If you’re in a sympathetic mood and you’re willing to listen to an NBA sob story, the Raptors can probably convince you of the unjustness of their plight. The proverbial deck has been stacked against them, they’ll tell you. Certainly they can make a case.
Their practice gym is in a hotel ballroom. Their home games aren’t actually at home. The other night the assembled throng at the franchise’s adopted court at Amalie Arena in Tampa incessantly booed Pascal Siakam, among other Raptors, in the midst of Siakam’s career-high 44-point performance in an overtime loss to the Wizards.