NFL
By: Greg Rector
Toronto Raptors fans must be pleased by the start of the 2022-2023 NBA season for We The North. The schedule makers did the Raptors no favors to start the season. They have played six games to start the season against teams that made the playoffs last season. So far outside of five minutes against the Brooklyn Nets and Friday night for the second game of a back-to-back with the Sixers (A 112-90 loss) easily the worst game of VanVleet’s career, the Raptors have played some excellent basketball to begin the season. Twice this season the 5 starters have all scored more than 15 points each and that makes a total of seven times in the last two seasons for Fred VanVleet, GaryTrent Jr, Pascal Siakim, Scottie Barnes, and OG Anunoby to have accomplished that. No other starting five is even close in the NBA. The balanced scoring along with their calling card of confounding opponents with a stifling team defense sees the Raptors with a .500 record at three wins and three losses.
The Highlight
Pascal Siakim stated he wanted to be looked at as a top 5 player before the season started. So far he is averaging 25.3 points a game along with 9.2 rebounds and 7.7 assists, including recording one triple-double. He has easily been the best player on the court in five of the six games outside of the Tyrese Maxey 44-point performance Friday night in that loss to Philadelphia. Now if he would be better at the free-throw line, his PPG would easily be at 27 or 28 points. He has improved so much as a passer though and that’s due to the fact that for most trips down the court Siakim is the primary ball handler. Everything goes through Pascal. Double him though and he has been masterful at finding the wide-open option so far. So far he is shooting at 48.7% from the field. He even uncharacteristically got into giving PJ Tucker and the Sixers’ bench a verbal jab. He is having fun, understands he is the main option and is relishing the role. This start does not surprise me at all. Every season he has had an off-season to work on his craft has coincided with a marked improvement in his numbers the following season in his career.
Other Improvements
Now those who know me also know I despise the reliance upon taking three-point shots especially when teams aren’t making them. The Raptors‘ percentage took a big hit on Friday night, one of the reasons they lost. Prior to that, however, they were above 40% currently it’s 37.6% slightly above league average currently. Overall they are being pretty consistent from distance. The other area that has improved is defensive rebounding by a large margin. Seeing opponents be one-and-done instead of getting easy second-chance opportunities is something they need to maintain. Despite missing the first few games with a hamstring issue Chris Boucher has provided the Raptors with a big spark off the bench but Precious Achiuwa has been the best player off the bench thus far. Because of the closeness in their games thus far Nick Nurse hasn’t been going very deep on the bench. It will be nice to see Thad Young and Juan Hernangomez for more minutes eventually.
No Sophmore Slump
Scottie Barnes is simply a joy to watch. When Pascal isn’t handling the ball it’s been, Barnes a lot of the time. I said last year that Josh Giddey had the highest basketball IQ in his draft class, well Barnes might be right there with him. I only see him getting better as the season goes along. Watching him on the defensive end of the court is a treat to start with, but now with his added weight, he is more effective on the offensive end as well. He made a beautiful skyhook over Joel Embid this week and it was all due to being bigger and stronger than his rookie season. Raptors fans are still divided over Siakim, no such worry when it comes to Scottie Barnes. He is so popular that he is the Canadian Google Pixel7 pitchman and has secured a few other major endorsement deals.
Outlook
The start of this season will be up and down as the only non-playoff teams they face in upcoming games will be the Spurs (off to a great start) Pistons (oops Dwayne Casey has won a lot against his former team) and the Pacers, Rockets and the Thunder. They get two games each against the Bulls, Nets, and Mavericks and it’s not until December they get a stretch of games against non-playoff teams. As we have seen across the league there are plenty of good teams at or below .500 currently. No one is going to run away with the Eastern Conference this year. Too many good teams and as long as Toronto doesn’t have a rash of injuries I believe you’ll see them win more than they lose.
As always find me on Twitter @GregsCowboys
