5 reasons the Toronto Raptors can win the Eastern Conference

4. A deeper supporting cast

To be fair, the Raptors had a deep bench last year too. Unfortunately in the playoffs, Carroll’s body failed him, CoJo was a non-factor in all but two games, plus/minus god Patrick Patterson faltered and Dwane Casey didn’t play P.J. Tucker enough until it was too late.

No one was expected to turn depth into an advantage for this Raptors team outside of C.J. Miles, but a young group of Delon Wright, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Jakob Poeltl and rookie OG Anunoby have all stepped up to form Toronto’s most cohesive supporting cast yet.

The Raptors’ point differential for the second unit is a league-leading +4.1, with the next closest team being the Houston Rockets at +2.7. Their bench ranks eighth in scoring at 41.1 points per game, as well as fourth in assists, sixth in field goal percentage, seventh in rebounds, first in steals and second in blocks. Basically, this group of reserves can do a little bit of everything.

Wright was proving himself as a steady backup point guard before injury struck. Luckily, VanVleet quickly picked up the slack and both have proven themselves worthy of minutes since Wright returned.

Siakam, who has experience with the starting unit, is quietly averaging 7.1 points and 4.7 rebounds per game on 50.6 percent shooting. Poeltl is becoming an efficient weapon on the scoreboard (7.0 points per game on 65 percent shooting) and a consistent contributor on the glass.

Anunoby immediately emerged as a superb defender, earning his starting job on the wing thanks to his readiness on that end and surprisingly competent 3-point shooting (35.3 percent), even if his offense isn’t where you’d hope it’d be as the starting small forward for a contender. As long as his ankle sprain isn’t serious, he can at least contribute with lockdown defense.

Miles is doing the job he was brought in to do as his backup, shooting 38.3 percent from downtown on 6.3 attempts per game. Even with Norman Powell underwhelming and losing minutes to Anunoby and Miles, his positional versatility could be important come playoff time. Playoff Powell was one of Toronto’s best players in the postseason last year, after all.

The big concern here is experience, since the game is a lot different when the bright lights of the playoffs come on. Anunoby is a rookie, Poeltl, Siakam and VanVleet are only in their second years and Wright is only in his third.

However, if this young group can keep chugging along when it matters most, the Raptors have a good chance of not only battling revamped second units in Cleveland (Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr.) and Boston (Terry Rozier, Greg Monroe, Marcus Smart, Marcus Morris), but possibly even winning those exchanges. Every little bit helps in a series against LeBron or Brad Stevens’ well-balanced squad.