For so long the Toronto Raptors have been an organization that’s prided itself on its depth. It was the calling card of those early We The North era teams that lacked a superstar but made up for it — at least in the regular season — with depth in talent. From Patrick Patterson and Greivis Vásquez to Terrence Ross, C.J. Miles, Norman Powell, and the lovable bench mob of 2018. But last season, in a year in which depth would prove more important than ever before, there was nothing.
Night after night Raptors coach Nick Nurse reached deep into his bench hoping someone, anyone, could provide stability. But nobody could. Of the 15 players who dressed on opening night last season, only six remain with the organization. It’s been almost a complete turnover from last year and things, at least so far, appear to be different.
“I think there are people putting heat on some of those guys you might expect to play [in the rotation],” Nurse said following Tuesday’s training camp practice.
The Raptors have a handful of core guys that are going to take up the bulk of the playing time when healthy. That’s Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., Goran Dragic, Khem Birch, Chris Boucher, Scottie Barnes, and Precious Achiuwa, in no particular order. That nine-man rotation would have been enough on most nights in the pre-pandemic days, but Nurse is looking to add to that.
“It isn’t a nine-man deal anymore with injuries and testing and protocols and all this stuff,” Nurse said. “No. 13 could end up No. 7 pretty quick.”
So who is left?
So far Nurse has gone out of his way to praise the play of Yuta Watanabe, Svi Mykhailiuk, and Justin Champagnie. Watanabe is essentially a lock to make the roster and will probably get rotation minutes while Siakam and Boucher are out to start the season. He’s set himself apart from the rest of the roster with his high basketball IQ and his non-stop hustle. Mykhailiuk should provide some valuable shooting off the bench after a disappointing 2020-21 campaign and he’s a player Nurse said he’s “always liked.” And the most surprising story of training camp might be Champagnie who, despite being on a two-way contract, has impressed Nurse with his rebounding skills and better-than-expected shooting.
Conversely, Malachi Flynn’s spot in the rotation seems to be a little precarious. He did not play in the first half of Monday’s preseason opener and Nurse has made it clear he wants to see a little more offensive aggression from the sophomore guard.
“He tends to be a little safer and kind of wait for the developing play,” Nurse said. “In doing that, the defense is also going to get set. So we're gonna try to get him to go a little faster and we’ve got to get him to go off the ball.”
That was an issue for Flynn last season and so far it doesn’t seem like he’s made a big improvement in that area over the summer. That being said, if Flynn can adapt to Toronto’s fast-paced system, he should have no problem cracking that top group in the rotation and reclaiming his spot as a valuable backup guard for the Raptors.
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