HeatCheck – Preseason Week 3

Can Rudy Gay lead the Raptors to their first playoff berth since 2008?

On Fire

The Toronto Raptors won their last 5 preseason games, finishing 6-1 with the Milwaukee game on October 25th being canceled.  Now, the Raptors set their sights on something that they’ve not done in the last five seasons: make the playoffs.  Rudy Gay averaged about 19.5 PPG and a little over 6 RPG since being traded from the Grizzlies on January 30, 2013.  He has an All-Star level of talent, and the Raptors are immediately a much better team with him in the lineup.  Now that Bargnani is gone, the frontcourt is opened up for Valanciunas to gain control of.  As a 6’11” center with loads of talent, this is a great thing for the future of the team.

The Raptors won 2 games against a better than advertised, yet still pedestrian, Celtics squad, however they also won 2 contests against a good Knicks squad, including an overtime win, and throttled a Memphis squad that is nearly a lock for a top 5 seed in the West.  This is great momentum to go into the regular season with, especially for a young team that will need any sort of help they can get to scratch out a postseason berth this year.  If the Raptors are able to get off to a quick start this season, look for them to be playing at least a few games in May of 2014.

Ice Cold

The Jazz started off this preseason by winning impressively over the Golden State Warriors 101-78.  Since then, they have ran into no such luck, dropping two each to the Clippers, Lakers, and Trail Blazers and one to the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Ok, so it’s true that their schedule was ridiculously hard, considering there’s a slim possibility (hinged on how the Lakers do) that each team they played will be in the playoffs this season.  However, expect this to possibly be a sign of things to come for the Jazz.  With Burke out for at least a month and Paul Millsap/Al Jefferson now being on different teams, the Jazz are definitely not prepared for a playoff run just yet.  They’ve got a lot of talent on the roster, with Gordon Hayward leading the way of the likes of Enes Kanter, Derrick Favors, Alec Burks, and Jeremy Evans.  But without Burke and with such little experience, this team may be a year or two away from the playoffs currently.  Expect the Jazz to pick up more wins than projected due to the unknowns on their roster, but they will most likely have a lottery pick in next year’s loaded draft.

By Jon Elliott
Follow @TheJontlet