The Toronto Raptors dropped a game they probably should have won against the injured Orlando Magic on Friday, but is an RJ Barrett return about the lift the spirits around the team? In Episode 1779, Sean Woodley goes solo to talk about what went wrong for the Raptors in Friday's 106-97 loss to the Magic that saw the Raptors fall victim to youthful mistakes, poor defensive execution, ridiculous three-point variance and an offense that very much looked like it was still ironing out some kinks. Next, Sean talks about Barrett's impending return from illness as early as Monday night against the Milwaukee Bucks, and why the most important stretch of the Raptors' year of info gathering begins in earnest once Barrett draws in. Lastly, Sean runs through The Good (Darko Rajakovic's fourth quarter rotations against Orlando), The Bad (Gradey Dick's issues on both ends) and The Hmmm (Scottie and IQ trading off the creation duties) to wrap up the show.

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Show Theme Music: Keep Fallin' / The Passion HiFi on SoundCloud

The Toronto Raptors head into 2025 healthy, and looking to put the hell year 2024 behind them. In Episode 1778, Sean Woodley is joined by Katie Heindl (Locked On NBA Newsletters, Basketball Feelings) to ring in the new year with a round of Toxic Positivity Friday, where they chat about the joy of watching Immanuel Quickley back with the team, optimism for the upcoming NBA Draft, and all the things that give them hope for the year that lies ahead. Off the top, they chat about Quickley's return freeing up the rest of the team to be itself, and the prospect of a roster being fully healthy for Friday's game for the first time in ages. Next, they get Katie's early impression of Bruce Brown's return, and Sean details his most toxically positive item going into the season: draft optimism! Lastly, Sean and Katie run through some rapid fire things they're excited for in 2025, including Darko Rajakovic finally getting a chance to coach the team as intended, a full year of Hot Take Heindl and more!

Join us on the Discord: https://discord.gg/5WzNRG3W

Locked On Raptors Newsletter: https://newsletters.lockedonpodcasts.com/nba/raptors

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Show Theme Music: Keep Fallin' / The Passion HiFi on SoundCloud

The Toronto Raptors welcomed back point guard Immanuel Quickley and took down the Brooklyn Nets 130-113 as Scottie Barnes posted 33 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists in the victory. In Episode 1777, Sean Woodley goes solo to react to the Raptors' first win since December 3rd, discuss the impact of Quickley's point guard skills being back in the Raptors lineup, how Scottie Barnes benefits from IQ's return as much as anyone, the rotation going forward once RJ Barrett and Bruce Brown return to the lineup and much more! Off the top, Sean sings the praises of Quickley's table-setting and outlines why he is more of a point guard than the scoring combo guard some folks seem to be projecting him to be. Plus, how Quickley helped unleash Scottie Barnes as the power wing he's meant to be. Next, Sean outlines his vision for the healthy Raptors rotation, who's on the outside looking in, and the question of what the starting five should be once the team is fully healthy -- potentially as soon as Friday against the Magic. Lastly, Sean digs into The Good (Jamal Shead, mostly), The Bad (the 54-point loss to Boston) and The Hmmm (having cake and eating it too) from the past couple days of Raptors basketball.

Join us on the Locked On Raptors Discord server: https://discord.gg/5WzNRG3W

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Show Theme Music: Keep Fallin' / The Passion HiFi on SoundCloud

The year 2024 was not kind to the Toronto Raptors, who revamped their roster and lost a whole lot of games along the way. In Episode 1776, Sean Woodley and Vivek Jacob (Raptors in 7, Sportsnet, Sportscasting) review the year that was in Raptors hoops and run through their biggest takeaways, best and worst things, and their biggest surprises and disappointments from the last 12 months. Off the top, they get this year being one of transformation for the Raptors, how they executed their retooling around Scottie Barnes, and how they got back to their roots as a development-first franchise. Next, they run through the best and worst things from the year, with talk of Vince Carter night, Day 2 of the NBA Draft, untimely injuries and having to watch Jordan Nwora and Malik Williams play basketball. Lastly, they close out with their biggest surprises and disappointments from the year, including the Pascal Siakam trade return not looking terrible, RJ Barrett's transformation into an efficient scorer, the way things ended between the franchise and Siakam, and the abrupt end to the IQ-RJ-Pascal-Scottie-Jak version of the team that served up the best week of basketball the team played all year in the first week of the year.

Join us on the Locked On Raptors Discord server! https://discord.gg/5WzNRG3W

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Show Theme Music: Keep Fallin' / The Passion HiFi on SoundCloud

The Toronto Raptors got Bruce Brown, Jakob Poeltl and Ja'Kobe Walter back in the lineup on Sunday, but got absolutely punked by the Atlanta Hawks 136-107 at home to push their league-worst losing streak to 10 games. In Episode 1775, Sean Woodley goes solo to dissect all that went wrong for the Raptors in a game that might represent absolute rock bottom, the porous defense and foolish turnovers that did the team in, the validity of various excuses and explanations, the psychology of losing 10-straight games, Bruce Brown's return, Scottie Barnes' midrange shooting, awful wing defense, Jonathan Mogbo falling out of the rotation and more. It's been awful lately, but that doesn't mean it'll stay this awful.

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Show Theme Music: Keep Fallin' / The Passion HiFi on SoundCloud