"The Toronto Raptors have been heavily scrutinized for their controversial approach to building the current rotation. Many have accused them of building a relatively redundant team, with players sharing similar strengths and weaknesses, and thus being unlikely to complement one another. As Toronto continues to exceed expectations early in 2025-26, however, star wing RJ Barrett explained what makes the team so dangerous: There's no player to ease up on."
"There's one guy that's not gonna be as good of a defender, and he'll probably have to be on me or (Immanuel Quickley) or Scottie (Barnes) or whoever. When there's attention to another person who is a high-calibre player, an All-Star-calibre player who is scoring over 21, 22 points a night, when there's someone over there with that shotmaking ability, there's someone over there the defence has to focus on."
Toronto has built a roster concentrated with shot creators, high-quality finishers, and shooters. The rotation contains repetitive skills and flaws, but consistently features multiple players who can punish an ill-advised rotation or exploit a weaker defender. No single player serves as an easy defensive assignment because several high-calibre scorers demand attention. Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram each average at least 20.1 points, RJ Barrett is near 19.1, and Immanuel Quickley contributes 16.1 points and 6.2 assists, producing constant scoring threats that force defenses to concede advantages and create mismatches.
Read at Raptors Rapture
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]