Welcome back to NBA basketball! The NBA regular season has started once again a mere two months after the end of the 2019-2020 season, this time on a shortened 72 game schedule due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While the NBA may have returned, the Raptors appear to remain on “vacation mode” as they begin their season with a losing record of 2-7 (at the time of writing), currently the second-worst record in the NBA and the Raptors’ first losing record in nearly seven years. In less than two years, the Toronto Raptors have gone from a championship team to a team that can barely win games against the New York Knicks.
There are numerous factors that could explain the Raptors’ dismal performance. The Toronto Raptors were the only team forced to relocate to Tampa after the Canadian government denied permission to play home games in Toronto due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional stress of moving to an unfamiliar city, which included finding homes and relocating families on short notice, as well as the loss of their home court could have contributed to poor early performances. Perhaps the short period between the 2019-2020 season and the 2020-2021 season afforded only a minimal break for the Raptors players, especially for the veteran Raptors players that played through the 2019 championship season. This could also explain the uncharacteristically poor performance of Pascal Siakam who had not been playing at the All-Star level that we’re used to seeing him. Taken together, playing in an unfamiliar place with new routines during a global pandemic would certainly impact any professional sports team.
However, one important factor stands above all others: the departures of NBA champions Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol forced the Toronto Raptors to bring together a makeshift group of replacements at the centre position that ultimately demonstrated the glaring disparity at the centre position. Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol were more than just two high-calibre centres; they were also key pieces to the Toronto Raptors’ championship calibre frontcourt who are both strong defenders and capable of creating offensive plays. Ibaka in particular was essential in providing a reliable offence and was a vocal leader on the team.
Losing both centres meant that the Raptors had a massive hole in the middle, both literally and figuratively. They were forced to sign any remaining centres from the 2020 free agent class. Aron Baynes, who was signed to replace Gasol in the lineup, has been nearly unplayable during the first few games of the season. He scored a mere 13 points over the last five games and went scoreless for 27 minutes in their most recent losses to Boston and Phoenix. Together with Alex Len, another centre signed after the departure of Ibaka, the two averaged merely 8.5 points and 7.9 rebounds so far in the season, a significant drop in production at centre. By contrast, Serge Ibaka and Marc Gasol averaged 22.9 points and 14.5 rebounds last season while anchoring the team’s second-ranked defence.
It is clear that letting Ibaka and Gasol walk for the slim chance of recruiting Giannis Antetokounmpo was a costly mistake for the Raptors. Although Raptors’ backup centre Chris Boucher has shown flashes of brilliance early on in the season, there continues to be concerns that Boucher alone cannot rejuvenate the production needed at the centre position. It is never a good sign when Kyle Lowry, a 6-foot point guard, has more rebounds than Baynes, Len, and Boucher combined at this point in the season. Unless the Raptors are willing to make changes to the current lineup (Editor’s note: James Harden anyone?) or address the situation internally, it’s going to be a long year for Raptors fans as this team will not be making the playoffs.