3 hot takeaways after Raptors split two-game series with 76ers

2. The bench remains awful

The Raptors’ bench appeared to be doing well enough without Otto Porter Jr. to alleviate some of the concerns, but the top-heavy construction of this roster came back to haunt them. Not one bench player can look back on their performance and say they played even below average.

Precious Achiuwa looked like the same irritating offensive player we saw in the early stages of his first season with Toronto, while Chris Boucher was unusually passive from the floor following a nice return from his injury. Thad Young returned to the rotation, but his impact was minimal.

The Toronto Raptors lack quality bench players.

Dalano Banton, Malachi Flynn, and Christian Koloko weren’t even on the floor long enough to make much of an impact. Toronto can win games leaning on their starters early in the regular season, but how sustainable will this be as the playoffs draw closer?

We’ve seen Achiuwa pull down 22 rebounds in a game, Boucher dominate offensively, and Young be that wily veteran every contender needs. This is not necessarily a talent issue. Rather, it’s a consistency issue, as you never know which bench you’ll get game to game.