Toronto Raptors
The Raptors have the 7th best odds to win the 2021 NBA Finals, which seems crazy to think about. Toronto won their first championship in franchise history in 2019 and followed up their championship season with an even better regular season last year, even without Kawhi Leonard!
Nick Nurse is a fantastic head coach and as long as he is on the sideline for the Raptors, they have a chance to make a very deep playoff run. While the Raptors fell short of defending their title, losing to the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals, there is a lot to be happy about if you are a Raptors fan moving forward.
Not only is Fred VanVleet a proven core player for this franchise over the next several years, but he has helped give the Toronto Raptors one of the best backcourt duos in the entire league. Both VanVleet and Kyle Lowry are excellent distributors of the basketball and they can also score in bunches as a result of their perimeter offense. Fred VanVleet shot 39% from three-point range last season and a lot of his offensive repertoire were showcased down in the NBA Bubble where he put on a show for the Raptors in some games.
In the Raptors’ second game back from the NBA shut down, VanVleet scored a career-high 36 points on 8-16 shooting, 7-12 from three-point range in a big win over the eventual Eastern Conference champions, the Miami Heat. He also put together an impressive postseason run, averaging 19.6 points, 6.9 rebounds, and shooting 39.1% from three-point range in 11 playoff games for the Raptors. VanVleet dropped a playoff career-high 30 points against the Brooklyn Nets in Game 1 of the first-round on 11-15 shooting, 8-10 shooting from beyond the arc.
While losing Serge Ibaka, Marc Gasol and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in free agency will definitely have its effects on this Raptors team as a whole, other players like Norman Powell, O.G. Anunoby, and Chris Boucher will get bigger opportunities to showcase what they can do to elevate this Raptors team back to the NBA Finals in the near future, possibly even this year.
This Toronto Raptors team will be one of the better defensive teams in the league and with guys like VanVleet, Siakam and Powell constantly improving, there are no limits to how far this team can go in the playoffs. With the rest of the top teams in the Eastern Conference set to battle it out and knock themselves out, the Raptors could potentially make a run to the NBA Finals.
