Raptors look to snap losing skid with battle vs. 76ers on TSN
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The Toronto Raptors have cooled off in February after a scorching-hot month of January, and they look to snap a four-game skid when they travel to Philadelphia to take on the 76ers.
The Raptors (16-37) enter Tuesday's action third from the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings - which shouldn't come as a surprise to many considering team president Masai Ujiri's comments before the season started.
“I would use the word rebuilding,” said Ujiri, asked to characterize his club’s upcoming 2024-25 season on the eve of training camp. “Yes, in sports, you always want to be competitive and you play to win. We're going to play to win. But it is a rebuilding team. I think everybody sees that loud and clear.”
Accordingly, the focus has shifted in the second half of the season to evaluating and developing some of the younger players on the roster.
Ten of the 15 players on the roster following a flurry of moves at last week's trade deadline are first-, second- or third-year players.
The youngsters struggled in a 94-87 loss to the Houston Rockets on Sunday. Second-year player and member of the NBA All-Star game's Rising Stars team Gradey Dick was scoreless in 14 minutes before exiting with a neck injury.
Rookies Jonathan Mogbo, Ja'Kobe Walter, Jamal Shead and Jamison Battle combined for 34 points in 90 minutes of floor time, and collectively shot 13-for-32 from the field (40.6 per cent) and 4-for-16 from three (25.0 per cent).
"We opened up a lot of playing time for our young players. People have seen with our rookies, Ja'Kobe [Walter], Jamal [Shead], [Johnathan] Mogbo, and Jamison Battle, then second- and third-year guys like Gradey [Dick] and Ochai [Agbaji] - I think the opportunity that moving some of these old guys will afford the young players, we'll see," general manager Bobby Webster said in an appearance on First Up on TSN1050 last Thursday.
The biggest acquisition at the trade deadline is still awaiting his debut for the Raptors, as the team acquired forward Brandon Ingram from the New Orleans Pelicans. Ingram is a former All-Star and was named Most Improved Player in 2019, but has been out since Dec. 8 with a sprained ankle.
Philadelphia (20-32) hasn't fared much better than the Raptors this season - partly due to injury problems with superstar centre Joel Embiid.
The seven-time All-Star and two-time scoring champion has played in only 16 of a possible 52 games due to various injuries, including knee management, an orbital bone fracture and a foot problem.
Embiid is listed as questionable for the game against Toronto.
Raptors icon Kyle Lowry, who is in his second campaign with the 76ers, will not play due to a hip injury. The veteran spent nine years in Toronto and was a leading force in the Raptors' only NBA title in 2019.
A loss against the 76ers on Tuesday would mark the fourth losing streak of at least five games this year for the Raptors. From Jan. 13 - Feb. 2, Toronto won eight of 10 games, but that hot stretch has been bookended by losing streaks of five games before and now four games since.