Nearly seven months ago, the Toronto Raptors saw the best season in team history come to a crashing halt when the Cleveland Cavaliers completed a four-game sweep of Toronto in the second round of the playoffs.
Losing to LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the playoffs for the third straight season resulted in two massive changes, the firing of coach Dwane Casey four days after the playoff loss and the trade of DeMar DeRozan to the San Antonio Spurs on July 18.
On Saturday the Raptors visit Cleveland, the site where Casey and DeRozan participated in their last games for the team, and the state of both teams is starkly different.