Improving Toronto Raptors Have Yet To Join the Elite

In the past 19 games, the 19-20 Toronto Raptors have shown themselves to be more than the 7-13 team that started out this 2009-10 NBA season.

They are also showing that Bryan Colangelo’s initial forecast of a 50-win season was not totally pie-in-the-sky.  But I’ll be sticking to my own 47-win forecast for now!

The two recent losses to the Boston Celtics should be reminding fans that the Toronto Raptors are not an “elite” team.  At least not yet.

And just to put a 50-win season into some context, that is not the record of an elite team.  That is the record of a team challenging for fourth or fifth in their conference.  And that’s exactly where the Toronto Raptors are now.

Against the more “elite” teams in the NBA, the Toronto Raptors have fared 4-13:

Boston 0-3
Orlando 1-3
Atlanta 0-2
Cleveland 1-0
Denver 0-1
Dallas 0-1
San Antonio 1-1
Houston 1-0
Phoenix 0-2

And although there is just cause to say that NBA refereeing bias towards the more elite NBA teams may have “stolen” a couple of these games from the Raptors.  The Raptors' record against the elite is reflective of how the Raptors should be expected to perform come playoffs.

The Raptors made big changes to their team this past offseason and the team is much better off for them.  But the team is still very young.

1. A team reliant on inexperienced players at shooting guard.
2. 10 players under 26 years old.
3. The primary backup big man, Amir Johnson, is just 22.
4. The starting shooting guard, DeMar DeRozan is just 20.
5. The primary backup wings, Marco Belinelli and Sonny Weems, are both 23.

Key rotation players that the Raptors rely upon do not get the respect of NBA officials when the team is playing the NBA’s elite.  And if one is honest, they are often asked to play against veterans who are superior at this point in their career.

But the good part about having several young players who seem to be developing quickly is that next year, the Raptors should be better.

The difficult part about relying on young players is the realization that in order to compete this season, the team may have to trade one or more of its promising pieces.

Throw in Raptors All-Star Chris Bosh’s expiring contract and a potential point guard controversy and we have all the ingredients for trade speculation involving the Raptors from every corner of the league.

Maybe the Toronto Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo can pull off the big trade that makes the Raptors an elite team this season and maybe he just rides things out.

But no one can say that Colangelo has ever been afraid of making a deal at any point in his NBA career.

It should be a fun ride to the NBA trade deadline.