The Raptors climbed to the top of the Eastern Conference after finishing last season with a 30-52 losing record and just outside of the play-in tournament in eleventh place. Recording 46 wins and securing fifth place in a close playoff race just a season later marked a great turnaround.
The Raptors may have lost their first-round series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but they put up a fight despite injuries to Immanuel Quickley and Brandon Ingram. They let everyone know that this was just the beginning and that next season could bring much more success.
The Eastern Conference just saw a similar rise through the ranks from the Detroit Pistons, and hopefully, the Raptors will soon find themselves in a similar position.
“We know how we feel right now, and going into the summer, we know what it takes,” RJ Barrett noted during his end-of-season interview. “Sometimes, that happens. I’m not saying that we’re the Pistons, but look at Detroit last year. They lost in the first round, then look at them this year.”
The Raptors are already on a similar trajectory
Detroit finished the 2023-24 season with the worst record in the Eastern Conference. A year later, they finished sixth with a 44-38 record. They lost their first-round series to the Knicks, but only got better after the experience.
This season, the Pistons finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference and posted the second-best defensive rating in the league, and Cade Cunningham played like an All-NBA player and MVP candidate. They just won a bumpy first-round series against the Orlando Magic.
The Raptors accomplished the task of going from a losing team to a playoff team this season. Just like the Pistons, they lost their first playoff series with their young core, but established a great defensive identity and saw Scottie Barnes take another step forward.
If the front office can make the right offseason moves and all key players stay healthy, the Raptors could find themselves competing for an even higher spot in the Eastern Conference standings next season—just like the Pistons did this year.
The Raptors are definitely moving in the right direction
The Raptors outperformed the general expectations for their season and still have a lot of work to do to improve the roster. The team’s lack of offensive creation and 3-point shooting was evident in the playoffs. There are also some tricky decisions to be made about certain players’ fits with the team. The Brandon Ingram experiment, for example, could be over after just one season.
Nevertheless, this season was obviously a step in the right direction.
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