National Basketball Association

NBA Preseason mockery continues: Raptors 905 plays club team

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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A bunch of Raptors wannabes got their chance to play big minutes at the ACC. Can someone give me a reason why we had to pay nearly full pop to watch a minor league game?

When I began watching the Toronto Raptors live all those years ago, season-seat holders were compelled to buy four preseason games with their package. This travesty continued for years until Tim Leiwecke’s arrival at MLSE. He dumped that approach and started efforts to make the Raptors Canada’s team. Part of that endeavour was to hold training camp outside the city; Vancouver has been the home away from home the past few seasons. Another essential component has been the playing of preseason games in cities like Calgary and Montreal. This is all to the good.

However, last night’s game at the Air Canada Centre crystallized for me what has been a nagging thought for some time. The NBA needs to radically revise its entire approach to preseason games. I know this topic is under discussion at the Collective Bargaining Agreement [CBA] talks, and I hope concrete action is taken.

Oct 14, 2016; Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Toronto Raptors guard Norman Powell (24) drives to the basket against San Lorenzo during the second quarter at Rogers Centre. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Sousa-USA TODAY Sports

The Raptors-in-name-only defeated San Lorenzo de Almagro, a club team from the Argentinian league, 122 – 105. If you were a Raptors fan from out of town looking forward to your first in-person look at your heroes, more’s the pity. Toronto starting lineup included Fred Vanvleet, Drew Crawford, Norman Powell, Pascal Siakam, and Lucas Nogueira. Not a single member of the Raptors’ regular rotation so much as sniffed the floor. Buying a ticket to this game was tantamount to being a victim of misrepresentation.

I don’t know why Dwane Casey was patrolling the sidelines for the Raptors. They really should have come clean and had Jerry Stackhouse, the Raptors 905 coach, in charge.

I’m not even convinced the game was a valid opportunity to assess who’s going to grab the Raptors’ last roster spot. How can you determine a player’s skills when they are facing a team playing a style of hoops they aren’t used to?

The Argentinians pressured the Raptors’ point guards continuously, most likely because they weren’t afraid of Toronto’s low post players. VanVleet was occasionally guilty of overdribbling, but didn’t make turnovers either (2 in 38+ minutes – well done) and had little trouble getting his shot off. Fred led all scorers with 31 points on a mere 19 shots.

The other noteworthy Raptor was Norman Powell, who is an athlete.

A better concept

Anyway, here’s an idea for a preseason game. Open the ACC to any fan who makes a $10 donation to a food bank – first come, first seated. Throw the names of all the players still in camp into a hat, and pull out half of them. That group is the Reds, and the leftovers are the Blacks. Now get out there and hustle for all 48 minutes. Coaches, refs, TV coverage – the whole schmear. Make the game an annual highlight of the Raptors preseason.

That would be better value for money (going to charity!) than the false-pretenses affair which fans were subjected to.