Raptors Playing Great, But at What Cost?

The Toronto Raptors are finally playing as a team and up to their full potential as they beat the Orlando Magic, and are currently on a five game winning streak. Raptors fans should be rejoicing, their team is playing great, they took down a conference power house, all is good...right?

Wrong.

The Raptors are playing great, but it is doing more bad for them than good. They have no chance of making the playoffs, so all they are doing by winning these games is lessening their chances at Blake Griffin or whoever will be the top players in this year's draft.

If there were no draft lottery, the Raptors would currently sit at the ninth pick in this year's draft. Had this been a five game losing streak and not a five game winning streak, they would sit with the seventh pick with the potential of a few other twenty win teams creeping ahead of them in the standings.

Now I'm not saying they should go blowing games because that's just dumb. Personally I would like to see the lottery changed into every team who doesn't make the post season having an equal chance, but that is a different issue.

What I think the Raptors should do is try out their younger or more inexperienced players. Give guys like Ukic, Mensah-Bonsu, and Patrick O'Bryant more minutes.

Being a Raptor fan, I did find myself cheering as they went on to beat the Magic and their first five game winning streak of the season, it isn't the best outcome for the team. The way the Raptors are playing, they could quite easily slip out of contention for a top 10 pick in next year's draft, which would make them not as good next year, which would make it more likely that CB4 leaves in 2010.