OKC Thunder: NBA Draft – Tank wars heat up in week 17
Toronto Raptors (22-34):
The writing seemed to be on the wall on Wednesday when the Raptors hit the court to play the Spurs. Fred VanVleet was serving his one-game suspension for the fracas versus the Lakers (after missing six games due to a hip pointer). DeAndre Bembry (hamstring) and Gary Trent Jr. (ankle) were out and inexplicably elected to rest Kyle Lowry for a second consecutive game.
That meant Toronto had one guard, rookie Malachi Flynn — that was it no other point guards, no shooting guards. OG Anunoby who typically plays power forward started at the two. Nick Nurse used lineups featuring three centers and two power forwards — and then they won.
While the Raptors have dealt with (in the narrator’s opinion) the worst adversity of any club this season they are about to be fully healthy and only one game back of the Bulls for that 10th seed for the play-in tournament.
Prior to losing three of their top players on both sides of the ball due to contracting COVID-19 for up to 20 days, they were on a roll.
Pascal Siakam lost 15 pounds with the virus and requires an inhaler prior to games (like Jayson Tatum) to open up his lungs so he can breathe.
The big problem for Toronto though was the center position which Aron Baynes couldn’t fix and Chris Boucher was better suited to play the four.
However, the recent pickup of Khem Birch who the Magic waived, and the signing of Freddie Gillespie to a 10-day contract seems like the resolution they sought all season. Baynes hasn’t touched the court in the last three matches and the Raptors who were the worst rebounding team in the association have outrebounded three of their last four opponents. All this while Trent, Birch, and Gillespie have yet to be involved in practice with their new team.
This weekend will be telling with matches against the Magic and our OKC Thunder. But if they slide into 10th expect Gillespie to find himself getting inked to a deal and Toronto making a run even higher up the ladder down the stretch.