If we’re being honest with ourselves, the hopes of this Raptors’ season were hitched to perhaps one too many ifs. The past week saw them go 2-1, which looks good when framed that way — but less so when we remember that Toronto is still 4-8, and their last two losses came on rough one-point losses. Those were, as you’ll recall, the types of wins this team was able to gut out last year. Now? Not so much.
But also what of those ifs? Well, we said if Pascal Siakam can regain his pre-Bubble form, if Norman Powell can play as consistently as he did for most of 2019-20, if OG Anunoby can develop more of his dribble-drive game, if Aron Baynes and Alex Len can give Toronto 60 percent of what Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka gave, if Matt Thomas can grow into his role, if DeAndre’ Bembry can indeed turn into found money, if Chris Boucher can become an actual rotation player — if, if, if.