Although the home team regretted the thunder and the brilliant winning streak of 1 1 came to an end, the Raptors not only showed their strong competitiveness through this game, but also kept the gap between the two teams at 5.0 wins because of the Celtics' defeat that day. With the Raptors' current momentum and the recent wave of injuries of the Celtics, the gap between the five wins is almost impossible to catch up in the last month of the regular season.
Toronto people are likely to sit at the top of the Eastern Conference regular season for the first time in team history.
As one of the youngest teams in the NBA and the only team outside the United States, the Raptors have made such achievements this season, and few people know the efforts behind it.
1995, the NBA expanded its troops outside its own territory for the first time, and Toronto and Vancouver in Canada also started to have their own basketball home teams this year.
However, the Vancouver grizzly bear soon could not hold on. After they chose to go south to Memphis, the Raptors became the only child living alone overseas.
For raptors, one difficulty that is often overlooked is that they are located in the north. Toronto's cold weather, short team history and high tax rate make the Raptors never favored by big-name free agents. Today, the most successful players in the history of the Raptors are all obtained through the draft-the only exception is kyle lowry, but obviously, he was not a famous name before joining the Raptors.
That's why the historical division of the Raptors is so clear. Carter led the team to the playoffs three times, and Bosh led the team to the quarterfinals twice. This is not a great achievement, but Carter led the team to the first round, and Bosh won the first division championship for the Raptors, which is enough to make them be regarded as legends in team history.
After all, in other years, the Raptors are still immersed in a longer decline.
In the summer of 20 13, the management of the raptors made an important decision. After missing the playoffs for five years in a row, the team fired former general manager Jericho Langello, and they decided to hand over the management responsibility of the team to Marseille Uggeri.
This year, 43-year-old Ugeri has just become the first non-American general manager of the year in NBA history because of his outstanding performance in Nuggets. It was this Nigerian, together with Lori and Demar demar derozan, who changed the Raptors in the next five years.
"Northern Double Knives" Lori and Demar demar derozan are certainly the cornerstones for the Raptors to reach the playoffs for the fifth consecutive year. Backcourt partner was selected to the All-Star Team four times in five years. Their complementary ways of playing on the court and their affection with their brothers off the court contributed to the continuous evolution of Lori and Demar DeRozan.
Buying Lori from the Rockets in the summer of 20 12 today was the most successful transaction in the Raptors' history, but the first thing Ugeri did after taking office was almost to send Lori away again.
According to team coach Devon Casey, when he led the team against the Knicks recently, the Raptors almost reached a deal proposal about Lori on 20 13 12, and the goal was the Knicks. Ugeri had intended to trade Lori for Shannon, Cishiping and a first-round signing, but the Knicks rejected the deal at the last minute. In this regard, Kathy has only four words, "Thank God".
In Ugeri's first season in office, Lori and Demar DeRozan finally led the team to 48 wins and 34 losses, and the team won the division championship and returned to the playoffs. Since then, President Wu has never moved the idea of trading either of them, and turned his energy to the field he is good at, thus bringing a real leap for the Raptors.
Do you remember? As we just introduced, Ugeri is a Nigerian. His first job in NBA was to be an international scout for Orlando Magic for free. Since then, he has become more and more comfortable with this work. Vandewich offered him a formal contract in Denver, and Colangelo invited him to Toronto as the director of international scouting.
Ugeri knows more about international players than any general manager, which is why in the summer of 20 17, the names of seven foreign players appeared on the Raptors' 15 registration list. Although Bruno Capoclo, known as "Durant of Brazil", has been sent away, the remaining six whisperd from Europe, Africa and South America are still at the top of the Canadian aviation stage.
I don't know if you have noticed that in the NBA opener of 20 17- 18 season, 20 starting centers of 30 teams were all international players. Today, the role of international players is becoming more and more important, and the big guys have become the most popular ethnic group.
In the Raptors, five of their six international players are inside players, and the rest 1 is rookie Anunobi, with a wingspan of 2.20m.. Although these six big men's arms can't circle the earth, they are enough to cover the sun on the basketball court.
Poeltl, a young Austrian volleyball player, was singled out by Sabonis Jr. as the main center of the University of Utah during the NCAA championship in 20 16, but the Raptors still had a soft spot for him in the draft. The Raptors were attracted by his height and wingspan, far exceeding Sabonis Jr.
Moreover, behind Poeltl and Siakam, another first-round show in the same year, there is a triple password of the Raptors.
First, the role of international players. Ugeri's vision and connections have been mentioned before. Siakam, just after Embiid, is another genius discovered by Bamot from Cameroon. His mobility not only gave the Raptors more choices, but also formed a 100% international insider team.
Second, the play of bench players. This season's Raptors are not the only team that fights the world with two knives. At the beginning of the season, Raptors fans felt sorry for the loss of excellent backup point guard cory joseph, but now the performances of Van Frith and Deron Wright are enough to make people forget.
Until last season, the Raptors' bench was a drag bottle, averaging 3 1.2 points per game, the fifth lowest in the league, and the efficiency value was only in the middle. After a short offseason, the Raptors averaged 4 1.6 points on the bench this season, ranking fifth in the league, and the actual competition efficiency far exceeded that of other 29 teams!
In this section, it may be time to discuss another question: so how did the Raptors' bench evolve rapidly?
The third password is the draft strategy that the Raptors insisted on for many years after taking office in Ugeri.
In fact, when they chose Poeltl on 20 16, I was also very curious. Why did a team with Varanciunas choose a European big man with such a high ranking? Isn't this redundant construction? But it is the coexistence of Varan and Porter, and now it can be guaranteed that the Raptors will be guarded by giants 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The Raptors haven't got a high-level contract for several years, so they are doing similar things year after year: choosing a successor of the main player in the corresponding position can be trained as a qualified substitute in a short time or a successor in a long time.
So Deron Wright, Porter, Siakam, Anunobi, including the second-round show norman powell, and so on, all came to the Raptors under this background, and they can find their own mentors in this team without too much pressure. Kyle lowry said happily, "I saw my own shadow in Van Frith."
It is natural for these young people to grow up. So far this season, the Raptors have replaced five groups, such as Van Frith, Wright, C.J. Myers, Siakam and Porter, which is the group with the biggest score gap among all the 95 five-person groups in the league whose playing time exceeds 100 minutes. You can imagine how strong the Raptors' backup is now.
For the Raptors, the top spot in the eastern regular season is already in the bag. So far, it has won 52 games, and its record is catching up with the Warriors-this is only the third season with 50 wins in their team's history, but it is also the most promising season to achieve the ultimate breakthrough.
Now, their only curiosity is: after being repeatedly repaired by James in the playoffs in the past few years, once they face the Cavaliers in the playoffs, can they defeat the super king who ruled the East for seven years?
Anunobi will be the first to stand in front of James and harass him with his arm. The five international insiders behind him will make James and Cavaliers miserable in defending and rebounding.
Ugeri has made all the preparations, and Demar demar derozan and Lori will decide the Raptors' fate in the playoffs.
Raptors fans who have been waiting for many years are looking forward to killing the west coast in June with the slogan We The North. Just as Jay Chou sang in "Dragon Boxing": "I went west, attracted the north wind, and got bronzed."