The Toronto Raptors’ early season struggles were easy to brush off – virtually every starter was fighting injuries, the new additions needed time to find their fit, and bad shooting splits would improve as players got into mid-season form.
But nearly a third of the way through, with the Raps sitting under .500 and coming off back-to-back losses to the 8-20 Orlando Magic, patience is starting to wear thin.
As the longest tenured NBA pro on the team, Thad Young has been in this position before, and the 34-year-old’s presence is a steadying one.
On Wednesday, Young discussed the team’s recent struggles and how they intend to course correct in an interview on The Raptors Show with Will Lou.
“One of the biggest things is that we always have to approach every game with a sense of urgency,” said Young. “When we don't … and try to kind of cruise into it, games like the Magic happen.
“At any point in the season, you're going to have to fight through some adversity … we just have to get back to being the resilient team that we were last year.”
After a loss against the Brooklyn Nets in early December, the Raptors held a players-only meeting, but Young suggests it’s no reason to sound any alarms.
“We're always talking about how we can approach games and how we can do things better as a team, what we need to give to the team individually,” said Young. “That's every single day.”
Much of the fan panic stems from the sub-par performances from star players, like point guard Fred VanVleet, who, in his last ten games, is averaging 15.1 points on 31.5 per cent shooting from the field and 23.2 per cent from beyond the arc.
Though he’s only played with VanVleet for less than a year after being acquired at last year’s trade deadline, Young has full confidence that VanVleet’s shooting slump will be short lived.
“Let’s stop playing with Fred,” Young emphasized. “Everybody in the world knows what he can do – he's proved it time after time.
“It's not like his confidence is down – he's going to continue to be who he is, he's going to continue to take those shots with confidence, sometimes they're going to go in and sometimes they're not.”
Being in the league this long, Young knows his role and how he can help others excel in theirs.
“The role that I have to play now in my career is all about consistency,” said Young, who’s played over 1,000 NBA games in his 16 seasons.
“I just want to be a guy that can piece everything together, that can get us continuous movement, that can get us some cohesiveness as a group to make sure that we're doing the right thing.”
The Raptors have a chance to stop the bleeding on Wednesday when a challenging three-game homestand begins with the Sacramento Kings followed by the Brooklyn Nets on Friday and the defending champions Golden State Warriors on Sunday.
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