The Toronto Raptors are putting the “fun” in “tank for Cooper Flagg”

I have bad news and fun news.

The bad news is that the Toronto Raptors have a 2-9 record.

The fun news is that it’s the most enjoyable a 2-9 record has probably ever been.

Let us momentarily flashback to the last time the Raptors started their season with a similar record... the year was 2020-2021. The bubble had just ended and the Raptors were playing in — checks notes — Tampa Bay. The team had just drafted Malachi Flynn and Jalen Harris. They practiced in a hotel ballroom, while their facilities in Toronto collected dust and we all rotted away in lockdown.

I had just cut off about 15 inches of my hair, so that’s a pretty good indication of where the vibes were at during that time. I was #notdoingwell.

Neither were the Raptors. Turns out playing in a city that’s VERY far from your fanbase, essentially making every game an away game, while your actual fanbase watches from another country... sucks. The team was also fresh off a season where they led the Eastern Conference and were title contenders. It felt like the years 2019 and 2020 were the rager party and the Tamps season was the excruciatingly long hangover.

So yeah, tanking sucked.

The team got Scottie Barnes out of the whole mess, but it still sucked to endure. From there the Raptors had a few wishy washy years before they finally decided to go all in on Barnes and move away from those remaining 2019 guys — except Chris Boucher, we love you king.

So, now here we find ourselves, in a rebuild. We are 11 games into the NBA season and this already feels like a tanking year. Which is fine, considering the draft class for 2025 looks promising and the Raptors have the rights to their lottery pick. Cooper Flagg, get ready to be the next face of Subway Canada.

Maybe it’s because they are playing in Toronto now, maybe it’s because everything is purple, maybe it’s because we aren’t pre-emptively mourning Kyle Lowry leaving... but this season’s tank feels... fun?

It really doesn’t feel like this team is 2-9. Most of these games have been exciting, close, battles — even against teams like Denver, the Clippers, and Philly. Most games have come down to a handful of points, and even in the losses, the skills our young players have exhibited is exciting regardless of result.

We also know this isn’t the ceiling for the team. While in 2021, we knew the Raptors were heading face-first into a rebuild, it almost feels like we can see the light at the end now. Scottie Barnes, Quickley, and Barrett are locked in. Gradey Dick is only in his second season, and the rookies are showing great promise.

Add in the fact that the team has been incredibly injured to start the season, unfortunately. We haven’t even been able to see Barnes, Barrett, and Quickley play a single minute together as a trio.

Yet, the team atmosphere also feels wildly different now than it did in 2021. That team KNEW what it felt like to win and it felt like someone had come to ruin their party. The current team is a bunch of kids chasing that dream. They have the naiveté of youth and possibility looms ahead for them. Everything feels possible when you’re like 22, and not that I would know, but I’m sure being super rich also boosts that feeling. I would not know that feeling.

Regardless, just like my hair grew back after The Great Chop of 2020, it seems like the Toronto Raptors are on their way to being flowing and luscious (in wins) eventually. Sure, it may not be tomorrow — but you often have to get used to the awkward Professor Snape stage of hair growth before you’re back to looking like a red carpet glamazon again.

For now, pull your hair into a teeny little ponytail, grab a snack, and enjoy Gradey Dick breaking some ankles as we ride gloriously into the sunset on this tank we’re on.