TORONTO, CANADA – APRIL 16: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors handles the ball against the Orlando Magic during Game Two of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 16, 2019 at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors’ fan base is one of the best in the NBA and they showed why again when they sarcastically cheered Kyle Lowry’s first playoff point. Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry really wanted to get the goose egg off of his playoff score sheet, and so did the Raptors faithful. After an opening
Last year in this space, we introduced a metric called Wins Above Age-Derived Expectation, or WAADE. It measures exactly what it sounds like: how many more wins an NBA team actually gets than you would have expected them to based on their minutes-weighted age. In introducing the metric, we highlighted several teams that stood out
Welcome to The Whiteboard, catching you up every morning on what’s good around the NBA. Find The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you by email. Are they finally gonna win the East this year? Hard to say. Can they win the title? Feasibly, sure. But what the Raptors
The Toronto Raptors have a history of following impressive regular seasons with playoff disasters. Here’s why this season could be different. The Raptors have looked very good in Kawhi Leonard’s first year with the team. Thanks to internal development along with a handful of other acquisitions over the last year, this Raptors team looks very
OG Anunoby emerges from the damp, warm comfort of the locker room and surveys the breezy hallway with eyes both electric and half-lidded. He crouches lower, revealing a nest of permanently tousled hair, to better hear a Toronto Raptors staffer above the din of gathered media and players milling about. He’s pointed toward a waiting
Last year, this writer started his tenure with Basketball Insiders writing about who had the best case for Coach of the Year. One year later, he’s revisiting the same discussion. This time with an entirely new slate of candidates. The Coach of the Year Award produces one of the most fascinating races in the NBA
Can you believe that the NBA regular season is less than a month away from concluding? It’s March 18, and teams are gearing up for the final stretch run before the playoffs get here. Thus far, there have been three teams to solidify their spots—the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors and Philadelphia 76ers—while the rest of
The 2018-19 Toronto Raptors will never be described as cowardly. In almost any other situation, the five-year stretch they enjoyed from 2013 to 2018 would be considered a massive success: two likable stars in Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, 51 wins per season, five consecutive playoff berths and an Eastern Conference Finals appearance, capped off
Welcome to The Whiteboard, your daily source for the previous day’s best NBA content from around the internet, plus an original column. Catch The Whiteboard here on The Step Back, and subscribe here to get it delivered to you via email each morning. The Eastern Conference was in a thrilling arms race on NBA trade
On Thursday, Mar. 8, the Los Angeles Lakers were functionally eliminated from postseason contention. With the decision to sit LeBron James in back-to-backs and put a minutes restriction on the future Hall of Famer, the franchise officially waved the white flag on their already fractionally-small playoff hopes. This season was supposed to be different, obviously,
Back in early December, the Miami Heat were struggling. Erik Spoelstra’s squad had a record of 10-14 and was in the early throes a six-game Western Conference road trip. Worse yet, the Heat were beset by injuries. For the second game of the trip — a roadie against the Clippers in LA — Miami knew
In recent campaigns, the importance of a good, reliable bench unit has soared out the window as the rise in superteams grew larger. This is not to say that the Golden State Warriors regret not having a consistent Sixth Man of the Year contender in their second unit because, well, their back-to-back championships speak for
As we move into the final stretch of the regular season, it’s important for the real contenders around the league to narrow down exactly what combinations of players they want to use during the postseason. Matchups will, of course, dictate personnel in most playoff series, but that doesn’t mean teams can’t start preparing for the
The day after the trade deadline passed, LeBron James had some interesting things to say about the arms race that was going down between the Eastern Conference titans. “They know they ain’t gotta go through Cleveland anymore,” James said. “Everybody in the East thinks they can get to the Finals because they ain’t gotta go
Last week, the NBA’s trade deadline finally came and went — along with plenty of worthwhile fireworks of their own — and buyout season is officially in full swing. But as franchises continue bolstering their roster ahead of the postseason (or lottery-bound future efforts), another deadline occurred recently without much fanfare. In January, the cutoff
Last week, the NBA’s trade deadline finally came and went — along with plenty of worthwhile fireworks of their own — and buyout season is officially in full swing. But as franchises continue bolstering their roster ahead of the postseason (or lottery-bound future efforts), another deadline occurred recently without much fanfare. In January, the cutoff
WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 4: Jeremy Lin #7 of the Atlanta Hawks handles the ball against the Washington Wizards on February 4, 2019 at Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty
Throughout the week, Basketball Insiders has released post-deadline rankings on teams in various divisions around the NBA, and next up is the Southwest Division. The Southwest is incredibly diverse this season. It features a team that is gunning for the NBA Finals, teams that can’t decide to what extent they want to tank and everything
You can forgive new Raptor Marc Gasol for not having enough time to learn the team’s pregame choreography. He clearly didn’t know what was going on. Marc Gasol has not been a part of the Toronto Raptors for long, but it still was mighty awkward to see him left out of their pregame ritual. It
The Raptors are taking a risk on an aging Marc Gasol, but they have to shoot their shot now, or risk losing everything. Pause for a second on the Marc Gasol trade and put yourself in Masai Ujiri’s shoes. The Raptors are probably either the best or second best team in the East. Their LeBron
Remember when the consensus with the NBA Trade Deadline was that it was going to be pretty boring with more buyers than sellers? Those were some good times, because a lot has changed since then. Suddenly, the Grizzlies decided to end their golden age of basketball, Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks divorced and rumors are swirling
Remember when the consensus with the NBA Trade Deadline was that it was going to be pretty boring with more buyers than sellers? Those were some good times, because a lot has changed since then. Suddenly, the Grizzlies decided to end their golden age of basketball, Kristaps Porzingis and the Knicks divorced and rumors are swirling
The NBA Trade Deadline is rapidly approaching and the number of teams looking to add talent grows with every day and new injury. Chatter is beginning to heat up with rumors and speculation picking up in the last few days. We kicked off a new series this week at Basketball Insiders, examining each division across
Back by the popular demand of pretty much only myself, it’s the second annual edition of Around the NBA in 15 Trades. We’re taking all 30 teams in the lead up to the Feb. 7 trade deadline and finding a happy middle ground for prosperous barterdom. Usually, the trade deadline brings deals between contenders and teams
SAN ANTONIO, TX – JANUARY 3: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the Toronto Raptors after missing a foul shot against the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center on January 3, 2019 in San Antonio, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that , by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to
Pascal Siakam isn’t a superstar, but his wide skill-set and infectious energy have helped the Toronto Raptors be one of the NBA’s best teams this season. Kawhi Leonard may be the do-it-all forward holding down headlines for the Toronto Raptors. But the energy and burgeoning versatility of Pascal Siakam have been just as important to
Thanks to a strong weekend, the Toronto Raptors have more wins than any team in the NBA. They are percentage points behind the Milwaukee Bucks for the best record in the league and are one of just four teams that currently sit inside the top 10 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, per NBA.com. The
The Milwaukee Bucks game operations staff trolled Kawhi Leonard in hilarious fashion during Saturday’s game against the Toronto Raptors. Seriously, get these people some more money. The game operations folks at the Fiserv Forum came up with an all-time tremendous troll on Saturday night. The Milwaukee Bucks were hosting the Toronto Raptors in a matchup
TORONTO, ON – MAY 03: Head Coach Dwane Casey of the Toronto Raptors applauds in the second half of Game Two of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2018 NBA Playoffs at Air Canada Centre on May 3, 2018 in Toronto, Canada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that,