The Raptors lost another game tonight. It feels like I have seen this specific game at least forty times since 2019, but with different names on the back of the jerseys. We are currently watching the basketball equivalent of a very expensive car that has no tires, or perhaps it has tires but they are made of wood.
Rowan Alexander Barrett Junior is still here, doing things that Rowan does. He is a person who plays basketball in the city where he was born, which is a nice story for a book that nobody finishes. I think about the 2007 Raptors sometimes, specifically Rasho Nesterovic and the way he would jog. It was a very purposeful jog, unlike our current bench unit.
The Problem with Math
The numbers from tonight are somewhat distressing but also very predictable. When Scottie Barnes is on the court, the team is nine points better than the opponent. When Brandon Ingram is on the court, they are two points better. It turns out that having good players on the floor helps you win, which is a concept I believe they teach in middle school.
The issue arises when they both sit down to drink water or rest their legs. In those minutes, the team was eleven points worse than the other team. It is difficult to win a professional basketball game when your bench performs like they are playing in a brisk wind at a park in Mimico. Scottie looks like he is trying to carry a refrigerator up a flight of stairs, and honestly, he looks tired.
Luxury Living and Other Myths
There is a lot of talk about Bobby Webster and the luxury tax. People seem upset that we are ducking the tax to save money for ownership. I do not know much about corporate accounting, but I do know that you cannot buy a championship at the Shoppers Drug Mart on the corner. It feels like we are trying to build a house using only the free samples from a hardware store.
The Ingram Experience
Brandon Ingram is a very tall man who sometimes looks like he just woke up from a long nap in a very comfortable chair. He helps the halfcourt offense, which usually looks like five people trying to solve a Rubik's Cube in the dark. His handle gets a bit loose sometimes, and he struggles with double teams, but he is a baller. Every team needs a baller, or at least someone who can shoot over a defender without hitting the front of the rim.
We were apparently in the hunt for a top two seed at some point, which feels like a dream I had after eating too much lasagna. Now we are just here, watching Scottie run out of gas in the fourth quarter. My uncle says that in the old days, players did not get tired, but he also says that the moon is a projection. I think Scottie is just human, which is a difficult thing to be in the Eastern Conference.