Raptors takeaways: Wins won’t be plentiful yet, but at least this is now a fun young team

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The Raptors sit at 1-3 and probably won’t win much more than 30% of the time this season, but there are hints of what still may be to come. In time.

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RJ Barrett’s return Monday gave the offence a considerable boost, even if there is still plenty to work on in the wake of the 127-125 overtime loss against the Denver Nuggets.

SOME TAKEAWAYS:

Head coach Darko Rajakovic had talked before the game about how turnovers were sinking his club (they came in averaging an NBA-worst 22 a game).

“Some of those were unforced. The ball hits you in the leg and bounces off the floor. There were seven situations that we were trying to make outlet pass and defence was staying there to intercept that pass,” Rajakovic had said. “Awareness in those situations (is important) … When you play with a lot of pace, it comes with a certain price. But I’ll tell you what, it’s not 22 turnovers again that we were striving for. It definitely needs to be a much lower number,” Rakakovic said. “We talked about it and players are aware that we need to be better at that. So if you can put it down at 12, 13, 14 a game, that’s going to save us a lot of possessions. We’re playing so hard on the defensive end just to allow an offence to get on the some silly mistakes and be losing those possessions.”

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Not having starting point guard Immanuel Quickley for much of the year so far has exacerbated the issue. At least on Monday they got the turnovers down to 15, including none in overtime.

But asked by Postmedia if he was happier with the turnovers, Rajakovic replied: “Happier. Happy not.”

And fill-in starter Davion Mitchell lamented his four turnovers, saying they cost his team good chances. Plus Scottie Barnes, about as good as Nikola Jokic, the best player on the planet, on this night until leaving after taking an elbow to the eye, can only be faulted for the four turnovers of his own, especially the three that came in the game-changing fourth quarter.

Quickley’s return should help a lot.

FOND MEMORIES

Denver head coach Michael Malone smiled when a pre-game question asked him to reflect on the 30th anniversary of the Raptors.

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“(His father Brendan Malone) lived in a hotel the whole year and he bribed them to give him DirecTV so he could watch all the games in the NBA. But I just remember opening night. Our whole family was here — my three sisters, two brothers, my mother. They beat the New Jersey Nets and I just remember watching that. And I was an assistant coach in college at that time and I was begging him to hire me — let me carry your bags, let me do something, let me be a part of this journey with you — and it just wasn’t the right time,” Malone said.

The coach also recalled Toronto’s historic win over the Chicago Bulls (one of only 10 losses that year for Michael Jordan’s dynastic squad) “when they were still in the SkyDome … That’s when they had a curtain in the outfield and there were like 36,000 people here, and they beat the Bulls and [I remember] how excited (Brendan Malone) was.

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“Great memory. And then unfortunately, obviously, he got fired and that was the rude awakening of coaching in the NBA. I know for him he would’ve loved to have a chance to continue building this. But, as if often the case in this crazy business, which is why he told me not become a coach, that’s how it happened.”

The funniest story might have been Malone describing how his father would sometimes instruct some media members in those early days of the intricacies of the sport. Many had never covered basketball before. “There is no blue line out here; this is not a hockey game, this is basketball … So, there were some growing pains all across the organization. I can’t believe it’s 30 years. But, yeah, great memories and just very proud of the fact that my father was the first head coach in Raptors history.”

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CLUTCH GENE

Jamal Murray has had a tough start to the year and shot 6-for-20 in the game, but he made them when they counted. That’s the type of player he is (plus he had seven assists and zero turnovers).

Rajakovic had warned pre-game He is Jamal Murray and I will treat him as Jamal Murray. He is one of the best players in this league, he is a proven winner with Denver and I hope he finds his rhythm — but not tonight.”

Murray underplayed his game-tying lay-up, but admitted it coming with so many friends and family in the building was cool. “It’s just nice to have that moment and be able to look back on it,” Murray said.

And as for the Nuggets: “Just tried to claw our way back. We just stuck with each other. Wasn’t pretty but speaks to the guys and the championship pedigree. That we’ve got here,” Murray said.

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“We never worry. We’ve only played two basketball games and we’ve got 100 more. No panic here. We can be a lot better. We’re nowhere near our potential.”

NO REGRETS

Barrett was pleased to make his season debut and wasn’t sure if he had forced anything by launching a three-pointer late in overtime with a bit of time left.

“I don’t know. I gotta watch it. I don’t know if somebody was running right behind me. I don’t, I didn’t know who it was. I thought I felt somebody running right behind me on my right a little bit. So I didn’t know if it was one of their players, if I went to the rim, might have got shot blocked or whatever,” Barrett said.

“But for me, I’m comfortable taking that shot. I’m happy with the shot I took. That’s just who I am. It’s who I’ve always been. I’ll take the shot again. That’s just, I don’t know. That’s just who RJ Barrett is.”

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