What is going wrong with the Raptors?

From Samson’s piece:

“When the Raptors were on their big run in the earlier portion of the season, they seemed capable of scoring fast, scoring slow, and scoring from many different places. A very strong mix of initiation, and seemingly, enough of it up and down the roster to allow the bench players to maintain bit roles (that they could succeed in). Things were humming, and in a way that they hadn’t in a very long time.

Fast forward to now, and it’s been one battle after another. Everyone has their ideas about why. The strongest link is pointing to RJ Barrett’s injury upsetting the fragile balance of things, but if you have other ideas, God speed. Regardless, they’ve become far worse as a driving team, far worse at drawing free throws, and far worse at offense in general. They’ve looked sparingly to their depth players to take on the role of initiating plays, and it’s easy to see why – there’s been very little, if any, success to reinforce those decisions.

So, every game has been an exhibit, mostly, of the Raptors forwards trying to power them through to a victory, with maybe one or two role players managing to hit shots alongside them. It’s usually a player elevated into the starting lineup. If Sandro Mamukelashvili starts? Open looks, and points. Ja’Kobe Walter? Usually the same. If Agbaji starts? Just the looks, maybe.

A win is always a win in the NBA. It goes in the column, and the Raptors have done a pretty good job of collecting them this season. They’re far from convincing, though. And if they don’t start playing better with more consistency, up and down the roster, it’ll be hard not to look at them as a collective of pranksters, coasting on scheduled wins and opposing injuries.”