Takeaways From Raptors Season Opener vs. Cavaliers

The Toronto Raptors opened what looks like it'll be an ugly season Wednesday night with a blowout loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers

Oct 23, 2024; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell (45) controls the ball as Toronto Raptors guard Ochai Agbaji (30) defends during the first quarter at Scotiabank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images / Nick Turchiaro-Imagn Images

Cleveland Cavaliers 136, Toronto Raptors 106

Possession Over Outcomes

OK, so it might not be pretty this year.

The Raptors warned you. This is Year 1 of a rebuild and the focus for the season is less about the wins and losses and more about development.

“We're really focusing on possession by possession," Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said prior to tip-off. "We want to play aggressively, we want to play for our fans and to represent them the right way. And we really want to be focusing on process over outcome more than anything else.”

So let's not get so worked up about the results and look more at the big picture.

The Face of the Franchise

There's no more questions, Scottie Barnes is the face of the franchise.

Pascal Siakam isn't here anymore, neither is Fred VanVleet or virtually anyone of real significance from Toronto's previous era. It's the Barnes show and everyone knows that.

“I think a great year for him is going to be learning what takes to be a franchise player,” Rajaković said pre-game. “We're building a team around him. He absolutely deserves that. And a great year for him would be to learn from all the experiences that we're going to go through and to grow offensively and defensively.”

Barnes was the last player to be introduced during starting lineup introductions, took center court to thank the fans during pre-game festivities, and was the center of attention in Toronto's pre-game circle. He then spent much of his night targeting mismatches, trying to overpower Cleveland's smaller guards with his size.

It looks like the Raptors are going to keep the ball in Barnes' hands, letting him bring it up the court from time to time, and allowing him to lead the charge more often than they did last season. They ran inverse pick-and-rolls with point guards screening for Barnes who maneuvered through the screen and tried to balance taking it himself or finding shooters.

Barnes did, however, struggle against Cleveland's size. He twice came up empty going against Evan Mobley in the final minutes of the first half and coughed up the ball for a bad turnover when Mobley snuffed out his drive in the last second. It made for a not particularly pretty showing from the All-Star forward who finished the night with nine points on 3-for-14 shooting.

Toronto is going to need a lot more from Barnes than what he showed Wednesday. He settled for too many jumpers and couldn't get all the way to the hoop against Cleveland's bigs. The Raptors will hope this was just one bad night after what's been over seven months away from real competitive basketball.

Size Struggles

The Raptors started the game with Ochai Agbaji and Gradey Dick in the first unit as expected and looked pretty good to start, taking a 16-11 lead into the first substitution.

It didn't last.

When Jakob Poeltl checked out, things got ugly in a hurry. Bruno Fernando had an illegal inbound pass and two fouls in the span of five minutes. Toronto's second unit struggled to score due to a total lack of spacing as the Cavaliers rolled out its zone defense, and what had been a close game turned into a double-digit lead for Cleveland.

"I thought that there were a couple opportunities that we could do better job of taking shots," Rajaković said of the second-unit's struggles. "We were driving inside and they kept their length in the rim that they turned us from finishing at the rim"

For the night, Toronto allowed 68 points in the paint while mustering just 38 in the offensive end.

Getting Kelly Olynyk back healthy should help fix some of Toronto's offensive woes at the center spot, but the Raptors defense is going to need to do a much better job when Poeltl isn't on the court. The fact that Toronto is so undersized is likely to be a problem throughout the year, especially against supersized teams like Cleveland.

Rookie Debuts

Jamal Shead was one of the few stars off the bench for Toronto and didn't look out of place playing at an NBA pace. He snaked around a Fernando screen and nailed an 11-foot floater for his first career points. He later used a kick-out pass from Barnes to convert his first three-pointer, finishing the night with 10 points in 19 minutes.

Jonathan Mogbo and Jamison Battle both debuted for the Raptors, playing most of the fourth quarter as things got out of hand. Both players got on the board with three-pointers for their first career points.

The surprise of the night was Ulrich Chomche making his debut with four minutes to go in the fourth. It's unlikely he sees much playing time this season but he recorded a 10-foot floater for his first career points.

"It's the start of the long journey," Rajaković said. "I think that they had been a very valuable experience today."

Injured Quickley

Immanuel Quickley was forced to exit in the second quarter with a right pelvic contusion. He briefly tried to stay in the game but was eventually ruled out. He'll undergo more testing Wednesday night and Thursday before further information is provided.

Up Next: Philadelphia 76ers

The Raptors will have the day off Thursday before welcoming Kyle Lowry, Nick Nurse, and an undermanned Philadelphia 76ers team to town Friday night for a 7 p.m. ET tipoff.