Toronto Raptors: 5 keys to winning the East

2. Bench help

On an otherwise more than solid Toronto Raptors team, the bench has been perhaps the biggest issue since the season’s tip-off. Even though starters tend to play even more during the postseason, a good bench is always one of the key factors in determining a team’s success.

The addition of Marc Gasol into the squad brought some extra depth to the center spot when compared to Jonas Valanciunas. Now the Raptors have either Marc Gasol or Serge Ibaka coming off the bench, giving them two very experienced players to feast on opposing second units.

In order to further enhance the spark of energy coming off the bench, the organization decided to sign Jeremy Lin and Patrick McCaw. Whether those two are going to help the team’s chances to compete for a championship remains unknown.

Let’s shed some light into just how bad the Raptors bench is. With a team average of 114 points per game, the bench unit is contributing to just 35.1 of those points, meaning that only 30 percent of the team’s points are coming off the bench.

The rank as the eighth-worst scoring bench in the NBA, though they could relatively alter those stats once everybody is healthy and ready for playoff basketball.