Thunder show Raptors how a rebuild can be worth the trouble

There is a model for aggression. Good, healthy, aggression on the defensive end of the basketball court. Crushing ball pressure combined with layered fortresses of waiting arms, all connected to long, strong, deadly hands waiting to snatch and grab at every ball that comes within sight. Reinforced, with strong supply lines. Rim protectors as the heavy artillery waiting behind it all. The Maginot Line, unbypassable. 

Unfortunately, it just so happens that the Toronto Raptors were staring into the teeth of that model rather than applying it themselves.

“I think there’s a lot for us to look at that team and learn,” said Darko Rajakovic after the game.

The only option, especially without offensive maven Jakob Poeltl, was to simply get eaten. The Oklahoma City Thunder are currently 8.8 points better on the defensive end than league average, which is outrageous. Even more outrageous? They had nine steals and nine blocks in the first half against Toronto — not to mentioned countless deflections that happened to bounce back to Toronto. Even the garbage-time Thunder ate Toronto’s lunch.

Every drive seemed to end up getting stripped, every shot tripped or blocked or otherwise tossed aside. RJ Barrett drove into thickets, only to lose the ball. It didn’t stop him from trying. Commendable? Depends on your point of view, I suppose. When Scottie Barnes tried to post up, the ball couldn’t even reach him. When he grabbed it outside the arc, he mostly settled for contested jumpers rather than brave the blockhouse that was Oklahoma City’s paint. Gradey Dick’s dashing around the perimeter yielded little, as the Thunder defenders were quick and long and connected enough to deny any spare inch, to keep him from springing free for even an instant. 

Toronto shot 9-of-23 from 2-point range in the first half, good for 39.1 percent. Over a full game, that would have ranked as the 12th-worst percentage in any contest this season. And Toronto only scored slightly more efficiently in the second half, largely because Oklahoma City took its foot off the defensive gas in the second half and let Toronto shake loose in transition. If not for Dick getting loose for a few triples (in transition, mostly) and Jamison Battle popping in for one of his own, the Raptors could easily have scored 30 in the first half. 

Translation: There’s levels to this thing. 

And it’s not so long ago that the Thunder were at Toronto’s level. As recently as 2021-22, the Thunder were just 24-58 while the Raptors were in the playoffs. It was the second year in the Thunder’s two-year rebuild, as they were in the middle of collecting outrageous defenders, incredible talents, and an unconscionably long roster. 

“They have those guys everywhere on the floor,” said Rajakovic. “I really like the way they play with force.”

The Raptors are firmly in the second year of their own rebuild. Last year of course they won only 25 games, one more than the Thunder during that 2021-22 season. And Toronto has also been adding its own talents. Shooters and defenders, long and agile. Will Gradey Dick and Ja’Kobe Walter and Jonathan Mogbo and Ochai Agbaji grow into the Thunder’s young and already elite supporting cast comprised of Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell and Isaiah Joe and company? Hard to say. But that’s the plan. (Toronto’s dream of building towards an elite and aggressive defence would certainly be aided by the addition of Cooper Flagg, just as how Oklahoma City was plenty happy when it snagged Chet Holmgren in the draft. Though it didn’t need Holmgren to dismantle Toronto in this one.) 

Maybe the most promising component of the game itself, from Toronto’s perspective, if getting blown out in the first quarter and sleepwalking to the finish from there can have a promising component, was Mogbo. He led Toronto in scoring (tied), starting out with a great baseline drive and finish in the first quarter. He faced up Isaiah Hartenstein in the third and ripped past him for a two-hand dunk. With his size and rapidity accelerating to the rim, it’s much harder for him to get blocked. (He did, of course, on occasion, just like every other Raptor.) And on defence, Mogbo’s switchability helped flatten out Oklahoma City’s drive-and-kick offence, forcing the Thunder into more isolations and stasis in general. Of course, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored on practically all those isolations, so it didn’t matter so much, but it was a process win. (Like I said, not a whole lot of promise in a game like that.) But if Toronto’s defence is going to turn the corner and start threshing opponents, Mogbo will be a big part of the equation.

Or maybe the most promising part was Dick hitting his triples. He banked one in, and he didn’t get free for much outside of distance jumpers, but he splashed them when he was open. Now the Raptors just need Walter to follow suit and break out of his extended 3-point slump that’s starting his career. He was 0-of-4 in this one, bringing his career totals to 5-of-29 (17.2 percent). If Toronto’s offence is going to make sense, it needs the shooters it drafted in the lottery in consecutive years to be shooters. Walter has shown plenty in other areas. But he needs to show that. 

Ultimately, the Thunder are everything the Raptors want to be. The defence works like clockwork and has a reasonable chance at being the best in the league (and, honestly, one of the best defences in history). Their aggression sacrifices little elsewhere. Every player seems grown in a vat, designed to play picturesque and grimy defence, each one better than the last. They layer digs, turning any drive into the hardest level of Super Mario you’ve ever seen. And it all grew from a multi-year rebuild, one the Raptors are undergoing presently.

It doesn’t always look great now, but neither did the Thunder look great in 2021-22 when they lost as badly (and sometimes promisingly!) as are these Raptors. It’s ultimately up to Masai Ujiri and Darko Rajakovic to make sure Toronto’s rebuild gets to this pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But the Thunder proved one thing with certainty: The Raptors aren’t there yet.

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