Title: Raptors 905: 10 storylines to follow for 2020-21 G League bubble season
Date: February 8, 2021
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I teed up the key storylines to follow as Raptors 905, the Raptors’ G League affiliate, begin play in the G League bubble.
Log on to the G League’s official website and two things stand out immediately. The first is that the league is really invested in the G League Ignite team. The second is that if you’re a Canadian basketball fan, the value of the league has never been more obvious.
To the right of multiple links for Ignite features is a column of G League alumni, highlighted immediately by Toronto Raptors forward Pascal Siakam, Canadian two-way success story Luguentz Dort and Chris Boucher, who qualifies as both. The Raptors have been among the most successful franchises in the NBA at leveraging the G League to find and develop their NBA talent. It was no surprise, then, that they opted in to the “G League Bubble,” a 15-game slate taking place in Orlando beginning Feb. 10. It’s similarly no surprise that the Raptors sent both of their 2020 draft picks for expedited seasoning.
The Raptors 905 roster has been locked in for a month, giving rookie head coach Patrick Mutombo and staff plenty of time to prepare. As always with the G League, preparation only matters as far as there’s roster stability. That might be more commonplace than most G League seasons because of the bubble environment and protocols, but there are no fewer challenges. Chief among those will be how to manage a roster that can range from 10 to 15 players (depending on assignment decisions) playing 15 games in just 25 days. It all begins Wednesday at 7:30 against Nick Nurse’s former Rio Grande Valley Vipers club.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 