Raptors Undefeated in 2025

 First things first, happy new year everyone! If you've been on my blog for the last couple of weeks you'd think that I have been having a dreadful holidays with my teams all faltering at once. It has been actually quite lovely, tons of family time and a chance to reset and have a couple weeks basically off from work. With that being said, every other night I had been subjecting myself to what started to become awful Raptors games. The Raptors to close out 2024 lost 11 straight games with the final 3 losses all setting new negative franchise records. They lost to the Grizzlies giving up a franchise record 155 points. They lost to the Hawks setting a franchise record for turnovers at home with 31. They lost to the Celtics by the biggest losing margin in franchise history 54 points. All of that is gone now, new year, new Raptors and in 2025 all I see is 1-0. To bring the vibes at Lohensports back to positive, lets talk 2025 Raps!

Return of IQ

Holy shit did I ever miss having a real point guard on the Raptors. Immanuel Quickley has missed nearly the entire first third of the season with 2 separate injuries. In his place the Raptors have gone to Davion Mitchell, Jamal Shead or Scottie Barnes at the point. It's been nice to see some development from Shead and Mitchell's on ball defense has been electric. Even Scottie Barnes has had his moments as a PG although there's some growing pains there too. Ultimately, none of these options provide any kind of steady offense at the position most required to provide steady offense. Enter IQ. IQ's return made the Raptors look like a totally different team last night. He finished with 21 points and 15 assists with just 1 turnover and was crucial to the Raptors closing it out in the 4th quarter. IQ did so many things the Raptors have been missing all season. There were a couple of plays where the shot clock got down and they needed someone to put up a shot, IQ was the guy able to create tough shots on the perimeter or get all the way to the basket. To ice the game last night Quickley pulled up behind a Jakob Poeltl screen to hit a 3 with his foot on the logo, nobody else on the Raptors even dares to attempt from that kind of range. IQ had 15 assists and there were some beauties in there. He had a play where he drove into the paint, threw an over the shoulder behind the back pass for a lob to a cutting Scottie Barnes who finished the alley-oop. He had multiple pocket passes to Jak and overall was in control of the offense. It is amazing how much more organized a team can look with a real PG on the court. 

Scottie Barnes is a Power Forward

Notably absent from my Quickley segment is the impact on Scottie Barnes. I think it deserves it's own section. I definitely don't disagree with the idea of playing Scottie at the point this season when IQ was out. He needs those developmental reps and it wasn't like the Raptors were going to be winning a ton of games anyway so may as well get the growing pains out of the way. The issue is, Scottie was overworked like crazy running the point. For a lot of these games it was Scottie and RJ as the lone creators with Scottie handling most of the playmaking duties. On top of that Scottie is the team's most important defender, their best post up option, for a lot of these games one of their best shooters and one of their only ball handlers. Scottie being asked to run point on top of everything else he has to do for this team to be successful was leading to suboptimal play to say the least. Scottie is a great passer, but his handle and shooting off the dribble still aren't where an NBA point guard needs to be just yet. Scottie is also just so physically imposing down low. Asking him to run the point means a lot more of Scottie creating on the perimeter instead of operating out of the post where his strengths lie. Quickley returns and it feels like everything falls back into place. Scottie Barnes was playing like a true power forward last night and it's all because he didn't need to be the team's everything on offense finally. Moving Scottie off ball allowed him to get to his spots better, exert more energy on defense and still be the awesome secondary playmaker that he can be. This also gives the Raptors the option to stagger the two players, always having a good playmaker out there who can lead the offense. Scottie finished with 33 points on 14/18 shooting, looked more comfortable out there and was able to actually use all of his strengths for an entire game.

Ochai or Gradey? 

We are so so so close to finally seeing the Raptors at full strength. RJ Barrett was out last night with an illness, hopefully he's back as soon as tomorrow so we can finally see all of these guys in action together. When RJ gets back, the Raptors are going to have a tough decision to make in the starting lineup, do they go with Gradey Dick or Ochai Agbagi as the 5th starter? Early in the season I would've said Gradey for sure, spacing is at a premium on this team and Gradey figures to be a long term piece for the Raptors. Now though, a starting lineup with Gradey, IQ and RJ Barrett in it really does lack on defense, an area the Raptors already aren't very strong. Ochai Agbagi hasn't been a straight up stopper like OG Anunoby was, but he's the best 3&D wing the Raptors have. That's the other thing, Ochai is actually hitting the 3s. Last season this would be no question, Ochai didn't have the offensive talent to sniff a starting lineup in the NBA, but this year he's really refined his game to the point you can't leave him open anymore. Gradey does provide more movement shooting, tough shot making ability and slightly better creation off the dribble, but with all of that comes much worse defense for sure. I think ultimately the team ends up going with the Barnes, Barret, Quickley, Dick, Poeltl lineup, but Ochai deserves a shout for being one of the team's most consistent starters this season. I will note, even though this projected starting lineup will definitely struggle to guard, there's a lot of offensive creativity there that fits really well together. IQ and Gradey are both great off ball shooters who constantly move around, and as we saw, IQ is pretty awesome on ball as well. Scottie is a do-it-all power forward type that can get his from anywhere on the floor and QB a defense. Jak is one of the best finishing bigs in the league while also being a great screen setter and rebounder and RJ just gets to the freaking rim. There's not a lot of overlap in these skill sets and there's a ton of synergies to be seen. 

2025 Onward 

2024 was hands down the worst calendar year of Raptors basketball that I have ever witnessed. Rebuilds are hard and take time, and the Raptors have just begun theirs. Injuries have absolutely plagued this season and for a lot of fans they're probably not too upset knowing the team is now in a good position to capitalize on what's supposed to be a stacked draft. For 2025 though, I want to see the Raptors healthy and competing again. I said to start the year that I do think this is a good team with all the pieces playing. No matter who they end up getting in the draft, almost everyone on this team right now will be back next season as well and most of these guys are going to be important rotation players the next time the Raptors are good. We need to see them develop chemistry and learn how to win a few games together. I am not expecting IQ to come in and be the thing that takes this from a 7-26 team to a 30-30 team, but I do think that they are going to really benefit from true point guard play and get back to playing respectable and fun basketball. I plan to go to a few more games in 2025 and despite the record and results lately, I will still be watching every game. Here's hoping that 2024 was as dark as it gets as Raptors fans, the light is at the end of the tunnel everyone! 

And that's that! Nothing like beating the Brooklyn Nets to snap an 11 game losing streak. The vibes around the team were at an all time low and sometimes all it takes is 1 win to get things going again. This may be a tanking season but I'd still love to see a quality product night in and night out. No matter what happens the rest of the year, just please no more franchise record setting losses, I can't take those anymore. And as always, go Raptors!