3 biggest flaws Raptors must overcome to make a playoff run

1. Bench consistency

The Raptors have been the NBA’s second unit Sisyphus, consistently pushing new lineup combinations up the hypothetical hill of success and consistency, only to see their efforts reduced by a painful roll back to normalcy. Star bench players come and go with shocking regularity.

Buyout addition Will Barton has been solid, but uninspiring. Precious Achiuwa was performing so badly that Christian Koloko was getting rotation time ahead of him in a very concerning sign. Gary Trent Jr. has been solid of late, but he is coming off some clunkers in Los Angeles.

The Toronto Raptors need scoring from the bench.

While Trent can be a game-changer when he is on, but the Raptors can’t trust all of their bench production to one player. Chris Boucher needs to play like an expensive veteran, and Achiuwa needs to snap out of whatever funk he has been in during the last few games.

The starting lineup has worked like a charm. In fact, several numbers show that this group is one of the best such lineups in the game since the Poeltl trade. All of that could be totally washed away if the second unit keeps underperforming like this.