I see the Raptors like a 2004 Pistons. Full defensive effort. The team playing for the team, not for just one guy. Never giving up. We may not repeat, but I'm proud of this team
Siakam: 27th pick Anunoby: 23rd pick Powell: 46th pick Vanvleet: undrafted Davis: undrafted Omg 😱 these make up more then half of this Raptors team main core all hail Masai Ujiri best executive in the league 🔥
Nick Nurse is coach of the year, Siakam is a top 15 player all nba caliber player in the league, Lowry continues to be the most well rounded all star PG in the league and a leader, and everybody else just does their job so well
Arshdeep Singh yo wtf I’m not even kidding yesterday I saw you in a comment section and said “Wtf I see you in every comment section” cause I see you in every comment section I’m subbing
@@jimmyjay689 I don't understand why everyone says toronto is a bad playoff team lol weren't they in the conference finals in 2016? And this is nowhere near the same team at all
As a raptors fan, i'm not surprised one bit. Before the season started I was pretty adamant that this team would still be a top 3 team in the east and win 50+ games. Reason being, this is a great TEAM. People drew conclusions from the playoff's that weren't accurate at all, sure Kawhi was essential but there were times when he himself was carried. Siakam 30 points in game one of the finals anyone? Kyle Lowry's fiery start to Game 6 against Golden State? Vanvleet in the clutch? WETHENORTH forever. Keep sleeping
Lmao did you just say Kawhi got carried by the raptors. Laughable. Kawhi carried the Raptors to the NBA Finals. Vanvleet didn't show up till game 3 of the ECF. The team except for Gasol didn't show up until the ECF. Raps would be eliminated by the Sixers if Kawhi didn't step-up and carry the load.
J kawhi definitely carried in the sixers series no doubt ab that, as well as part of the ECF. But I think the team as a whole really stepped up in the Finals, and kawhi carried less.
J gotta remember kawhi 17 points and 21 in the finals? Remember vanveets 12 points in the clutch 3 games in a row in the 4th can’t say kawhi carried them every game cause that’s a lie and u know it they deserved the chip shoulda been a 3 peat tho to much injuries sucked for us
Bruh Really Kawhi literally dragged them in the philly series. Especially the game 7, they reported to the defrozen raptors. And during the bucks series kawhi went off again. The team rallied too.
Sam Choudhary I’m a Kawhi Leonard fan but I gonna admit it is a team effort in winning there first championship Kawhi is the important piece but without the Lowry,Gasol,Siakam,Vanvleet, and the others they can’t win
@@jacksonreid33 ya, in the last game that ended the Raptors win streak, not having gasol really showed. Dont get me wrong there are times that gasol is a liability but the nets attacked toronto in the paint with DeAndre and Allen. The Raptors were forced to over play ibaka who is an undersize center himself. Boucher was useless, deandre treated him like a fly lol. I like boucher but hes too weak for the 5 and not skilled enough for the modern 4. Not really sure if he has long term potential.
Yea he definitely needs to beef up if he wants to play against the big dogs. Also, he needs to improve his 3pt shot to help spread the floor better and he'll get consistent mintues moving forward.
I’ll admit it. As a Raptors fan, I severely underestimated this team. I thought they’d be in the middle of the pact (4-6 seed). But they are surpassing all of my expectations
Yeah, that's where I thought they would be as well. I never thought they would be bad enough to slip out of the playoffs but I never expected them to be this damn awesome.
I believe if anything, its being a realist. I really thought we'd be in similar standings, even a 2nd round exit during playoffs. But if we play like this and everyones healthy, I think Raps can go to conference finals or even finals.
Imagine in the off-season we sign for DeRozan again LOL. I def don't see our current roster being sustainable, someone is gonna get lured by money elsewhere, that's just how the NBA works...
Literally tho despite losing Kawhi and Danny Green no one thought the Raptors would do something special this season , Pascal Siakam had a lot to do with it and also Kyle Lowry having a stellar year tho
@clehooda northside LeBron is not in the East anymore. Plus Raptors traded DeRozan and fired Casey as former coach. Lowry is not bad as he played well in the playoffs last year. Nick Nurse is a better coach than Casey.
bruce lau ? They won 59 games the year before kawhi and 51 the year before that. If people didn’t know this team would be good and on pace for 50 something wins, they weren’t paying attention.
anybody who followed the Raptors expected this. They had a better record without Kawhi last year when he sat down. Pascal was expected to take a leap this year and same with Fred VanVleet. Maybe not in pace for a 60 win record but at least a 3rd-4th seed.
Why do you need to feel validated by a video? That's honestly so sad that you're crying because no one's giving you attention. Why not stay quiet and keep riding under everyone's nose? You're acting like a jealous ex. Sure we won the championship, we lost kawhi and danny, okay so what? Move on. Sure an analyst said oh we'll be bottom seed, but are we now? no, move on. Stop crying just because someone said we'd do poorly. Why do you think no one on the Raptors roster cares what analyst are saying? Jesus dude, grow a pair.
@@slamvsgames No shit but dont go and demand for it like a bitch. Legit making the entire raptors fanbase look like a bunch of little girls crying in every single chat room. Every twitter comment, facebook, instagram, youtube from a raptors fan, "we don't get credit the analyst said we'd be nothing." It's legit fucking annoying and this is all coming from a Raptors fan since 2012. It's legit so fucking said how much our team cries for attention. Jesus christ.
Their chemistry and cohesiveness as a team is undoubtedly great, they’ve been really great, but I don’t really see them as a true contender for the finals(which doesn’t mean they don’t have a chance at all). The star power (or pure talent ig) just isn’t enough for me, even though the team as a whole is really well balanced and deep. Nick Nurse is doing absolutely amazing, definite COTY contender. Edit: Also glad Powell and RHJ are doing well especially, two of my favorite players
I was hoping be brought up how the past ~3 summers they been showing up as a TEAM to Rico rhines private runs, that's what really made me pay attention to them cuz of how dedicated they were..
I think other then the Lakers Clippers and Bucks no one else has a “real good” chance at winning it all, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a team like the Raptors or Heat or Nuggets do surprise everyone and win it all, though a lot would have to go right for that to happen
to be fair main reason why people are sleeping on raptors are bc in the past(pre kawhi) they where good regular season team and then lebronto 24/7 ...now can you honestly tell me it won be gianis(or kd and kyrie from next year on) stoping them 24/7 each year every year..
America Media is sleeping on them a lot. Especially the teams in the US. There’s a lot of dumb fans out there as well. Like delusional Celtics fans, and bronsexuals. But still Raptors will do great in the playoffs. And hopefully make it to the ECF
Raptors are on an absolute TEAR 🦖 props to Masai and the front office for discovering new talent (siakam, vanvleet, Terence Davis, Chris Boucher) and signing and trading valuable vets (Lowry, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, serge, gasol, etc.)
@@pomegranate8659 no one can take that chip from them, im just saying if is going to be giannis land now or if toronto will rise agaist all comments, they are doing just that in this season
Toronto will dismiss the Celtics in 5 or 6 games max due to their length and D. 6 games only if Tatum and Brown ball out to keep pace with Siakam because he is a huge mismatch for any defender Celtics will throw at him. There is literally no paint scoring with Ibaka and Gasol and Siakam roaming so they better shoot lights out.
Toronto Raptors are so similar to the 2003-2007 Detroit Pistons with Billups, Prince, Hamilton, Maxwell, McDyess, Wallace and Larry Brown = Lowry, Ibaka, Siakam, Gasol, Davis, VanVleet & Nick Nurse. Ben Wallace left the Pistons in 2006 offseason and sign with the bulls. Kawhi Leonard left the Raptors in 2019 offseason and sign with the clippers. Isn’t a coincidence the Raptors may have a similar years like the Pistons? I’m a raptors fan and I gotta say it’s awesome seeing my team do well 😎
I think Nurse has a secret game plan for the playoffs he just hasn't shown it yet. I've watch every Raptors game this season and I've notice the Raptors always play light defense for the first half and then in the 3rd or 4th quarter depending on how dire things are looking, the defense kicks it up about 3 notches. I feel like Nurse just doesn't want to show all his moves
During the summer I went to a Team Canada basketball event and met Nick Nurse, so I asked him what their goal was going into this season and he said "We're trying to go back to back!", and from the way they're playing this year he def got the whole team in that mindset 🔥
Perhaps the long-thought notions that "superstars shine best in the playoffs" and "rotations need to be tighter in the playoffs" could be challenged by the Raptors' fluid approach. The way I see it, the Raptors may be running into this anyway now that they do not have a Kawhi-like go-to clutch scorer, and since the start of the season have already shown that they are willing to change the precognitions of the playoffs. After all, them implementing the box-and-one defense (a defensive playstyle not even looked at in the NBA league often) to counter the Warriors last Finals already shows that this mindset can work even in the playoffs. It's just a matter of whether the whole team has been properly cultivated and nurtured to adopt this playstyle, and whether the other teams are prepared to handle the unexpected.
This Toronto team is as close as u can get to the 2004 Detroit team. A close-knit team with no true superstar and great depth with a tough defensive presence. I'm really looking forward to what they can do this coming playoffs and I do believe they can knock out the bucks if everyone is healthy. Teamwork make the dream work 🙌🏽
I haven't heard anyone praise Leonard for elevating the Raptors this year. Some people make others better. Some people do not. What Toronto learned from Leonard last year isn't being talked about anywhere. I admire him even more.
Well, when Michael Jordan retired for the first time the Chicago Bulls only dropped 6 games (57 to 51) and took the Knicks to a full 7 game series in the 2nd round of the playoffs.....some Bulls fans to this day blame a phantom foul call on Scottie Pippen late in game 6 of that series
The fact is that last year nobody would have imagined Toronto could win the championship. But in the playoffs they defied every expectation mainly (obviously not only) because Leonard rose his game to the best in the world level. Now, again, they're defying the expectations but we're in the regular season. Let's wait and see the post season.
Even though they have a good season I still have the impression that they are overlooked by the southern neighbors because it's a Canadian team. They just had a little bit of attention for their winning streaks. But we don't care about their attention we do our things!
Before the season started I thought the raptors would exceed all the predicted expectations about the defending champs. I watched almost every raptors game last season and I saw how solid they played even when Kawhi Leonard wasn’t in the lineup. I had lots of faith in Nick Nurses coaching and the ability of the players to follow the systems put in place. What I wasn’t expecting was how Toronto’s bench would prove to be as productive as they have been this season. Once again credit to the player development the raptors have continued to create from what most NBA teams can never duplicate as effectively as this confident defending championship team. Bring on the 2020 playoffs. This group of guys are once again going to turn some heads. Go Raps Go!
This is the raptors pre khawi, top team in the east in regular season almost every season, and bows down to lower seed team with a superstar, but this team in the playoffs remains to be seen
I like the Raptors but remember the 2018-19 playoffs. They struggled without Kawhi, all of them except Kawhi struggled in the playoffs last year. But I still believe the North, but let’s not take their chances for granted
Pheng Moua LeBron isn’t in the east and JR Smith isn’t playing anymore, so why are you talking about them? You’re acting like the raptors are the same team from 2 years ago lol bringing up LeBron like that.
Embiid’s Tears Uh you’re the one who mentioned two years ago, and two years ago, they lost to Lebron and JR Smith. They’re essentially the same team from two years ago. Just no Demar DeRozen. They were a great regular season team then and great one now lol
Iso Productions definitely will. I saw your name in another video and checked one of em out. Your videos definitely deserve more recognition. Your channel is mad underrated.
I'm a Raptors fan. I was born and raised in Toronto. And honestly I don't see how the Raptors' small ball lineup is going to stack up in the playoffs. 6' 196lb Lowry and 6'1" 195lb VanVleet frequently play with each other in the backcourt. That is a woefully undersized backcourt. The Bucks, Lakers and Clippers are tall, big teams that would feast on the Raptors' backcourt. The Sixers too if the Sixers manage to face the Raptors in the playoffs. 6'10" 230lb Ben Simmons plays the point guard position. You know what this means? Lowry is going to have to guard their shooting guard. And VanVleet is going to have to guard their small forward. Ben Simmons provides a bad matchup for the Raptors. He lacks a jump shot. But the Sixers can feast on the Raptors in the paint. Also height and in particular wingspan still matters on the perimeter. It's going to be tough for Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet to guard and score on shooting guards and wings on the perimeter because of their wingspan disadvantage. The Raptors are lucky that hand-checking on the perimeter is illegal for the past 15 years because they would get bullied even more in that case. If I was Nick Nurse (Raptors head coach), I would have 6'3" Norman Powell or 6'4" Terence Davis play with Kyle Lowry in the backcourt to give them some height and size. And have VanVleet come off the bench. I know this is not a popular take because VanVleet is more skilled than Powell and Davis. But he's too small to guard #2 guards and wings. And it's going to be hard for VanVleet to score efficiently when he's guarded by #2 guards and wings on the perimeter. Or god forbid he has to go for a contested layup giving up 6" to a 6'7" wing. The Raptors are a +3.4 when Lowry and VanVleet play together. But the team itself is a +7.2 overall. That backcourt is too small. When Lowry plays with 6'3" Powell, the Raptors are a more respectable +6.9. And when Lowry plays with 6'4" Davis, they are +19.8.
Sir, you can't really be a Raptors fan with that mindset. It means you haven't watched this teams playoff runs in past years We had Derozen holding us back all those years, we still beat philly and Milwaukee before Kawahi came. And were a better all around team today. If Siakam can do what hes supposed to, hes the guy everyone needs to worry about, not Giannis or Embiid or Simmons We'll be just fine getting thru the east. It's the finals where we have to either overcome the Lebron curse or face off against Kawahi in a bitter feud that will be the real challenge
@@btcturner1908 The Raptors never had as undersized of a backcourt as we do now. Unless you count the days where we sucked when 5'10" Stoudamire played. In 2019, we had 6'6" Danny Green starting with 6' Lowry. 6'1" VanVleet was a sixth man coming off the bench. Now the Raptors have VanVleet starting with Lowry because they lost Danny Green to the Lakers. Before Kawhi, we had 6'6" DeMar DeRozan and other shooting/combo guards taller than VanVleet in the backcourt getting minutes. Just because I'm from Toronto doesn't mean I'm going to throw rationality out the window. VanVleet is too short to play shooting guard. And I don't recall him having very long arms (wingspan) to make up for that. And the statistics show that the Raptors +/- decreases significantly when Lowry and VanVleet play together. VanVleet is a natural point guard who unfortunately doesn't get many minutes at point guard because Lowry already plays that position. VanVleet would work well as the backup point guard. And the Raptors could reduce Lowry's minutes during some parts of the regular season to save him for the playoffs (load management) and give them to VanVleet since VanVleet is good enough to be a starting point guard (but not a starting shooting guard) in the NBA anyways. And then have 6'4" Terence Davis or 6'3" Norman Powell (when healthy) start at shooting guard.
@@blackpill9431 using Derozen for your argument isnt helping your case as he was just a pylon on defense. Having 2 guys as small as FVV and Lowry isn't a big a deal as you're making it. Lowry is a pitbull below that foul line and can box out bigs with regularity So what if Simmons is 10 inches taller, he doesn't want to shoot over anyone. He can only drive or float in 1 handers They are both above average perimeter defenders and take the ball away from the best of the best. As long as they keep a hand up to disturb 3s. Their only weakness is someone shooting over them. And if teams want to take the 18 footers all night. Fine.
The raptors are contenders because of their depth, the continued rise to super stardom of siakam, but in my opinion most importantly the absolute absurd and creative coaching of nick nurse.
They have lots of cap space left without Kawhi re-signing so even though the Bucks have the best chance of conquering the east this season,they can sign another max player in the off-season without having to trade anybody!!!! Or get multiple doggs to create depth!
I guess "Learning how to win" is really a thing. You can see after a Championship run, the confidence of knowing they've been in every situation and have overcome so much is what has carried over. Siakam Lowry benefited the most imo
Best thing but not included in the video is that my "great basketball analyst" of a father said they would be 8 in the east at best. This raptors win streak has brought me so much joy! Everyday I call home to speak with him! 😂😂😂
I never thought they would be this great, but i already seen they are really good on playoffs 2019, from the finals it's easy to notice, if the bucks were on the finals against the warriors, they would only take 1 or 2 game from warriors
Lmao you're really underestimating the bucks of last year they had a legit shot at the title if they played against the warriors because no one would be able to handle giannis and draymond and iggy would have a tough time plus the warrior's injuries
Literally no Toronto fans were surprised at the Raps success. The American media was portraying it that we only won the chip cuz Kawhi, but we knew there was more too it than that.
I really hope toronto and Milwaukee are in the ecf I really wanna see gasol/ibaka vs giannis 2 great veteran defenders vs the young buck who seem to can’t be stopped. Would be exciting
The Raptors have a solid team and a star on the rise nine Siakiim .They dont have Leonard anymore but haven't missed a beat .They have great floor generals in Lowry and van vleet a good defense also Ibaka not as good as he was but he contributes to the teams success .The Bucks better keep watch
I agree with Andy about Siakam. Yes, he puts good stats this year but he doesn't have something that you can see from other great players like Durant, Giannis, Kawhi, Harden, Curry or even Damian Lillard. He is kind of like, playing basketball because he is tall, not because deep talent.
This is somewhat reminiscent of when the '93-'94 Bulls won 55 games without Michael Jordan, although these Raptors appear to be on a better trajectory. We'll see what happens come playoff time.
great vid thanks Andy. Vids are always pretty unbiased. Am a raps fan but have to agree that getting past Bucks going to be tough without a star killer like Kawhi.
