Night one is a good indication of what Toronto Raptors fans should get used to.
An emotional, high-energy building which usually feeds the home side saw the Washington Wizards take a 20-point lead into the half, which even led Drake to vacate his courtside seat for the entire second half.
It didn’t get much better from there.
With Kawhi Leonard gone, Kyle Lowry gone, Serge Ibaka gone, Norm Powell gone and Marc Gasol gone, the Raptors are now a shell of their championship team from just two years ago.
Sure, they have some young talent they hope can take the reins and guide this team to battling for a playoff spot, but I don’t see it with the extremely hot and cold of Pascal Siakam’s career of late. And while OG Anunoby is a great defender, you now wonder where the offence is going to come from.
The good news was Scottie Barnes nearly had a double-double in his rookie debut.
Yes, it’s great the Raptors are back in Toronto, but you can pack away that Raptors gear you bought in 2019 because I don’t see a lengthy playoff run happening again anytime soon.