NFL
By: Greg Rector
Not much changed in the defense-first Toronto Raptors under Darko Rajakovic in the four pre-season games than we saw from the Nick Nurse era Raptors. They took away the opponent’s first option and played tenacious defensively.
This isn’t surprising when you consider OG Anunoby is leading the way along with Scottie Barnes and Pascal Siakam. The biggest difference in the Toronto Raptors is their new point guard Dennis Schroder who is a vast improvement over Fred Van Vleet in distributing to everyone on the floor.
The other major difference is Rajakovic’s usage of everyone on his roster minus the tirades we all grew too familiar with under Nick Nurse. We didn’t see a single tirade from the new Raptors head coach in the pre-season games.
While Gary Trent Jr was rested in the final game his effectiveness off the bench for the Raptors will be a key factor if the Toronto Raptors are going to return to the NBA playoff picture in the 2023-2024 NBA Season. Trent Jr might be a very good choice for the Sixth Man of the Year award if he keeps playing as well as he did in the preseason games.
I didn’t see any of what Masai Ujuri complained about regarding the selfishness of his players last season. Once again the selfishness I saw was from Nick Nurse and his ego. Simply put I saw the Toronto Raptors play solid basketball and Rajakovic has a deeper roster than what Nick Nurse had last season.
When you use every player available on your roster the way Darko Rajakovic has done in every preseason game including Gardey Dick the rookie 6’8″ Kansas Jayhawk was magnificent, especially against the Washington Wizards on Friday night. Dick hit 4/5 from three-point territory and worked effectively with Otto Porter Jr when the two shared the floor.
Malichi Flynn has grown up and is no longer worried about anything other than his role as the backup point guard. Flynn doesn’t have to score the ball in order to be effective for the Toronto Raptors. His leadership in rebounds and moving the ball for the rest of his backup players matters the most.
Scottie Barnes is 6’11” and weighs in at around 245lbs. He’s ready for his third season and lo and behold he’s gotten a whole lot better at taking three-point shots as well. All he had to do was realize that he was never going to be the guy who could stop and drop threes. However, he can be very effective when he sets his feet and lets go of a three-point shot. Barnes was highly effective defensively as usual and he has learned enough to stay out of Pascal Siakam’s way when Pascal is screw-driving his way to the basket as he does so often.
The other new Toronto Raptors were all very effective as well off the bench. In particular, Javon Freedom-Liberty the former Depaul Blue Demon was always around the basketball and he made his shots on the inside where he’s been very respectable.
Freedom-Liberty will be on the G-League 905 but he certainly showed me enough that he deserves some game time up with the Toronto Raptors.
Toronto Raptors 2023-2024 Record
Starting Wednesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves I have this Toronto Raptors roster as currently constructed winning 45 to 48 games and making the playoffs without having to be involved in the play-in game. Darko Rajakovic has a more mature attitude than Nick Nurse did and his intelligence has been on display. No more coaching from the egomaniacal Nick Nurse (enjoy him in Philadelphia) and this Toronto Raptors team will be better than many think.
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