In the opening weeks of the season, the exact same phrase came up multiple times when discussing the Raptors with executives around the league.
“It’s just a matter of time before Masai blows that team up,” they each said, referring to Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri.
Well, a funny thing has happened along the way: The Raptors have started winning.
Now with wins in eight of their past 10 games since trading Rudy Gay – including victories over Indiana at home and at Oklahoma City – the Raptors have climbed back to .500, becoming just the fourth team at or above .500 in the East and taking control of the awful Atlantic Division.
This leaves Ujiri with a tough choice: Does he blow this team up in order to make the best run at a top draft pick, or does he instead go for a division title? As much as getting elite talent is important – it’s why so many teams want to get into the top part of this loaded draft class – establishing a winning culture isn’t a bad thing either. And the Raptors, who have some young interesting players in Terrence Ross, DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas, would do well to establish such a culture in Toronto, where they haven’t made the playoffs in six seasons and have only gotten past the first round once in the franchise’s 18 years.
They clearly have a chance to do so this season, given the terrible situations in New York teams and the cratered rosters that exist in Boston and Philadelphia, all of which have combined to give Toronto a clear path to the division title.
The only question now: Do the Raptors want it? What Ujiri does over the next six weeks leading up to the trade deadline will give us our answer.
(Last week’s rankings in parentheses)
1. Heat (1): Chris Bosh got a deserved moment in the sun when his 3-pointer knocked off the Trail Blazers in Portland last week. Despite all of the incredible plays LeBron James makes, Bosh is the unsung hero of this Heat team.
2. Trail Blazers (3): Portland was that Bosh 3-pointer away from beating the Clippers, Heat and Thunder in a one-week stretch (though Miami didn’t have James playing). Still, with Russell Westbrook now out for at least the next six weeks, Portland has a chance to distance themselves from the pack in the Northwest Division.
3. Pacers (4): After losing to the Raptors Wednesday, the Pacers are one game ahead of the Heat for first place in the East. The winner of that top overall seed will be the presumptive NBA title favorite, which is why the regular season is still very important for both teams.
4. Warriors (9): It’s funny that once Andre Iguodala got healthy, suddenly the Warriors figured things out and started playing better, isn’t it? Long one of the league’s more underrated players, he’s a crucial piece for Golden State because of his ball-handling ability.
5. Thunder (2): With three surgeries on his knee in the past eight months, Westbrook’s ability to stay on the court could once again determine whether or not Oklahoma City is able to make it back to the NBA Finals.
6. Suns (7): With each passing week, it looks more and more obvious the Suns are going to be one of the final eight teams standing in the West. The question now is whether they will do something to try and get better between now and the trade deadline?
7. Mavericks (8): Already with recent wins over the Timberwolves and Rockets, the Mavs will get another crack at the Spurs as well as one against the Clippers this week as they look to try and solidify their standing among the top eight teams in the West.
8. Clippers (5): After recent losses to the Warriors, Blazers and Suns, we should learn a lot about the Clippers this weekend, when they play a back-to-back in Dallas and San Antonio. Win both of those games and this team might push itself up another tier in the West.
9. Rockets (6): You want to know the Rockets season in a nutshell? They’ve beaten the Spurs twice and lost to the Kings twice. Still a lot of feeling-out needed in Houston, but the ceiling is undeniably high. This team still has a move or two it can make, too.
10. Spurs (10): Gregg Popovich said before Tuesday’s game against the Nets that the Spurs haven’t been able to knock off any of the “big boys” in the West yet this season is a real problem. If he says it is, then who is anyone to argue?
11. Raptors (18): The Raptors keep winning in the wake of trading Rudy Gay, and now hold the lead in the awful Atlantic Division. The question has become whether or not Toronto will go for what looks like a very winnable division title or instead try to sell off more pieces.
12. Timberwolves (14): With a very favorable schedule ahead in January, now is the time for the Timberwolves to make their push to get into the top eight in the West.
13. Pelicans (15): While the Lakers, Nuggets and Grizzlies plummet around them, the Pelicans continue to tread water and stay on the fringes of the West playoff chase. However, it still seems unlikely they can mount a serious playoff push.
14. Wizards (14): With the injury to Al Horford dealing a huge blow to the Hawks, the Wizards and Raptors are the two best bets to be the third-best team in the East. You could’ve gotten long odds on that just a few short weeks ago.
15. Hawks (11): The Hawks were the obvious third team in the Eastern Conference before losing Horford for the season to a torn pectoral muscle. Now? It’s hard to see Atlanta winning a playoff series – even in the tissue-paper soft East – without him.
16. Bobcats (16): Even after losing four games in a row, Charlotte sits comfortably in sixth place in the Eastern Conference standings with a record five games under .500. It still remains to be seen whether this team can keep up its early-season success.
17. Pistons (17): With Josh Smith and Maurice Cheeks having it out publicly and repeatedly in their first seasons in Detroit, this is a situation that could get ugly. Something to watch is the Smith-Greg Monroe-Andre Drummond triumvirate — it seems more and more clear it’s not going to work long-term.
18. Grizzlies (20): They hung around for a while without Marc Gasol, but the Grizzlies are fading fast and now sit a full five games out of the final playoff spot out West. The next decision for this team is to decide whether or not to move Zach Randolph, because a playoff berth seems very remote.
19. Kings (25): With wins over Miami and Houston, the Kings are now 4-6 since acquiring Rudy Gay. Perhaps this will be a trade that works out for both teams? Regardless, Sacramento is both being frisky and losing a lot of games – the perfect combination.
20. Bulls (21): The Bulls – in the long term – would be better off trading Luol Deng for whatever they can get and losing this season to get a high draft pick. But is that something coach Tom Thibodeau could ever stand to do?
21. Jazz (24): The Jazz have played well since Trey Burke returned from his wrist injury. The next step is for coach Tyrone Corbin to play the Burke-Burks-Hayward-Favors-Kanter lineup a little bit more.
22. Celtics (23): The Celtics seem to be coming back down to Earth after their hot start, and with a brutal West Coast trip on tap – including trips to Portland, Oklahoma City, Golden State and the Clippers – they could finally slip out of the final Eastern Conference playoff spot.
23. 76ers (26): Here’s a sign of how terrible the Eastern Conference is: Only three of its 15 teams have winning streaks at the moment. Surprisingly, the Sixers are one of those teams.
24. Magic (29): Even on a terrible team, Arron Afflalo’s career year (21.7 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game) has deservedly thrust him into the All-Star conversation in the East.
25. Nuggets (13): No team in the NBA has a longer losing streak than the Nuggets, who have dropped eight games in a row. And in the loaded Western Conference, that means the Nuggets have slipped to 4.5 games out of the eighth and final playoff spot.
26. Knicks (27): Things already weren’t going well for the Knicks, and now they have a trip through the Texas triangle beginning Thursday night in San Antonio. At least the Knicks will be getting Carmelo Anthony back from a sprained ankle to face the Spurs.
27. Nets (28): With losses in five of their last six games – and the only win coming against the Bucks at home – things aren’t looking good in Brooklyn. And that’s with the Nets playing the Thunder, Warriors and Heat before heading to London in a couple weeks.
28. Lakers (19): After seven straight weeks at No. 19, the Lakers have plummeted by losing six straight, Kobe Bryant still being weeks away from a return and the team reportedly shopping Pau Gasol. It appears the Lakers are headed for somewhere near the top of the lottery.
29. Cavaliers (22): With losses in eight of their last nine games, Andrew Bynum being banished from the team and Kyrie Irving now dealing with a left knee contusion, things aren’t going well for the Cavaliers.
30. Bucks (30): Brandon Knight’s career-high 37 points against the Lakers led the Bucks to their first win over a Western Conference opponent this season. That being said, O.J. Mayo (scoreless in eight minutes) continues to be a huge disappointment.