Wednesday night’s 115-108 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks takes the 7-11 Toronto Raptors a quarter of the way through this shortened 72-game season. With that in mind, it seems like a good time to check in with how the club is doing relative to the expectations set heading into the 2020-21 campaign.
Clearly, this hasn’t been the season anticipated by a Raptors fan base that has grown accustomed to winning. A year ago, the club opened up its NBA title defense by going 14-4 through the first 18 games en route to a 53-19 mark. However, defensive lapses, an inability to close out games and a lack of production from the center position without Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol has this year’s group far off that pace.
Without further ado, here is a bad-to-good ranking of the biggest surprises and disappointments of the young 2020-21 campaign.
Which Toronto Raptors have impressed this season? And which players have been disappointments?
Note: Alex Len was removed from this list due to him being waived, and Paul Watson, Jalen Harris, and Patrick McCaw were not considered due to a lack of playing time.
13. Aron Baynes
Had the Raptors not been waiting on Ibaka and Gasol’s free agent decisions before exploring the market, perhaps they would have gone after the likes of Tristan Thompson or Bismack Biyombo. Instead, they opted for a ‘safe’ choice with a hard-nosed Aussie rebounder in Baynes. While Baynes has shown signs of emerging from an early-season slump, his numbers this season remain well below career averages and there’s little evidence of a supposedly improved three-point shot that reached 35 percent in Phoenix last year. Baynes needs to pick things up, and fast.
12. Terence Davis II
The allegations against Davis are too serious and complex to tackle in a sports context, let alone through this list-based format. Instead, this ranking is focused on performance, which has been disappointing independent of the assault allegations he’s facing. With a prime opportunity to build on a standout rookie campaign as an undrafted free agent, Davis has actually regressed some, seeing fewer minutes while averaging fewer assists but more turnovers compared to a year ago.
11. Malachi Flynn
You rarely hear much open criticism directed towards rookies that aren’t heavily hyped lottery picks. But if we’re being honest, weren’t we expecting more immediate results from Flynn? Perhaps it was unfair to expect more based on a three-year college career and some evident similarities to Fred VanVleet, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the 22-year-old has looked overwhelmed and uncertain at times. His decision-making also needs to improve, particularly with a shot that’s only going in 27 percent of the time.
10. Norman Powell
We are into year six of Norm Powell as a member of the Toronto Raptors, and it’s still hard to know exactly what to make of the bench scorer’s value. He’s been a difference-maker of late, especially in scoring 23 points on 10-18 shooting off the bench against Miami last Friday. Too often, however, he’s taken the offense out of rhythm with a questionable shot or trying to do too much. His future with the club, as well as the status of his $11.6 million player option for next season, remain very much up in the air.