The Toronto Raptors are having a solid season, firmly in the playoff mix in the Eastern Conference and enjoying their most successful run since turning over the entire roster from the 2019 championship team.
Turnover they have had; with Chris Boucher leaving this summer, the final member of that team was gone. Yet while a few members, such as Marc Gasol and Danny Green, have moved on to new careers, many players from that group are still playing around the NBA.
In fact, building a team of former Toronto Raptors players would yield an incredibly strong roster, a group of All-Stars and ideal role players who could challenge any other team in the league.
Let’s take the challenge: would a team of former Raptors players be the championship favorites? Let’s build out a 15-man roster at every position and test their mettle.
Point Guard
This position is the most difficult to fill out, depending on the rules we apply to our exercise. If we can wave a magic wand and make all injured players healthy, then Fred VanVleet would start at the 1. If not, then Dennis Schroder would get the honors.
Let’s instead have Norm Powell start at the point, a first-time All-Star having another great season despite aging into his 30s. His shooting and all-around scoring ability will put pressure on opposing defenses from the start. Schroder will back him up, and Kyle Lowry makes the team as a veteran mentor and the third PG.
Shooting Guard
Starting Powell at the 1 allows OG Anunoby to start at shooting guard, which seems a bit spectacular given his ability to defend forwards and even centers at times. A defensive ace and solid shooter, he’s a 3-and-D wing on steroids (not literally!).
Behind him will come Gary Trent Jr. as the backup, on a listless Milwaukee Bucks team, but still capable of rotation minutes on a good team, and Bruce Brown will be third-string.
Small Forward
Kawhi Leonard is the superstar captain of this team, parachuting in like he did in 2019 to bring Toronto the championship. He is having arguably the best offensive season of his career, and he is still a solid defender. It’s hard to name even three players having a better season than Leonard this year.
DeMar DeRozan will be his backup, still a metronomic scorer who can give bench units some juice. Third-string honors go to the newest alumnus, Ochai Agbaji.
Power Forward
Pascal Siakam made yet another All-Star Team this season despite playing for the lottery-bound Indiana Pacers, reinventing himself yet again in his second act. His defense, rebounding and playmaking in transition are the complementary skills any contender needs, and his scoring continues to improve as he is fully in his prime.
Chris Boucher will be the backup 4 as a stretch-big who can block shots, and Isaac Bonga had a cup of tea in Toronto and has drawn NBA interest in recent months due to his strong play overseas.
Center
Finally, we get to the center position. It’s the weakest spot comparatively, but there are still a solid few names to recommend. That starts with Jonas Valanciunas as the mashing interior bruiser who will start games for our former Raptors squad, even if he doesn’t finish them.
Kelly Olynyk will back him up as a change-of-pace stretch center, while Branden Carlson is sneakily perhaps the best candidate to close games thanks to his combination of rebounding and inteiror defense.
The Verdict
Would this group win it all? It’s hard to beat a core of OG Anunoby, Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam in the middle of the lineup, and they can slide down and start Norm Powell and Dennis Schroder or play big and add a center in place of Schroder. Either way, it’s a formidable two-way group.
It’s likely that the Oklahoma City Thunder would harry this group into enough mistakes to take them down, but it’s also not clear what the Thunder will realistically do to slow down Kawhi and Siakam. Our Raptors squad doesn’t have a good answer for Nikola Jokic, but they can shut down everyone else on the roster around him.
This group may not be the title favorites, but they would be close, with three All-Stars and strong depth. Toronto is playing well this year, but the talent from years past is still going strong all around the NBA.Â