No one knew how it would go: not Dwane Casey, not Masai Ujiri and, truth be told, not the players being asked to pull off the task.
Everyone knew the Raptors were going to have to get something out of a foursome of NBA kids — inexperienced youngsters who will be relied on heavily as the season progresses — but just what was impossible to predict.
So they threw them out there in a game that mattered — Fred VanVleet and Delon Wright and Jakob Poeltl and OG Anunoby — and let them sink or swim,
Swim, they did.