The Toronto Raptors just lost to a G League team.
After an embarrassing loss to the hapless Washington Wizards on Friday night -- a loss driven in large part by a complete inability for the Raptors' backup bigs to slow down the freight train that is Jonas Valanciunas -- the team flew up to Boston to take on the defending champions.
That is, they played the Boston Celtics franchise on Sunday, but they didn't face the defending champs. Boston was playing on the second night of a back-to-back, a seemingly unheard-of happening in the NBA's normally relaxed preseason, so they rested most of their key players.
No Jayson Tatum. No Jaylen Brown. No Jrue Holiday or Derrick White or Al Horford. The Celtics' starters? Payton Pritchard, Lonnie Walker IV, Jordan Walsh, Sam Hauser and Neemias Queta.
The Toronto Raptors were destroyed by the Celtics
That group of reserves and prospects went on to clobber the Toronto Raptors. They were up 41-20 after the first quarter, a complete and utter dominance, and at halftime the score was Maine Red Claws 69, Toronto Raptors 37.
The second half and specifically the fourth quarter went very differently, as the Celtics largely played their training camp players while the Raptors played their bench players and closed most of the gap. The final score completely obscures that Toronto had its butt handed to them by the Celtics' eighth-through-12th men.
Defenders of the Raptors would point to their injury concerns heading into the game. Toronto was playing without Immanuel Quickley (thumb), RJ Barrett (shoulder), Bruce Brown (knee) and Kelly Olynyk (back).
But they still had Scottie Barnes, the franchise cornerstone, and two other starters in Jakob Poeltl (who was perhaps the lone Toronto rotation player to have a good game at 14 points and 13 rebounds) and Gradey Dick. They had rotation players in Davion Mitchell, Ochai Agbaji, Jamal Shead and Chris Boucher all heavily involved.
While the Celtics played their non-rostered players heavy minutes in the second half, the Raptors largely played their 15 rostered players in this game. Just 22 total minutes went to non-rostered players (i.e. players on training camp deals not expected to make the final roster) while the Celtics started one in Lonnie Walker and overall gave 50 minutes to non-guaranteed players and another 59 to two-way players compared to just 15 for the Raptors.
The Raptors have a fatal flaw
What all of this illustrates is that the Toronto Raptors have a fatal flaw that is already rearing its head, and will ultimately come to doom their chances of competing in the 2024-25 NBA season: they have a complete and utter lack of depth.
The presumed starting lineup is extremely solid. Jakob Poeltl and Scottie Barnes give the team a solid defensive foundation, and between Barnes, Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett the Raptors have dynamic shot creation. Gradey Dick is a high-volume shooter who is growing into his own; he's not incredible for a fifth-starter, but he's getting there.
Bruce Brown is a connective piece off the bench; Kelly Olynyk is a skilled big most NBA teams would have in their rotation. That might be it for players who deserve rotation minutes on a good team next year. Davion Mitchell was salary-dumped by a Sacramento Kings team that needed his skillset. Jamal Shead and Jonathan Mogbo are second-round rookies.
Once you pull one or two key players out of the equation, the Raptors suddenly don't have what's needed to fill in the gaps. They don't have any secondary shot creation on this team outside of the starting lineup whatsoever, and there is precious little shooting on the roster outside of Quickley and Dick. A complete and utter lack of forwards means that if Barrett or Barnes miss time they have no one to turn to.
And that's the thing - injuries are going to come, and already have. They may be without both Barrett and Brown on opening night, and first-round rookie Ja'Kobe Walter hasn't had any chance to get up to speed on the NBA game and therefore won't be ready to contribute for quite some time even when he is cleared for basketball activities.
This was the story last season. The Raptors lost Barnes and their offense fell apart; they lost Poeltl and the defense was gutted. The Raptors have some really good players and have reason to be optimistic about their future. They also have an extremely unbalanced roster and paper-thin bench, and that means they cannot handle any adversity.
If the Raptors' key players stay healthy all season, this is a roster that could push all the way up to even 40 wins and have a chance in the Play-In Tournament to sneak into the playoffs. It's absolutely possible. But if anyone goes down, so will the Toronto win total; they are not prepared to handle any absences.
As much as everyone wants to believe in Scottie Barnes and this group, it may be time to short their chances this season. The Toronto Raptors seem much more likely to fall short this season.