Raptors passing chemistry test on way to surprising early-season run

TORONTO — Does chemistry breed winning or does winning breed chemistry?

In team sports, it's a chicken or egg debate.

Toronto Raptors definitely enjoyed some great chemistry in the quarter point of the season as well as a lot of success.

After 21 games, they are 14-7 and just 2.5 games out of first place in the Eastern Conference in a virtual matchup with the New York Knicks, who easily dispatched the Raptors – a tired shorthanded version – on Sunday night. Even the most optimistic forecasters didn't expect the Raptors to reach these numbers at this point, especially after they started the season 1-5.

And although the addition of Brandon Ingram and Sandro Mamukelashvili, the presence Immanuel Quickley after playing just 33 games last season and the internal improvements made by players like Jamal Sheed giving Toronto a significant boost in talent, the team seems to be focusing too much on things that are harder to quantify but are no less important over the course of a long NBA season.

“The chemistry on our team, I think that’s the most important part,” said Scotty Barnes the other day when asked about what elements contributed to the Raptors' hot November. “Our chemistry, win or lose, we're all just super connected, laughing, smiling, just having fun. Our chemistry on this team is the best I've had in my five years in the league.”

“It continues to grow every single day. Lots of laughs, a lot of great moments, memories on and off the court. We really enjoy each other's presence. So when we step on the court, obviously it starts to click. We all trust each other. We're all happy for each other when somebody succeeds. That's what it's all about.”

Is that why the Raptors rank fifth in the NBA in assist percentage, just one of the reasons why Toronto boasts the sixth-best offensive rating in the NBA, even after a mini-four-game offensive slump that coincided with RJ Barrett going down with a knee injury?

Barnes spoke Friday when the Raptors' nine-game winning streak and 13 wins in 14 games were still intact, before they blew a 12-point lead with just under six minutes to play against Charlotte on Saturday and fizzled out against the Knicks the following night.

The test of any team bond comes as losses mount. And while the Raptors aren't going to hit a wall, winning will be a little tougher in the coming weeks.

Toronto returns home to host the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. Portland isn't exactly a powerhouse team (8-12), but it's a big group that ranks second in offensive rebounding, which has been the key to several Raptors losses this season. They lost the offensive rebounding battle 25-14 against the sixth-ranked Knicks and 17-12 against fifth-ranked Charlotte. Five of the Raptors' seven losses this season have come to teams ranked in the top 12 in offensive rebounding.

Toronto will next host the surging Los Angeles Lakers (15-4), who now have two players the Raptors never had an answer for in Luka Doncic and LeBron James, before facing Charlotte, Boston (11-9) and the Knicks (13-6) next Tuesday in the NBA Cup quarterfinals.

Given the way the Raptors have performed this season, there's no reason not to expect that they won't be able to get three, four or five wins, especially since all five games will be at home. But it's a tougher test than playing Brooklyn, Indiana, Charlotte and Washington (0.194 overall winning percentage) seven times in 10 games.

Regardless, there is hope and expectation that the Raptors are built for this.

In the midst of the Raptors' convincing win over Cleveland last week – their eighth in a row at the time – I asked Sheed how and why the Raptors were able to avoid getting carried away by their success, especially after a 30-win season in which the Raptors didn't win their 14th game until late January.

“Just like we went undefeated last year,” the Raptors sophomore guard said. “We're taking it one game at a time, staying positive with each other and keeping the same message: it's about winning, it's about playing hard, it's about doing all the right things to give us an opportunity to win.”

This is no accident.

Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic has preached a consistent, process approach since taking over the team ahead of the 2023-24 season. How effective it was and whether it made a difference was difficult to measure, as Toronto won only 55 games in two seasons.

But that didn't stop Rajakovic from emphasizing unity, accountability, incremental progress and sacrifice as themes. The message was constant. That's why he spent the last two summers assembling the team for offseason minicamps in Las Vegas, Spain and Miami. Perhaps just as important, the Raptors have tried to identify players who are open to and value this type of team experience.

“I think it's not really (surprising) just because of how much time we spent together over the summer,” said Quickley, who has been with the organization since it was acquired from the Knicks in December 2023, when asked about the team's family atmosphere. “I'm sure we've been together more than any other team and I think that's very important to us.”

And why were the Raptors able to assemble their team during the official offseason?

“A lot of our guys are so young they don’t know any better,” Quickley said. “Most teams, when they get older, like seven to 10 years in the league, they say, 'OK, I'll do my own thing,' but our guys are still finishing up college, so they feel like everyone should be together all the time, but it's really great when everyone is together and everyone enjoys each other's company, on and off the court.”

But it's not just about group dynamics. There aren't many practices or shootarounds where Rajakovic doesn't seek out one or two of his players for one-on-one conversations. He regularly watches video of Ingram and regularly meets with Barnes and the rest of his roster. This means that when he challenges the group, everyone knows where he comes from.

“He brings energy every single day,” said Ingram, who is enjoying peak performance in his 10th NBA season after being acquired from New Orleans in February. “He's the leader of our team. He makes sure we bring energy to practice, games, shots. He makes sure we have it every time we step on the basketball court. To me, that's the best thing about being here.”

It's a level of support that Rajakovic has worked hard to develop but doesn't take credit for.

“You know guys, their character is the foundation of everything and our front office has done a really good job of identifying the right people,” Rajakovich said. “And now our job as leaders, as adults, is to put them in situations where they thrive and learn from each other, and then they can build that camaraderie, on and off the court. It's a process, and it's a never-ending process. It's always evolving, it's always changing, and for all of us, it's always learning.”

After two losses in two games and a schedule that will only demand them more as the season progresses and expectations rise, the Raptors head into the next phase of the calendar with plenty of lessons learned, but undoubtedly more to come.