The Toronto Raptors came into the season with the expectation of being a team that was retooling. Even Masai Ujiri thought that a roster melding championship holdovers like Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet with young players like Scottie Barnes would experience some growing pains.
After nine games, that hasn’t necessarily been the case. Toronto has started the season off at 6-3, including a five-game winning streak that includes road victories against teams above .500 like the Knicks and Wizards. This team is far ahead of where everyone projected they would be.
The Raptors still have a lot of games left to win to prove that their hot start is not a fluke, but what has become clear very early on in this season is that the American media has really underestimated how high this team’s ceiling was.
These Raptors predictions have already gone off the rails, as the squad has shown that their swarming defense and ability to get some quality looks on the offensive end has them a bit closer to success than what was previously indicated.
3 Toronto Raptors predictions the media got wrong.
1. Scottie Barnes wouldn’t contend for Rookie of the Year.
ESPN had not one, not two, but 16 analysts make their Rookie of the Year picks before the season started. Even though Barnes was entering a situation that could help him produce right away, 15 of the 16 selected either Cade Cunningham or Jalen Green, with Tim Legler breaking the duopoly by choosing Evan Mobley.
Barnes might have picked up a thumb injury, but he is averaging 18.1 points and 8.9 rebounds. Those numbers not only show his tangible growth on both sides of the ball, but they’re well beyond what even the most optimistic fan thought he could do.
Toronto Raptors rookie Scottie Barnes might earn some hardware.
While Mobley has a legit case for the top rookie honor, and Chris Duarte has been impressive, neither of those players are currently capable of matching Barnes from a statistical point of view right now. Barnes is already a quality on-ball defender and a high-level interior finisher.
The fact that the Raptors took Barnes over Jalen Suggs surprised many, and it led to plenty of preseason prognosticators imagining Suggs to be the better player from the jump. Unfortunately, based on how this season has gone, Barnes looks like the more refined player at this juncture.
2. Calling a Pascal Siakam trade
Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report is a rock-solid reporter who nailed Toronto’s pre-draft interest in Barnes when drafting Jalen Suggs seemed like a foregone conclusion, but his sources may have been a bit overenthusiastic when discussing the idea of the Raptors starting their new era without Siakam.
Bleacher Report’s story not only claimed that Siakam was “available” if Toronto wanted to acquire a star in the same tier as Bradley Beal, but Ujiri was also mentioned as looking to trade away the pick that became Barnes to acquire more draft capital. To be very brief, that trade did not happen.
The Toronto Raptors did not trade away Pascal Siakam.
The Raptors held onto VanVleet and OG Anunoby while picking Barnes due to their intention of making a contender in a very short period. Trading Siakam flies in the face of that, and Ujiri was wise to withstand all of the proposals that were almost assuredly thrown in his face.
Siakam might not have taken the floor so far this year, but the idea of trading him and rebooting this roster has lost steam with each passing game. When Siakam returns to this lineup, Toronto could easily start climbing up the standings provided No. 43 is just as lethal on offense as he usually is.
3. The Celtics would finish above the Raptors
Not only did the Raptors get slapped with the projected No. 12 seed, but Jayson Tatum and the Celtics were handed the No. 6 seed in an ESPN+ piece (subscription required).
On top of the fact that last year’s pandemic season was the second time since 2014 that Boston finished above Toronto in the standings, there were plenty of questions surrounding this team.
The Celtics turned to Dennis Schroder as the starting point guard, and they have a first-year coach in Ime Udoka after Brad Stevens moved to the front office. After Toronto embarrassed Boston on the road, it seems like the Celtics are starting to blow up.
Are the Toronto Raptors better than the Boston Celtics?
Despite a win against a rebuilding Magic team, the Celtics are fresh off an explosive meeting between Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and Marcus Smart after some ill-advised comments about Boston’s two stars holding the ball too much. It doesn’t sound like everything is alright up in Massachusetts.
Boston may well turn things around, but the idea that Toronto was not even close to the same tier as the Celtics despite all of their experience and depth was a bit of a brash decision. Tatum has superstar potential, but that may not be enough to create such a huge gap between his squad and the Raptors.