The Toronto Raptors couldn’t re-sign Kawhi Leonard in the off-season, but that doesn’t diminish expectations heading into the 2019-2020 NBA season.
The team was on court at the OVO Athletic Centre Tuesday, joined for the first time by Kyle Lowry, who’s back from thumb surgery, and whose one-year contract extension was just made official.
The all-star guard said the entire team wants to win it all, again.
“Why not try to win it back? We can try to get back there every single year,” Lowry said Tuesday.
His sentiment is shared by all of the players who talked to reporters after practice. Fred VanVleet joked that it’s not like they’ve been on a three month bender since winning the title.
But winning another championship clearly motivates the Raptor who went undrafted in 2016.
“I worked harder this summer than I’ve ever worked, after winning the championship. It’s not impossible to be proud of the moment, be happy with what you accomplished, and still want more,” he said.
Being the champs also means a bit of swagger in the locker room, that’s something head coach Nick Nurse said is inevitable for any team that wins it all.
“I think any team that wins it in any sport, usually there’s some specialness to that team. And I think there are some guys with some special qualities.”
The players and coaches say it will be a special night at the home opener on Oct. 22, when the championship banner will be raised at Scotiabank Arena and the players will receive their championship rings. Lowry said that’s the moment the win will seem real.
“I think that’s when I’ll really feel it, when the banner is raised, and we put the rings on,” he said.
He quickly added the only bad thing about the ceremony is that they have to go out and play the season opener immediately afterwards.
Fans will see a much different team this season. Nurse said that “this team will take a lot of different shapes and twists and turns from last year’s team, and from many of the years before that.”
But the goal everyone is striving for hasn’t changed.
For fans, they’re keeping expectations in check. Scott Paradis, a local fan, was buying a new Raptors hat inside Real Sports Apparel inside Scotiabank Arena when CTV News Toronto asked him if he thinks the team can win back-to-back titles.
“Why not? I mean with Kawhi being gone it seems pretty unlikely. But, unlikely things happen.”
Marcus Fraser was checking out some new team gear as well, but he has a different take on what it would mean if the Raptors don’t win it all this season.
“Yo, I got to see a championship. I never thought I would ever see in my entire life. So, I’m good.”
