Well, we’ve got another tilt in this seemingly never-ending Raptors season tonight, where our boys look to drop their seventh in a row to the Pistons…and fall 20 games below .500..

20 games. That’s a sobering number. I mean, obviously, this team is underachieving, but that really puts it into perspective. That number shocked me. Let’s take a look at it, historically, for the Raptors.

In 2005-2006, they finished 27-55, although they may well have avoided the 20-games-under stat had Chris Bosh not gotten hurt. They had the brutal 1-15 start, but then played around .500 ball the next couple months; but when Bosh went down, it was over, they lost 12 of the final 13 games, finally hitting the -20 mark at 26-46 on March 31.

That was a funny season in that expectations were, in a way, abnormally low; after all, Rob Babcock said before the season that the team would probably win less than the previous year (when they only won 33). So I don’t think you can call that record at all disappointing - it was expected.

In 2002-2003, the Raps went 24-58 in what I call “the lost season.” Everyone seems to have forgotten this season, not surprisingly; it was over quickly (-20 on January 10, when they were 8-28) and not much memorable happened. But it was a disappointing season in that, coming off three straight playoff appearances, we all expected a bounce-back season. But Vince Carter couldn’t stay on the floor, and even when he did play, he had lost the ability to put the team on his back. Antonio Davis, Jerome and Alvin Williams battled injuries, missing a combined 45 games, and the Raptors struggled just to fill the roster; they didn’t dress 12 players a single time. MoPete was the only Rap to appear in 80 games.

Going back, 1997-1998 was the low point in Raptors history; they didn’t even make it out of December before falling to -20. An unbearable 17-game losing streak had them at 2-22 on December 17th! The previous two years weren’t much better, as they hit -20 in March of 1997 and February of 1996. Those can be forgiven, as expansion years, of course, but the point I’m trying to make here, is that the current season now matches up with the worst seasons in this team’s short history.

What’s sad is that, unlike those years, there is no excuse this year. We’re not an expansion team. We didn’t lose a record number of games to injury. We didn’t start with a brand-new coach or GM and our GM didn’t lower expectations before the year started. We didn’t have a sad-sack roster without an all-star. In fact, we had, according to Bryan Colangelo, the best Raptors team ever assembled - one bona-fide all-star (Bosh), another former six-time all-star (JO), one guy on the cusp (Jose), and a number-one draft pick (Bargnani). We were expected - in fact, I think you can say we were ASSUMED - to be in the playoffs.

But we’re not. We’re about to go 20 games under .500. And given those expectations, and lack of excuses, I’m prepared to say that this might be the worst Raptors season ever.

Is there any chance the Raps can stave it off? They’ve got some easier opponents coming up, and Detroit’s not the same old Detroit, right? Well, they’re not, but that doesn’t make a difference. They’re still better than us at every position, unless Rasheed Wallace doesn’t play; even then, I think Jason Maxiell and Antonio McDyess will have no problem guarding Bosh and Bargnani. If they can take our two best players out of the game, what else do we have? As we’ve shown all year, not much.

I don’t want to say it’s hopeless, since as I indicated, the Pistons aren’t the same old Pistons (only 32-31), Rasheed is banged up, and Allen Iverson is on the shelf too (although I’d argue they’re better without him). But given the lack of interest the Raps have shown lately, and given that the Pistons, a team with some actual passion, are still fighting hard for playoff positioning (they’re in 6th, 2.5 back of Miami , and you better believe they want that #5 seed so they can avoid the Cavs, Celts and Magic in round one) I don’t see the Raps putting up much of a fight. Pistons by 17.

Incidentally, I just want to say, again, for the record, I will not be calling for Bryan Colangelo’s head in this space; yes, he’s made some bad moves, yes, this team has gotten worse the past two years. But if you seriously believe there is someone else out there available who could do better, please, let me know. In fact, if you think it’s all doom and gloom, I’m going to mention this:

In the past 10 years, including this one, the Raptors have been to the playoffs five times. Take a look at the rest of the league:

Cleveland: 4, including this year.
Boston: 6, including this year.
Orlando: 6, including this year.
Atlanta: 2, including this year.
Miami: 7, including this year.
Detroit: 9, including this year.
Philly: 7, including this year.
Milwaukee: 6, including this year.
Chicago: 3
New Jersey: 6
Charlotte: 0, in 5 seasons
Indiana: 7
New York: 3
Washington: 4

LA Lakers: 9, including this year.
San Antonio: 10, including this year.
Houston: 5, including this year.
Utah: 7, including this year.
New Orleans/Charlotte: 7, including this year.
Portland: 5, including this year.
Denver: 6, including this year.
Dallas: 9, including this year.
Phoenix: 7
Golden State: 1
Minnesota: 5
Seattle/OKC: 3
Memphis: 3
LA Clippers: 1
Sacramento: 7

The Raptors are tied for 16th in playoff appearances in the past 10 years. So middle of the pack. Is that good enough? Of course not. The fact that four of them were first-round exits hurts, a lot. But it could be worse - much, much worse. Reading some of the crap out there makes it sound like this is the end of the world or that Colangelo should be fired or the entire roster traded or whatever. You know what? Building a successful NBA team is not easy. It just isn’t. And, it takes time. Those “consistently good” teams are rare. Only one team has made the playoffs every year in the past 10: San Antonio. 3 more have 9 appearances. The next highest is seven. All that should tell you one thing: in a 30-team league, with a salary cap and free agency, it’s hard to maintain that high level of play. When the entire system is DESIGNED to keep teams “on an even ground,” those that have success are the exception, not the norm.

And you know what? We have a GM who’s still respected around the league (and has past success - unlike players, most GMs don’t get worse with age), we have a great arena, we have an ownership that has been willing to do everything except spend the luxury tax (which I think is reasonable). And we have the most passionate fans around. Would you rather we were just shaving salary without regards to wins, like Memphis (or even Phoenix)? Would you rather we had owners and GMs who don’t care/are incompetent, like the Clippers or T-Wolves? Would you rather our fans didn’t give a crap, like New Jersey or Atlanta?

I’m not saying that we, or the team, should be satisfied with what we’ve got. I’m not - I want more, absolutely. But when things get rough like this season has been, you can’t just focus on the negative. Looking at the bigger picture - which you simply must do when the smaller picture (this season) is so ugly - you can see this team still has things going for it, and that things could, in fact, be a lot worse.

Tags: Bryan Colangelo, Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors

This entry was posted on Friday, March 13th, 2009 at 9:14 am and is filed under Game Previews, General Raptors, Toronto Raptors.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.