In nature, fire is a necessary evil; the means by which ecosystems cycle out the old and usher in the new. It refreshes, clears acreage for new growth, even activates long-dormant seeds.
Sure, as it’s happening, it’s a hellstorm, destroying everything it touches, leveling once-vibrant landscapes in a way that initially feels unrecoverable. But after the embers cool and the rains fall and the sun stokes the beginnings of new life, the forest and its creatures are better for it.
Over the past 12 months, the Raptors have been engulfed by the flames of change. Four players remain from the active roster that lost in Boston last December 29th, the day before the OG Anunoby trade ignited the scorched earth phase. From there, the Pascal Siakam deal, the Dennis Schroder dump, a whole bunch of injuries and ample draft-related wheeling and dealing have planted the seeds of a soon-to-be team-on-the-rise
And yet, results suggest those seedlings are still a ways from bearing fruit.
With two games left on the ledger this calendar year, the Raptors are have won just 20 of 81 games in 2024. Since the start of March, Toronto has fewer victories (9) than there have been months. Not coincidentally, the team’s four best players haven’t shared the court for a single minute in that time. To say this has been the single worst calendar year in Raptors franchise history would be to completely ignore some of the truly dark early years, but it wouldn’t be super far off.
The Raptors have racked up and paid a lot of bills in the years since the championship, none with a more robust sum than the one forked over in 2024. But with it now out of the way, you can dream on better days ahead.
A lot of good things happened this year. Things you maybe can’t see yet. Things in the soil. Roots and the like. The Raptors’ work in the draft might go down as the best thing to happen to the franchise during its year in the inferno. There are no guarantees all five Raptors first years are gonna become rotation mainstays on a good version of the team, but you lay enough seeds, and you’re bound to get a few that sprout. Gradey Dick’s rapid maturation and Ochai Agbaji’s evolution into the type of guy every good team can use give further reason to feel good about the environment building up around this team’s best players.
We’re gonna see those guys play together at some point in 2025, by the way. Law of averages says this injury run can’t keep going the way it has. Hell, we could see the long-awaited BBQ reunion in the next couple weeks if things progress with Immanuel Quickley, and it’ll jolt what’s become an increasingly dull losing season right back to life. How successful will they be? Well, finding out is part of the fun this season originally promised, isn’t it?
Absolute worst case, a high pick is on the way in June. While I’m not ever one to place hope in the lottery system that crushes just as many dreams as it grants, this draft cycle, free of the convey vs. don’t convey discourse and an genuinely exciting crop of top-of-the-table prospects promises to be a whole lot more fun than last year’s as well. Whoever they take won’t be joining some talentless, totally bereft roster. They’ll be something of a finishing touch on the revival.
There are zero guarantees in the NBA. Best laid intentions crash out for all kinds of reasons; what feels like rock bottom always has a deeper level to plummet to if things break wrong.
But the rejuvenative power of sweeping forest fire is time-tested. The Raptors had theirs in 2024. With a little luck and, crucially, time, the steady upward growth can begin in earnest with the arrival of a new year.
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Today on the show I recapped the loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, which wasn’t too fun! Enjoy the show!
