A New Era of Raptors Basketball

When the Toronto Raptors ownership group went out and acquired Bryan Colangelo from the Phoenix Suns in 2006, it sent out a message that it was not happy just to be in the NBA. It wanted experienced, successful management to operate its franchise.

After years watching the success of Colangelo’s approach to developing a basketball franchise, most expected the Raptors to become Phoenix North in short order.

That change did not happen as quickly or dramatically as some might have expected. The Phoenix Suns have operated on a 113 to 114 points produced per 100 possessions basis since the 2004-05 season. Bryan Colangelo only managed to get his Raptors up to a pedestrian 107 points per 100 possessions in his first season in Toronto.

But times have changed in Toronto. Now in his fourth season at the helm, Bryan Colangelo’s Raptors are tearing it up at 111.7 points per 100 possessions and are fourth in league scoring at 104.6 points per game.

While that might look low compared to Phoenix’s 109.9 points per game, that is a long way from the 91.4 the Raptors scored in their last season with a playoff appearance pre-Colangelo.

Bryan Colangelo has created a new and different era of Toronto Raptors teams with post-season expectations. An era the Raptors fans hope will take them further than past attempts. But the question for this season is, will the changes take them as far as the team’s previous tries?

Raptors Playoff Teams Statistics (*All-Star Break 2010)
	99-00	00-01	01-02	06-07	07-08	09-10*
# of wins	45	47	42	47	41	29
Points Scored	97.2	97.6	91.4	99.5	100.2	104.6
Differential
FG%	-2.1	-1.0	-0.7	0.0	1.0	1.5
3-FG%	2.4	0.6	0.3	6.0	2.4	3.2
Rebounds	0.4	2.6	0.2	-3.1	-1.5	-1.1
Assists	1.9	3.8	1.8	1.0	1.9	-0.6
Steals	1.3	0.5	0.7	1.1	1.2	-1.2
Blocks	1.3	1.0	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.6
Turnovers	-1.4	-0.9	-0.9	-1.7	-2.3	0.6
Fouls	1.4	-0.6	1.9	-1.4	1.1	0.7
Points	-0.1	2.2	-0.4	1.0	2.9	-0.3
Per 100 possessions
Points Produced	104.7	105.9	102.6	107.0	110.2	111.7
Points Allowed	104.9	103.4	103.1	106.0	107.0	112.0

*29 wins in 2010 at the All-Star break.

A quick look at the Raptors previous playoff teams’ statistics shows the 2009-10 team is nothing like any previous version.

But it may be of some comfort that the two times the Raptors made it to 47 wins in a season, those teams had to play better from their 29th win to get there than the current team.

In 2000-01, the Raptors were 29-27 before running off an 18-8 run to finish off the season. In 2006-07, the team was 29-24 before going 18-11 to reach 47 wins.

This year, at 29-23, the Raptors only have to go 18-12 to reach 47 wins. On Jan. 22, the Raptors season was at a crossroads. A relatively easy stretch of games that, if won, could take this team back to the 47 win plateau. After going 8-1 up to the All-Star break, so far, so good!

The Butch Carter and Lenny Wilkens playoff teams of 2000-02 were very different from what Colangelo has built. Those teams were often “outshot” by their opponents but won the battle of the boards and hustle stats like steals, blocks, and turnovers. They played the type of game required by teams who struggle to score 100 points on any given night.

Even with Colangelo’s first rebuild of the Raptors, getting to 100 points wasn’t uncommon. Colangelo’s first rebuild in 2006-07 won the team its only division title.

Colangelo’s Raptors have routinely “outshot” their opponents since 2006-07 and often win by outscoring them.

(The Jermaine O’Neal experiment of 2008-09 is best forgotten.)

This season’s minus-0.30 points differential is very misleading. In the Raptors second 10-game stretch of the season, the team allowed an uncharacteristic 116 points per game. Setting that period aside, the 2009-10 Raptors have a plus-2.1 points differential. Over the past 22 contests, the Raptors are outscoring their opponents by an average of 4.3 points per game.

While Colangelo’s Raptors haven’t won the battle of the boards, they have gotten better at it as his players mature and new pieces have been found to shore up this weakness.

Not quite Phoenix North, but Colangelo has changed Raptors basketball for the better since his arrival. An era of high-powered offense has definitely been established in Toronto.

Now if Raptors fans could only enjoy a run of success like Phoenix had from 2004-08.