Raptors look to build on last season, host Pistons
TORONTO -- The Toronto Raptors tip-off the 2016-17 season Wednesday night when they host the Detroit Pistons. The Raptors enter the season following their most successful campaign in franchise history. Last year, Toronto set a club record for wins (56), won their third straight Atlantic Division title and advanced to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in team history. "Last year is last year. Every year is a new year," Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. "We've got to come out, scratch, execute, have the same mentality that we've got to be the hardest working team on the court that night to win. If we come out and just try to show our press clippings on the floor, it's not going to work. "We've got to have that hard-work mentality and that hard hat mentality to be successful in the Eastern Conference." Toronto returns 11 players from last year's team, including All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry. Detroit starts the season without starting point guard Reggie Jackson, who will miss at least the first month because of tendonitis in his left knee. The Pistons ended a six-year playoff drought last season, finishing with a 44-38 record good for eighth in the Eastern Conference. They were swept by the eventual champion Cleveland Cavaliers in four games in the first round. Detroit, in its second season under Stan Van Gundy, finished 15th out of 30 in points scored per possession and 13th in points allowed per possession. In order to continue improving, general manager Jeff Bower went out and added to his club's depth in the offseason giving 27-year-old power forward Jon Leuer a four-year deal in free agency, signed Boban Marjanovic away from the San Antonio Spurs via an offer sheet and added veteran point guard Ish Smith. "To me what you don't want to do is have a ceiling on this group," Van Gundy told the Oakland Press. "I look at it and say I have great respect out there for the other teams, I think the East has gotten better again. ... I get it, all but at the same time I look at it and say, 'Why not us? Why not?' "If we're willing to do what it takes, and people take a step forward and we commit more defensively, why not us. Why does there have to be a ceiling on us. Why can't we be that team, contenders. I think the guys have high expectations." On Monday, the Pistons made a move to bolster its lineup claiming guard Beno Udrih off waivers from the Miami Heat and released guard Ray McCallum. Udrih is a 12-year veteran who averages 8.5 points and 3.4 assists in his career. The 6-foot-4 Slovenian played for the Heat and Memphis Grizzlies last season, averaging 4.7 points and 2.6 assists. |