Toronto Raptors: Top five bellwethers for the Raptors this season

Trust the bench mob

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse needs to trust his bench players. A look back to the 2019 NBA playoff and championship run that the Toronto Raptors dominated will show just how tight of a rotation Nick Nurse can employ.

He started this season the same way. In the season opener, against the New Orleans Pelicans,  the game went to overtime and Nick Nurse used just eight players distributing 70 minutes to three substitutes, Norman Powell, Terence Davis, and Serge Ibaka.

When forced to use the supporting cast of players, the team went 9-2 over 11 games in which Serge Ibaka missed 10 and Lowry missed 11. Since Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard signed elsewhere in the off-season and OG Anunoby was inserted to the starting lineup along with Fred Vanvleet, there was always going to be uncertainty about how good or consistent the Raptors bench could be for this season.

If you consider this as a transition year, as 11 players under contract to the Raptors are 25 years old or younger, Nick Nurse and management have the opportunity now to determine exactly which players fit their system long term.

While continuing the winning culture in Toronto is important, assessing the talent that can sustain that atmosphere is also equally a priority. The 11 game stretch without Lowry revealed this team can play a fast pace, it is deeper than many suspected, and Terence Davis (an undrafted rookie) appears quite capable of handling more minutes and responsibilities

There is also Norman Powell, a fifth-year player now in the third year of a four year 40 million dollar contract averaging career highs in minutes at 28.3 and points at 13.7 per game. He has also started 13 of the 24 games to this point.

With one year left on his contract after this, he has finally been getting an opportunity to consistently play and contribute to the success of this team after seeming to have maxed out on his talent in the 2017/18 season when OG Anunoby took his starting spot.

Now that Nick Nurse has seen the compete level of his entire roster expect him to rely more on the bench than he has in the past.