After three straight years of at- or below-.500 basketball, the Raptors are entering this season with a chip on their shoulder, writes Eric Koreen for The Athletic.
Koreen writes that this is especially true of newcomer Brandon Ingram, who was named an All-Star and Most Improved Player in the 2019/20 season, but has struggled to gain recognition for his impact in the years that followed due to both injuries and an underperforming Pelicans team.
It’s not only Ingram who feels that way, according to veteran Garrett Temple, but also Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, after being traded from the Knicks, and others. However, Ingram believes that you can’t let that feeling drive you.
“I think when you go try to prove yourself to other people, it never works out,” he said on Monday. “If you look too far and try to impress people, you’ll take failures more.”
In his recap of the Raptors’ yearly end-of-camp open scrimmage, Michael Grange of Sportsnet writes that Ingram showed how he can bring a skillset as a scorer that Toronto hasn’t had in years, whether on or off the ball.
We have more notes from the Raptors:
- In the same piece, Grange notes that Collin Murray-Boyles has been a standout. While Murray-Boyles was drafted in large part on the strength of his defense, he showed some enticing offense during the team’s scrimmage, including hitting a three. Grange writes that the rookie’s shooting development will be a major factor in his ceiling as an NBA player. Raptors coach Darko Rajakovic was also impressed by the young big man’s performance. “He’s been doing a really, really good job,” Rajakovic said. “He’s not afraid of anything or anybody.”
- Another noteworthy observation from the scrimmage, according to Grange, was how the rotations shook out. Quickley, Barrett, and Ingram were joined by Scottie Barnes and Jakob Poeltl, as was expected. The second unit was where it got more interesting, as Rajakovic ran a unit of Jamal Shead, Gradey Dick, Ochai Agbaji, Murray-Boyles, and Sandro Mamukelashvili. This left Ja’Kobe Walter, the 19th pick in the 2024 draft, on the outside looking in, along with Jamison Battle and Jonathan Mogbo. All three of those players averaged at least 17 minutes last season, but with the addition of Ingram and Murray-Boyles, plus hopefully a healthy season from Quickley, there will likely be fewer end-of-bench minutes to go around this year.
- Finally, Grange provides an update on two-way player Ulrich Chomche, who has been held out of practice for much of training camp, and will be getting medical imaging done on Monday. However, Grange notes that he jogged out during the game to greet his teammates, which would seem to indicate that the injury limiting him is not something severe.
Interesting year for the Raptors, their front office thinks they are contending, the oddsmakers think they are rebuilding. how much do you believe in a core of Barnes, Poetl, Ingram?
Raptors could be really good offensively. You got three 20pt scorers in barnes, barrett and Ingram a crafty rim runner in poetl who can drop 20 any given night, and a microwave in quickly who can also drop 20 any given night. If they are healthy and play at good pace, they could possibly the best offensive team statistically. There defense is the question though.