The Toronto Raptors are looking to do the impossible during this postseason, and the closest team that comes to mind with this team is the 2004 Detroit Pistons.
No Superstar? No pro… actually there is a problem. Historically in the NBA, the combination of a championship and a superstar player — a player that is generally a top 7-8 player in the league — is something that generally goes hand in hand, just like Kawhi Leonard and the Toronto Raptors last season.
You can count on one finger the number of times there was no superstar on a championship team in the last twenty years, and it’s the 2004 Detroit Pistons.
So 95 percent of the time, there has been a superstar on a championship team in the last twenty years. This year, it’ll be the Toronto Raptors who will be looking to fight against those odds and prove the world they are still a championship threat, regardless of having no superstar.
Marc Gasol certainly thinks the Toronto Raptors are contenders despite history telling us that a star is necessary to win. Gasol tells us:
"“This isn’t tennis. But this is about a team, and always will be about a team. Doesn’t matter how much we try to singularize the game.”"
Gasol is right, as much as we like to put the weight of the team on just a couple of guys like most teams do, at the end of the day, it is a team game and it is especially true with this Toronto Raptors squad.
Toronto Raptors were counted out as soon as Kawhi left
With Kawhi’s departure, everyone counted out the Raptors, yet here they are a top-three team in the league only behind the likes of the Lakers and Bucks. Now with championship conversations being the point of discussion, the Toronto Raptors still don’t get the respect they deserve because of their lack of star power.
This is all too similar territory to the 2004 Detroit Pistons. A team that built themselves on defense and bought into Larry Brown’s system, their head coach at the time. Did they have a definitive best player? No, they didn’t. Their best player varied from game to game. One day it was Ben Wallace, the other it was Chauncey Billups, and if it wasn’t those two then it was either Richard Hamilton or Rasheed Wallace.
This same applies to this year’s Raptors. Can you definitively say who the best player on this Raptors squad? No, you can’t. It changes from game to game. Whether it’d be Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, Kyle Lowry, or even Serge Ibaka and Norman Powell off the bench. Any player can step up and be the best for that game, and that only happens because they accepted that they play as a team.
If VanVleet has the hot hand, then give it to him. Siakam is having an easy time penetrating to the basket, then get him more touches. Ibaka is getting a bunch of open looks from mid-range, then give him the ball more. The beauty of this kind of team play is that everyone knows their role very well and no one’s ego is getting in the way.
But just like the 2004 Pistons, their offense is not how these teams are built on. Both these teams (the 2004 Pistons and 2020 Raptors) had only mediocre offenses to go with their defense, where they both ranked middle of the pack.
The defensive comparisons
Their defense, however, is where they shined. Back in 2004, only the San Antonio Spurs posted better defensive numbers than the Detroit Pistons. Analogous to this year’s Toronto Raptors who are also second, only to the Milwaukee Bucks, despite being viewed as the best defensive team in the league, nonetheless.
They also both didn’t have a defensive player of the year that season as well — Ben Wallace did win it two years in a row prior to that season though — which all seems so poetic with how this season will turn out for the Toronto Raptors. Okay, I know this is a slight reach, let’s get to the end.
So we know how far the Pistons formula of defense and team play got them without a superstar, and now we’ll get to see if the Toronto Raptors can replicate that exact same formula. They’ve done it in the regular season with a lot of success, heck they even got their highest winning percentage ever.
Now, it’s all about translating that into the postseason and proving all the doubters wrong. That you can still win championships through being well-coached
, good team play, and the best defense. The odds have always favored teams with superstar talent, but with the Toronto Raptors’ current team and coach, they have a real chance of going against the odds.