I don’t think there are many lists out there highlighting the Toronto Raptors as one of the scariest teams to watch out for this upcoming season. In fact, as NBA staff writer Law Murray of The Athletic points out in his latest power rankings piece titled "NBA Power Rankings, summer edition: Knicks, Nuggets are contenders; Celtics, Pacers slide," the Raptors find themselves in a less-than-desirable position.
Raptors viewed as weak despite building a 'winning' core
Somewhat laughably enough, the Raptors would be thrust into what Murray highlights as "Tier 4: Not the Tier to Fear," falling to the 23rd spot out of 30 teams — just one measly spot ahead of their previous 24th ranking in the last set of power rankings. I guess it's better than being placed in the final tier— that being "Tier 5: Basement Floor" —which is essentially where the absolute bottom of the NBA barrel lies, such as the Wizards and Nets.
Now, power rankings like this are just one NBA analyst's opinion and insight, but there seems to be a trend of the Raptors being largely considered a very good, bad team, if you get what I'm trying to convey there. They certainly have talent on the roster, but whether that collection of players can come together to create a well-oiled machine (one that results in winning, that is) remains a key concern among basketball circles.
Commentaries by other NBA analysts, like Ryen Russillo, have been the subject of my pieces in the past — he called the Raptors "one of the bleakest teams in the league for the next five years." He described their mixed bag as not being striking enough to generate excitement for a team capable of reaching the pinnacle of NBA success. Additionally, the Raptors’ motivation to stack up these players on rather expensive deals could result in the team finding itself trapped.
Now, on the flip side of things, here's a bit of insight into what those in the Raptors organization think about their position on the overall NBA social ladder. Keith Smith of Spotrac would refer to comments made by an undisclosed Raptors coach in his July 22 piece titled "Eastern Conference Summer League Notes," where that anonymous source revealed the following:
"We think we can be really good. One thing we’ve talked about is not putting a ceiling on any one player or on our team as a whole. We’re going to compete every day and we’ll see where things fall out. We think that will be in a pretty good place."Anonymous Raptors coach via Keith Smith
Obviously, I would never expect those within the actual inside of an NBA franchise to boldly come out as sound pouty or pessimistic about the future. Now, to be fair, there have been some players and even coaches who eventually lost all confidence, and it clearly showed in the news fallout.
But the general Raptors narrative over the summer has been the team's strong belief in what their assembled squad can achieve at full strength and with the chemistry all figured out. Things might not look that strong on paper, but one thing is for sure about the Raptors: they'll always weather the storm and continue to fight strong.