The Raptors Are Finally Healthy and Ready To Answer the Lingering Questions

The Toronto Raptors finally have their top seven players healthy and should be able to start figuring out just how talented this team truly is

Aaron Rose | Dec 30, 2021

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse has learned never to get too excited these days. Even as he walked into Toronto's first nearly full practice in months, there was a hesitancy to start planning too far into the future.

The Raptors are yet to see what this team is truly made of this season. Every time they've been close to having a complete roster, or at least one with their top seven players healthy, something has gone awry. First Pascal Siakam missed the start of the season as he recovered from offseason shoulder surgery, then Precious Achiuwa and Khem Birch missed time, then OG Anunoby was sidelined for a month with a hip pointer injury, and most recently a COVID-19 outbreak within the organization forced 11 players into Health & Safety protocols.

Thursday, however, marked a turning point for the team. Fred VanVleet, Scottie Barnes, and Anunoby all returned to practice and now only Justin Champagnie and Isaac Bonga, two non-rotation players, remain out. The expectation is everyone in that top group will, for the first time this season, be ready to go Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers.

So what now? What's the rotation going to look like?

"It's like such an ever-evolving thing," Nurse said, afraid to get into too much detail in case something new pops up. "They text me in the morning to tell me who should be available and they're usually about 65, 70% accurate on that. So I just wait till I get to the practice floor to see who's there. Wait to get through the practice, see who makes it through, and then I'll probably [figure out the rotation] a little bit this afternoon. And then I'll wake up and wait for the report in the morning to see what's going on."

Practice wise, things were just OK Thursday, as would be expected from a team that hasn't played together in nearly two weeks. It's taking some guys a little bit of time to get back into the swing of things, said Gary Trent Jr. who was activated from COVID-19 protocols prior to Tuesday's game. There was certainly some rust, some silly turnovers and whatnot, but it was a major step in the right direction for the team.

Despite all that's gone wrong this month, the Raptors are still very much in the thick of things in the Eastern Conference. They sit tied with the Boston Celtics for 10th in the conference, having played four fewer games due to three postponements. But now it's go time. With just over a month to go before the February 10, 2022, NBA trade deadline the Raptors need to figure out who they are and what they have for however long this group can stay healthy for.

"We haven’t seen it. Nobody knows what it looks like," said VanVleet who has played the third-most games of anyone on the team this season with 28. "I’m optimistic that it will look good, that it will work, that it can work. I’m not fearful. I’m not nervous about it. We’ve just got to see it."

So far, the Raptors are +4.6 in 752 possessions when some combination of VanVleet, Barnes, Anunoby, Siakam, Trent, Birch, and Achiuwa are on the floor together. Usually, those minutes have come with either Siakam or Anunoby sidelined. Now that's going to change and the Raptors are going to find out if their three forward lineup of Barnes, Siakam, and Anunoby actually works.

If it does, Toronto will have something pretty special on its hands. Not many teams have the versatility three 6-foot-9(ish) wings can bring on both ends of the court. But if it doesn't work and things go sideways, it could be back to the drawing board this summer with big changes on the horizon.

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