Stop me if you’ve heard this before.
The Toronto Raptors are expected to under-perform — after a season of over-achievement — due in part to two players leaving for teams in Los Angeles. Meanwhile, their East rivals have made significant splashes in free agency and through trades, seemingly increasing their chances of contending for a title.
At a macro level, there are similarities to the upcoming shortened NBA season to the unexpectedly long NBA season that finished just six weeks ago. Before dissecting and downplaying the various transactions (and non-transactions) of their conference foes, let’s take a look at how the Raptors changed.