Raptors Get Up Close Look at How Rough Tanking Can Be in Blowout of Pistons

The Toronto Raptors got to see just how miserable a season of tanking can be in Friday's blowout of the lowly Detroit Pistons

Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports

Say what you want about the Toronto Raptors’ decision to add Jakob Poeltl at the trade deadline, it at least made this season tolerable.

Was it the right decision? Well, the Raptors haven’t exactly turned their season around since the deadline. They’re two games above .500 since the deal with an almost identical Net Rating pre- and post-trade. What the decision guaranteed, though, was fewer nights like Friday’s 118-97 drubbing of the tanking Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons aren’t just bad, they’re the worst team in the NBA. They seemingly completed as many passes to Raptors players (21 turnovers in total) as their own and didn’t put up any sort of resistance to Toronto’s not-so-high octane offense.

Fans in Toronto had barely settled in before the Raptors were already up double-digits. Fred VanVleet pick-pocketed Killian Hayes and sent Will Barton streaking for a transition layup that put Toronto up 10. Moments later he intercepted an ill-advised pass from Eugene Omoruyi and the rout was on.

It’s too hard to tell if Toronto actually took a step forward Friday night. Pascal Siakam looked dominant, scoring 26 of his game-high 32 points in the first half. O.G. Anunoby rediscovered his groove after a rough Wednesday night, shooting 7-for-11 en route to 17 points. Oh, and an attempt at the wave broke out early in the fourth quarter for the first time this season.

At the very least, the Raptors handled their business, something they’ve done inconsistently this season. VanVleet added 18 points and, more importantly, played just 29 minutes. Chris Boucher looked pretty good too, with 11 of his 19 points in the second half.

But for all the trouble Detroit has had this season, the organization’s path forward is clear. Cade Cunningham should be pretty good when he’s healthy. Jaden Ivey appears to be a talented young point guard with potential, despite his nine turnovers against Toronto. Adding James Wiseman was a smart low-risk, buy-low deal and whatever that 2023 first-round pick turns into should be special, potentially even franchise-changing special.

“It gets ugly, development is ugly sometimes,” said Pistons and former Raptors coach Dwane Casey. “I’ve seen it numerous times in a lot of players coming through here … with patience and experience … there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.”

Where the Raptors are right now is a little less clear. They’re in the middle no matter how you look at it. The prioritization of playoff experience should pay off at the very least in a play-in game or two, if not more. But the opportunity cost of not going the other way is very real.

"I think that winning is a part of development," Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. "Teaching players how to win is part of development. So I think it's always difficult when you're not winning. It's not any fun, right? It's hard to teach, it's hard to develop anything, to be honest with you."

Could Toronto have had a 10.5% chance at Victor Wembanyama and a 42% chance at a top-four pick? Probably. The team was just 2.5 games up on the Orlando Magic for the fifth-worst record in the league at the trade deadline and pivoting toward a tank could have landed Toronto pretty good odds at a valuable pick.

On paper, it may have been the right decision, but the reality of what that would have looked like is really no fun at all.

With the victory, Toronto moved a half-game back of the Atlanta Hawks for the eighth seed in the conference.

Siakam's Minutes

An extra five minutes or so shouldn't really matter much over the course of the season, but it was a rather strange decision from Toronto to keep Siakam on the court well into the fourth quarter. Despite a 20-plus point lead, the Raptors waited until the four-minute mark to sub Siakam out after he'd eclipsed 38 minutes, slightly above his season average.

"Tried to get him out," said Nurse. "It was one of those games, I even said that to my assistants, I said we’re in one of these stretches again where the whistle is just not gonna blow."

Up Next: Washington Wizards

Things won’t get too much more difficult Sunday night when the Washington Wizards come to town for a 6 p.m. ET tipoff.