It takes a whole team to win the NBA Finals. The Toronto Raptors had contributions from each and every player in their rotation to help them win.
One of the more cliche sayings in sports is that it takes an entire team to win a championship. Obviously, it helps when you have the best player but, when you get contributions from the rest of your team, that’s when it becomes scary. This year, the Toronto Raptors had that.
That strength carried over into the playoffs and it seemed like everyone had their very own signature moment at least once. Looking back on this in 20, 30 years no one is going to forget any of the players from this rotation to go along with those moments.
Comparing this rendition of the Raptors to past NBA Champs, the top end talent isn’t the same. The Warriors in their past few championship years had Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green. Then there are the Cleveland Cavaliers who had LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love when they won their title in 2016. Even the pre-Durant Warriors had their fair share of elite talent at the top of their roster.
This Raptors group wasn’t on the same level as those guys in terms of their primary players but obviously, that wasn’t a huge deal. The roster was full of misfits and outsiders but showed that with the right personalities and chemistry, they were the perfect fit.
Every player had a role and every player impacted this run in some way or another. Maybe it was providing some shooting, maybe it was a clutch play or maybe it was pure dominance.