The Raptors are 17-4 through 21 games, which represents the team’s best start in franchise history. There are more stats to account for here, more and more rankings that suggest that this version of the Raptors may be one of the very best teams in the current NBA.
For the long-time Raptor fan, this is somewhat unfamiliar territory. Toronto has been good before, maybe even very good, but there’s always been the twinge of (well-founded) concern there too. The 2015 squad fell apart, the 2016 surprised (and maybe over-achieved), the 2017 team came together too fast, the 2018 run blew up all too quickly.