The Toronto Raptors kicked off their preseason on a high note with a dominant win over the Wizards in Montreal. However, it hasn’t been smooth sailing since then, as the Raptors have battled additional injuries and their now-characteristic poor outside shooting. With the season fast approaching, here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly from the Raptors preseason.
Raptors Preseason: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
The Good
After losing his role last season, Chris Boucher has looked great throughout the preseason and has sneakily been one of the Raptors’ best players. Boucher is impacting the game beyond just bringing his frantic energy. His outside shot has been on fire, connecting on 45% of his threes. If Boucher can keep this up, his role off the bench in Toronto seems secured. Sticking with the positives, Gradey Dick has been another bright spot for Toronto. Dick has been fearless all preseason, letting it fly from deep and taking it hard to the rim. Outside of his scoring, Dick seems to have leveled up the rest of his game, averaging more rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. Finally, Dick has improved his defense, being less of a liability on that end.
Rounding out the good has been Scottie Barnes’s play. After a rough first game back, Barnes looks like the star he was last season. Over the last three games, he has been shooting 50% from deep on 5.3 attempts while averaging five rebounds and assists. The most significant step up in Barnes’ game has come on the defensive end, where he has much improved as an on-ball defender.
The Bad
Now, let’s move on to the bad part of the Raptors’ preseason: how injured the roster already is. Coming into the preseason, Bruce Brown and rookie Ja’Kobe Walter had already suffered injuries that would sideline them for the entire preseason. Then, after a fantastic start to the preseason, RJ Barrett suffered an injury that kept him out of the rest of the preseason. With no timeline, Barrett might also be out to start the regular season. Kelly Olynyk also is dealing with an injury that has kept him out for most of the preseason. Just last night, Boucher left the game early after what appeared to be a knee injury. The Raptors have some depth, but five injuries to rotation players is a lot for any team to handle.
The Ugly
Finally, we have the ugly. The Raptors haven’t been a good three-point shooting team in years, shooting below 35% from deep since the 2021-2022 season. Thus far in the preseason, it doesn’t look like this streak will be broken. The Raptors have shot 33.3% throughout the preseason and 34.6% in the last three games. The shooting has been particularly foul from the backcourt, with Jamal Shead, Ochai Agbaji, D.J. Carton, and Davion Mitchell all shooting below 25% from deep. This lack of shooting makes every aspect of offense harder for the Raptors and puts them behind the eight-ball. Morden NBA offense is a math problem, and the Raptors don’t have the variables to solve the equation right now.
