Raptors get glimpse of where they'd like to go in loss to Cavaliers

If the 2024-25 season so far has revealed anything certain, it’s that there’s rarely a good time to run into the Cleveland Cavaliers. Wednesday confirmed that’s especially true if your starting centre is out and you have to play most of the game small against two six-foot-11 defensive aces.

The final score tells you most of what you need to know. The 131-108 defeat saw the Cavs lead by as many as 39 and shoot 82 per cent at the rim, Sam Merrill and Max Strus combine for seven threes in the first quarter, and the Toronto Raptors struggle to score at even an average clip for the fifth game in a row (on a per-possession basis).

It was arguably the best team in the league against an undermanned, rebuilding team on the second night of a back-to-back. Sometimes it is what it is, whatever your spirit.

The Cavs might also be the polar opposite of the 76ers team the Raptors saw Tuesday, in energy and execution. They’ve rarely let off the gas this year, with head coach Kenny Atkinson speaking proudly before the game about the team’s focus throughout the season, even on a night where the All-Star break might creep into your mind. The Cavs also offer a much tougher challenge for Toronto’s offence, in overall talent and scheme, with the length of Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen proving difficult for everyone after Scottie Barnes and company torched Philly’s more casual drop approach.

A matchup with the best team in the conference should always be instructive. What can you learn, both about yourself and by seeing what’s successful for them? Whereas the 76ers are a cautionary tale of what being overleveraged on a few veteran players can turn into, the Cavaliers are a more positive example of what the Raptors are trying to accomplish.

Let’s rewind. Similar to Toronto, Cleveland found itself embracing a lost 2020-21 season with an excellent 2021 draft class ahead. The Cavaliers were effectively in a delayed restart after the LeBron James years brought four Finals appearances, a Championship, and a window of win-now moves that left the asset cupboard a bit thin. The Raptors, of course, leaned into the Tampa Tank, a disastrous season that wasn’t really their own doing but eventually exacerbated some of the legacy costs of cashing in picks and prospects to win the 2019 Championship.

Cleveland landed one spot ahead of Toronto in the draft lottery, ultimately selecting Mobley while the Raptors took Barnes. Mobley joined Darius Garland and Isaac Okoro, the No. 5 picks in the two prior drafts, to form the beginnings of a young core. The Cavs have been aggressive in adding established and still-establishing talent since. Allen was poached during that season as a buy-low in a multi-team trade, costing Cleveland a late first-round pick and a second-round pick; he was subsequently re-signed and extended. They then dealt Larry Nance Jr. and a second-rounder for Lauri Markkanen because the value was there.

That young group was solid enough in a 44-win 2021-22 season that the front office took its leap, trading Markkanen, former lottery pick Collin Sexton, the draft rights to Ochai Agbaji, and multiple first-round picks and pick-swaps to Utah for Donovan Mitchell. It was a huge bet on the existing core being one piece away, about a young group still having the upside to grow individually and together, and about their ability to convince Mitchell to extend eventually.

That combination of aggression and patience has probably been difficult. Outsiders have sometimes suggested that Cleveland move off of one of their dynamic guards or one of their seven-foot defenders, worrying about skill overlap and role redundancy. Instead, Cleveland has mostly stayed the course, opting only to tweak the roster at the margins — they turned Caris LeVert, Georges Niang, and draft equity into DeAndre Hunter and tax relief at the deadline — and let chemistry and continuity build into advantages.

They did, notably, also change their head coach, replacing JB Bickerstaff with Atkinson this off-season. Bickerstaff got 44, 51, and 48 wins out of the group as they developed, and Atkinson’s fresh eyes have taken the offence to another level. (The league’s highest level, to be specific; the Cavs score more points per-possession than any team in the league.)

It’s an imperfect comparison to what Toronto is doing, but you can see some parallels. Barnes was the prize for a depressing down year, and while the plan was originally to use Barnes to extend the post-championship core’s run together, he provided one hell of a pivot foot to the next era when they ultimately decided to retool. They’ve spent pick equity when it may not have been conventional to add pieces like Jakob Poeltl, Agbaji, and now Brandon Ingram, whom they promptly convinced to stick around. 

There’s no Garland in this scenario, but the Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby trades brought in more medium-term talent and draft equity than what Cleveland had available. Whether those picks — Ja’Kobe Walter, Jonathan Mogbo, Jamal Shead, and this year’s second-rounder — turn out will define that strategy in retrospect, and it will be interesting to see if RJ Barrett or Immanuel Quickley end up as Toronto’s Markkanen, ultimately used to acquire the next piece, red paper clip style.

Again, only loosely analogous. It’s notable, though, that Cleveland opted to get aggressive with their roster earlier than public discourse may have suggested and took gambles on both their players and their ability to retain talent. They weren’t going to be a free agent destination unless James came back a third time, and they’d probably gotten too good to continue riding the bottom of the lottery. Instead, they added talent where they saw positive value, zigged at a few zag-points stylistically, and find themselves in a pretty good position now.

A four-game sweep of the regular season series by totals of 30, 14, 6, and 23 shows that Toronto has a million miles to cover before we discuss them the same way. The next step would be to take this group, add a healthy Ingram next year and a high pick in a loaded 2025 draft class, and compete for a playoff spot next year, maybe even win a round.

If they can do that, the Cavaliers will be waiting as an opponent for at least a few years.

Here are a few other notes from the team’s last game until Feb. 21.

• A few quick positives since the writeup focused more on the macro: Barrett returned from concussion protocol and was excellent, providing the team’s steadiest source of offence with 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting … Barnes didn’t have a monster scoring night but it was fun to see him take the Mobley challenge again, and even hit Mobley with some of the mid-range and post package he’s developed in large part to counter defenders like him … Another really solid performance off the bench for Agbaji … Mogbo continues to do a nice job switching on to guards when asked, the team just needs to help him clean up on the glass when he’s stuck on the perimeter … Shout out to Ulrich Chomche for helping Raptors 905 to a win at 11 a.m. this morning after a road game the night prior.

• Ingram held his introductory press conference before the game. I threaded the most notable parts on X, with the headline item being that the Raptors intend to make Ingram an All-Star again. It was a great introduction, with Ingram speaking well of the city, his teammates, the fit, and more, and it included a nice ovation from the Scotiabank Arena crowd when a welcome video was played in the third quarter.

However, it also gave the impression that it’ll be a while before we get answers about how this all looks on the court. Ingram said he has been “pushing it hard” since arriving in Toronto, on the court and in the weight room, as he works his way back from a bad ankle sprain suffered on Dec. 7. Given the severity of the injury and the length of the absence, Ingram estimated it would “take a little bit” to get his conditioning back “but hopefully soon.” Rajakovic, meanwhile, said the team will re-evaluate Ingram’s progress in two-week increments, and they’re “not even sure” if he’ll hit the floor this year.

The messaging has been pretty consistent, from Bobby Webster’s hit on The Raptors Show last week on down, that the Raptors will prioritize 2025-26 the rest of the way here. That means caution with injuries, playing young players more for development, and yeah, keeping an eye on their lottery odds. If that comes at the cost of building some on-court chemistry heading into next year, that’s a trade-off they seem ready to deal with.

• Somewhat related, Poeltl is without a timeline to return from his hip pointer injury. Rajakovic said they expect him back sometime after the All-Star break; whether that’s “the first game, second game, third game,” and so on, will depend on how Poeltl's responded to rest and treatment when the team reconvenes on Feb. 19 for practice.

• It was fun to receive some second-hand chirping from those around the Raptors for Barnes’ comment about my co-host, Matt Bonner, the other day. Grange has the main story covered. If you want just a little more, Garrett Temple is on The Raptors Show on Thursday and has promised to hold Bonner accountable further.

• Hope you all have a wonderful Family Day weekend, All-Star break, Four Nations siesta, or whatever kind of days off you may have ahead. Catch you after the break.