That’s A Rap #159: Raptors add a little Spice to the lineup

Imagine a world where the Toronto Raptors are leading a fastbreak and Pascal Siakam is NOT the quickest player on the court!

With Spicy P returning to the team, he’s already seeing the speed and length coming from the starting unit (Scottie Barnes and Gary Trent Jr. a.k.a. Grand Theft Jr.) and the bench mob (Dalano Banton and Precious Achiuwa). Toronto performed better than anticipated without their All-NBA Forward. His addition should only make his teammates look better.

Speaking of making them look better, the City Edition jerseys have been revealed! This is quickly becoming my favourite annual tradition on the show. Make sure to chime in with your favourite (and least favourite) jerseys in the comments below.

In This Episode:

4:00 — Digestable losses

When is a loss not a loss? When they’re losses to good teams that executed better down the stretch! Cleveland may not be on everyone’s radars but they’re starting to make believers out of doubters (like myself). Losing to Brooklyn, especially when the Nets are streaking, is nothing to hang your head about. The Raptors showed glimpses of their potential when they jumped out to a 9-point halftime lead. Sustaining that level of play will go a long way in the Raptors becoming the best version of themselves.

22:30 — Just add a little Spice

Loss notwithstanding, the return of Pascal Siakam went as well as one would hope. He looked confident with his shooting stroke, showed his defensive versatility throughout, and added in a spin move or two to remind everyone what we were missing. The sooner he can get ramped up to game speed, the higher the Raptors can move up the standings!

28:30 — Road warriors

There’s something about playing on the road for almost 600 days that hardens you. The Raptors’ return to Scotiabank Arena hasn’t gone as smoothly as expected. Surprisingly, it’s their time away from home where Toronto is playing better basketball. They’re 4-0 on the road and looking for more this week when they visit a Boston team without Jaylen Brown and a Philadelphia team without Joel Embiid.

36:15 — Annual City Edition jersey debate

Every year the NBA reveals City Edition jerseys and every year we debate which ones hit the mark and which ones were **ahem** airballs. Not that I’m still bitter, but it’s peculiar (probably only to me) that my choice for the new That’s A Rap logo was because of its subtleness. Ultimately, it finished last place in voting. Yet, the Raptors' new jerseys are flooded with subtle nods to the past!