It was fun while it lasted, this whole Positionless Raptors Era, the team running out a handful of long, athletic six-foot-nine guys to fly all over the court and create mismatches and havoc and in some way reinvent the game.
It became their trademark, their calling card. And while it one day may return, the NBA is all about adapting to circumstances and for the next little while the Raptors will have to regress to a more traditional look and do what they can playing the game the old-fashioned way.
The injuries to Pascal Siakam and Precious Achiuwa — it will be another week before Siakam’s adductor strain is re-evaluated, and Achiuwa will be in a walking boot for 10 days before ligament tears in his right ankle are looked at — have robbed Toronto of two versatile big men who don’t really have a position but represent the new-wave manner with which the Raptors want to play.