Raptors Confident They Can Be Defensive Juggernaut: 'We Can be Really Elite'

Toronto Raptors coach Darko Rajaković has an idea for NBA award voters: Save yourself the work, he said with a smile, just give the entire Raptors’ starting unit league All-Defense honors.

OK, Toronto might not be quite that good, despite their impressive Game 1 showing. But it’s clear this team is full of players who think they have the kind of upside to earn league-wide defensive recognition.

Precious Achiuwa, for example, has insisted that he’s among the NBA’s best defensive players and one of the five or so players in the league who, he says, can truly defend every position.

Scottie Barnes, meanwhile, has Defensive Player of the Year potential, Rajaković said earlier in the week. The 6-foot-8 wing too can defend virtually every position on the court. Look no further than his Wednesday night matchup against the 7-foot Karl-Anthony Towns who Barnes helped hold to just 8-for-25 shooting. That came after he spent last season defending the likes of Trae Young, James Harden, and Jamal Murray, among others.

“It seems extremely special,” Rajaković said of having a player like Barnes on the roster. “He is going to be guarding point guards this year as well and twos and threes and fours and fives. We have that luxury to put him on now on the biggest threats.”

Then there’s O.G. Anunoby, the only current Raptors player to earn All-Defensive honors and the team’s true No. 1 defensive stopper. After playing a little too loose, by his own admission, against Anthony Edwards in the early part of Wednesday's game, Anunoby clamped down on the Timberwolves superstar to hold him to a lackluster 8-for-27 shooting performance.

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“I think we can be really, really good defensively,” said Rajaković. “It's the tenacity that our guys are bringing, versatility, multiple players being really, really good defensive players just helps us.”

That’s what Toronto learned on to close out Wednesday night's game the Raptors Despite an attempt to get Jakob Poeltl back into the game, the Raptors ultimately let Achiuwa and Toronto’s other wings use their versatility to smother the Timberwolves who shot just 3-for-7 in the final three minutes against Toronto’s closing lineup.

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For the Raptors, that’s going to have to be the engine of this team this season. This isn’t going to be some offensive juggernaut, the half-court numbers from Game 1 will tell you that. But the defense should be there every night, generating transition opportunities all season long.

“I think we're going to go even higher than a top-10-type defense,” said Jakob Poeltl. “I think we can be really elite. We can be one of the best defensive teams in the NBA.”