Preseason is over and the NBA season is right around the corner for the Toronto Raptors. What are three overreactions to avoid following the preseason?
For the first time in franchise history, the Toronto Raptors head into the season as the reigning and defending NBA champions. A feat that has been 25 years in the making, the Raptors defeated the Golden State Warriors in six games in the NBA Finals to win their first-ever Larry O’Brien trophy. Since then, it’s been a constant feel-good summer.
Even with Kawhi Leonard departing the team to join up with Paul George and the Los Angeles Clippers, there isn’t much that can keep the team down. The Raptors still have aspirations to make a deep run in the playoffs, led by Kyle Lowry and Pascal Siakam – one of the NBA’s top duos.
There has been a lot of turnover on the roster this season, even beyond Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green’s departures. The front office brought in Stanley Johnson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Matt Thomas, and Cameron Payne – though he has since been cut – in the offseason, with the hopes that any of those players can become instrumental rotation pieces during the regular season and beyond.
The preseason was their chance to prove that they can be just that and more. Preseason is a non-competitive setting where coaches can tinker with lineups in order to see what they can stick with and, ultimately, what they can twist with.
Sometimes, though, we overreact to what we see in preseason. Just like how the internet reacts to empty gym workout videos of their favourite players, professing that because they made a three-pointer against a slack defense that this is their year – reacting to preseason often brings out the same results.
It’s hard to know what can be achievable and what isn’t during the preseason, so here are some things – good and bad – that we should avoid overreacting to.