What Era Are The Toronto Raptors In?

What Era Are The Toronto Raptors In?

When someone mentions the Toronto Raptors to you, what pops up in your head? Is it Vince Carter being half man, half amazing? Is it the dagger? Is it Kyle Lowry and D Rozan going to war in the playoffs? Or is it Rudy Gay getting the ball in clutch time? No, it’s Rudy Gay. No. No. No. Not this guy. Not this guy. No. Oh my god. Just joking about that last one. But most of these moments have been era defining for the Raptors. And that brings me to today with the team undergoing serious changes. What era are we in now? What is going on Raptors Republic Nation? My name is Kyle and you probably know me from the running back videos I do with my boys Zofhi and Cody. So I’m trying a little bit something different today. A little type of a different style of video I should say. So I really hope you guys do end up liking it. Like if there’s any type of feedback you have, whether it be positive or negative, please leave it down in the comments below. So, if there’s things you think I should have tweaked, if there’s things you think I should have added or talked about more, please let me know. Or if you want to shout me out over on X over there to let me know, you know, your ideas over there or feedback, please feel free to follow me at me, do whatever you need to do. But if you really do like this style of video and you want to see more or you want to see more from the Raptors Republic channel, feel free to comment, like, share the videos to your friends and family, and most importantly, subscribe. It doesn’t just help me, but helps all the other creators on our channel like Samson, S, Cody, and Zie. But without saying anymore, let’s get right back to the video. To get to where we are today, let’s take it back a little back to the birth of the dinosaurs. Let’s call this era prehistoric. Shout out to Alex Wong. Great read. From the years of 1995 to97, it was definitely an interesting time for the team. The team had literally just been founded, named the Toronto Raptors after the success of the 1993 movie Jurassic Park. and Isaiah Thomas was named the general manager and brought on Pistons assistant Brendan Malone as head coach. Shocker there. Something interesting I didn’t even know while the team was being filled because of the expansion draft. Toronto was given first choice after a coin flip and took Chicago Bulls point guard BJ Armstrong. However, he just straight up refused to report for the team. And this was surprising for me. Um, I tried to search up a reason why BJ didn’t want to play for the team, but it really just came down to him not wanting to play for a Canadian team and he was uncertain about the future of the team and if we’d be successful at all. So, even from the beginning, we just had players refusing to play for the Raptors. Anyways, the first season wasn’t the greatest of seasons with the Raptors finishing of a record of 21 to 61 that year. However, they were one of the 10 teams that did beat the 72-10 Chicago Bulls, which is fairly impressive, especially for a new team entering the league. The main bright spot for the team was Damian Damon Stoddire, who ended up winning rookie of the year, averaging 19.9 points and 9.3 assists per game. In these first three seasons up until 1998, the Raptors had an overall record of 67 to 179. Starttomire led the way overall these three years, averaging 19.6 points, 8 8.8 8 assists and 4.1 rebounds while shooting around 40% from the floor. However, it all came crashing down in the 9798 season where injuries would lead the team to a 17game losing streak and due to behind-the-scenes issues, Isaiah Thomas would end up resigning and selling his 9% of the team. And due to Thomas stepping down, starter would go on to request a trade. On February 13, 1998, he was shipped to the Portland Trailblazers along with Walt Williams, Carlos Rogers for Kenny Anderson, Alvin Williams, and Gary Trent, and two firstround draft choices, a second round draft choice, and cash. However, Anderson just refused to report to Toronto and was traded to the Celtics with Zanbach, Popey Jones for Chanty Bilips, D Brown, Roy Rogers, and John Thomas. I don’t know exactly what was going on with players just refusing to show up to the team. I don’t know why, but after all these trades, the Toronto Raptors still remain very young, and with this experience came losses, ending off the season with a 16-6 record. However, they do say, “When one door closes, another opens.” In the 1998 NBA draft, the Raptors would make a franchisee-defining move and trade the team’s fourth overall pick, Anton, to the Golden State Warriors for Vince Carter. Carter brought new life to the franchise with his athleticism and inhuman highlight plays, earning himself the nickname half man, half amazing. Carter’s level of play helped boost the team to new heights, increasing ticket sales, popularity, and just overall success. Also, depending on who you even talk to, Vince might have even prevented the team from getting sold. But don’t take my word on that. Don’t quote me on that. During the Vssanity era, the Raptors would have an overall record of 214 to 246. So, not as bad as the previous seasons, but still overall a negative record, but improvements overall nonetheless. The Raptors would see some success overall in the playoffs during the Vinci era with the furthest they got in the 2000 to 2001 season getting to the Eastern Conference semi-finals, losing to the 76ers in seven games in heartbreaking fashion. If it wasn’t obvious enough, Vince Carter was the shining star of this era, averaging 23 points per game, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.9 assists. Overall, the Vincanity era was one of the most important eras for Toronto, not just on court, but off the court as well, bringing popularity and eyes to the team. But sadly for us, the story does not have a happy ending. Going into 2004 to 2005 season, the Raptors decided to revamp the team, bringing in a new GM of the team and a new head coach, Sam Mitchell, to help guide this team into the future with Vince Carter hopefully leading the way for the team. However, after Vince Carter’s charity game, newly named Ro uh GM Rob Babcock revealed to the media that Carter had asked for a trade. This confirmed to the Raptors of Carter’s discontent at the team or with the team at the moment. The Toronto Suns reported at the time that Carter felt like he was being misled by the Raptors front office and felt like the Raptors would not be an elite team. This led into Vince Carter being traded mid-season for Alonzo Morning, Eric Williams, Aaron Williams, and two mid to late first round picks from the Nets. However, Morning would choose not to report to Toronto, forcing the team to buy him out. Also, just a side note, guys, this is like what the third player that just chose not to report to the team. Has this happened in current day as of like this much or am I just missing something? Because this is insanity. I don’t I don’t like I guess Ace Bailey, if we’re taking a side note here, that just didn’t show up, but he did end up playing for the Jazz in the summer league. So, what’s with all these players just saying, “Yeah, I’m just not going to show up for the team.” Um, is this allowed? Like, okay. Anyways, with this trade, it ushered in a new era for the Raptors. In the 2003 NBA draft, the Raptors made the decision to draft Chris Bosch with their fourth overall pick. Bosch would a end up averaging 11.5 points per game, 7.4 rebounds, and being named to the AllNBA rookie team. Bosch was already showing flashes of his future greatness. Now, flash forward to after the Vince Carter trade. Bosch would have to step up and take on the role of being the new franchise player. These years were up and down for the team. The Raptors would try their best to surround Bosch with talent. They would use their number one pick in 2006 NBA draft to draft Andrea Banani, which did provide some somewhat help for the team. The team saw significant success in the ‘ 06 07 season with a 4735 record, securing the third seed. Bosch was named an all-star and Mitchell was named NBA coach of the year, the first coach in Raptors history to win it. And Chris Bosch did grow into an incredible player overall for the team, averaging 20.6 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists during his time with the Raptors. And the Raptors had an overall record of 221 to 271 during the Chris Bosch era, making the playoffs twice but losing both times in the first round. The beginning of the end came in the 09 2010 season where the roster shakeup had begun with the most notable being addition being Toronto drafting its next young star Demar D Rozan with their ninth overall pick. The team tried their best to surround Chris Bosch with talent to convince him to stay. And even though Bosch is recording career highs and rebounds, a season ending injury would unfortunately happen to him, causing the Raptors to drop from being in the fifth seed all the way out of the playoffs. Now, going into the 2010 2012 years, in the offseason before the 2010 season, Bosch would take his talents to South Beach, joining up with LeBron and D. Wade to form the newest big three in the NBA, leaving Toronto’s future up in the air. Now, I know Toronto fans don’t like to talk about these years a lot, so I’ll keep it to a minimum. Despite the Raptors losing, they did pick up their point guard of the future, Kyle Lowry. They got center Jonas Valenunes, and they made a move for Rudy Gay. Um, during these two rebuilding seasons, the Raptors had an overall record of 45 to 103 and did not see the playoffs once. It did seem like there was no light at the end of the tunnel. However, newly named Raptors GM Masai Jerryi would come in and instantly start making moves for the team, trading Barnani to the Knicks for Marcus Cami, Steve Novak, Quinton Richardson, a future firstround draft pick, and two future second round picks. They would also trade Rudy Gay, Quincy AC, Aaron Aaron Gray to the Kings for John Salmons, Grievous Vasquez, Patrick Patterson, and Chuck Hayes. The Raptors started noticing more and more success with each passing year getting back into the playoffs and seriously competing. And notable additions for the team during these years were guys like Cory Joseph, Bismak Bambbo, Luis Skola, Lu Will, Norman Powell, Sergy Baka, and many more. The Raptors would see the playoffs five times during this year with the furthest round being the conference finals in the 2015 16 season, losing to the Cavs in six games. The team would have an overall record of 297 to 195. the first positive record of an era in the team’s history. Demar D Rozan and Kyle Lowry would be the dynamic duo helping the team helping lead the team to the uh to the playoffs and competitive years. The two would become so close you could swear they were almost brothers. Toronto’s homegrown star Dar De Rozan would have some of his best years in Toronto, averaging 19.7 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 3.1 assists. But as we’ve seen before, and especially with this team, nothing truly lasts forever. On July 18, 2018, Messiah would make one of the most insane moves in franchise history, trading franchise star Demar D. Rosen and center Yaka Purle with a 2019 first round pick to the Spurs for Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green. This move at the time was considered a controversial one looking back at it. Some fans agreed with the move, saying we needed a breath of fresh air and needed something to get over that playoff hump. And the others were saying that D Rozan was done super dirty and was nothing but loyal to this team. and trading for a superstar which could be a one-year rental was not worth it at all. Despite what the fans were saying, the move was done and the season begun. Mosai would go on to make another crucial move at the trade deadline, trading for big man Mark Gasol. The Raptors would see a lot of success in the regular season, breaking the record for the best start in franchise history through the first 20 games with a 16-4 record and breaking the the record for the most points scored in franchise history after beating the Wizards 140 and 138 in double overtime. Then the playoffs game. The Raptors begun the run of a lifetime, taking down the Magic in five in the first round. We’re going to ignore that first game where DJ Augustine turned into somebody else. But going heading on to the second round, they took down the 76ers in in a with a once-ina-lifetime buzzer beater in game seven. The first game seven buzzer beater in playoff history. And I’m sure we all know the moment. I don’t got to replay it again, but just in case you want to see it again, here you go. Is this the tagger? Then they took on the Bucks and after losing the first two games, the Raptors would respond by winning the next four, showing that there is no deer to fear and proceeding to their first ever finals appearance. And despite being the Warriors being the juggernaut that they were, this team, the Raptors were built for this. And despite the injuries, also you got to remember that the Raptors did beat the Warriors twice in the regular season as well. But like Steph said before, injuries are part of the game and the Golden State Warriors had their stars Clay and Durant go down. The Raptors would end up winning the series in six, bringing home their first ever title to the six. The core of Kawhai Leonard, Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, Siakam, Ibaka, Mark Gasol, Van Vleet, and OG Anobi was truly something special. Kawhai would be the shining star overall and it would finish the season averaging 26.6 to six points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.3 steals, and also shot 50% from the field and 37% from three. Leonard would also bring home a finals MVP. And this season, he had an all-star selection as well. Truly a one-of-a-kind year for us. We all remember it fondly. The Raptors had a 58-24 record and Toronto could finally call themselves NBA champions. With the highs of winning a title also came the lows. The fans worst fears came true. In the off seasonason before the 2020 season, Kawwai would announce that he would want to return home and play for the LA Clippers, leaving the Raptors future in the air once again. So heading into the 2019 2020 season, the team did try to run it back without Kawaii. And you know, surprisingly, we did have a good record. It was 53 and 19, but as we all know, the CO uh 19 virus hit the world, affected the NBA, and caused uh the NBA to go into the bubble. Some players didn’t play, some did. And the Raptors actually ended up making it into the playoffs, but losing the conference semis to the Boston Celtics. And you know, we still have that moment of OG hitting the crazy gamewinner. We just for this season, we’re stuck on the whatifs. You know, what if Kawawaii stayed? We possibly go back to back. I think we do beat the Lakers in seven. But, you know, again, the Raptors future was left up in the air. The Toronto Raptors experienced a dramatic shift from contenders to rebuilding. The 2020 to 21 season was derailed by the pandemic, forcing the team to play home games in Tampa, Florida. Without a true home and plagued by injuries, we finished 27 to 45. Missed the playoffs and this marked Ky Lowry’s final season with the team. After a long tenure with the Raptors, Larry finished off averaging 17.5 points, 7.1 assists, and 4.9 rebounds throughout his time here. He is the greatest Raptor of all time in my eyes. stuck up stuck by us through thick and thin and I was so glad to finally see him getting a ring before departing in the 2021 draft NBA draft. The Raptor surprised many by selecting Scotty Barnes fourth overall over the consensus pick Jayen Suggs. And before we want to call capped in the comments and say we’re lying, I do remember a lot of people saying we should have drafted Jaylen Suggs. But you know, the gamble paid off immediately. Barnes brought energy, versatility, leadership, and ultimately won rookie of the year. With current franchise star Pascakam returning to form and Fred Van Vleet making his first All-Star appearance, the Raptors bounced back to finish 48 and 34 before falling to the 76ers in the first round. The 2022 23 season, however, was underwhelming. Despite acquiring Yako Purto at the trade deadline, the team hovered around 500, finishing 41 and 41, losing the play in tournament to the Bulls. The inconsistent season and roster imbalance led to the firing of head coach Nick Nurse. And then in 2023 to 2024, Toronto embraced a full rebuild. The Raptors brought on our new head coach Darko. And the front office oversaw trades that sent Ojanobi to the Knicks and Pascakim to the Pacers, officially handing the keys to the franchise to Scotty Barnes, who also earned his first All-Star nod. Rookie Grady Dick was drafted and other young players were given room to develop as the team focused on grow long-term growth. Through the years, the Raptors near stuck near the bottom of the standings. The franchise finally committed to a new direction with Scotty Barnes at the center of it all. Seakum would average 17.4 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 3.6 assists during his time with the Raptors, while OG would leave Toronto averaging 11.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists. We dearly miss both of these guys, but I love to see Siakum hooping on the Pacers in the finals and Ojanobi finally getting the respect that he deserves on the Knicks. Something all of our Raptors fans knew about this guy that he is one of the best wing defenders in the NBA. This era of the Raptors would finish with a record of 20 224 to 248. So, not too bad. That brings us to today. The summer league just finished and with Messiah stepping down as GM, this truly leaves us in a new era for the team. The Raptors drafted players like Jacobe Walter, CMBB, and Elijah Martin, and the team is younger than ever. Who knows what’s in store for us with the future of the team? Is the core of IQ, RJ, Scotty, Ingram, Yakob enough to get us back into competing? Or do we still have some works work to do? Are we still going to make trades? Is R.J. even going to be on the team trade deadline? I don’t know. But I’m excited to see the future and I’m very optimistic about this team and the players that we do have. What would you guys even call this new era? Would you call it the post Messiah era? Would you call it something with a pun with dinosaurs? But I couldn’t think of a good name for this era. I guess you could say it could be Scotty’s era, but I think we’ll have to wait and see if Scotty does make the leap into like an allNBA or even MVP caliber player, but again, we’ll have to wait and see. All right, so I hope you guys like this video. I wanted to try something different than my usual style like podcasting with the guys and try more video essay I guess you would say um or short like long form type video essays. I hope you guys did like it. Again like I said in the beginning please let me know of any type of feedback whether it be positive or negative. I need it all to get better um overall. So I did hope you guys like it. I didn’t want to fill it with too much of the minute details of what happened throughout the years because then we’d be just sitting here for like five hours over small trade things or salary cap or anything like that. But honestly, if you guys want me to get into minute details of things like that, I can always do that. I just didn’t want to be like dragging it on too much. Just kind of wanted to give like a kind of precise recap of what happened throughout the years and how we got up until this point. But again, if there’s anything I could have improved, made better, let me know down below. And remember, you guys can always follow me over on Twitter if you want to talk to me over there or give your ideas over there. And please, if you like to see more content like this, like, comment, and subscribe. Share to friends and family. Again, it’s not going to just help me, but the other creators on this channel as well get our content out there and get more eyes on Raptors Republic. So, overall, I hope you guys like the video, and I will see you guys later.

Kyle takes a look back on the different Raptors eras and recaps how we got to where we are now and ultimately asks the question, What Era Are The Toronto Raptors In?

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0:00 Intro
1:35 1995-97 “Prehistoric”
4:06 1998-03 “Vinsanity”
6:42 2004-09 “Chris Bosh”
8:12 2010-12 “We Don’t Talk About This”
8:44 2013-18 “We The North”
10:10 2018-19 “Title Or Bust”
12:49 2020-24 “Post Championship
16:12 2025-Present “???”

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