Columnist image

TSN Raptors Reporter

| Archive

ATLANTA - While Masai Ujiri and his front office staff field calls back in Toronto, it's business as usual for the Raptors leading up to Thursday's trade deadline.

With the exception of Kyle Lowry, who was given an extra day of rest following this past weekend's all-star festivities, the team reconvened for practice in Atlanta, where they'll begin the unofficial second half of their season against the first-place Hawks on Friday.

Refreshed coming off of the NBA's extended break, Dwane Casey kept his club in the gym for roughly two hours, over an hour longer than anticipated. Their focus had nothing to do with the week's most topical narrative.

"I didn't have to say anything to our players," Casey said of the upcoming trade deadline. "They're pros. They know. Even before the season started, we talked to players about rumours, innuendo and stuff like that. You don't even pay any attention to it."

"I forgot even what the date was or when the deadline is, honestly," DeMar DeRozan added. "It's one of those things you try not to think of because it could be a burden on you when you're trying to play and practice."

In less than 24 hours, they - like the rest of the league's players - will know their fate. Their Thursday afternoon practice will let out just before the clock strikes 3pm eastern and the NBA office processes any final incoming deals.

Unlike in years past, they don't have much to worry about. Although Ujiri and the Raptors' front office are generally tight-lipped when it comes to personnel changes, it's strongly believed that they'll stand pat with the core currently in place.

Twelve months ago at this time, they found themselves in an ambiguous position, evaluating an unexpected mid-season turnaround while weighing the future of Lowry, an impending free agent. Ujiri's decision to stay the course was far more intricate than it will be now.

Now, the Raptors are off to their best start in franchise history with 36 wins at the break, holding second place in the East and sitting 19 games over .500. Much of that progress, coming off an educational first-round exit from the playoffs last spring, has been attributed to the three C's: chemistry, continuity and confidence.

"I think that's one thing that got us off to such a good start, continuity," Casey insisted after Wednesday's long practice. "The theme of today was to continue to get better. No matter what happens these next 29 games, every time we walk in the gym, whether it's shoot-around, practice, we've got to get better."

Some may contend that the Raptors have a unique opportunity to swing for the fences this season in a wide open conference and having all but wrapped up their division. But the danger in going out to get that "missing piece", assuming he's out there, is it will more than likely come at the expense of the team's prized chemistry and/or its promising future.

"Masai has got to make the decision as far as what's going to make the team better and for us to continue to grow as a team," Casey said. "You don't want to sell the farm to win a series this year. We've still got to look at the big picture. That's the thought process going into the trade [deadline]."

"You always have to optimistic but it could go either way," DeRozan said of a potential roster change. "It could go for the good or it could go bad if you make any type of little change to any team. What we have been building off through these ups and downs, you really can't crack that, especially when we know what we have to do."

DeRozan hasn't lobbied to keep the band together for at least another few months, long enough for them to take another run at the postseason. He doesn't have to.

"It ain't my job to do that," said the Raptors' guard. "I think we are fine. The chemistry is great. We just got to keep playing consistent when we go out there."

Meanwhile, Casey will be in touch with Ujiri throughout deadline day. Surely, he and his players will have at least one eye on the clock but they've rightly set their sights on a daunting upcoming stretch. Beginning on Friday, the Raptors will play four games in five nights on the road, all against winning teams before returning home to face the NBA's best team in the Golden State Warriors.

"We can't try to ease into things because these next 29 games are going to fly by," DeRozan insisted. "We can't let nothing get away - not a possession, not a quarter, not a half, not a game. We have to take advantage of everything."