It’s become an all-too-familiar refrain this time of year. The Raptors are winning games, but mostly on the back of their bench unit, and the starters are struggling against top opposition.
A couple of years ago, it was Luis Scola starting all year long, with Patrick Patterson coming off the bench. Last year, Patterson again took a back seat to a rookie Pascal Siakam, who had not really found his feet defensively yet (his improvement there this year being one of the biggest positive story lines for the team). Both times, the starting unit found itself wallowing in misery (and significant negative net ratings) while the bench unit, and the starters when they played with Patterson instead of Scola or Siakam, found great success.