5 Things the Toronto Raptors Will Do Well This Season

Dominance for the Raptors will have to come in ways other than just winning games

The Toronto Raptors are set to make their preseason debut in under two weeks, and as the ramp up to the season begins, we’ve been graced with more footage of the team putting in offseason work. While this probably isn’t the year the Raptors add to their championship hardware, it’s definitely going to be a fun season, as long as you’re keeping track of the right stuff. It’s not a season that will be about wins and losses, but more so the development of the players and team as a whole.

During this process, there will definitely be highs and lows, but despite some cynicism about what the team is capable of record-wise, the Raptors’ success will come more in terms of their strengths this season. While the list is definitely longer than this, let’s take a look at a few things that the Raptors will definitely excel at this season:

Game Tempo

The combination of the Raptors’ youth and athleticism has already played in their favor, allowing them to move the ball and play with pace. Last season the Raptors averaged 18.7 fast break points per game, allowing them to lead the league in that category. They also ranked twelfth in the league for overall pace, coming in just behind the Warriors.

It’s obvious that they like playing quickly and taking advantage of opposing teams’ mistakes, to the point now where it has become part of their identity. There’s always someone out and running, ready to score off the turnover or capitalizing on a defensive breakdown.

More than likely the story will be the same this season, especially with a full season of RJ and IQ on the team. Last year, after their move to Toronto, they were ranked 8th and 15th respectively for points per game in transition in the entire league.

Consistency

The overhaul on the roster had a big effect last season, missing manpower due to both trades and injuries, which led to a starting five that changed almost nightly. In fact, the Raptors set a franchise record, suiting up 30 different players from opening night until the end of the season. The lack of parity had an undeniable effect on individual player performances as well, preventing them from being able to develop chemistry. Often, they were playing with an undermanned roster composed of talent from the G-League as well.

While you can’t avoid injury, hopefully the offseason and extra rest has been beneficial, and this season we’ll have a chance to see the team actually play together. The combination of Scottie, RJ, Poeltl, and IQ played only 234 minutes in the entire season, but were a team-best +65 in those minutes. Playing more than a few games with that unit will make a big difference, and the likely addition of Gradey to the starting lineup to help space the floor, the team will have a chance to actually use their offensive system the way it was designed.

Ball Movement

Under Darko, there has been a significant shift in the offensive system, prioritizing ball movement and fast decision making on that end of the floor. It paid off though, since the Raptors were ranked sixth in the league for assists, averaging 28.5 per game.

Scottie, RJ, and IQ have all demonstrated the ability to find their teammates in a variety of creative ways. Scottie averaged 6 assists per game, IQ averaged almost 7 and RJ chipped in with over four, and with the addition of Kelly Olynyk who also averaged 4 per game, it’s likely the Raptors will rank even higher among the league this season. Gradey Dick has also shown the ability to distribute, with a career-high 7 assists on March 11.

With more time to develop cohesion, that number is even more likely to climb. It’s likely they’ll be top 5 in the league in assists this season.

Paint Points

Despite the fact that the Raptors continue to struggle with depth at the center position, their ability to dominate the paint on the offensive end didn’t reflect that. Ranked fourth in the league, they averaged 54 points per game in the paint.

This was partly the product of continued struggles to shoot from distance, but also due to the style of play of Scottie (10.1 paint ppg) and RJ (13.9 paint ppg), who are both continuing to develop moves in the post that have allowed them to finish around and over their defenders. Poeltl also contributed almost 10 per game when he was able to suit up. Gradey has also shown flashes last season, with some creative and difficult baskets around the rim. Prior to All-Star weekend he averaged 1.3 paint points per game, while after the break that number rose to 4.2.

Since they’re so good at moving the ball and doing it quickly, it’s creating a lot of opportunities for cutters to be open under the basket as well. Look for them to be top-5 in this metric again this season.

3-Point Shooting (Comparatively)

Don’t get me wrong, the Raptors probably won’t be top 5 in the league here, but what we are looking for is some progress. Last season was abysmal from distance, averaging the fourth-worst 3-point percentage in the entire league. But why?

Here’s a few reasons:

• Jalen McDaniels was hoisting almost a pair per game and hitting them at a less than 17% clip.
• The G-Leaguers and short term contract players we had at the end of the season averaged higher than 27% from long range
• Pascal, Schroder, and Flynn took a combined almost 10 per game, with none of the making it higher than 35%
• Ochai Agbaji and Bruce Brown both took steps back in their long range game, with Ochai down almost 14% compared to 2022-2023 and Bruce down 4% from the same year.

The majority of players in that list won’t be suiting up for the Raptors that season. Those who will are doing far better, with IQ hitting almost 40% of his long range attempts, RJ hitting over 39%, and Gradey contributing at a rate of 36.5% on 4 attempts per game. If you look at only post All-Star, that number climbs to over 37%. Scottie has also shown improvement, shooting 6% better from distance as well, on a higher volume as well.

Maybe not league-leading, but by comparison, the Raptors should do a lot better in 3-point territory this season.

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On October 6, we’ll get our first look when the Raptors matchup against the Wizards in their first preseason game. That, and their other preseason games will be more about conditioning, but watch for flashes of these elements in the Raptors’ game that will probably be the biggest “wins” of their season.