Raptors Discuss Value of Preseason Takeaways & Plan For Wizards Game

The Toronto Raptors aren't reading much into their perfect preseason record with just one more game against the Washington Wizards to go

Dennis Schröder just threw cold water on all your preseason hot takes.

Yes, the Toronto Raptors are 3-0 so far this preseason. Yes, the offense has, for the most part, looked pretty good. Yes, there’s a newfound positivity around this team.

What does it all mean?

“The preseason don’t mean nothing at all,” Schröder said Thursday following practice. “It’s great that we’re coming together and playing how we want to play in the regular season. But I think the real war starts on the 25th against Minnesota.”

That’s pretty much what just about any veteran in the NBA will tell you when it comes to preseason basketball. Thad Young echoed the same sentiment earlier this week when the same question was put to him.

That said, the Raptors are excited with the direction things are heading from a learning standpoint.

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“It’s about continuing to flow on (the) offensive end. I think it’s going (to) be very important for us in this last game to continue building our habits in transition,” Raptors coach Darko Rajaković said ahead of Wednesday’s preseason finale against the Washington Wizards. “I think we’re doing (a) much better job of getting to extreme corners, opening up the floor for each other.

“I think in the halfcourt just our decisiveness and aggressiveness of going downhill and reading the game from there, being able to find layups or finding the wide-open man from there.”

The start of the season is going to be crucial for this Raptors team as it looks to make some big decisions on key free agents ahead of the trade deadline. The hope is Toronto can lean on its transition attack early in the year and sneak in some wins by outworking opposing teams as the half-court attack continues to come along.

In the meantime, Toronto is planning for Wednesday’s game to look and feel similar to a regular season outing, Rajaković said. The team wants to ramp up the starters to a regular season workload and there’s an expectation that Jakob Poeltl (illness) and Precious Achiuwa (left groin strain) should be ready to go. Having the two centers back should allow the Raptors to use something like a normal rotation for the first time this preseason.

“Precious is very important for us, our rotations so having him back, practicing with us, getting some minutes tomorrow’s going to be important for him to get his conditioning and feel for the game back,” Rajaković added, noting the team will take it slow with Achiuwa.

A win against the Wizards would give Toronto its first undefeated preseason in franchise history and undoubtedly inject some excitement into a fanbase that’s been thirsting for good news for months now. But truth be told, Schröder is right, it’s hard to read much into preseason games. 

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