TORONTO – The Toronto Raptors walked off the Air Canada Centre floor last season to a standing ovation and rousing cheers.
They had just been ousted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final, but the moment was the culmination of the Raptors’ most successful season in franchise history.
They’ll carry lofty expectations when they step back on the court against the visiting Detroit Pistons in their season-opener on Wednesday night. Suddenly, it seems, nothing but a long playoff run will be good enough.
In typical fashion, the Raptors aren’t making any bold predictions – coach Dwane Casey says continued growth is key, even if it’s not “as exciting and sexy as outlandish predictions.”
And the Raptors talk about valuable lessons learned over the roller-coaster post-season.
“You kind of get the blueprint, when you understand how difficult it is,” said DeMar DeRozan, who signed a hefty five-year contract worth US$139 million in the off-season. “You really understand how hard you have to play when you have the opportunity to close out a series. . . little things like that, just understanding the blueprint, is really going to help us.”
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The Raptors remain young, with nine players under the age of 25, but brought back the core of the squad that won a historic 56 games in the regular season, and took two games off Cleveland before bowing out in the conference final.
“We may not win as many games as we did last year, but that could make us a better team going into the post-season, and that’s what we’ve got to keep in mind,” DeRozan said. “We can’t get caught up in comparing us to last year.”
The most significant changes are the loss of athletic big man Bismack Biyombo, who left for Orlando in the off-season, and the addition of Jared Sullinger, who signed with Toronto in the summer but was to undergo surgery on his foot Monday and could be sidelined for as much as a quarter of the season.
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A healthy DeMarre Carroll would make a big difference. The Raptors never saw the best of Carroll, who had knee surgery in January and played in just 26 regular-season games, never quite at full health.
“If I can get through a healthy year, you’ll see the best of me,” Carroll said. “My main objective is to try to help this team defensively, and keep that same defensive mindset, the physicality mindset, try to help Demar and Kyle (Lowry) to some extent so when we get to the playoffs, they’re not exhausted.”
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Jonas Valanciunas also missed 22 games in the regular-season. He was outstanding in the post-season before being derailed by an ankle injury that proved costly to Toronto.
The Raptors’ cornerstones of DeRozan and Lowry are newly minted Olympic champions, helping the United States to gold. That experience in Rio was the “best graduate course” in basketball, said Casey, and the Raptors could reap the rewards.
“I can just see the confidence,” said the coach.
If last season raised the expectations and excitement of Raptors fans, it’s done the same for the team. DeRozan said he’d looked forward to coming back “all summer, even during the Olympics.”
After the memorable spring that saw them one of the final four teams playing, there’s no lack of motivation to go one better.
“It’s the motivation of knowing what it felt like being two games away from having an opportunity to compete for a championship,” DeRozan said. “We’re at the bottom of the hill now. We’ve got to work our way up and take on every challenge that we’re going to face.”