Raptors

The Toronto Raptors have ruled out Malachi Flynn (left hamstring strain) and Fred VanVleet (knee soreness) for tonight's game against the Cleveland ...

The Raptors have a two-day break after Sunday and TSN's Josh Lewenberg reports the Wichita State product could be ready to go by Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs. Averaging 21.4 points, and 6.9 assists, to go along with 4.5 rebounds through 52 games, VanVleet has missed the last four contests. He recorded a season-high 20 points and eight assists in Friday night's loss to the Orlando Magic.

The Toronto Raptors may find themselves trying to navigate the NBA's complicated Stepien Rule if they fall out of the playoff picture this season.

With 18 games to go and a 4.5 game lead on the 11th-seeded Washington Wizards, tanking is off the table for the Raptors. They've won too many games to somehow make that 2022 first-round pick valuable without some lottery ball luck again. While missing the playoffs could help the Raptors from a draft pick perspective, allowing them to keep their lottery pick this summer and theoretically send San Antonio a less valuable pick in 2023 assuming Toronto improves next year, it certainly creates some headaches. That would likely be a pick somewhere between 15 and 18, meaning Toronto will have moved back about 20 spots in the draft to get off Dragic's contract and acquire Young for the final few months of the season.

As Chris Boucher is well aware, Toronto Raptors fans can be quite intense. It's why they were so hostile toward Goran Dragic during his return to Toronto ...

He was a vet and I have nothing wrong to say about Goran personally," Boucher added. So it's not really his fault," Boucher said. He really said that I was talented and I was playing hard."

In Sunday's loss to the host Cleveland Cavaliers, the first of a six-game trip for the Raptors, the only bench player to score for the visitors was Precious ...

The home side buried 18 three-pointers, including seven by VanVleet. Until that happens, the Raptors have been reduced to long shots. Then comes another trip with games in Philly and Chicago followed by a home date against the Cavs. Wednesday night looms as a must-win. The good news for Toronto is that San Antonio, which was scheduled to host the L.A. Lakers on Monday night, hasn’t been playing well. Article content Three of those turnovers were committed by Gary Trent Jr., who managed to drain only two three-point shots. Barnes finished the night by recording six assists. Article content For now, he’s at his best in transition, controlling the boards and able to get out and run. Article content Article content

If Masai Ujiri wants to get the Toronto Raptors out of the play-in tournament next season, he needs to add more good 3-point shooters.

However, if Ujiri wants to get this team out of the play-in doldrums next season, he needs to spend most of the offseason adding as many shooters off the bench as possible. Even with Achiuwa making strides as a shooter, the lack of spacing on the floor at any given moment can be painful at times. In both the short and long term, this lack of 3-point marksmanship is going to handicap this team.

Poor shooting and the transition defensive problems go hand-in-hand and it's hard to separate one from the other.

“There’s a lot of things that we have to do better and we’ve done it before, so it’s not like it’s not possible to be done,” Boucher said. “I think one thing that we changed in the second half is that we made it a lot harder for them to score in the paint. Just make them (make) a second decision, get up in the air and pass it to the corner and then rotate. But the Raptors also gave up 20 fast-break points in the game, which proves the transition aspect of defending was lacking. “So I think it looked a little clunky the last couple of games on top of not a ton of energy. If the Raptors have shown anything this season, it’s the ability to snap out of funks — think what they did after blowout losses in Charlotte and Atlanta for proof — so there’s no reason to think things can’t turn quickly.