The Toronto Raptors have now qualified for the playoffs in six straight seasons. During that time, the Raptors have lost in the first round twice, despite having home-court advantage both times. Their two most recent playoff runs ended with sweeps in the second round.
After years of retooling and running it back with (mostly) the same core players, last spring, Masai Ujiri decided that enough was enough.
His first move was to fire Dwane Casey. Next, was to pull the trigger on the audacious Kawhi Leonard–DeMar DeRozan trade. In the midst of the chaos, Kyle Lowry came out the other end unscathed.