It's hard to find a team as aggressively average as the 2023-24 Toronto Raptors. Sure, they are one of the more volatile and chaotic teams in the league, but Pascal Siakam and Scottie Barnes have overseen a team that is destined to once again be stuck in the middle.
Toronto has alternated tremendous wins with horrible losses, resulting in a 9-11 record through 20 games. With Rajakovic openly saying this team does not have a robust identity, it stands to wonder what exactly the plan is for getting this team back in the postseason picture.
Much like many of the players on this roster, Siakam is finding himself caught up in the aggressive mediocrity this team is bringing upon itself. Siakam summed up the feelings of a fanbase that has been left with very confused signals and mixed messages.
Siakam said that he "doesn't feel like anything is bad" this season, but he added that "nothing is amazing" so far in the 2023-24 campaign. Unless something changes dramatically (spoiler warning: it probably won't happen), the Raptors will likely maintain their inability to truly breakthrough.
Pascal Siakam: “It doesn’t feel like anything is bad, it just feels like nothing is amazing.”
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) December 4, 2023
Couldn’t have summed up the Raptors’ first 20 games any better myself.
Pascal Siakam has perfect quote on Toronto Raptors' season.
On the one hand, the lows of this organization can be as tough to watch as any team in the league, as Toronto's losses to Portland and near-loss to an awful Washington team show how putrid the halfcourt offense can be. Even stars like Siakam and the terrific Scottie Barnes have put up some stinkers.
However, when the Raptors beat up a contending Bucks team and pulled off an upset of the mighty Suns, it's easy to see why Masai Ujiri and the rest of the front office are so intent on seeing this thing through. Toronto's defense can be suffocating, and all five starters had had multiple games that made them look like stars.
Toronto is in a bad spot right now. They won't win as currently constructed, as they lack the depth and offensive firepower. At the same time, Ujiri clearly has a vision of how he wants this team to play, and the results when the team comes close to executing that vision can be quite fantastic. Unfortunately, they don't come often enough.
The Raptors haven't lost more than three games in a row this season, but they also haven't won three in a row. That constant stopping and starting is irritating to fans, so imagine what Siakam and the locker room think of it.