In basketball, we often hear that player development is not linear, and that's also true in a team context.
Take the 2022-23 Toronto Raptors, for example: a talented team that was expected to take a big leap forward from its encouraging 2021-22 campaign, and instead took a massive step back.
There were all sorts of reasons for that setback, from players wanting bigger roles to the wrong mix of personalities in the locker room to a head coach that failed to get them to all buy into his schemes. But the single biggest issue for the 2022-23 Raptors might have just been that their competition got stronger while they plateaud.