Toronto Raptors: Media Day and season predictions
By Jade Johnson
The players on Media Day
Again, when we consider what the Raptor’s players had to say during their Media Day interviews, nothing surprising or striking really jumps out. Being NBA Champions hasn’t changed them in the slightest.
Marc Gasol described the Raptors as “a very hungry team” when asked about expectations. He mentioned the understanding of what Kawhi meant to the team and how huge his contributions were in the playoffs. But they still carry the same belief in how good the guys left in Toronto can be as a team.
When Kyle Lowry was asked what he wants out of this season, the response was concise and to the point:
"Another championship. I mean, it’s always the same goal for me."
I imagine that reactions to that answer by Lowry range from the belief that he’s just saying what he’s expected to say to the possibility that he’s delusional. I see it differently, however.
Even before the trade that brought Kawhi Leonard to the Raptors, this was a team that had full belief in their ability to win basketball games. And that belief had been a big part of what made them better, year after year after year.
Remember, virtually no one gave them a shot to beat the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. They were given even less of a chance to beat the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals even after they proved people wrong against Philly. And then only minutes after the end of the Bucks series, #Warriorsin4 was trending on Twitter.
But as a team and as individuals, they knew they could win it all. It was never a maybe or an outside possibility. It was something within reach. Not theirs to steal or snatch. Rather it was theirs to lose.
Serge Ibaka addressed having heard that because of the changes to the team they’re not going to make the playoffs. Serge takes a different approach to this narrative from my own passionate declarations of ridiculosity:
"Sometimes I just smile because it’s not true. We lost Kawhi, we lost Danny but we still are the same group of champions and those two weren’t the only champions. …we have the mentality of a champion. We know what it takes to be a champion."
Norman Powell and Fred VanVleet both expressed that they feel the same as they always have since they joined the Raptors when asked if they felt like they weren’t being respected as defending champions.
They’ve always been the underdogs. The team that was going to finish in the middle of the pack or weren’t going to make the playoffs. Yeah, they are being disrespected but it’s no different now than at any other point since they’ve been with the team.
The departure of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green hasn’t created a vacuum of confidence or any real change in the attitude of anyone on the Raptors roster.