It is February and the air in Scarborough feels like a wet wool blanket that someone left in a freezer. Inside the arena, things are slightly warmer but significantly more confusing. We are currently watching Trayce Jackson-Davis, a man who recently decided to become an inch taller.
Reports are circulating that he grew from 6 feet 9 inches to 6 feet 10 inches over the last season. I am not sure how that works for a grown man. Usually, when I wake up, I feel shorter because the weight of my own decisions has compressed my spine. Trayce seems to be moving in the opposite direction.
The internet is calling him a demon. That seems like a lot of pressure for a basketball player, but he is playing like someone who does not particularly care about the gentlemanly rules of verticality. He just exists near the rim until the ball goes through it.
The Anxiety of the Second Round
There is a specific kind of panic that sets in among Raptors fans when a second round pick is traded. People act as if we just traded away the deed to the CN Tower. In reality, most second round picks become guys who play three seasons and then move to a nice city in Lithuania to play for a team named after a local brewery.
My uncle says every pick could be the next Nikola Jokic. My uncle also says that the 401 is actually a government experiment in psychological endurance. Only one of those things is likely true. We are top five in the East, yet we are reacting to a lack of trade deadline moves like the grocery store just ran out of milk before a blizzard.
The team is young and winning games. It is a strange feeling (winning). I remember when Jason Kapono won the three point contest and I thought we had solved the sport of basketball. We had not. We were just very good at standing still and throwing a ball from one specific spot.
Looking Forward Or Not
Why is everyone so worried? We have a "demon" who is actively getting taller while we sleep. We have a winning record. We have the lingering memory of Jorge Garbajosa to keep us humble. If we do not make a major move, we simply continue to be the team we currently are.
That might be enough, or it might not be. I think about Hassan Whiteside sometimes. I do not know why he just popped into my head. He once had twelve blocks in a game and then disappeared into the horizon. Life is fleeting, and so is a comfortable lead in the second half.
For now, just enjoy the fact that we are high in the standings and our center is defying biological norms. The trade deadline will pass. The snow will eventually melt. The second round picks we kept or lost will eventually become insurance salesmen. It is all part of the cycle.