3 pleasant surprises on Raptors roster as home stretch begins

1. Jakob Poeltl

It’s hard to understate just how important the Poeltl trade has been. Not only is he averaging a double-double with 2.2 blocks per game, but the Austrian big man has turned the Raptors into one of the most fearsome teams in the league.

Before the Detroit game, the Raptors had a better defensive rating than the league-leading Cavaliers and a better offensive rating than Nikola Jokic’s Nuggets when Poeltl is on the floor. That sort of impact is likely going beyond even the most optimistic of Masai Ujiri’s projections.

Jakob Poeltl has transformed the Toronto Raptors.

Having an aggressive defense with a rim protector like Marc Gasol or Serge Ibaka is fine, but Toronto was letting teams attack the basket with relative ease when they continued to lean on undersized bigs. Poeltl has made so many little things click for this roster.

While some Raptors fans may not like the fact that Ujiri bought at the deadline without getting a shooter and sent away a lightly protected first-round pick, this stretch from Poeltl rivals anything he has put up in his career. The rest of the team has fed off Poeltl’s energy, restoring the good vibes for the first time in months.