3 Toronto Raptors who must start fresh in 2023 after rough December

Scottie Barnes, Fred VanVleet, and the rest of the Toronto Raptors did not end 2022 on a very emphatic note, as they won just five games in December and slipped all the way to 11th in the NBA standings. They need to hit the ground running in 2023 if they want to be taken seriously as a playoff team.

This season has been an experiment in Murphy’s Law for the Raptors, as many of their best players have struggled with injuries and they’ve been on the wrong end of some rotten luck in close games. There’s a chance that 2023 will bring more victories than the prior year.

It’s nice to have promise and wishful thinking for the new year, but all of those positive vibes will disintegrate into ash if the team doesn’t supplement those wishes with improved play out of many of the team’s big names. The rotation was lacking in quality, often leaning on Pascal Siakam to bail them out.

These three Raptors players will be under a microscope this season, as they will be integral to Toronto’s dream of reaching the 2023 postseason and making some noise once they get there. Reverting to their 2022 ways will be very hard for Siakam and this roster to overcome.

3 Toronto Raptors who must step up as 2023 begins.

3. Juancho Hernangomez

Despite the fact that the league’s answer to Yul Brynner has been a generally below-average player this season, he has been pressed into starting action multiple times due to Toronto’s injuries and lack of depth. That doesn’t seem to be changing as long as Otto Porter Jr. remains sidelined.

Hernangomez’s best trait coming into the season was (allegedly) his ability to shoot from 3-point range, but he’s hitting just 28% of his attempts from deep. With his defense still a liability after all these years, Juancho needs to get back on track from an offensive point of view.

Juancho Hernangomez must get better for the Toronto Raptors.

Hernangomez has quickly earned Nurse’s trust, as he is playing more minutes than free agent signings like Chris Boucher and Thad Young. That’s valuable, and he’s doing everything he can to erode that trust by playing like a total liability on both ends of the floor.

Hernangomez was on thin ice after he took a long time to sign a contract for 2022, and he isn’t doing a tremendous job of showing both the Raptors and the rest of the NBA that he is worth a rotation spot. The next few weeks will be critical to Hernangomez’s status within the basketball world.