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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - It just wouldn't feel like the start of a new Raptors season without a little bit of expectation tempering.

Dwane Casey got the ball rolling on the eve of the opener. It started with a question.

Reporter: "When you take a unit and it hasn't changed that much, and last year no one gave you a chance and this year they're saying you're going to get 50 wins…"

Casey: "Who's they? Who's they? I want to know who THEY are."

Reporter: "Just people. Critics. How's that? How do you take that same nucleus, and all of sudden it was nothing and now it is something, is it just the shear expectations of how you ended?"

Casey: "Well the one thing we have to do as a team is we can't listen to the noise, because that same 'they' are going to be on us if we lose a couple games. So I don't pay attention to that."

Yes, the Raptors are coming off their winningest campaign in the franchises' soon-to-be 20-year history. They've had nearly six long months to reflect on it and the league - and its pundits - have had time to react. The basketball universe has taken notice and suddenly Toronto is back on the map.

Sports betting site Bodog.ca has set the over/under for Toronto's regular season win total at 48.5. Should they exceed that mark it would be a new franchise best. Twenty-six of 28 ESPN prognosticators have them defending their Atlantic Division title, and yes, some believe they could be a 50-win team, a plateau they have never reached.

But success in the NBA, like professional sports in general, can be fickle and Casey - head coach of last year's most improved club, with over three decades of experience in basketball - knows that as well as anybody and as a result he's continued to pump the breaks, preaching patience.

"We haven't done anything," he continued. "We're still in the building process, growing. Along with that we have expectations, so it's a double whammy. I'm pushing us to grow and everybody around us is saying, hey you gotta win, you're supposed to win. I'm reminding the guys that reality is we're still a young team."

Internally those expectations are consumed differently. Their locker room is filled with optimistic and ambitious personalities but Casey has worked to manage their enthusiasm while igniting their competitive spirit. Balancing confidence and humility has been his focus this fall.

"Now we know that we're a good team and we know what we can do," said Amir Johnson, who - along with DeMar DeRozan - is the team's longest tenured player, entering his sixth year in Toronto. "There's a lot of stuff we can definitely clean up, and we're working everyday, but we know that we're good and we have a lot of confidence. We just have to prove it on the court."

What would make this a successful season for the club?

"In my eyes," Patrick Patterson said, "winning more games than what we did last year and going further in the playoffs."

A reasonable answer and pretty straightforward method of evaluating growth, only Casey knows it's not always that clear-cut.

"There's a great possibility we could win less games than we did last year and be a better team," said the Raptors' coach. "That's a distinct possibility and if that happens so be it. So I'm not going on wins and losses or what we did last year. I'm more concerned about our development and getting better."

To no surprise, neither Casey nor DeRozan were especially interested in playing the "how many wins are you targeting" game.

"Nah, I think once you look at it like that you'll get caught up in it," said the Raptors' All-Star guard. "And once adversity hits you might panic because its not going as planned. That's why we've got to take it day-by-day."

However, repeating as division champs is one specific expectation that no one is shying away from. "I think defending our division [makes] a successful season," Casey admitted.

The Raptors appear to be in an ideal spot to do so, as the Atlantic continues to underwhelm entering the new year. Philadelphia and Boston are still entrenched in the rebuilding phase, New York is in transition learning a new system under a new regime and Brooklyn is another year older and, presumably, slower.

With most of the East in flux, there will be pressure to hit the ground running. Doubling down on last year's success, the Raptors roster features 10 returning faces. Couple that with a forgiving early-season schedule - nine of their first 12 games at home - and they could have an opportunity to set the bar in their conference. Assuming they take advantage of it.

"There's always pressure," Casey acknowledged. "I felt pressure back when we won 23 games, even when we were developing and growing. So there's always pressure. Pressure to win, pressure to perform, pressure to produce. So that's always there. The pressure for me is the pressure to continue to grow, at the same time trying to produce."

Their biggest test and most accurate barometer of team growth will come in April and May. A 50-win season would be nice - they've gone without one longer than any current NBA franchise - but their first ever seven-game playoff series victory should top their list of goals for this coming campaign.

"We don't [know what to expect]," Casey said. "Nobody does. That's why I say, when 'they' say 50 games, 'they' don't know. Whoever 'they' are. You don't know who we are until we throw it up for real. We'll find out who we really are over the next couple weeks."