Toronto Raptors Have Their Fans In Unfamiliar Territory

By Michael Roberts on November 2, 2014

It’s a bizarre time in Raptor Land, as Toronto Raptor fans are looking around at each other with confused looks on their faces just two games into the new season.

The 2-0 Raptors have done as they’re supposed to do and beat two teams that most consider they are better than, by defeating the Atlanta Hawks on opening night and following it up with a win on the road against the Orlando Magic. As a result, Toronto fans are left in an unfamiliar territory, an area an entire generation of fans have never experienced before.

It’s a confusing time for Raptor fans because they aren’t use to this.

A team that didn’t have five or six new faces to begin the season? That’s different.

A team that returned a successful rotation from a year ago, that not only has chemistry but actually seems to enjoy playing together? It could be debated Toronto has never had that before.

A team considered to be the favorites to win the Atlantic Division? The Raptors haven’t been close to being favored to win anything since the days Vince Carter and Hakeem Olajuwon were on the team. That was a fun week in 2001.

A team with a goal of not only making the playoffs, but potentially winning a round? There’s been more talk over the past decade in Toronto about a certain someone’s graduation ceremony than the second round of the playoffs.

Perhaps the most confusing of all is that the Raptors actually re-signed key players when they had a chance to go elsewhere this past offseason, and their best player, DeMar DeRozan, has talked about wanting to retire a Raptor. Obviously DeRozan isn’t going to say anything less when he’s currently on the team, but there’s something different about it when he says it. There’s something more believable about it. Everybody knew roughly a year and half before Carter got traded that he wanted out, just like everybody knew when Chris Bosh’s contract was up that he was gone. There’s no hint at all that DeRozan wants to leave, and that’s incredibly exciting for Raptor fans. Their All-Star wants to build something special in their city as opposed to going to another city where everything is already established. It’s all the fanbase has ever asked for and been begging the basketball fods to provide.

The city with a passionate fanbase is no longer the northern door mat to the rest of the league. The Raptors have become division favorites, and it might be the weakest division in the league, but considering how much the fanbase has suffered, they don’t care. They don’t care because they’ve been starving for a winning team, desperate to show their passion for basketball in a hockey crazed market.

This time last year some Raptor fans feared the team was so doomed they were hoping for a “Riggin’ for Wiggins” type tank job. Fast forward a year, and the future of the franchise has never looked brighter, with DeRozan likely headed back to the All-Star game where Kyle Lowry could join him. Young stars Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross will excite the fans with their continued development, while an egoless bench will pick up the starters on nights where the team gets off to slow starts.

It wasn’t long ago Raptor fans would joke “If the Los Angeles Clippers can get back to relevancy, why can’t we?” Welcome back, Raptors, you have grown a lot since 2001.