Few consider the Toronto Raptors realistic playoff contenders next season, but that outlook overlooks the team's upside in the evolving NBA landscape. Summer used to be a quiet period for the league, but year-round NBA content now fuels constant analysis and predictions. Prominent voices repeatedly ranked Toronto among the league's weaker teams and expressed doubts about the starting five translating into a functional offense. Critics labeled the roster a 'morass' with a bench of 'complete wild cards,' while some analysts remained cautiously optimistic and projections placed the Raptors near the Play-In or low power rankings.
Earlier this summer, for example, The Ringer's Bill Simmons and Ryen Russillo ranked the worst NBA teams for the next five years. Russillo had Toronto - not Brooklyn, not Washington, not Charlotte, but Toronto - with the bleakest future. Around the same time, Zach Lowe, on the Zach Lowe Show, brought Rob Mahoney on to break down the Toronto Raptors as one of his "WTF Teams". Both failed to see how the starting five "translates to a functional NBA offence."
A few weeks later, Michael Pina joined Lowe, this time to tier the Eastern Conference. Pina was kinder to Toronto (he remains a believer, still). Lowe not so much. He ranked Miami, Milwaukee, and ennnnhh [ Zach Lowe doubtful inflection] Philadelphia ahead of Toronto, with Boston and Indiana in the same pool of "Play-In" teams. The Raptors are, in his words, a "morass" of talent and a bench of "complete wild cards".
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