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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – The Raptors will not be lacking in representation at next month’s all-star festivities. In fact, they’ll have a larger presence there than ever before.

DeMar DeRozan is starting in the main event. Kyle Lowry joins him as a reserve. It’s very likely (assuming they win just one of their next six games) Dwane Casey and his staff will be there, coaching Team LeBron James, as well.

As a team that has griped about routinely being overlooked by the league they play in and by their neighbours to the south, rightly or wrongly, this is serious progress. So, they’re satisfied, right? Not so fast.

With all that in mind, it’s a bit odd to see them so incensed over such a seemingly trivial thing: the Friday night Rising Stars game – the appetizer to the appetizer of all-star weekend. Strange as it may be, it’s not unwarranted.

The NBA on Wednesday announced the 20 players selected to participate in the annual showcase – a mix of rookies and sophomores split up into two teams based on their home country, America versus the world. The Raptors – who feature one of the league’s best supporting casts, comprised almost entirely of young players – were not awarded a representative, despite having four eligible candidates: first-year forward OG Anunoby (England) and second-year players Jakob Poeltl (Austria), Pascal Siakam (Cameroon) and Fred VanVleet (U.S.).

“I’m shocked,” Casey said after practice the following day. “I’m totally shocked and upset about that. It blows my mind that our young guys were not selected.”

“I got a lot of texts,” said VanVleet. “Family and friends were pretty disappointed. But whatever. I’m not a guy that needs any [extra] motivation. I don’t put a lot of stock into that stuff. It would have been a nice accomplishment and nod of respect, but it didn’t happen.”

From the front office down to some of the veteran guys and the excluded players themselves, everyone seemed genuinely surprised not to see a Raptor on either roster. While a case could be made for each of them, they never expected to get all four in. But not one?

With an average age of 25, the Raptors are one of the youngest teams in the NBA. Outside of their three leading scorers – DeRozan, Lowry and Serge Ibaka – they only have one player over 26 (C.J. Miles). Despite their youth, Toronto enters Thursday’s action 18 games over .500, sitting second in the East and only 1.5 games behind Boston for first place.

To win in this league while simultaneously developing a crop of talented young players, as they’ve done over the last few seasons, is one of the toughest things to do. To enjoy the kind of success they’re having this year as a direct result of that development and the contributions of those young players is almost unprecedented.

As Lowry and Ibaka got off to slow starts and with injuries and the inconsistency of their veteran starting lineup forcing Casey to go deeper into his rotation – which has expanded to as large as 12 at times – those guys have stepped up and exceeded all expectations. They wouldn’t be where they are without them.

To the casual basketball fan, the names might not stand out or even look familiar. VanVleet went undrafted. Siakam and Anunoby were late first-round picks. Poeltl is as steady and reliable as young big men come but doesn’t jump off the page. All four excel on the defensive end, which is why Casey trusts them, it’s what has made them so valuable to the Raps, but it’s not exactly a sexy skill set.

However, the rookie-sophomore participants aren’t selected by the fans, or even the media, but rather the league’s assistant coaches, who should know better than to judge a book by its cover. It’s their job to watch and study these guys, they should be able to see things that the casual observer might miss.

Like what? Toronto’s young bench leads the league in point differential, outscoring opponents by 130 on the season. VanVleet and Siakam lead the team in fourth-quarter minutes, having played more then Lowry or DeRozan. Anunoby leads the Raptors’ regulars in net rating – they outscore teams by 11.8 points per 100 possessions when he’s on the floor, the best mark of any qualifying rookie in the NBA.

The most reasonable explanation, and the one Casey was given by people around the league, is that the vote was split between the four guys, meaning none of them could earn enough to get in. The thinking is that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Together, the Raptors’ second unit has been great. Individually, they’re good players, but does one of them stand out as being the best?

“But still,” Casey interjected. “Some of the guys that were on there, no disrespect, I would take our guys over ’em any day. The assistants vote on the young guys and I’m shocked that they didn’t have enough respect for our young guys and what they do and what they bring to our team.”

Of the players that got voted in, guard Frank Ntilikina (France), who will be representing the 21-27 Knicks on Team World, is probably the most egregious. The eighth pick of last June’s draft, Ntilikina is averaging 5.4 points on 36 per cent shooting this season.

“I wasn’t expecting to be in it just because I don’t really get those types of accolades,” VanVleet said. “But for OG to be a starter on one of the best teams in the NBA and Pascal and Jakob to not be on the world team and then to look at the list and see some of the guys on there, it’s disappointing.”

Anunoby, arguably the most deserving of the four, starts and plays over 20 minutes per game for a contender. Nightly, he’s tasked with guarding the opponent’s best perimeter player, from LeBron James to Kevin Durant to Giannis Antetokounmp.

A man of few words, even Anunoby was surprised by the snub.

“I thought I was going to be in it,” he told TSN on Thursday. But I’m not, so whatever. I was disappointed but [I’ll use it as] motivation, for sure. Prove those coaches wrong.”

Although it’s still possible Anunoby or one of his teammates gets the nod from the league as a replacement, should someone get hurt or if Joel Embiid (who is also playing in Sunday’s All-Star Game) doesn’t play, they’re also not opposed to taking this perceived slight and using it to push them further. That’s the common denominator between all four players, and several other Raptors: they’ve been overlooked, underestimated and counted out throughout their careers. Yet, here they are.

“I guess it’s almost better that way,” VanVleet said. “It gives us a little bit more motivation. I take anything I can get, so I put that right on there with the rest of the chips on my shoulder and I hope the rest of the guys do as well.”