GettyImages-2185472342.jpg?ts=1733433027" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759077/w220xh124_GettyImages-2185472342.jpg?ts=1733433027 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759077/w320xh180_GettyImages-2185472342.jpg?ts=1733433027 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759077/w640xh360_GettyImages-2185472342.jpg?ts=1733433027 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759077/w768xh432_GettyImages-2185472342.jpg?ts=1733433027 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759077/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2185472342.jpg?ts=1733433027 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption">Raptors rookies (from left) Ja'Kobe Walter, Jamison Battle, Ulrich Chomche, and Jamal Shead during a Raptors 905 game on Nov. 22. Christian Bonin / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Toronto has lost the <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/injured/_/year/2024/view/team">second-most</a> value to injury this season, so Rajakovic has sometimes found himself fielding lineups featuring three or four rookies on the court at once."There are obviously some really good stretches, but there are moments as well where they look like rookies," Rajakovic told theScore after a November loss to the Lakers. "The game is very fast. You're playing against experienced players that know how to read every inch of the mistakes that you might be making. You're over-thinking, and those guys know how to punish that. But the only way you learn that is getting experience on the court against some of the best players in the world."That experience is paying immediate dividends. A Raptors team that ranked last in defensive efficiency through its first 11 games has hovered around the top 10 <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/advanced?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING&amp;DateFrom=11%2F12%2F2024&amp;DateTo=12%2F04%2F2024">since Nov. 12</a>, with Walter, Mogbo, Battle, and Shead all averaging 12-22 minutes per game during that improved stretch. Only the last-place Wizards are giving more of the team's minutes to rookies.<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Rookie minute percentage" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-1R3Ft" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/1R3Ft/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="229" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>Here's a quick look at what the Raptors have in each rookie.<h3>Ja'Kobe Walter</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754319/cropped_GettyImages-2181650797.jpg?ts=1733432366" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754319/w220xh124_GettyImages-2181650797.jpg?ts=1733432366 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754319/w320xh180_GettyImages-2181650797.jpg?ts=1733432366 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754319/w640xh360_GettyImages-2181650797.jpg?ts=1733432366 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754319/w768xh432_GettyImages-2181650797.jpg?ts=1733432366 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/754319/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2181650797.jpg?ts=1733432366 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Vaughn Ridley / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Selected with the 19th pick acquired from Indiana in last year's Pascal Siakam trade, Walter's debut was delayed by a sprained shoulder that kept him out of training camp. Still, those around the team have raved about Walter's maturity and approach while sidelined, noting that young players don't always make the most of such time."I think I was getting better in different ways (while not playing)," Walter told reporters after a 12-point effort in a win over Miami. "Watching a lot of film with my coaches and talking through the games (on the bench) with my teammates helped me for this experience right now." Rajakovic also noted how impressed he was by Walter's conditioning work while out of the lineup.As a 6-foot-5 guard with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, Walter is capable of wreaking havoc on the defensive end. He's an active and disruptive defender who fits in well given Rajakovic's newfound focus on ball pressure. His length also makes him an above-average rebounder for a guard, which in turn helps him push the pace and fuel the fast breaks his head coach wants.Walter's offense, in general, is a work in progress. He missed 24 of his first 29 3-point attempts after shooting 34.1% from deep at Baylor. His constant movement and off-ball motor will lead to easier opportunities at the rim, and Rajakovic has noted that the Raptors identified that Gradey Dick-like quality in Walter as a prospect. "He has that potential, and we're very intentional working with him on that. With his workouts and everything, we're trying to make him very active off the ball and to always be on the run."<h3>Jonathan Mogbo</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759074/cropped_GettyImages-2187566884.jpg?ts=1733432463" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759074/w220xh124_GettyImages-2187566884.jpg?ts=1733432463 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759074/w320xh180_GettyImages-2187566884.jpg?ts=1733432463 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759074/w640xh360_GettyImages-2187566884.jpg?ts=1733432463 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759074/w768xh432_GettyImages-2187566884.jpg?ts=1733432463 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759074/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2187566884.jpg?ts=1733432463 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Mark Blinch / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Selected with the 31st pick acquired from New York (via Detroit) in last year's OG Anunoby trade, Mogbo's earning playing time with his relentless energy and nose for the ball. The only thing more impressive than his explosive leaping ability is his second jump, with the big man often levitating again while opponents are merely loading up or still descending from their first jump.That's what makes the 6-foot-9 forward an elite NBA rebounder already. Among 240 players who've logged at least 300 minutes this season, Mogbo's offensive rebound rate of 16.1% ranks third, per <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;display_type=totals&amp;comp_id=NBA&amp;draft_pick_type=overall&amp;season_start=1&amp;comp_type=reg&amp;match=player_season&amp;order_by=orb_pct&amp;year_max=2025&amp;year_min=2025&amp;season_end=-1&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=mp&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=300&amp;offset=0">Stathead</a>. Mogbo is arguably the best rebounder on the league's best offensive-rebounding team. His ability to create extra shots for the shooting-starved Raptors gives him offensive utility, even if his overall skill set still needs to be rounded out.The long-term vision is clear when you see Mogbo at his best. He can be a versatile, switchable defensive big who grabs a rebound, brings the ball up, makes the type of pass that keeps an offense humming, and shoots the occasional 3-pointer to complement his interior scoring. It might be a while before the 23-year-old reserve puts all those skills together, but a top-tier rebounder who brings consistent and infectious energy off the bench will always be in demand.It also doesn't hurt when you're the franchise player's <a href="https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/jonathan-mogbo-and-scottie-barnes-have-been-friends-since-grade-4-now-theyre-raptors-teammates/article_0facf516-354e-11ef-a963-0b145be01b8a.html">childhood friend</a>.<h3>Jamal Shead</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759075/cropped_GettyImages-2187567240.jpg?ts=1733432609" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759075/w220xh124_GettyImages-2187567240.jpg?ts=1733432609 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759075/w320xh180_GettyImages-2187567240.jpg?ts=1733432609 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759075/w640xh360_GettyImages-2187567240.jpg?ts=1733432609 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759075/w768xh432_GettyImages-2187567240.jpg?ts=1733432609 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759075/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2187567240.jpg?ts=1733432609 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Vaughn Ridley / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Selected with the 45th pick acquired from Sacramento in the Jalen McDaniels trade, Shead is the Raptors rookie who has looked most like a rookie. The undersized guard hasn't been star-struck or shy, and the effort of an on-ball pest is there, but Shead's decision-making needs to improve (on both ends).The undersized guard can be too aggressive and eager at times, resulting in a boatload of fouls, particularly on jump shooters. Shead owns the highest foul percentage among guards who've played 300 minutes this season and the second highest among 240 players who've logged as many minutes, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/players?stat_category=defense_rebounding">Cleaning the Glass</a>. On the offensive end, Shead has the instincts of a pass-first point guard, but he can also try to force passes that just aren't there. Among 30 point guards who've played 250-plus minutes, only Ben Simmons and Scoot Henderson turn the ball over at a higher rate, per <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/players?stat_category=offensive_overview">Cleaning the Glass</a>.Shead's shooting woes compound those turnover issues. They've also led to defenders helping off of him, which can cramp the floor for Barnes, so it's been encouraging to see him knock down eight of his last 18 long-range attempts.Shead could use some development time in the G League, which should come when starting point guard Immanuel Quickley returns to the Raptors' lineup, but I still think there's a scrappy NBA reserve in there somewhere. His defense should stabilize as the game slows down for him and he dials it back a bit, and we've seen smaller guards find a way with their playmaking. The question is whether his shooting will ever come around.<h3>Jamison Battle</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759037/cropped_GettyImages-2187889863.jpg?ts=1733432632" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759037/w220xh124_GettyImages-2187889863.jpg?ts=1733432632 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759037/w320xh180_GettyImages-2187889863.jpg?ts=1733432632 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759037/w640xh360_GettyImages-2187889863.jpg?ts=1733432632 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759037/w768xh432_GettyImages-2187889863.jpg?ts=1733432632 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/759037/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2187889863.jpg?ts=1733432632 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Andrew Lahodynskyj / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Undrafted out of Ohio State (his third college program), Battle's been a revelation for the Raptors. The 6-foot-7 marksman knows his role and carries himself with the steely calm of every great shooter.Among the 250 players who've logged the most minutes this season, Battle's 3-point attempt rate of 75.3% ranks 12th, per <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;year_max=2025&amp;match=player_season&amp;comp_type=reg&amp;year_min=2025&amp;season_start=1&amp;draft_pick_type=overall&amp;comp_id=NBA&amp;season_end=-1&amp;display_type=totals&amp;order_by=fg3a_per_fga_pct&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=mp&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=290&amp;offset=0">Stathead</a>. Meanwhile, his 3-point percentage (42.5%) tops all qualified rookie shooters. Those marks have put the lefty on opposing scouting reports, but the 23-year-old is simply unflappable. He's already mastered the arts of side-step threes and patiently waiting for a defender to fly by before pulling the trigger on his jumper.It's impressive to be this great a shooter when everyone in the arena knows you're going to let it fly, but the next step for Battle will be varying his offense somewhat to keep defenses guessing. Based on some of the craftiness and finishing he's flashed the few times he's attacked closeouts, the Raptors might've really struck gold here when it comes to shooting and scoring talent in an undrafted prospect. The only question now is when his two-way contract will be converted to a standard NBA deal.<h3>Bonus rookie: Ulrich Chomche</h3>What? You forgot about the fifth Raptors rookie to log NBA minutes this season? The 57th and youngest selection in the 2024 draft, Chomche played five minutes on opening night but has since been a full-time G Leaguer. He's the biggest project among the quintet, and his offensive skills are incredibly raw, but there are those who will tell you he has the highest ceiling of any Raptors rookie.Chomche, a Cameroonian big man and product of NBA Academy Africa, is much more of an NBA prospect on the defensive end. The near 7-footer with a 9-foot-1 standing reach ranks fifth in blocks per game (2.8) in the G League. However, he's also committing 6.5 fouls per 36 minutes.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA writer.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/29330072/related

These underrated rookies are helping the Raptors find wins in losses

A month ago, I told you the Raptors were in for an ugly and forgettable November. All-Star Scotti...

A month ago, I <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3113093" href="https://thescore.com/news/3113093">told</a> you the Raptors were in for an ugly and forgettable November. All-Star Scottie Barnes had just landed on Toronto's injury report, and the already shorthanded club was staring down a brutal schedule. In the end, the Raptors managed to prove me wrong while also managing to lose 11 of 15 games. You might call it the perfect tank.Through the season's first quarter, the Raptors have accomplished the rare feat of simultaneously overperforming and playing .250 basketball. Toronto's 5-15 record (and 60-loss pace) doesn't do its collective effort and overall competitiveness justice. The team's 13-7 record against the spread tells more of the story for a squad that's been expected to lose every game in the eyes of oddsmakers.To give you an idea of how competitive the Raptors have been while continuing to pile up losses, consider that Toronto's won more quarters than it's lost while losing 15 of 20 games. They boasted a better November point differential than the season's biggest overachiever (Nets), but won three fewer games than Brooklyn. Toronto's lost two games at the buzzer, which is the same amount of buzzer-beating losses the 29 other teams have combined for this season.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>One of those excruciating last-second defeats came on the road in Boston, where the Raptors on the second night of a back-to-back went blow for blow with the defending champs. That shorthanded but ultimately unsuccessful effort was a perfect microcosm of the season for a team that's lost the <a href="https://www.spotrac.com/nba/injured/_/year/2024/view/team">second-most</a> value to injury. The Raptors' intended starting lineup of Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Gradey Dick, RJ Barrett, and Jakob Poeltl is yet to play a game together, and Toronto's been without multiple starters in 14 of 20 contests.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/758080/cropped_GettyImages-2179770810.jpg?ts=1732948526" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/758080/w220xh124_GettyImages-2179770810.jpg?ts=1732948526 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/758080/w320xh180_GettyImages-2179770810.jpg?ts=1732948526 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/758080/w640xh360_GettyImages-2179770810.jpg?ts=1732948526 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/758080/w768xh432_GettyImages-2179770810.jpg?ts=1732948526 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/758080/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2179770810.jpg?ts=1732948526 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Steve Russell / Toronto Star / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>What's most promising about the Raptors' start, especially in comparison to the aforementioned Nets, is that it's mostly been fueled by young players who'll form the foundation of Toronto's future.The <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3134395" href="https://thescore.com/news/3134395">steady</a> presence of veteran center Poeltl can't be overstated, but the team's compete level so far can also be attributed to positive developments in Barrett's playmaking, Dick's scoring, Ochai Agbaji's shooting and defense, and various contributions from four rookies. The undrafted - and unflappable - Jamison Battle, along with second-round rookies Jonathan Mogbo and Jamal Shead all rank top 20 in rookie minutes, while first-round rookie Ja'Kobe Walter's been a positive addition to the starting lineup the last two games.Most importantly, a bespectacled Barnes is finding his footing since returning from a broken orbital bone. Barnes has been inefficient but forceful on offense, while playing arguably the best defense of his career. His presence has been a key component of what's been a <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/advanced?dir=A&amp;sort=DEF_RATING&amp;DateFrom=11%2F12%2F2024">top-10</a> defense over the last couple weeks.Predictably, the Raptors' collective youth and inexperience is also a contributing factor in their turning so many of their quality efforts into quality losses. For example, the Raptors turn the ball over on 16.2% of their possessions and give up 20.7 points per game off those turnovers, tied for the league's <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/misc?dir=D&amp;sort=OPP_PTS_OFF_TOV">third-worst</a> mark.Quickley's eventual return from an elbow injury (which he sustained shortly after returning from a hip injury, which came after returning from a wrist injury ...) should help remedy some of those turnover issues. As the team's lone self-creating 3-point shooter, Quickley should also help juice the team's shooting numbers. The Raptors own the league's lowest 3-point attempt rate (35.2% of all field-goal attempts), which leaves them with a daunting math problem.Aside from that dearth of shooting, head coach Darko Rajakovic's offensive process has been positive, even if the results haven't been. A league-leading offensive rebound rate helps Toronto win the possession battle most nights, and the team's speed, passing, and cutting have helped it create plenty of easy opportunities in transition, in the paint, and at the rim.<figure class="article-segment--table"><div class="table-responsive"><table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Raptors' offense</th>
<th>Rank</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Rim frequency</td>
<td>3rd</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Points In Paint</td>
<td>2nd</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Fast-break PTS</td>
<td>3rd</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>3PAr</td>
<td>30th</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Location eFG%</td>
<td>6th</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table></div></figure>(Stats courtesy NBA.com and Cleaning The Glass)Rajakovic has made a couple head-scratching decisions in crunch time, but at the macro level, the second-year coach is striking the right balance between keeping a young, losing team upbeat and engaged while still <a href="https://x.com/keerthikau/status/1862163336751731133">holding</a> <a href="https://x.com/william_lou/status/1862671796169838641">it accountable</a>.That big-picture view is what Raptors fans can take solace in right now, but credit this team for making it easy to find silver linings in a 5-15 start. With the toughest stretch of their schedule out of the way and the Eastern Conference being what it is - a dumpster fire - don't leave the Raptors for dead just yet.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/29262397/related

The perfect tank? The Raptors are overachieving and still losing

We're a month into the 2024-25 NBA season, and American Thanksgiving is upon us. It's an interest...

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Unpacking the wildest stats from the NBA's opening month

Rebuilding teams divide players into two groups. They're either promising youngsters who'll form ...

Rebuilding teams divide players into two groups. They're either promising youngsters who'll form the core of the organization's next winner, or they're stopgaps - mere assets to be sold to the highest bidder.At least, that's what fans think. Those inside and around NBA clubs know there's a lot more to it.Toronto Raptors center Jakob Poeltl is a perfect case study for this dichotomy. Poeltl is currently enjoying the finest stretch of his career, but at 29, he's roughly five-to-10 years older than the rebuilding Raptors' young core. Having been acquired in exchange for a first-round draft pick and two second-rounders at the 2023 trade deadline, Poeltl is a player many fans believe Toronto needs to recoup value from on the trade market.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>That's why, amid a positively <a href="https://x.com/OptaSTATS/status/1858716812013195332">Shaq-like</a> stretch, the prevailing take is that the team should sell high on the starting center.But it's never that simple. Poeltl's steady presence and basketball IQ are invaluable to a young team learning the ins and outs of the NBA while managing the effects of mounting losses."Jak, this year, has really embraced the role of becoming a veteran player," Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic told theScore before Monday's victory over Indiana, in which Poeltl posted 30 points and 15 rebounds."He's using his voice a lot. He's very positive with teammates. He's able to explain to them, on the fly, the things they need to do."Poeltl's on-court impact looms even larger than those intangible qualities, which is why the Raptors should be wary of rushing to move him, and fans should be careful what they wish for.Poeltl's ninth season is off to a roaring start, with the big man averaging 17.1 points, 11.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.3 blocks, and 1.2 steals in nearly 33 minutes per game. The only players who <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=year_id&amp;year_min=2025&amp;year_max=2025&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=17&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=pts_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B2%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B2%5D=11&amp;cstat%5B2%5D=trb_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B3%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B3%5D=2&amp;cstat%5B3%5D=ast_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B4%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B4%5D=1&amp;cstat%5B4%5D=stl_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B5%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B5%5D=1&amp;cstat%5B5%5D=blk_per_g">come close</a> to matching those across-the-board numbers this season are three-time MVP Nikola Jokic, future Hall of Famer Anthony Davis, and rising Houston Rockets star Alperen Sengun. The only player who's matched those statistical measures over the last five years is Davis, according to <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=year_id&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=17.1&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=pts_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B2%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B2%5D=11.9&amp;cstat%5B2%5D=trb_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B3%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B3%5D=2.7&amp;cstat%5B3%5D=ast_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B4%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B4%5D=1.2&amp;cstat%5B4%5D=stl_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B5%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B5%5D=1.3&amp;cstat%5B5%5D=blk_per_g">Stathead</a>.<figure class="article-segment--embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Since Jakob Poeltl entered the NBA in 2016-17, here are the players who've posted three straight games of at least 25 points &amp; 12 rebounds on 60% shooting: Nikola Jokic (x3) Anthony Davis (x2) Giannis Antetokounmpo (x2) Karl-Anthony Towns Domantas Sabonis Jakob Poeltl (since Fri)— Joseph Casciaro (@JosephCasciaro) <a href="https://twitter.com/JosephCasciaro/status/1858705806239125598?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2024</a>
</blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></figure>Such production helps those unfamiliar with Poeltl's game understand why the head coach of the defending champions recently <a href="https://x.com/CTabatabaie/status/1857998245093384498">called</a> Poeltl "one of the best players in the league."According to his own coach, Poeltl has found a more forceful side of himself on the court in addition to finding his voice in the locker room."The team is finding him, and he's playing really well in pick-and-rolls," Rajakovic said after Poeltl's performance against the Pacers. "He's getting better at reading when defenses are going over or under (screens) and finding his pocket pass. He's playing with more force - going downhill and trying to dunk in some of those situations. That's a testament to his work and everything he did over the course of the summer."Rajakovic added he needed to have "a lot" of conversations with Poeltl about playing with that force. "'Jak, you can dunk the ball. Jak, you can be a lob threat. Jak, do this. Jak, do that.' Over and over again," Rajakovic told theScore. "He didn't believe. He started to question it. He's believing it more and more now. There were definitely a lot of conversations, a lot of film, and a lot of work. Credit to him being coachable and making progress."That progress, and Poeltl's start to the season, are a reminder that a player's development doesn't abruptly stop in his mid-20s. A nine-year veteran can still improve and have more to offer going forward.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756118/cropped_GettyImages-2184859544.jpg?ts=1732153198" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756118/w220xh124_GettyImages-2184859544.jpg?ts=1732153198 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756118/w320xh180_GettyImages-2184859544.jpg?ts=1732153198 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756118/w640xh360_GettyImages-2184859544.jpg?ts=1732153198 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756118/w768xh432_GettyImages-2184859544.jpg?ts=1732153198 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756118/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2184859544.jpg?ts=1732153198 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Vaughn Ridley / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>From Poeltl's perspective, his early-season breakout has more to do with his teammates and his role as a hub in Rajakovic's faster, movement-heavy offense than any personal overhaul."Maybe there's a bit of a mindset change for me personally, but I think more than anything, I'm getting more opportunities within the flow of our offense. Our guys are finding me," Poeltl told theScore. "I'm catching a rhythm because I'm getting a couple easy ones. It feels more comfortable like I have more of a flow. And it's easier to, every now and then, maybe break out of a play if I feel like I see something or to be more aggressive in a certain situation. To me, it doesn't feel like I'm doing that much differently. I think the opportunities just present themselves in a different way than they used to."To Poeltl's point, through 15 games, he ranked 42nd leaguewide in touches per game (sandwiched between Paul George and Ja Morant), 23rd in front-court touches (between Tyrese Haliburton and Jimmy Butler), and was second only to Jokic in elbow touches, according to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/touches?PerMode=PerGame&amp;DateTo=11%2F20%2F2024">NBA.com</a>.<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Poeltl's per game averages" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-J4QSL" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/J4QSL/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="258" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>The elephant in the room here is that although Rajakovic is finally getting to use Poeltl in the ways he envisioned as an elbow hub, this has mostly transpired while All-Star Scottie Barnes and starting point guard Immanuel Quickley have been sidelined. Poeltl recently referenced how well guard Davion Mitchell and swingman RJ Barrett have been playing with him - and off of him - in pick-and-roll actions. Though Poeltl will understandably be featured less when the team is at full strength, Rajakovic must ensure he keeps the offense flowing through him on some level when Barnes and Quickley return.Looking toward a loaded 2025 draft <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3105674" href="https://thescore.com/news/3105674">is tempting</a>, but it's also important for the Raptors to figure out what they have at full strength. This season's presumed starting lineup - featuring Quickley, Gradey Dick, Barnes, Barrett, and Poeltl - hasn't played together since last season when the quintet shared the court for just four minutes.Given the strides Dick <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3120279" href="https://thescore.com/news/3120279">has made</a> as a scorer, Barrett as a playmaker, and Poeltl as a more pronounced offensive weapon, Toronto might have something worth building on once incorporating Barnes and Quickley."If (Poeltl) continues like this, we're going to have another All-Star," Rajakovic said after Poeltl wrapped up a three-game stretch in which he averaged 30 points and 15 rebounds. The thing with Poeltl is that he doesn't have to be an All-Star, just like he doesn't have to expand his shooting range to fit in with the modern game.He may not produce like young Shaq going forward, but Poeltl's the type of solid, all-around big man every team needs. He's a legit 7-footer who can anchor a defense from the back end (provided there's competent defensive play in front of him). Poeltl is arguably the league's best screener, a smart and capable playmaker from the elbows, incredibly efficient in the paint, and a monster on the offensive glass.If the Raptors trade him to expedite their rebuild or because he no longer aligns with the team's timeline, Toronto will likely spend years trying to find a big man who checks all the boxes Poeltl does."I think I can play a lot of different roles out there. Obviously, I'm not going to be a stretch big or anything like that. But I can be more involved, I can be a secondary option, I can be someone that just helps get teammates open and gets the flow of the offense going. It's definitely something I pride myself on," Poeltl said. "Different teams, different stages of NBA teams - we're a very young team, a new team right now - require different things. I just try to do what I think is best out there for our team."<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756450/cropped_GettyImages-2177926483.jpg?ts=1732139022" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756450/w220xh124_GettyImages-2177926483.jpg?ts=1732139022 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756450/w320xh180_GettyImages-2177926483.jpg?ts=1732139022 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756450/w640xh360_GettyImages-2177926483.jpg?ts=1732139022 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756450/w768xh432_GettyImages-2177926483.jpg?ts=1732139022 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/756450/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2177926483.jpg?ts=1732139022 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Vaughn Ridley / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>A low-maintenance player who checks all those boxes, understands his role, and is set to earn just 12.6% of the salary cap next season is one to be treasured, regardless of where a team resides in its competitive cycle. That's why Raptors president Masai Ujiri has said he views Poeltl as the type of player who fits in Toronto, regardless of the franchise's direction.That may not be what some fans want to hear, but it makes plenty of sense.Given that the Raptors' combination of youth and an early-season injury bug has them near the bottom of the standings, Ujiri shouldn't have to worry about an unintentional playoff run spoiling his lottery plans. The woeful Eastern Conference and a return to health could keep the Raptors in a postseason race longer than the front office feels comfortable, but it's still no time to panic-trade a player like Poeltl just to inch closer to the maximum 14% odds of winning the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes. Not unless an offer is too outrageous to pass up.In other words, don't be surprised if Poeltl's around for the long haul. Such a development should be met with excitement by Raptors fans, not dismay.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/29113902/related

Here for the long haul? Selling high on Poeltl isn't Raptors' only option

Well, this Hollywood story has officially jumped the shark.  It was one thing to use a late secon...

Well, this Hollywood story has officially jumped the shark.It was one thing to use a late second-round <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2932588" href="https://thescore.com/news/2932588">draft pick</a> on Bronny James - there have been far more wasteful uses of draft capital, although players drafted in the 50s rarely secure immediate guaranteed contracts, as James did. I even understood why LeBron's son began the season with the big club, allowing LeBron and Bronny to officially become the first father-son duo in league history on opening night, and paving the way for James to score his first points in his hometown of Cleveland.It all seemed especially reasonable when the Lakers announced James would report to the team's G League affiliate, the South Bay Lakers, following Los Angeles' early-season road trip. But the latest report indicates that everyone involved in this charade has lost the plot: James will only play in South Bay's home games, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst. "He's not getting on United Airlines and going to fly and play in these road games," Windhorst <a href="https://youtu.be/pgr8t8aKVjY?si=RsdoK2C4rMjfZLO6&amp;t=1410">said</a> on "The Hoop Collective" podcast.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>That decision won't be well received, and why would it be?Once the early-season milestones were out of the way, the Lakers should've worked on normalizing this obviously abnormal and unprecedented situation as much as possible. Not for the sake of public opinion, but for James' future as a professional. Lakers head coach JJ Redick cited the rookie as an important developmental player for the franchise, noting that James is the first player the Lakers will get to "mold and develop" under Redick's watch. Yet nothing about this current arrangement seems good for that development.The preexisting knocks on James' game have been on display in his 16 minutes (of mostly garbage time) scattered across six games. His size (6-foot-2) is an issue, he hasn't been able to create separation with the ball in his hands, and he's missed five of his six shots from the field. In other words: he's clearly not NBA-ready. And that's fine. Most 20-year-olds drafted late in the second round aren't, let alone ones coming off a brief collegiate career derailed by a life-threatening medical emergency.James' work ethic and coachability are by all accounts commendable, and there are potential 3-and-D skills that can be honed. But he needs professional game reps, not just NBA practice time and courtside pep talks. Those reps will only be available to him in the G League, where James scored six points on 2-of-9 shooting in his debut. He also recorded four assists, three rebounds, two steals, a block, and committed five turnovers in 31 minutes.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755387/cropped_GettyImages-2183839208.jpg?ts=1731620148" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755387/w220xh124_GettyImages-2183839208.jpg?ts=1731620148 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755387/w320xh180_GettyImages-2183839208.jpg?ts=1731620148 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755387/w640xh360_GettyImages-2183839208.jpg?ts=1731620148 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755387/w768xh432_GettyImages-2183839208.jpg?ts=1731620148 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/755387/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2183839208.jpg?ts=1731620148 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Adam Pantozzi / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>On some level, the Lakers must understand this. If the team believed being around the NBA club was more beneficial than G League game action, he wouldn't be going back and forth at all. And spare me any half-baked theories about this being the best of both worlds. Such hybrid arrangements work for more game-ready prospects who just need a little seasoning, not long-term projects like James. 2022 second-round pick Max Christie played 12.5 minutes per game as a rookie for the 2022-23 Lakers (James is playing 2.7), but still suited up for G League road games as part of his 15 assignments to South Bay that year. James isn't as NBA-ready as Christie appeared in his early-season run as a rookie, so what's the difference? Whatever the reason or intention, this news will be met with an assumption that the rigors of G League road life are beneath him. How will that fly with James' part-time teammates in a league full of grinders trying to scrape their way to the NBA? Or with his peers in the Association who aren't wearing purple and gold-colored glasses?The Lakers don't owe anyone an explanation, but they also have to accept the tidal wave of criticism coming if they remain silent on the reasons for this.While it's impossible to know who made the final decision, one can reasonably assume LeBron was at least consulted. And LeBron's primary concern should be his son, not the opinions of others. But even so, a basketball savant of his stature has to know this isn't the ideal setup when Bronny desperately needs development time.James obviously isn't a typical G Leaguer, and flying commercial would surely present challenges for a young man as famous and recognizable as he is. In addition, G League teams (and some facilities) aren't used to the circus that accompanies a James appearance. But it's certainly doable. Not to evoke the basketball ghost LeBron has spent decades chasing, but Michael Jordan literally <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1509848/">rode the bus</a> during his infamous stint as a minor-league baseball player. Sure, that was a simpler time, before social media existed, but the Lakers, South Bay, and the G League could easily figure it out. There's simply no good excuse for this.Drafting Bronny was a feel-good story, even if there were plenty of cynics who disagreed. Ditto for his opening-night appearance and his bucket in Cleveland. This latest chapter seems like a lose-lose for everyone, though.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA writer.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/29030689/related

Bronny's work from home arrangement benefits no one

What a difference a year makes.  Last November, the Toronto Raptors sent Gradey Dick to the G Lea...

What a difference a year makes.Last November, the Toronto Raptors sent Gradey Dick to the G League. The then-19-year-old rookie looked like a deer in headlights in limited early-season action. It was painfully clear Dick needed to add muscle and strength while getting up to speed with the NBA game.There's obviously still room to grow for the now 20-year-old sophomore, as evidenced by his late turnovers in Monday's loss to the Denver Nuggets and his foul trouble in Wednesday's loss to the Sacramento Kings. But through two weeks of the season, Dick looks like one of the NBA's most improved players.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div><figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Gradey Dick" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-o13Dv" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/o13Dv/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="256" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>Though Dick looked more the part of an NBA player in the second half of last season, this kind of year-to-year jump was inconceivable. Dick now has the league's third-best odds to win Most Improved Player, according to theScore Bet. He didn't even have the third-shortest odds on his own team entering the season. (Scottie Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, and RJ Barrett were all seen as more likely.)The raw numbers, although quite impressive, don't begin to describe Dick's astonishing early-season run. Only 19 sophomores over the last 58 years have matched Dick's combination of usage and shooting efficiency, according to <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=year_id&amp;year_min=1968&amp;qual=pts_per_g_req&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=23.9&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=usg_pct&amp;ccomp%5B2%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B2%5D=0.584&amp;cstat%5B2%5D=ts_pct&amp;season_end=2">Stathead</a>. Only seven have done so while being qualified 3-point <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=year_id&amp;year_min=1968&amp;qual=fg3_pct_req&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=23.9&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=usg_pct&amp;ccomp%5B2%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B2%5D=0.584&amp;cstat%5B2%5D=ts_pct&amp;season_end=2">shooters</a>.You might argue two weeks is too small a sample to compare Dick to what sophomores like Steph Curry did over a full campaign. Fair enough. Well, here's a list of sophomores since 1982 who've averaged at least 21 points per game on 60% true shooting through the first eight games of a season:<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Sophomore surge" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-gCzc6" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gCzc6/4/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="337" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>Even if you include Dick's stinker in Sacramento, his true shooting percentage would still rank 12th among the <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-span-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=ts_pct&amp;timeframe=seasons&amp;span_length=9&amp;span_type=season_start&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=20&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=pts_per_g&amp;season_start=2&amp;season_end=2">50</a> sophomores (since 1982-83) who've averaged 20 points over the first nine games of a season. You can find him just ahead of Zion Williamson and Karl-Anthony Towns on that list. Could Dick merely be enjoying a random hot streak? I suppose, but history suggests players this young don't do what he's doing without becoming All-Stars.That Dick is doing this at all is worth praise, but it's doubly impressive when you consider he's been a focal point of opposing defenses thanks to various Raptors injuries and a dearth of offensive talent around him. He's not feasting on a barrage of open jumpers. He's scoring efficiently with virtually <a href="https://x.com/samfolkk/status/1852740642004172975">no space</a> to operate or margin for error. He's also shown rapid improvement in attacking closeouts, putting the ball on the floor, drawing fouls, and finishing inside the arc. There's still plenty of room for improvement at the rim, but that'll come with added strength.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753643/cropped_GettyImages-2182344745.jpg?ts=1730933729" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753643/w220xh124_GettyImages-2182344745.jpg?ts=1730933729 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753643/w320xh180_GettyImages-2182344745.jpg?ts=1730933729 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753643/w640xh360_GettyImages-2182344745.jpg?ts=1730933729 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753643/w768xh432_GettyImages-2182344745.jpg?ts=1730933729 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753643/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2182344745.jpg?ts=1730933729 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Bart Young / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Dick's job will get easier (and his usage will decrease) when Barnes and Quickley return. More importantly, Dick's nonstop movement, shooting prowess, and the defensive attention it all commands will make life easier for Barnes, the team's offensive hub. Only Curry is using more possessions per game coming off of screens than Dick, and only three players have been more efficient off screens, according to <a href="https://www.nba.com/stats/players/off-screen?dir=D&amp;sort=POSS">NBA.com</a>.These reps on a shorthanded Raptors team are invaluable, and Dick is passing the test with flying colors. Beyond the scoring, he has shown a feel for the game beyond his years. As his body continues to fill out and he's less liable to get bullied, the 6-foot-6 Kansas product should serve as a passable defender and good rebounder.Put it all together and Dick already had the makings of a solid rotation player, if not a longtime starter. What he's shown thus far as a sophomore is the stuff of a budding star. That's the kind of leap that can transform a <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3105674" href="https://thescore.com/news/3105674">rebuild</a>.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28944048/related

Is Gradey Dick making a star leap?

It's too early in the NBA season to draw any sweeping conclusions, but we've seen enough to at le...

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10 observations from the first 2 weeks of the NBA season

TORONTO – In a 30th-anniversary season billed around celebrating the past and looking to the futu...

TORONTO – In a 30th-anniversary season billed around celebrating the past and looking to <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3105674" href="https://thescore.com/news/3105674">the future</a> rather than obsessing over the present, this was the one game every Raptors fan circled on their calendars.A matchup between Toronto and the Sacramento Kings - featuring Raptors all-time leading scorer DeMar DeRozan - was merely a footnote. The main event took place at halftime when Vince Carter's No. 15 became the first jersey retired by the Raptors.Amidst an overtime thriller won by the home team, Carter, now 47, reminded us that no one has ever commanded the city's basketball crowd - or held the fan base's emotions in the palm of his hands - quite like him. That feeling is clearly mutual.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Carter was arguably the biggest star and most world-renowned athlete to ever wear Toronto across his chest. As a Raptor, he turned Toronto into a basketball city, one that suddenly roared as loud on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons as it did on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hockey_Night_in_Canada">Saturday evenings</a>. As a Net (and Magic, Sun, and Maverick), he evoked a measure (and volume) of vitriol that perhaps no NBA star since has earned, not even LeBron James upon his first return to Cleveland with the Heat.As any jilted lover will admit, such levels of hatred are only reserved for those who were once loved just as fervently. That's why it meant so much to Carter when Raptors fans finally <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEiMfVQ3y94">embraced</a> him again as part of the franchise's 20th-anniversary celebrations in 2014.Recalling that 2014 <a href="https://youtu.be/2-g_H6c3lNM?si=8fw_Nyb1QtwZDCum">tribute</a> in a pregame press conference Saturday afternoon, a sobbing Carter needed a nearly 40-second break to gather himself."Throughout the years leading up to it, you saw highlights and videos, and I enjoyed those moments, but there's something about seeing those highlights in this building because that's where they were created," he told reporters.If you thought that decade-old moment was cathartic for Carter and the Raptors, the last month has been immeasurably purifying. From the jersey retirement announcement during the refurbishing of Vince Carter Court, to the Hall of Fame induction speech given "as a Raptor," to the unveiling of a mural and plane in Carter's honor, Carter's tears at every stop have been impossible to ignore."Have you seen me lately?" Carter joked about his recent public displays of emotion. "I feel like my emotions speak louder than words. It tells the story."Going from where we started to where we are, trying to put that in perspective is what fills my heart. I have great appreciation for all of this. I think that's why I'm so damn emotional. All those feelings are splattered on that Carter 15 tonight."<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753213/cropped_GettyImages-2181901401.jpg?ts=1730597580" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753213/w220xh124_GettyImages-2181901401.jpg?ts=1730597580 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753213/w320xh180_GettyImages-2181901401.jpg?ts=1730597580 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753213/w640xh360_GettyImages-2181901401.jpg?ts=1730597580 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753213/w768xh432_GettyImages-2181901401.jpg?ts=1730597580 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/753213/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2181901401.jpg?ts=1730597580 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Mark Blinch / Getty Images Sport / Getty</figcaption></figure>The emotional <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3083156" href="https://thescore.com/news/3083156">roller coaster</a> Carter took Raptors fans on over the last quarter-century helps explain his unorthodox <a href="https://x.com/tim_micallef/status/1852887809377358077">reaction</a> to a jersey retirement. As an energized Carter interacted with the crowd, he looked more like an eight-time All-Star ready to check in than a middle-aged man here for a halftime ceremony.As Carter asked an already deafening crowd for more and let out a guttural scream he's been suppressing for decades, you could almost close your eyes in 2024 and open them in the year <a href="https://youtu.be/-vZfjA7kuMQ?si=fpb56XsScBg6nnCK&amp;t=267">2000</a>, with Carter putting on a show for the team's first U.S. national TV appearance. Or <a href="https://youtu.be/e8-jyxOuGYE?si=zB8TnPxFty9pwVSH&amp;t=373">2001</a>, after he dropped 50 points on Allen Iverson's 76ers in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.Before Carter had even said a word to the present-day crowd, he had Scotiabank Arena rocking in a way it hasn't in a while. It turns out he can just as easily electrify Toronto in a suit and dress shoes as he could in a jersey and a pair of <a href="https://youtu.be/fRvFh_-H_LE?si=A7x5H7TbdNcdBW-f">Shox</a>.However, the most emotional moment of Carter's whirlwind month was one that seemed especially implausible a couple of decades ago. Back then, the discourse surrounding the removal of a team-issued parking spot for Carter's mother served as the most toxic low point in his relationship with the organization and its fans. On Saturday, Vince and Michelle Carter stood arm in arm and tearfully watched as their family name and Vince's image rose high above an adoring crowd.<figure class="article-segment--embed"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Vince Carter and his mother Michelle... what a SPECIAL moment 💜 <a href="https://t.co/QrTLfkByI6">pic.twitter.com/QrTLfkByI6</a>— NBA (@NBA) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBA/status/1852883353994661974?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 3, 2024</a>
</blockquote> <script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></figure>Earlier in the day, Carter spoke of how this entire experience could serve as a way to wrap his Raptors saga with a bow. That scene is how you put a bow on this 25-year odyssey."I understood a long time ago that if you have an appreciation for something - if you love something - and people don't see it, be patient, because it's going to shine through," Carter said during a pregame press conference. Whatever bitterness may linger in some circles, the mutual appreciation between him and the city he still calls his second home certainly shone through Saturday.Just as he did in his playing days, both as a fan favorite and a loathed visitor, Vince Carter delivered the must-watch moment of a Raptors season.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28899548/related

25 years on, no one stirs a Raptors crowd like Vince Carter

If someone had told you in 2003 that Vince Carter's No. 15 would be the first jersey retired by t...

If someone had told you in 2003 that Vince Carter's No. 15 would be the first jersey retired by the Toronto Raptors, no one would've batted an eye. Of course, Carter's contentious 2004 exit and the events that preceded his midseason trade to New Jersey changed the equation. The perennial All-Star left behind a complicated and polarizing legacy.Two decades later, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3082062" href="https://thescore.com/news/3082062">news</a> that the Raptors will bestow Carter with this unprecedented honor has been met with understandable debate. But those still fighting this reconciliation need to let it go.RELATED: <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3087634" href="https://thescore.com/news/3087634">Half-man, half-amazing: Carter's top 10 dunks</a><div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>No one's defending the way Carter handled his final days in Toronto. He half-heartedly pledged to stop dunking, he reportedly tipped off opponents about what game-ending play the Raptors were about to run, and he later admitted that he didn't always push himself as hard as he should have.That attitude, and Carter's injury history at the time, played a role in the Raptors settling for perhaps the <a href="https://youtu.be/boW-Go76Zu0?si=fqNeRPAsKkFaI6_d">worst</a> trade return for an All-Star in NBA history. Carter then made matters infinitely worse by playing some of his best basketball as a member of the Nets. He took great pleasure in saving his most <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2PeB0ufbPo">dramatic</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/7LalLq9ysII?si=u7JvzvVz0vVgRExG">road</a> <a href="https://youtu.be/X9_czj7M3DM?si=IFAkiGBT1pV-2gnS">heroics</a> for the Air Canada Centre, an arena he'd helped <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsKT_waryXQ&amp;t=40s">christen</a> only a few years earlier.<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Carter's 2004-05 season" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-AD0IC" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/AD0IC/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="237" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>No matter how <a href="https://forums.redflagdeals.com/yet-another-reason-fire-babcock-156256/">inept</a> the mid-aughts Raptors front office was or what was going on behind the scenes to disgruntle Carter (like the team taking his mother's parking spot away), the way he handled it was inexcusable. Few players have earned the level of <a href="https://youtu.be/4gp1tu-zYgc?si=0dkzO433F3EKgpP1&amp;t=36">vitriol</a> hurled Carter's way the first few times he returned to Toronto. So this decision wasn't exactly cut and dried, especially with only one playoff series victory to show for all the Carter-era drama.But the franchise wasn't blameless in how the relationship deteriorated and ultimately ended.Over the last decade, the hatchet has mostly been buried between the player and team, with boos turning to <a href="https://youtu.be/2-g_H6c3lNM?si=Fp12q22_0SVrcGrd">cheers</a> during the franchise's 20th anniversary season. Carter has also acknowledged the younger version of himself could've handled things better and stated unequivocally that he'll represent Toronto when he's inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame next month.What better time to rise above the pettiness and hang Carter's jersey?Some, including people within the walls of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, <a href="https://www.tsn.ca/sources-toronto-raptors-to-retire-vince-carter-s-jersey-on-nov-2-1.2178142">believe</a> franchise icon Kyle Lowry should have his No. 7 retired first. That would've been a tremendous gesture if Lowry had retired at the end of last season. In that case, raising Lowry's jersey to open the season and hanging Carter's next to it a week later would've made sense.But Lowry is still active, Carter is set to become the first true Raptors Hall of Famer (all due respect to Hakeem Olajuwon, Tracy McGrady, and Chris Bosh), and the franchise is preparing to celebrate its 30th anniversary season. The timing for Carter just feels right.It also would've been embarrassing for all involved if Carter's jersey hung in Brooklyn, of all places, before it did in Canada. (The Nets will retire Carter's jersey in January.)<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/408387/cropped_GettyImages-3061387.jpg?ts=1727208259" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/408387/w220xh124_GettyImages-3061387.jpg?ts=1727208259 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/408387/w320xh180_GettyImages-3061387.jpg?ts=1727208259 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/408387/w640xh360_GettyImages-3061387.jpg?ts=1727208259 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/408387/w768xh432_GettyImages-3061387.jpg?ts=1727208259 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/408387/w1080xh607_GettyImages-3061387.jpg?ts=1727208259 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Sam Forencich / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Carter may not be the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///nba/players/4200" href="https://thescore.com/nba/players/4200">best</a> Raptor ever, and he no longer boasts the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///nba/players/160" href="https://thescore.com/nba/players/160">greatest</a> Raptors resume, but he was the franchise's first megastar. He brought a desperately needed measure of relevance and respectability to a burgeoning team north of the border at a time when the country was losing professional sports teams from Vancouver to Montreal.I don't believe the Raptors would've gone the way of the Grizzlies without Carter, but Toronto's development as a basketball city undoubtedly got a boost from the hysteria of Vinsanity. Fans of a certain age will never forget where they were the first time the Raptors appeared on U.S. national television, with NBC's iconic "Roundball Rock" giving way to shots of the Toronto skyline and scenes <a href="https://www.youtube.com/live/j6yDGNTyyzg?si=pF6crIs2mZkSSJwR">inside</a> the Air Canada Centre. Carter then dropped 51 points on the Phoenix Suns.Two weeks earlier, Carter had put his stamp on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OJMLCF5oK4">Slam Dunk contest</a> history. The ensuing years saw him become the All-Star Game's leading vote-getter, with No. 15 Raptors jerseys appearing in rap videos and countless other mainstream settings.Future Raptors legends like Lowry and DeMar DeRozan may have usurped Carter in terms of on-court success, but no one who's ever worn a Raptors uniform - save for perhaps Kawhi Leonard during the team's 2019 championship run - has ever been as popular or must-watch as Carter was around the turn of the century. You could argue no Toronto sports figure has ever been as internationally renowned as Carter was then.That level of stardom sparked a Canadian basketball boom that's still reverberating today. Such lasting impact far outweighs any ill will created in Carter's last year as a Raptor.There's something to be said for what's now a championship organization, on the cusp of celebrating a milestone anniversary, burying any petty disputes of the past - closing the book on an era defined by an inferiority complex. This isn't 2004. Times have changed. Vince Carter and the Toronto Raptors have changed, their rabid fan base included.What better way to celebrate that, the first true Hall of Famer in franchise history, and all the memories made in the house that Vince built than by raising Carter's number to the rafters and letting it hang forever in the rarified air where he soared.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28458107/related

Vince Carter's No. 15 belongs in Toronto's rafters

The Toronto Raptors' season is only a week old, but with All-Star forward Scottie Barnes sideline...

The Toronto Raptors' season is only a week old, but with All-Star forward Scottie Barnes sidelined for at least three weeks with a right orbital fracture, fans should brace themselves for a long November.Barnes' injury takes the wind out of the sails of a young team that's looked surprisingly competitive over its last three games - a home win over the equally banged-up 76ers, a hard-fought loss to the Timberwolves in Minnesota, and an overtime loss to Nikola Jokic's Nuggets. It also moves the Raptors' target date for finally reaching full strength to nearly the quarter-season mark.While Barnes, sophomore swingman Gradey Dick, and starting center Jakob Poeltl suited up for the first four regular-season games, the Raps have been far from whole. RJ Barrett made his season debut in Monday's loss to Denver after missing time because of a sprained shoulder suffered in Toronto's preseason opener. Immanuel Quickley has yet to return from a pelvic bruise sustained in the second quarter of the season-opening loss to the Cavaliers. Injured rookie Ja'Kobe Walter and veterans Kelly Olynyk and Bruce Brown have watched every regular-season game in street clothes (and, in the latter case, a <a href="https://x.com/samfolkk/status/1851077404539723898">cowboy hat</a>) from the sidelines.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>More than half of head coach Darko Rajakovic's projected rotation has already missed time. Toronto's presumed starting lineup - Quickley, Dick, Barrett, Barnes, and Poeltl - hasn't shared the court at all this season. Dating back to last year, that quintet's logged a grand total of four minutes together.As a big, athletic forward, Barnes is in the mold of a durable star. His recent injuries aren't the concerning, long-term type; they've resulted from freak occurrences like an elbow to the eye or an accidental kick to the hand. But between this season's orbital fracture and a broken finger last March, the 23-year-old will get to late November having missed 33 of his team's last 37 games. Even for a <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3105674" href="https://thescore.com/news/3105674">rebuilding</a> Raptors squad with a season-long eye on the draft lottery, it's imperative to get Barnes as many minutes as possible in his new role as the franchise's go-to guy and lots of experience playing with other core members of the rebuild like Dick, Quickley, Barrett, and this season's rookies.Perhaps one silver lining of the Raptors' latest injury setback is that those rookies - who have acclimated themselves surprisingly well - will continue getting development opportunities in meaningful situations rather than garbage time. Then again, most of Toronto's minutes over the next three Barnes-less weeks might constitute garbage time. One look at the Raptors' upcoming schedule tells you things are about to get ugly. Even with Barnes in the lineup, the Raptors might've been favored in just one of the 11 games before he's re-evaluated (hint: it's the one against the Pistons).<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Upcoming schedule" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-N94fJ" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/N94fJ/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="278" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>Though no one wants to see Barnes sidelined, some Raptors fans will find solace in the fact this development should boost the team's lottery odds. Perhaps it's possible to catch projected cellar dwellers like the Nets, Wizards, and Trailblazers in the season-long race to the bottom. However, it might be tough to keep that potential advantage in perspective as the short-term losses pile up.It's going to be a brutal few weeks for the Raptors. They can only hope the development time - and the lottery payoff - will be worth it in the long run.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

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November pain: Raps face brutal stretch without Barnes

"We're going to play to win, but it is a rebuilding team. I think everybody sees that, loud and c...

"We're going to play to win, but it is a rebuilding team. I think everybody sees that, loud and clear." With that, Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri set, or rather tempered, expectations for the team's 30th anniversary season weeks before the campaign tipped off. Ujiri's media day proclamation was significant, as it marked the first time in his 12-year tenure as Raptors boss that he openly acknowledged Toronto as a rebuilding squad to start the season.Even in Ujiri's first year on the job, when it was an open secret that the Raptors intended to tank ahead of a 2014 draft that featured Toronto-area product Andrew Wiggins and future MVP Joel Embiid, he never used the R word. Ujiri instead vowed to evaluate things before making any rash decisions. The December 2013 trade that shipped Rudy Gay to Sacramento was supposed to expedite the race to the bottom, but the Raptors rallied behind Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, sparking the "We The North" era - a run of seven consecutive playoff berths that ultimately culminated in the 2019 championship.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>During that long quest to the summit, Ujiri only used words like "retooling." When the painful descent back to earth began in 2020, he pivoted but never completely wiped the slate. The Raptors had no intention of turning their COVID season in Tampa Bay into a tank job until circumstances forced their hand. When lottery luck smiled upon them and delivered the 2021 pick that turned into future All-Star Scottie Barnes, the front office envisioned a bridge between two successful eras. Barnes' Rookie of the Year campaign and a 48-win season in 2021-22 fit that Spurs-like script.But the two seasons that followed did not. The same dogged commitment to giving his teams a fighting chance finally backfired on Ujiri. A splintering play-in squad actually traded a first-round pick during the 2022-23 season, and the 2023-24 Raptors - who squeezed value out of an OG Anunoby trade but waited too long to deal Pascal Siakam - couldn't fully bottom-out while still owing a protected first-rounder to San Antonio.Now, with control of all their future picks, a loaded 2025 draft class looming, and a Barnes-led core of 25-and-under talent, Ujiri's Raptors can no longer hide from the inevitable. This is a team built for the lottery, not the postseason.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/583509/cropped_GettyImages-1240544394.jpg?ts=1715721719" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/583509/w220xh124_GettyImages-1240544394.jpg?ts=1715721719 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/583509/w320xh180_GettyImages-1240544394.jpg?ts=1715721719 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/583509/w640xh360_GettyImages-1240544394.jpg?ts=1715721719 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/583509/w768xh432_GettyImages-1240544394.jpg?ts=1715721719 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/583509/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1240544394.jpg?ts=1715721719 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Vaughn Ridley / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>"When teams go through this, you go out and set the tone for how you play and how you want the culture of your team to be, and you hope for the best. But we all know what reality is in this league - the draft is a way for us to build teams and acquire players, especially in a market like ours," Ujiri told reporters on media day. Weeks later, Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic told reporters on opening night that the team will be "focusing on the process over the outcome" this season. While Rajakovic's staff is no doubt committed to player development and setting the tone for a brighter future, his words (and Ujiri's) are NBA parlance for "lottery odds mean more than wins right now."That doesn't mean the goal out of the gates will be to lose as many games as possible. An Ujiri-led organization will always have too much pride to be that shameless.But the league's schedule-makers may have given Toronto an unintentional assist. Using last year's records, no team has a tougher <a href="https://x.com/keerthikau/status/1824444901049647279">schedule</a> over the first seven weeks of the season leading up to the NBA Cup's knockout rounds.The Raptors don't need things to go off the rails to come out of that 25-game stretch with less than 10 wins, or to head into 2025 with something like 10 or 11 victories from their first 31 contests. But if things do go haywire, it could get downright ugly. Case in point, a Raps team already missing RJ Barrett, Kelly Olynyk, Bruce Brown, and 19th overall pick Ja'Kobe Walter in its season opener against Cleveland lost Immanuel Quickley to a pelvic bruise in the second quarter. The result was a 30-point shellacking in front of their home crowd.As one Raptors staffer quipped to me while we crossed paths shortly after the final buzzer, "Get used to it."<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Raptors 2024-25 schedule breakdown" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-LIVDi" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/LIVDi/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="118" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>Even in a losing season, the Raptors will need to produce more excitement and entertainment than they did in their dreadful opener if they want to foster goodwill with the fans. But a strategic step back, a rebuild, or a tank - whatever you want to call it - should be an easier sell to those fans if the Raptors emerge from the first half of their schedule the way any honest observer would expect.Beyond truly deplorable teams in Washington and Brooklyn, Toronto's early-season schedule could put the Raptors in pole position for the third and final top lottery spot (though Portland may have something to say about that), which comes with a 14% chance of winning the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes.If things break the way they should, the Raptors' front office won't have to worry about being in the awkward position Utah found itself the last couple of years, when overachieving teams had their legs cut out from under them midseason. And Raptors leadership has already softened the blow of what's likely to come.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/635707/cropped_GettyImages-1928399828.jpg?ts=1720120151" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/635707/w220xh124_GettyImages-1928399828.jpg?ts=1720120151 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/635707/w320xh180_GettyImages-1928399828.jpg?ts=1720120151 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/635707/w640xh360_GettyImages-1928399828.jpg?ts=1720120151 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/635707/w768xh432_GettyImages-1928399828.jpg?ts=1720120151 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/635707/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1928399828.jpg?ts=1720120151 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Cole Burston / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Of course, the 2013-14 Raptors remind us that there are no guarantees. Even the best-laid plans for futility can be sidetracked by a team coalescing at the right time or arriving ahead of schedule. And there are reasons for optimism.Barnes enters the season as the undisputed franchise player for the first time after earning an All-Star selection as a 22-year-old last winter. Quickley, whose combination of shooting and playmaking makes him a perfect fit beside Barnes, enters the campaign as a full-time starter for the first time in his career. Barrett is coming off the best stretch of his career in the second half of last season and an impressive showing with Team Canada at the Olympics. Gradey Dick, whose size and shooting abilities are a tantalizing combo, looks more confident and complete than he did a year ago.If those four youngsters and starting center Jakob Poeltl can ever be healthy at the same time, Toronto's starting five has the makings of a balanced and competitive unit. Meanwhile, second-round rookie guard Jamal Shead looks like he belongs (and like a future fan favorite).Those bright spots, a much easier second-half schedule, and a comically inept bottom half of the East could conspire to keep the Raptors in the play-in race for the duration of the season. But this front office is finally displaying the self-awareness required to properly execute a rebuild, and it's unlikely to be tempted by any fool's gold.An unforgiving schedule over the next couple of months should drive the point home."Every game is an amazing opportunity for us to go out there and compete, and to learn," Rajakovic said on opening night. "Obviously when you're playing against more experienced and better teams, that's asking for more of your preparation - to give more and to compete against those teams. But you also learn what you need to work on and how to improve as a team."If Wednesday's opener against a playoff-tested Cavs team was any indication, there's a lot to learn, and even more ground to make up. Ujiri and Co. surely realize internal improvements alone won't get them there."We have a clear path now going forward," Ujiri said on media day. All signs point to that path - and the schedule - taking the Raptors to the top of the lottery before it takes them back to the top of the East.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

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The Raptors' early-season schedule should help their rebuilding plans

Dynasties have historically ruled the NBA, but we're in an era of nearly unprecedented parity tha...

Dynasties have historically ruled the NBA, but we're in an era of nearly unprecedented parity that's produced six different champions over the last six years. This coming season features another deep and diverse field of contenders. We're laying out reasons to believe in them and reasons to doubt them.Part 1 featured the <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3093497">Eastern and Western Conference favorites</a>. Part 2 examined the next tier of <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3096324" href="https://thescore.com/news/3096324">West contenders</a>. Last up, a crop of secondary contenders in the East.<h3>New York Knicks</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/cropped_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w220xh124_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w320xh180_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w640xh360_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w768xh432_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749482/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2176275674.jpg?ts=1728660174 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Brock Williams-Smith / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: The Knicks are looking at their best chance in decades of ending pro basketball's most famous drought. The Eastern Conference's second-best team a season ago added one of the most skilled offensive big men ever in Karl-Anthony Towns, as well as one of the best (and most malleable) two-way wings in basketball in Mikal Bridges.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Towns' shooting and overall offensive skill set should give Jalen Brunson and Co. more room to operate than ever before. For a secondary scorer and floor spacer, it doesn't get much better than a 7-footer with a career mark of 39.8% from deep. Towns is an almost perfect offensive fit, capable of sleepwalking his way to 20 points while also warping opposing defenses without touching the ball.Though his defense can be a mixed bag, Towns' sheer size is more in line with traditional defensive centers, giving head coach Tom Thibodeau a feasible option to start the season while Mitchell Robinson remains sidelined.Bridges not only gives the Knicks another capable scorer, shot creator, and off-ball threat as a shooter, but also a second elite defensive wing to pair with OG Anunoby. In that duo, the Knicks are better equipped than anyone to slow the type of stars who will often serve as the opposing team's best players.As for New York's best player, Brunson's size and defensive concerns don't usually lend themselves to postseason success, but it's impossible to argue against the All-Star guard's playoff resume at this point. As a Knick, Brunson has looked plenty capable of being the type of superstar who can lead his team to the mountaintop, and he's never had a supporting cast this loaded.Reasons to doubt: For starters, Towns is still prone to bouts of tepid play, indecisiveness, and poor decision-making, especially in the season's biggest moments. The margin for error against Boston and the top of the East is too slim for the Knicks to survive the spring getting anything less than Towns' best.In addition, while New York's top six (the starting five plus Josh Hart) is as impressive and balanced as anyone's, the rest of the rotation is murky. Is Miles McBride ready to be the type of star reserve Knicks fans envision? Can a Thibodeau-led team that's now all-in on chasing a championship stay fresh and healthy enough to peak in May and June? The Knicks have used virtually all of their bullets constructing this star-studded squad, so they better hope so. - Joseph Casciaro<h3>Philadelphia 76ers</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/cropped_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w220xh124_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w320xh180_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w640xh360_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w768xh432_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/749483/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2175371845.jpg?ts=1728660286 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: In adding Paul George to the duo of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers have constructed arguably the best and most balanced big three the league has seen in years. Rather than the awkward skill overlap and diminishing returns that often accompany big-name trios, Philadelphia's star guard, wing, and big man fit seamlessly together on both ends of the court. George will be the NBA's most overqualified third option. That should help him stay healthy and age gracefully after playing 74 games last season, his most in any campaign since 2018-19. But whether it's holding the fort when one or both of Embiid and Maxey are on the bench, on the shelf, or just underperforming, George is still capable of carrying his team on any given night. The 34-year-old averaged 22.6 points on a career-high 61.3% true shooting last season, becoming just the <a href="https://stathead.com/basketball/player-season-finder.cgi?request=1&amp;order_by=year_id&amp;year_min=1968&amp;qual=pts_per_g_req&amp;ccomp%5B1%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B1%5D=22&amp;cstat%5B1%5D=pts_per_g&amp;ccomp%5B2%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B2%5D=0.500&amp;cstat%5B2%5D=fg2_pct&amp;ccomp%5B3%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B3%5D=0.400&amp;cstat%5B3%5D=fg3_pct&amp;ccomp%5B4%5D=gt&amp;cval%5B4%5D=0.900&amp;cstat%5B4%5D=ft_pct">eighth</a> player ever to average at least 22 points while shooting better than 50% inside the arc, 40% from deep, and 90% from the free-throw line.On the other end, George's presence as a big wing defender will provide a measure of insurance behind the improving Maxey at the point of attack and an extra layer of resistance in front of Embiid, who remains one of the game's most fearsome rim-protectors. Essentially, the Sixers have taken a duo that already gave the team a top-10 floor on both ends of the court (when healthy) and added a third All-Star who happens to be one of the best two-way wings of his generation.If Embiid, Maxey, and George remain healthy – with their collective efforts easing the burden on all three – Philly is looking at its best chance at a title in the Embiid era. Reasons to doubt: Uh, have you watched the 76ers' Embiid era unfold? Some injury or unfortunate stroke of terrible luck will befall them. In addition, Embiid is good for at least a couple of playoff stinkers even when healthy, and George's postseason track record is less than stellar. This team only works if all three of its stars are healthy and playing their best, but there's little evidence (if any) to suggest that'll ever be the case from April through June.And that's before getting into the Sixers' concerning depth chart. Caleb Martin, Kelly Oubre, and Andre Drummond should be fine, but that still only gets them to six rotation players. Can Philly get enough from the likes of KJ Martin, Kyle Lowry, Eric Gordon, Reggie Jackson, Jared McCain, and Olympic standout Guerschon Yabusele? There are a lot of NBA names in that mix, but no surefire rotation piece for a team looking to contend in the spring of 2025. - Casciaro<h3>Milwaukee Bucks</h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/cropped_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w220xh124_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w320xh180_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w640xh360_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w768xh432_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/625324/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1747073370.jpg?ts=1728660347 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Gary Dineen / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong for the Bucks last season. They had a disastrous head-coaching hire, schematic mismanagement, and untimely injuries, and they still won 49 games on the strength of the league's sixth-best offense. The Bucks outscored opponents by 16.6 points per 100 possessions with their core quartet of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Khris Middleton, and Brook Lopez on the court during the regular season. The fact that those four only shared the floor for 677 minutes was the biggest reason the team underwhelmed.Milwaukee very likely would've knocked off the Pacers - eventual Eastern Conference finalists - if not for those untimely injuries. Antetokounmpo missed the whole first-round series with a calf strain, and Lillard aggravated an Achilles injury that caused him to miss Games 4 and 5 and return hobbled for Game 6. After a choppy season, Lillard finally looked like vintage Lillard in that series, averaging 31 points on 64% true shooting and scoring an absurd 1.46 points per possession as a pick-and-roll ball-handler. We also got a glimpse of peak Middleton for perhaps the first time since his knee injury back in 2022.Antetokounmpo is still one of the three best players in basketball, a two-way monster who can break any defense as either a finisher or an initiator. Lillard could be <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048800" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">primed for a bounce-back campaign</a> after getting a proper offseason under his belt in Milwaukee. He and Antetokounmpo took a while to hone their <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2757879" href="https://thescore.com/news/2757879">pick-and-roll synergy</a> last season, but it steadily improved as the campaign wore on; they could hit the ground running this time around. A healthy Middleton is a perfect third option. Lopez remains one of the best rim-protectors, savviest drop defenders, and one of the game's only legitimate stretch fives.The starting lineup is stocked with shooting around Antetokounmpo and should be a smidge more versatile with Gary Trent Jr. in Malik Beasley's place. Delon Wright and Taurean Prince were nice offseason depth additions that should help defensively, where the Bucks quietly improved from 21st to a respectable 13th after Doc Rivers took over for Adrian Griffin. It's not hard to imagine Milwaukee getting back into the championship mix with a stable bench presence and better injury luck come playoff time.Reasons to doubt: The short answer? This team is old, man. Lopez remains essential to propping up Milwaukee's deteriorating defense. He'll turn 37 this season. Lillard is 34 and coming off his worst offensive campaign in almost a decade. Middleton is 33 and coming off offseason surgeries on both ankles after separate lower-body injuries cost him 76 games over the last two years. Even younger, role-playing vets like Pat Connaughton and Bobby Portis have shown signs of decline.Antetokounmpo is ostensibly in his prime and is as good as ever offensively entering his age-30 campaign, but his defense has slipped in recent seasons. For what feels like the eighth year in a row, this team possesses troublingly little athleticism around him, especially on the wing. And there aren't really any young players waiting in the wings who can plausibly emerge to patch the obvious holes on this roster. We saw encouraging flashes from A.J. Green, Andre Jackson Jr., and Marjon Beauchamp last season, but nothing to suggest they're ready to contribute consistently.The Bucks' perimeter defense doesn't figure to be much better than it was last season. Lillard isn't going to get any stickier at the point of attack. Middleton isn't going to reverse his defensive decline. And Trent is a slight defensive upgrade over Beasley at best; he'll apply more ball pressure and create a lot more turnovers, but he'll make just as many off-ball gaffes that compromise the team's shell. Also, Trent is a more stationary shooter than Beasley without the same quick-trigger release off of movement.In short, Milwaukee's offense might be worse than it was last season, and there's no guarantee its defense will improve. Even banking on better health feels a bit like false hope given the ages and injury histories of the team's most important players. Considering how much better the rest of the Eastern Conference is shaping up to be this season and in the future, it may be time to accept that the Bucks' championship window has already closed. - Wolfond

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Title Tiers, Part 3: Cases for and against 3 East contenders

Ah, those familiar reminders that NBA basketball is just around the corner: autumn winds, leaves ...

Ah, those familiar reminders that NBA basketball is just around the corner: autumn winds, leaves changing color, a Kawhi Leonard <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3101211" href="https://thescore.com/news/3101211">injury</a>.To be clear, Leonard's health is no joke. We all want to see the two-time Finals MVP back on the court with the Los Angeles Clippers, preferably for more than just a few weeks or months at a time. But as Leonard enters his age-33 season, with lingering inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee - which has withstood an ACL tear and multiple meniscus injuries - durability appears a pipe dream.There doesn't have to be a scapegoat, but Clippers fans can be forgiven for feeling misled by the many twists and turns in this saga. If Leonard or a Clippers official tells you the six-time All-Star is feeling great or progressing well, you can rest assured that the "out indefinitely" press release is just around the corner. <div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>When Leonard was sent home from Team USA's July training camp in Las Vegas after three days of practice, Clippers president Lawrence Frank <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2940056" href="https://thescore.com/news/2940056">insinuated</a> the national team was being unfair to Leonard. By Frank's estimation, Leonard looked "very good" in camp and should've been given a longer runway to prove he could be ready for the Olympics later that month. Yet three months later, Leonard's troublesome right knee has prevented him from taking part in any contact-related preseason work, and he'll begin the regular season on the shelf.Either Frank and the Clippers were misled by Leonard's camp, the Clippers are purposely misleading everyone else, or Leonard's knee is simply too unpredictable to ever bank on again. Either way, it underscores just how badly the team bungled the last nine months.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617358/cropped_GettyImages-1802700718.jpg?ts=1729268934" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617358/w220xh124_GettyImages-1802700718.jpg?ts=1729268934 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617358/w320xh180_GettyImages-1802700718.jpg?ts=1729268934 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617358/w640xh360_GettyImages-1802700718.jpg?ts=1729268934 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617358/w768xh432_GettyImages-1802700718.jpg?ts=1729268934 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/617358/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1802700718.jpg?ts=1729268934 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Andrew D. Bernstein / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Last season marked seven years since Leonard had played more than 60 games in a season, yet a half-season of improved health was all the Clippers needed to see before handing him a three-year extension worth $149.5 million in January.A 39-game stretch from November through January in which the Clippers were 31-8 was seemingly enough to convince the front office that a creaky core of Leonard, Paul George, and James Harden was a championship-level trio to invest in. Yet a disappointing second half and another Leonard injury led the same front office to get cold feet just a few months later.The Clippers balked at giving George a fourth year on a new contract when Leonard had settled for three, citing roster flexibility and the constraints of the league's new second salary-cap apron. Never mind that the team still would've had to grapple with those constraints if George had accepted their three-year offer and that they could've maneuvered their way under the apron later.With Leonard already locked up and plans to re-sign Harden (which the Clippers did on a two-year deal), L.A. was still clearly trying to compete for the franchise's first title when negotiating with George, whom they knew they wouldn't be able to replace on the open market. Without control of their own first-round draft pick until 2030 - the price of a justifiable 2019 bet on George (and Leonard) that saw the team trade eventual MVP runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and control of seven picks - the Clippers were also painfully aware that there was no potential benefit to taking a step back in the standings.Yet we're supposed to believe they genuinely thought letting George walk and replacing him with role players was an acceptable result? The Clippers overplayed their hand by assuming George wouldn't receive a four-year max offer, despite all the signs <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2909261" href="https://thescore.com/news/2909261">pointing</a> to Philadelphia.In a bizarre <a href="https://x.com/NotoriousOHM/status/1807571194578968867">statement</a> released following George's departure, the Clippers cited Leonard's All-NBA abilities as a reason the franchise still felt confident it would field "a highly competitive team this season and moving forward." That statement was written just three months after a right knee injury had forced Leonard to miss playoff games for the fourth straight postseason.Given how things played out with George, the Clippers would've been better off trading their stars last season to begin recouping draft capital and real flexibility, the way the Brooklyn Nets once did when they realized their superteam dreams were dead. Instead, an unending faith in Leonard's failing body led the Clippers down a path where the only option left appears to be lying to themselves (and their fans) about his health and future.Whether they're being misled or misleading us, Los Angeles' last nine months are a good reminder of what the franchise's entire existence should've taught us by now: Never trust the Clippers.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28694839/related

Can we ever trust Kawhi's knee or the Clippers again?

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Title Tiers, Part 2: Cases for and against 5 West contenders

Dynasties have historically ruled the NBA, but we're in an era of nearly unprecedented parity that's produced six different champions over the last six years. This coming season features another deep and diverse field of contenders. We're laying out reasons to believe in them and reasons to doubt them.First up, the two teams that stand above the rest in their respective conferences, including the defending champs.<h3>Boston Celtics </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/cropped_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w220xh124_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w320xh180_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w640xh360_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w768xh432_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/738086/w1080xh607_GettyImages-2158169755.jpg?ts=1728323159 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Brian Babineau / NBA / Getty</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: It shouldn't take much persuasion to convince anyone why the team that just won 64 regular-season games, then strolled to the championship with a 16-3 playoff run, is a serious threat to repeat. The Celtics are bringing back everyone who played even an iota of a part in that historic campaign, with their top 11 minute-getters all returning for the title defense.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>They still have the league's <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2928288" href="https://thescore.com/news/2928288">pre-eminent wing duo</a> stirring the drink in Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who are squarely in their primes as they enter their age-27 and -28 seasons. They still have the most airtight backcourt in the game with Jrue Holiday and Derrick White, both All-Defensive selections last year. And they still have a pair of centers in Kristaps Porzingis and Al Horford who can space the floor at one end and protect the rim at the other.Boston remains the only team in the NBA that can create true five-out spacing with playmaking at every position, and it does so without compromising its elite and scheme-versatile defense. In short, the Celtics' best offensive lineups are also their best defensive lineups. That's a rare characteristic, and a big part of how they wound up finishing in the top two on both sides of the ball en route to the third-best net rating (+11.7) in NBA history.They crafted the most efficient offense of all time (and fourth best ever relative to league average), led the league in 3-point attempt rate, ranked second in 3-point percentage, and turned the ball over at the league's second-lowest rate. Eight players in the regular rotation posted true shooting percentages of 60% or above, and Porzingis busted switches as the best per-possession post scorer in the league.At the other end, their interchangeable army of brawny stoppers allowed them to switch and <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2772064" href="https://thescore.com/news/2772064">cross-match</a> in whatever way they saw fit, and to double the ball less frequently than any other team. That matchup flexibility also allowed them to keep Porzingis and Horford on the back line and out of ball-screen action, which in turn led to the league's second-stingiest rim defense. Their flawless execution of Joe Mazzulla's inventive tactics short-circuited even the most <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2926239" href="https://thescore.com/news/2926239">potent offenses</a>. Porzingis will be on the shelf for at least the first two months of the regular season as he recovers from leg surgery, but all that matters is that he's healthy come playoff time. He played all of 165 minutes last postseason (eighth most on the team), and it barely slowed Boston down. With the rest of the band returning, why would this year's tour play out any differently?Reasons to doubt: OK, let's say Porzingis isn't healthy for the playoffs. How confident do you feel in his backups? Al Horford is a marvel of modern science, but eventually the wheels are going to fall off for the 38-year-old. (Right?) What happens if the Celtics are left to rely on the likes of Luke Kornet, Xavier Tillman, and Neemias Queta? Depth on the wing is also a bit of a concern. In general, things get pretty shaky pretty fast once you get beyond Boston's vaunted top six.Sure, that didn't derail the team in last year's playoffs, but that had something to do with them facing a spate of badly undermanned and overmatched Eastern Conference foes before Porzingis returned in a limited capacity for the Finals. They almost certainly won't have as easy a path this time around.More broadly, I'm not sure the Celtics entirely put the concerns about their playoff offense to bed last spring. Against Dallas, the lone full-strength opponent they faced, they scored just 109.2 points per 100 possessions (which would've ranked 26th in the regular season) and had several stretches in which they devolved into meandering one- and zero-pass possessions. High-end playmaking is still a missing ingredient here, a major factor in those frustrating lulls. And they're still a little light on rim frequency (26th last season) and free-throw rate (25th), leaving them vulnerable to the whims of jump-shooting variance.In what figures to be a much more competitive Eastern Conference - and possibly a stiffer Finals test, if they get back there - the margin for error will be slimmer this year. - Joe Wolfond <h3>Oklahoma City Thunder </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/cropped_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w220xh124_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w320xh180_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w640xh360_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w768xh432_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/634492/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1797513546.jpg?ts=1719402391 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Joshua Gateley / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Reasons to believe: The Thunder look like a juggernaut, with few, if any weak spots to exploit. The youngest 1-seed and youngest playoff series winner in league history returns the same maturing and improving core that won 57 games last year, except with Josh Giddey replaced by Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein. In Caruso, a Thunder team that ranked fourth in defensive efficiency last season is adding arguably the game's best perimeter defender – an elite stopper who's also developed into a terrific shooter (40.8% from deep on 4.7 attempts in 2023-24). In Hartenstein, Oklahoma City went a long way toward plugging the team's most glaring need for interior size and rebounding help.Caruso and Hartenstein will bolster what was already a solid two-way supporting cast around the Thunder's young stars. With guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander now a perennial MVP candidate and All-NBA First Team-caliber superstar, plus wing Jalen Williams and big man Chet Holmgren on All-Star trajectories, the Thunder feel like an almost perfect team coming together at the perfect time.Oh, and should any mid-season reinforcements prove necessary, Sam Presti's front office still has more draft capital and trade equity than just about any other team. They may not be the defending conference champions, but the Thunder are the class of the West.Reasons to doubt: This team might still be just a little too green, with NBA history telling us young teams must take their postseason lumps for years before reaching the championship summit. As promising as the career trajectories of Williams and Holmgren are, are they ready to be the second and third options for a title team? Beyond that intangible question of experience, finding reasons to doubt Oklahoma City's championship mettle feels like grasping at straws. Then again, it's worth noting the Thunder's aggressive approach to defense - in which they surrender the league's highest rate of 3-point attempts from the corners while trying to force the ball out of opposing stars' hands - does leave them more susceptible to an outlier shooting performance. That was a big part of how a seemingly inferior Mavericks team eliminated OKC in the 2024 Western Conference semifinals. - Joseph Casciaro

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28684104/related

Title Tiers, Part 1: Cases for and against the East and West favorites

The Knicks and Timberwolves sent shockwaves around the NBA on Friday night, agreeing to a blockbu...

The Knicks and Timberwolves sent shockwaves around the NBA on Friday night, agreeing to a blockbuster trade days before training camps open league-wide.The Knicks continued to cash in their chips in pursuit of the team's first championship since 1973, sending All-Star power forward Julius Randle, key reserve Donte DiVincenzo, and a first-round draft pick to Minnesota for star big man Karl-Anthony Towns. So, what do we make of the new-look Knicks and Wolves?<h3>Knicks the clear winner, but ...</h3>From a basketball lens, this looks like a perfect fit in New York, where Towns could theoretically serve as the missing piece to the Knicks' championship puzzle.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Though Randle predictably played some of his best ball after the Knicks traded RJ Barrett to open up the floor, there was genuine reason for concern about how the three-time All-Star - and pending 2025 free agent - would coexist on a new-look Knicks team now featuring Mikal Bridges. In a Knicks season-preview piece written prior to this transaction, I asked of Randle: Can a shaky-shooting, defensively inconsistent forward impact winning with less of the ball?Towns' otherworldly offensive skill set for a 7-footer means there's no such concern regarding his fit, with the four-time All-Star a more universal and malleable secondary star. As a career 40% 3-point shooter and floor-spacer, Towns doesn't need the ball to compromise opposing defenses and positively impact his team's offense. Still, he can beat teams with the ball in his hands in more ways than Randle can (though Randle's improved playmaking is worth noting here). A pick-and-roll combination consisting of Towns and star guard Jalen Brunson - with shooters like Bridges and OG Anunoby around them - unlocks countless possibilities for the Knicks and Towns alike.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/cropped_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w220xh124_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w320xh180_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w640xh360_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w768xh432_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/747401/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1930482670.jpg?ts=1727547671 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Mitchell Leff / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>Defensively, the Knicks can protect Towns in perhaps even more ways than the top-ranked Timberwolves defense did. There are questions to ask of a defense featuring Towns and Brunson, but in Anunoby and Bridges, New Yorks boasts two of the league's best perimeter and wing defenders. Plus, the Brunson-Towns duo isn't any more defensively vulnerable than the Brunson-Randle duo was, with Randle originally penciled in for plenty of time at the five while starting center Mitchell Robinson remains sidelined after ankle surgery.Now when the Knicks go small to start the season, they'll do so with a more talented and offensively potent quintet, and one featuring a big man in Towns whose size makes him a lot closer to a traditional defensive center than Randle ever would've been. Anunoby also remains an option to play as a small-ball five on the defensive end while Towns abuses mismatches as an offensive center. And when Robinson eventually returns, he and Towns can share the frontcourt thanks to Towns' aforementioned floor-spacing abilities.Randle was a workhorse - akin to an innings-eater in baseball, even if his flaws made him a tricky fit on a loaded roster. And DiVincenzo was a relentless, two-way guard who was both a fan- and locker-room favorite on this Villanova-heavy squad. New York now needs a lot more from new sixth man Miles McBride. But the Knicks are unquestionably a better and more balanced team than they were before, and they're wholeheartedly going for it. Such steadfast pursuit of a championship - a quest to end the most famous drought in pro basketball - requires some shrewd decisions and tough goodbyes.However, the Knicks' star-studded plan is far from foolproof. This is Towns we're talking about. For all of his outrageous offensive talents, he's still prone to bouts of tepid play, indecisiveness, and poor decision-making, especially in the game's (and season's) biggest moments. After seemingly exorcising his postseason demons during a heroic performance against Nikola Jokic's defending-champion Nuggets in the 2023 West semifinals, Towns turned into a pumpkin again in the West finals, shooting 37.9% from the field against Dallas.Such inconsistency and occasionally uninspiring play was tolerated in Minnesota, where Towns was a beloved franchise lifer. It won't be at Madison Square Garden, where impatient fans can taste genuine contention for the first time in decades. In addition, any slippage from Towns - who's cracked the 70-game mark only once in the last five years - will lead to angst that his contract could become unmovable, even if the bargain deals Brunson and Bridges are on make Towns' salary less of a concern for the Knicks.On paper, New York won this trade in a landslide. But I won't be shocked if we're talking about this as a lose-lose deal six months from now. Such is the KAT experience - a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Can't win with him. Can't win without him. The Knicks and Wolves may both be about to find that out. - Joseph Casciaro<h3>Wolves sacrifice frontcourt fit for financial flexibility </h3><figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/cropped_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w220xh124_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w320xh180_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w640xh360_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w768xh432_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/575643/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1245035477.jpg?ts=1727543218 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Jordan Johnson / NBA / Getty Images</figcaption></figure>There are ways to rationalize this trade from Minnesota's end in the short and long term, but at first blush this feels like a step backward for a team that just had its most successful season in two decades. <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2920240" href="https://thescore.com/news/2920240">Volatile as his play could be</a>, Towns was deeply embedded in the fabric of the Wolves' identity. Not only was he their longest-tenured player by far, his expansive skill set was essential to making their double-big frontcourt viable at the offensive end. (They scored 6.2 fewer points per 100 possessions with him on the bench.) And in putting together the <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/2833452" href="https://thescore.com/news/2833452">best defensive season of his career</a>, especially as a back-side helper behind DPOY winner Rudy Gobert, he also had a big hand in Minnesota's top-ranked unit at the other end.Sure, things went haywire for Towns in the West finals in ways that felt all too familiar, but the Wolves wouldn't have had a prayer of getting there without his two-way contributions, especially in dethroning the Nuggets in the second round. Those contributions included taking on the primary Jokic assignment for that entire series and carrying the Wolves to a Game 7 victory while Anthony Edwards shot 6-for-24. And Wolves fans who had trust issues with Towns in the postseason would be wise not to dig too deeply into Randle's playoff game tape.In a vacuum, the gap between Towns and Randle feels pretty negligible. Randle made three All-Star teams and two All-NBA teams across his five seasons in New York. He's a more polished playmaker, a better defender in space, and an all-around more physical presence than Towns is. But when it comes to fitting them around other players, the gulf widens in favor of Towns, whose adaptability and off-ball utility make him an ideal complementary star. His superior size also makes him more viable as a center, whereas Randle can only really play the four.The Randle-Gobert frontcourt fit is going to be offensively tenuous, especially with Jaden McDaniels (a competent but low-volume 3-point shooter) playing alongside them at the three. Randle's a somewhat credible 3-point shooter, but not one defenses feel compelled to respect on the perimeter. Take away his outlier 2020-21 season and he's at 31.6% for his career. And that's to say nothing of his penchant for stopping the ball and jab-stepping his way to 18-foot jumpers.This was a middle-of-the-road offense (17th in the regular season) even with Towns there to provide Edwards and Mike Conley a deadly pick-and-pop partner, and use his spot-up gravity to open the floor for Gobert's rim rolls. In order for Randle to be effective on offense, he'll need to touch the ball a lot more than Towns did, and he and Gobert will need to develop some high-low passing synergy in a hurry. His fit with Naz Reid feels a bit cleaner, and that tandem could unleash hell on opposing transitional lineups, though defense could be a concern given neither is much of a rim-protector.The DiVincenzo addition goes some way toward salvaging this trade for the Wolves. (The Pistons first-rounder they acquired also adds a much-needed arrow to a draft quiver that was completely depleted by the Gobert trade, but it's heavily protected and may not convey for several years.) They badly needed more guard depth, and while DiVincenzo isn't the kind of ball-handler or passer who can serve as an insurance policy for the soon-to-be 37-year-old Conley at the point, he brings a nice balance of on- and off-ball skill, along with nasty point-of-attack defense that'll fit very well with this group. The rearview pressure he applies as a chaser over screens should pair especially nicely with Gobert in drop coverage.Losing Towns' shooting in the frontcourt obviously stings, and there's inherently less value in adding a comparable shooter in the backcourt. Still, it's worth noting that DiVincenzo shot 40% on 8.7 3-point attempts per game last season. If he can replicate that level of volume and efficiency, the Wolves' offense may be fine. He's also on a ridiculously team-friendly contract that runs three more years, which was surely a big selling point for Minnesota.Towns' four-year, $220-million extension kicks in this season, and it's clear the luxury-tax crunch coming the Wolves' way was a big part of their calculus here. But even as a cost-cutting maneuver, this puts them in a complicated spot. Randle's on an expiring deal, so the team's options may boil down to letting him walk for nothing next summer (which would mean they traded a franchise cornerstone for one quality role player, one so-so pick, and one Randle season) or giving him a new contract that could push them into deep-tax territory anyway.They could try to go the in-season trade route, but I'm not sure they'll love the offers they get for Randle, given the aforementioned fit issues baked into his game. Their best hope may be that the lack of cap space and/or interest around the league allows them to extend or re-sign him on an affordable medium-term deal.All in all, it's a fascinating trade, and one that could prove beneficial for Minnesota in the long run. For now, it's a bit of a tough pill to swallow considering how close this team just got to the top of the mountain. It would've been nice to see the same core group get another chance to scale it together. - Joe Wolfond

https://rich-content.thescore.com/content_cards/28499360/related

Sizing up Knicks and Wolves after KAT-Randle blockbuster

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most inte...

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most interested in watching. Next up: a young shooting guard trying to prove his worth in San Antonio.Previous entries: <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">Damian Lillard</a>, <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3048813">Darius Garland</a>, <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3058364">Christian Braun</a>, <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3048806">Jalen Green</a><figure class="article-segment--embed"><center>                         </center></figure>If I asked you to <a href="https://stathead.com/tiny/jdg3i">name the four qualified players</a> aged 23 or younger who averaged at least 19.5 points in a season on 54% shooting inside the arc and 37% shooting from deep, how many of you would say Devin Vassell? The Spurs youngster hit those marks last season - his fourth year as a pro - averaging 19.5 points on an effective field-goal percentage of 55.0.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>The other three players to achieve the feat were Karl-Anthony Towns (twice), Jaylen Brown (2019-20), and Tyrese Haliburton (2022-23). Towns was a young All-Star in each season he achieved this impressive combination of production and efficiency, while Brown and Haliburton made All-Star teams in the seasons immediately following their offensive breakthroughs.Could such an All-Star leap be possible for Vassell, whose work last season flew largely under the radar? Consider the hype Bulls guard Coby White generated for his 2023-24 breakthrough. Now consider that Vassell, who's six months younger than White, scored more with a higher efficiency.<figure class="article-segment--image"><img src="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/552618/cropped_GettyImages-1453928981.jpg?ts=1725396022" srcset="https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/552618/w220xh124_GettyImages-1453928981.jpg?ts=1725396022 220w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/552618/w320xh180_GettyImages-1453928981.jpg?ts=1725396022 320w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/552618/w640xh360_GettyImages-1453928981.jpg?ts=1725396022 640w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/552618/w768xh432_GettyImages-1453928981.jpg?ts=1725396022 768w, https://assets-cms.thescore.com/uploads/image/file/552618/w1080xh607_GettyImages-1453928981.jpg?ts=1725396022 1080w"><figcaption class="article-segment--image-caption"> Dustin Satloff / Getty</figcaption></figure>If Vassell's upward trajectory continues, his production won't go unnoticed much longer. The presence of Victor Wembanyama alone gives the Spurs a head start in constructing a competitive roster, with some already projecting the sophomore big man as a <a href="https://x.com/AndrewDBailey/status/1827771842964373510">top-10</a> player in 2024-25. Though the Western Conference is unforgiving and the Spurs have plenty of ground to cover after a 22-60 campaign, it's virtually <a href="https://youtu.be/tcvzWLQVFsA?si=6D8jZf0O2hmy5SkK">unprecedented</a> for a player as good as Wembanyama should be this year to play for a team that finishes outside the top 10 in its conference.In other words, the Spurs should be in the postseason hunt, with the additions of Chris Paul, Harrison Barnes, and rookie guard Stephon Castle bolstering that quest. The spotlight Vassell deserves is coming. Whether he's ready for it could go a long way in determining San Antonio's fate.It's fair to question whether Vassell's 2023-24 uptick in 2-point efficiency is sustainable. From floater range alone, he went from a 26th-percentile finisher among wings in 2022-23 to a 94th-percentile finisher last season, according to <a href="https://cleaningtheglass.com/stats/player/4755#tab-shooting_accuracy">Cleaning The Glass</a>. But I'd argue there's actually room for overall growth.Paul's arrival will result in a more organized offense, with Vassell (like Wembanyama) sure to benefit from more consistently competent point guard play. Though the youngster is already a three-level scorer who can create for himself and punish teams from the midrange, his shot diet should stabilize in a more structured setting. The looks will be cleaner, and more of Vassell's shots will come from higher-efficiency spots on the court.All that time spent without a genuine starting point guard may have benefited Vassell and the Spurs in the long run, though. The 24-year-old improved as a facilitator. As a low-turnover scorer, he has the skills necessary to grow into a secondary playmaker who can make the most of the advantages created by Wembanyama and others.<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Vassell tablke" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-1R8Pw" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/1R8Pw/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="450" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>Though Vassell's defense has regressed since his days at Florida State, he boasts the size and physical tools to be a difference-maker on that end, too. Perhaps a more competitive environment will reinvigorate the once stout perimeter defender.All the ingredients for a two-way breakout are here. Fans will surely spend countless hours on trade machines trying to find the secondary stars necessary to help get Wembanyama's Spurs over the hump, but one of those stars might already be in San Antonio.The Spurs sure hope so, as Vassell's five-year extension is about to kick in. He's set to see his salary quintuple, from roughly $5.9 million last season to $29.3 million this year. Still, with the salary cap projected to increase by 10% each year and Vassell's salaries diminishing over the life of his contract, he could prove to be a bargain. For example, his $27-million salary in 2028-29 would account for only 13.1% of the projected cap.If Vassell remains an efficient three-level scorer capable of averaging 20 points per game, there will be value in his new deal, whether in San Antonio or elsewhere. But if he can make the kind of All-Star leap that seems possible, San Antonio will be knocking on the door of something much larger than just play-in contention. Now that's worth watching.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

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Does Devin Vassell have All-Star potential beside Wemby?

With the 2024-25 campaign approaching, we're diving deep into some of the players we're most interested in watching. Next up: a third-year guard with some big shoes to fill in Denver.Previous entries: <a href="https://thescore.com/news/3048800">Damian Lillard</a>, <a data-in-app-uri="thescore:///news/3048813" href="https://thescore.com/news/3048813">Darius Garland</a><figure class="article-segment--embed"><center>                         </center></figure>The Denver Nuggets enter the 2024-25 season once again trying to recapture the magic of their 2023 championship run, but with one less member of that squad around.<div class="the-score-article-ad-unit"></div>Losing Bruce Brown and Jeff Green during the 2023 offseason was a blow, but they were merely key reserves. Losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic this summer could be far more consequential. Caldwell-Pope, a two-time champion with the Nuggets and Lakers, was a stalwart of Denver's starting five - an elite 3-and-D guard who shot 41.5% from deep over the last two seasons.Two-way starters of KCP's ilk aren't easily replaceable, and if the Nuggets hope to reach the summit again, third-year guard Christian Braun will have to fill Caldwell-Pope's shoes. But there's reason to believe the 23-year-old can do that, and then some.For one, Braun is bigger than Caldwell-Pope, allowing him to guard up a size defensively. His defense may not be as consistent yet, but he arguably offers more upside, as evidenced by some of his work on Anthony Edwards in the Western Conference semifinals.Braun's liable to drive the ball and is also better suited to create for himself than KCP at this stage of their careers. His insertion into the starting lineup could further juice an offense that ranked in the top five the last two seasons, providing a tad more self-creation and unpredictability.Of course, the bulk of Denver's attack will continue to flow through three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and point guard Jamal Murray, with Braun expected to knock down the shots engineered by that two-man game. Though he's yet to show he's a dead-eye shooter of Caldwell-Pope's caliber, Braun increased his 3-point percentage from 35.4% on 1.3 attempts per game as a rookie to 38.4% on 2.0 attempts per game as a sophomore. The question is whether those numbers and efficiency can continue to scale up with increased minutes, usage, and overall demand.Playing with Jokic (and Murray) more often should help, as evidenced by Braun's 2023-24 numbers:<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe title="Braun's efficiency" aria-label="Table" id="datawrapper-chart-ljxg2" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ljxg2/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="261" data-external="1"></iframe><script type="text/javascript">!function(){"use strict";window.addEventListener("message",(function(a){if(void 0!==a.data["datawrapper-height"]){var e=document.querySelectorAll("iframe");for(var t in a.data["datawrapper-height"])for(var r=0;r<e.length;r++)if(e[r].contentWindow===a.source){var i=a.data["datawrapper-height"][t]+"px";e[r].style.height=i}}}))}();
</script></figure>An increased role beside the game's best player - and playmaker - means Braun will get more shots and consistently cleaner looks. If he can knock those down while using his size (6-foot-6, 200 pounds) on the defensive end, the Nuggets may not miss Caldwell-Pope as much as some fear.But KCP is an accomplished veteran - a consistent starter and more reliable perimeter defender who averaged more than 31 minutes per game the last two seasons. He navigates screens on the defensive end with the instincts and skills of a battle-tested vet who has seen all there is to see in this league. Braun has started 10 games in his career, has yet to average 21 minutes per game in a season, and is coming off a campaign in which he shot a putrid 30.4% from the corners. His ability to replace Caldwell-Pope's production and value is merely a hopeful projection tied greatly to Jokic's floor-raising brilliance.However, Braun has the skills, the size, and the supporting cast to emerge as one of the NBA's most improved players - an integral component of a surefire contender. He's only 23, and the difference between Braun sinking or swimming could be the difference between another title run in Denver or another year of fading further from past glory.Not to mention, fellow youngsters like Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson - plus whatever's left of Russell Westbrook - will be champing at the bit to eat into Braun's minutes.How Denver's guard and wing rotation shakes out without Caldwell-Pope will be an interesting story to monitor this season with Christian Braun as the featured player.<a href="https://x.com/JosephCasciaro">Joseph Casciaro</a> is theScore's lead Raptors and NBA reporter.

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Can Christian Braun fill the void KCP leaves behind in Denver?

Welcome to the series finale of "Pound the Rock," an NBA podcast hosted by Joseph Casciaro and Jo...

<figure class="article-segment--embed"><iframe allow="autoplay *; encrypted-media *; fullscreen *; clipboard-write" frameborder="0" height="175" style="width:100%;max-width:660px;overflow:hidden;border-radius:10px;" sandbox="allow-forms allow-popups allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-storage-access-by-user-activation allow-top-navigation-by-user-activation" src="https://embed.podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/where-is-the-nba-trending/id1369218588?i=1000665256155"></iframe></figure>Welcome to the series finale of "Pound the Rock," an NBA podcast hosted by Joseph Casciaro and Joe Wolfond.Find the show on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/pound-the-rock/id1369218588">iTunes</a>, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/poundtherock">Soundcloud</a>, and <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3w7IKqqxVzKJZIEImWg3k3">Spotify</a>.For the final mega episode of the show, we’re joined by a quintet of returning guests to discuss the various trends shaping the NBA’s present and future:<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://x.com/william_lou">William Lou</a> on potential rule changes, the league’s changing media landscape, and the influence of Nick Nurse’s Raptors teams (1:19)</li>
<li>
<a href="https://x.com/TrillBroDude">TrillBroDude</a> on the two sides of the Joel Embiid discourse, the marginalization of "unitaskers," and the future of Slop in a second-apron world (41:09)</li>
<li>
<a href="https://x.com/outsidethenba">James Herbert</a> on this age of skilled bigs, the new possession game, and defense getting increasingly weird (1:24:44)</li>
<li>
<a href="https://x.com/YourManDevine">Dan Devine</a> on defense as a weak-link system, positional size and the phasing out of small guards, Julius Randle and the state of the power forward position, and trying to solve the Cavs’ big puzzle (2:06:20)</li>
<li>
<a href="https://x.com/seeratsohi">Seerat Sohi</a> on the 3-ball as the last great paradigm shift, offensive rebounding, the homogenization of shot profiles, and the importance of stretch 5s (2:44:25)</li>
</ul>

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NBA Podcast: Where is the NBA trending?

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Joseph Casciaro

Senior NBA Writer

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