Oof... this aged like milk, didn't it. Wish I was here at the time to reply to it. The Raptors were always going to be top 3-4 in the East this year with the Bucks, 76ers and Celtics.
First of all, every player that the Raptors play are a plus defender (minus Matt Thomas)... they don't have any weak defenders. Lowry, FVV, Siakam, OG, Ibaka, Gasol, Powell, Hollis-Jefferson, McCaw, Boucher, TD.
In their main rotation (first 7 guys on the list above), all of them can space the floor from 3 and all shoot more than 3 attempts per game: Gasol 40.2% (3.5 3PA), Powell 39.8% (5.4 3PA), Ibaka 39.8% (3.3 3PA), VanVleet 38.8% (7.0 3PA), OG 38.1% (3.4 3PA), Siakam 35.9% (6 3PA), Lowry 35.4% (8.3 3PA). League average is 35.7%. Lowry's first game back from an extended injury he went 0 for 11. If you remove that, he jumps up to 36.3%.
Finally, their coaching puts them in a position to succeed. Nick Nurse is definitely a top 3 coach in this league. He changes his defensive schemes every night to try and throw curveballs at the opposition, which he can do because again every player on the floor is a plus defender. A lot of our guys have insane B-Ball IQ as well: Lowry, Gasol, FVV.
