The Toronto Raptors are stuck in the middle of arguably the best division in the league, as every team in the Atlantic Division has a legitimate shot at making it to the playoffs. The New York Knicks, last year’s last-place finishers, have made some major improvements in the offseason.
The Raptors’ rival managed to land Jalen Brunson in the early stages of free agency while coaxing Isaiah Hartenstein and retaining Mitchell Robinson. After regressing in 2021-22, the Knicks have taken steps to ensure they will be a viable playoff contender.
The Raptors will no longer be able to exploit a team in disarray thanks to some patented Knicks dysfunction. However, that shouldn’t mean that Masai Ujiri’s 48-win squad from a year ago will curl up in a ball and accept the Knicks as a superior team.
Even after the Knicks made some serious offseason moves, the Raptors are still head and shoulders above them when you compare the two squads. These three factors prove that Toronto is a superior squad that should have a better shot at championship glory than their orange and blue-clad rivals.
3 reasons the Toronto Raptors are better than the Knicks.
3. Young talent
Even if you include RJ Barrett in the mix, the Knicks’ best players 24 years old and under are led by Obi Toppin, who has yet to find himself in Thibodeau’s good graces consistently. Immanuel Quickley has tons of talent, but his efficiency and scoring plateaued despite a slight minute per game increase.
Accepting, for the sake of argument, that Scottie Barnes and Barrett cancel each other out due to being similarly effective players, Toronto still has the edge. Gary Trent Jr. was one of the best two-way shooting guards the league had to offer, and Precious Achiuwa’s second-half surge confirmed that he has starter potential in this league.
The Toronto Raptors have more solid young players than the Knicks.
Essentially, this boils down to Trent vs. Quickley and Achiuwa vs. Toppin. Trent is clearly a cut above Quickley on both ends. While Toppin may have more offensive potential than Achiuwa, who is still a few years younger, Precious’ unique defensive skills will make him one of the most underrated young forwards in the NBA.
Unless Barret sets the world on fire or Thibodeau finds a way to make Randle, Robinson, and Toppin all coexist in the rotation, Toronto’s stable of young bucks should be more tantalizing than anything the Knicks can produce. Nick Nurse, always one to prioritize the youngsters, wouldn’t have it any other way.
2. Starting backcourt
The Raptors might as well start every game with 35 points on the board between Trent’s 3-point shooting and Fred VanVleet’s All-Star level play. The Knicks don’t have a guard on their roster capable of averaging 20.3 points and 6.7 assists per game with VanVleet’s level of elite on-ball defense.
Brunson was dynamite for the Mavericks last season, but this was the only year on his rookie deal in which he looked like a difference-maker capable of earning a nine-figure contract. Evan Fournier is projected to start alongside Brunson. While he’s a solid shooter, his inconsistency can baffle Knicks fans and haters alike.
The Toronto Raptors have a superior backcourt.
Having a player like VanVleet is one thing, but pairing him with an ascending guard like Trent makes Toronto’s combination that much more potent. On a rebuilding team without a critical need to differentiate who is getting the bulk of the shots, Trent could easily average 20 points per game.
When Toronto goes to some of their bigger lineups and inevitably uses OG Anunoby as their 2-guard, they’ll be able to lean on a near-elite defender who has improved his scoring every year he’s been in the league. Barnes and Pascal Siakam are the stars, but the guard play will set Toronto apart.
1. Pascal Siakam > Julius Randle
After Siakam took a step backward in the Tampa sabbatical and Randle looked like a dominant forward, it looked like the Knicks standout has vaunted past the Cameroonian big man on every hypothetical power ranking list you could imagine. After 2022, Siakam proved he is in another stratosphere.
Siakam is fresh off an All-NBA season in which he averaged 22.8 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game with solid efficiency. Randle’s rebounding bested that of Siakam, but making just 41% of his shots as a forward led to a decline in scoring that hampered the Knicks’ offense.
Toronto Raptors: Pascal Siakam is better than Julius Randle.
Anyone who is unironically arguing for Randle, who will still be the primary shot-taker for this 2022-23 New York team, either has a personal connection to Randle, is such a Knicks homer that they won’t take off the rose-colored glasses for a second, or exists only to irritate Raptors fans.
Siakam’s All-NBA performance may have come by a very narrow margin, but even casual observers can see that he took his game to new heights last year. If Siakam replicates that in 2022-23, it will be very hard for Randle to lead the Knicks to a better record.