When you start dating, there’s something to be said for bad dates and breakups serving as lessons for the do’s and don’ts of the world of romance. But, if you keep making the same crummy jokes, not brushing your teeth, over and over again, you’re not learning much from those bad dates. At a certain point, losing becomes unproductive.
It’s kind of like that with basketball, too. And in the last couple of matches, the Toronto Raptors’ losing has been real, real unproductive. Because, it doesn’t tell
anyone anything that they don’t already know.
Both times when the Raptors have traded for Kawhi Leonard, there’s been an implicit gamble attached to that. Leonard won’t play a lot of regular season games, but take him to the playoffs okay, and he’ll turn into the ‘84 Terminator, or ‘85 Jordan, whichever set of skills might be needed more that night.
This season, Kawhi went out early. Okay. That just means that the other guys need to start pulling extra weight a little sooner. And you remember the playoff series against the Cavaliers, and say, “okay, Scottie and RJ, maybe they can anchor this offence, even without a scorer like Brandon Ingram or Kawhi Leonard.” And then… Scottie Barnes goes down.
Yikes.
An old teacher of mine told me that “practice doesn’t make perfect — perfect practice makes perfect,” and it concerns me that that Raptors are just practicing really, far, far away from perfect. Now, Scottie seems like he’s going to come back soon; when exactly that will be is unclear, but there has been little indication that the groin strain is something particularly serious.
But, losing the games that the Raptors are losing, without Scottie Barnes, doesn’t really help them understand how their team is going to perform in playoff settings, which, for this roster, should be the ultimate goal. Before the season started, Bobby Webster spoke to the media, and argued that the question that should remain pervasive throughout the season should be “can we win every night?”
Thus far, the answer to that question, without Kawhi Leonard, has be a resounding “no.” Omer Osman illustrates that clearly, in the tweet above. It’s not 2019 anymore. The Raptors are a different beast, younger, less veteran-heavy, and constructed in a less careful manner.
With Scottie missing the last couple of matchups against heavy-hitters like Boston and Philadelphia, the Raptors don’t know how well the team can operate in an optimal sans-Kawhi state, because Toronto was never expecting to, and is not built to, compete without both of its All-Stars.
Barnes was showcasing that he’s taken a leap offensively, and can piggy-back the Raptors — to a degree — but when facing off against diminished rosters of great teams, and the forward isn’t there to help the Raptors take advantage of weakened clubs, the Raptors are effectively leaving both wins or positive reps on the table, and without Barnes, aren’t necessarily getting either.
This isn’t to say that there’s *zero* value from playing without Barnes or Leonard. RJ Barrett just had a season high in points, and is continuing to prove his value. Jakob Poeltl has quietly been looking more like his uninjured self again. And the team’s younger players are getting more time on the court to find their legs and develop themselves further. But, this season was never meant to be about development. It was meant to be about the Raptors bashing teams’ heads in with lockdown defence and gliding to the playoffs.
But, ultimately, the team has to play the cards they’re dealt. The season thus far hasn’t been the triumphant return of Raptors basketball to the big stage anyone expected, but there’s a lot of basketball left in the year.
@BAAILEYYCREATES on Twitter raised an important point; that last year, Leonard’s health management kept him off the court almost entirely until the new year, and when he was back, he was whooping teams left right and centre. It’s not 2019 anymore, and Kawhi is 35 years old now, but that means, simply, that ramping up looks different for Leonard now, not that he’s unable to deliver on-court product. The Raptors need to be able to compete with and without Leonard for this roster to work, but without Scottie Barnes to lead the charge, Toronto will remain in dire straits.
