The 2021 NBA season has been a rollercoaster ride for Toronto Raptors fans. After a flailing start, the Raptors looked to be coming back into form, only to immediately be ravaged by COVID-19. Since then, it has been much more of the former than the latter as Toronto has struggled to even keep up with the lowest tier of teams.
Over the past couple weeks, it has seemed that the Raptors’ front office has decided the path that this team should take for the remainder of the season. What became noticeable to Raptors fans quickly became noticed league-wide as the organization was fined $25,000 for sketchy injury reports.
The club has been regularly sitting Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby, and Pascal Siakam. Rest is one thing, but for a team that is currently floating around the 10th seed and is right in the play-in tournament mix – one has to wonder why Toronto is sitting their top guys game after game.
Since the media got ahold of the fine, the Raptors’ attempt at a “dignified tank” is one of the worst kept secrets in the NBA. In an all-time 2021 Raptors storyline, Toronto’s tank is somehow flopping.
Raptors beat the Thunder.
— Chris Walder (@WalderSports) April 19, 2021
Seeing all of the Montreal blood out there was awesome. Boucher and Dort having the nights they did made it even better.
Big shot Bouch.
Toronto can't tank worth a damn, though. They're like ... really bad at it.
The road to 38-34 continues ...
How to screw up a tank – A Toronto Raptors tale.
A tank seems pretty easy, right? Just don’t win games. If that fails, just play your bench players. Unfortunately for Nick Nurse, it doesn’t seem to be that easy.
The Raptors aren’t playing their top guys, but the players they are putting out there are playing some of the best basketball of their careers. Putting out a bunch of young non-guaranteed players with a ton to prove has completely backfired on Masai Ujiri and the front office.
Chris Boucher is locked in contract-wise, but has been the go-to guy for the Toronto Raptors since this not so low-key tank began. Regular double-doubles and two 30 point performances in recent weeks have proven monumental in tank-busting.
Malachi Flynn is another one of the few exceptions of non-guaranteed players, but as a rookie still has that fire in his belly trying to prove to the Raptors that he can potentially be part of the future at the guard position.
Guys like Yuta Watanabe, Paul Watson, DeAndre’ Bembry, and Khem Birch have been playing their best career basketball in these past few weeks, and they have single-handedly kept the Raptors in the play-in mix.
Toronto Raptors: To tank or not to tank?
It may be too late to ask this question, as the front office seems to have somewhat committed to the tanking path. It’s hard to see them changing their minds because of a few bench guys having career months.
The play-in tournament is in reach, but how much is that really worth to a Raptors organization with a championship pedigree? Much like other players and staff around the league, Fred VanVleet and Coach Nurse have already expressed their opposing view on the validity of the play-in scenario.
After all, they have been through in 2021, it’s hard to blame the front office for calling it a season. You know what you have in the top guys, letting the depth guys play and seeing what you have is already a useful exercise.
This draft class is also one of the strongest we’ve seen in years and the Raptors could benefit greatly from even a solid mid-round pick let alone the chance they could make a massive jump in the lottery.
The Raptors “dignified tank” is in full swing, let’s just hope they don’t completely screw it up.