After starting the season 6-2, the only real question surrounding the Toronto Raptors was their bench unit.
It’s not that they were necessarily playing poorly, it’s more that they simply weren’t playing. In those first eight games, Nick Nurse was keeping the rotation to just eight guys, and the Raptors bench was last in minutes with just 15 per game.
Because of their lack of playing time, they sat 25th in scoring per game, and 27th in total field goals and threes made, as well as last in total assists.
However, due to injuries to key players - Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka - Nurse was forced to dip into his bag of rotation players.