Although they come from a 25-win seasonTHE Toronto Raptors are arguably more interesting than they have been in recent years.
The team had run its course with Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby leading the way. Those three players helped the franchise win its first championship and thus hold a special place in Raptors history, but changes were needed.
President of basketball operations Masai Ujiri has established himself as one of the league’s best executives by making tough, timely decisions. The trades he’s made over the past year, namely the one that sent Anunoby to the New York Knicks in exchange for RJ Barrett, Immanuel Quickley and a second-round pick, will determine where this organization is over the next five seasons.
By recruiting young talent who have already shown signs of NBA promise rather than solely chasing future draft picks and expiring contracts, Ujiri is attempting to initiate a reboot rather than a complete rebuild. Whatever you call it, immediate success will be extremely difficult for the Raptors to achieve in 2024-25.
The Raptors are a difficult team to judge
Scottie Barnes will begin his first full season as an undisputed player face of the franchisea responsibility he will have to shoulder effectively if Toronto is to avoid a prolonged stay in NBA purgatory, or worse. He made a huge leap forward last season, particularly on offense, but the team lacked the experience and depth to compete in the Eastern Conference.
The Raptors’ roster, already below .500, fell in January, an unsurprising consequence of the midseason roster shakeup. But chemistry should be significantly improved heading into the 2024-25 campaign.
Head coach Darko Rajakovic should have a more stable situation to deal with in his second year, as there will no longer be a sense of uncertainty hanging over the team. He knows what he’s working with now, from start to finish. Toronto’s core should be intact all season.
This assumption will be crucial in assessing the organization’s chances for the upcoming season. Since the NBA released its full schedule last week, it’s an opportune time to take a closer look at this team. With the information provided, we’ll do our best to predict How the Raptors finish in 2024-25 and try to inform fans of what they can expect.
Is an exciting new era for Toronto basketball in the works, or is this still the beginning of a renovation project? The schedule’s rearrangement could actually help answer that fundamental question.
Raptors to be tested early
Last season, the Raptors had to make adjustments and adapt to a new roster structure. Rajakovic and a young, revamped team learned a lot of tough lessons.
Forced to radically change its strategy and philosophy following the departures from Siakam and Anunoby put the team in an undesirable position. And as expected, undesirable results followed. The Raptors failed to adjust to their new reality and continued to plummet in the Eastern Conference standings (they lost 19 of the last 21 games). While rookies and new players are coming on board, a period of visible growth should be on the horizon.
The continued presence of veterans like Bruce Brown Jr., Jakob Poeltl and Kelly Olynyk, however long that presence lasts, should benefit the new crop of up-and-comers who are taking up a prominent place in the locker room. The group is loaded with talent, promise, skill and experience. The problem, however, will be how to bring it all together.
This one-year assignment will be particularly difficult to tackle at the start of the 2024-25 season. Toronto’s first four games will be against teams that made the playoffs in 2023-24 and have a chance to advance to the conference finals. The Cleveland Cavaliers, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Denver Nuggets all pose serious enough threats that the Raptors’ first win won’t come until they face the Charlotte Hornets in Game 5.
A slow start is a very unpleasant situation for a franchise that finished its last campaign in miserable fashion. Things don’t get much better, as Toronto embarks on a road trip to the West Coast shortly after. In total, 22 of its first 25 games will be against teams that had winning records the year before. Wow.
Toronto has a great opportunity to finish strong
While the the schedule will eventually become more flexibleA poor start could make any respite pointless. But if Scottie Barnes and RJ Barrett can keep the team above water between now and March, the Raptors could be in position to make a late-season breakout.
They’ll face what are projected to be some of the NBA’s worst teams in the final 12 games of their 2024-25 campaign — the Washington Wizards, Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls and two matchups each against the Brooklyn Nets and Hornets. There are obviously no guarantees when one mediocre team plays another, but I consider Toronto to be the best of that group. Capitalizing on a favorable final stretch could be what extends their season beyond Game 82.
A demanding first month of action, along with a grueling three-game series in December against the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks, could help prepare Rajakovic’s guys for the second half of the season and even accelerate their development.
Tough competition is exactly what sophomore perimeter threat Gradey Dick (36.5 percent from 3-point range last season) and trade acquisition Ochai Agbaji are looking for. and quartet of recruits Ja’Kobe Walter, Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead and Ulrich Chomche still have some growing up to do in the Association. There will be some tough nights, but they will prove useful in the spring and in the years to come.
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Raptors final record for the 2024-25 season
You can already tell that I’m pretty optimistic about the trajectory Raptors basketball is about to take. I see the vision and I believe it will ultimately result in a relevant basketball product that will see the light of day in the near future. The 2024-25 season is a big part of that process.
Winning a playoff series is unrealistic, and being confined to the NBA basement is simply unacceptable. The Raptors can offer their fans a healthy compromise that portends greater growth to come.
Masai Ujiri bets on BarnesBarrett and Quickley will get this franchise back into competitive territory in their first full seasons as a trio. While they bolster Toronto, the aforementioned youngsters will ideally iron out the holes in their game and climb toward their impressive ceilings. Brown and Olynyk will do their part to stabilize everything in between, with the former providing a burst of energy off the bench and the latter hopefully regaining his efficient shot.
Implementing this formula of varied development schedules is certainly a risky bet, but the potential is clear. If the Raptors are indeed good enough to play at least one meaningful game in April, then they can gain crucial experience. A gutsy performance in 2024-25 sets the stage for legitimate progression.
And that’s what I predict. The team will overtake the other teams in the Eastern Conference and secure a spot in the play-in tournament. It may not be a very eye-catching goal to achieve, but it should be easy for fans to digest this season.
Final record: 37-45 (12 more wins than last season)
