3 reasons Toronto Raptors can earn a Top 4 seed in 2022-23
By Mike Luciano
2. Internal improvement
The Raptors committed so much time to young players like Scottie Barnes and Precious Achiuwa to keep up with their organizational philosophy of working with young players. Even after Barnes won Rookie of the Year and Achiuwa had his second-half rise, Toronto will try to get those youngsters performing well.
Achiuwa became a solid 3-point shooter last year to go along with tremendous defense, but he will likely come into this year as a better finisher at the rim. Barnes is working hard on getting his maligned 3-point shot to an elite level in time for the start of the season.
The Toronto Raptors are banking on more improvement.
Gary Trent Jr. and OG Anunoby are not exempt from getting better. Even though Trent had seven 30-point games and became a solid defender, he could stand to be a bit more efficient. Anunoby’s scoring has increased every year, but will he plateau in 2022-23?
The Raptors are still a young team, as veterans like Young and Khem Birch are outliers. There will still be a fair bit of development going on, but Toronto has the infrastructure needed to hit these developmental milestones without sacrificing wins.