Raptors Uprising GC had a typical .500 season last year. The team finished 8-8 and it felt like they were chasing their own tail all season. They had Kenny Got Work and eventually traded for Sick x 973 from Cleveland, but the rest of the team didn’t take a step forward and they found themselves in the middle of the league standings by season’s end. However, with a new season comes a new bite at the apple! Some fresh draft picks and a new play style comes to The Big North in Season 3, and it might bring a playoff appearance along with it.

Coach: N/A

The Raptors have not officially announced a new coach. We will update this section when they publicly announce them.

Season 2 Team MVP: Kenny Got Work

The face of the franchise was the most consistent player for Toronto last season. Sick x 973 (aka Sick One for SZN 3) was excellent when he came over from Cleveland, but Kenny was the main man. 16 PPG, 51.6% shooting from the floor, 48.4% from 3, Kenny was most of Toronto’s offense for the season. He spent most of last season switching between PG and sharp, but Raptors Uprising is dead-set on Kenny playing PG this year. It’ll be great to see him given the keys to the offense.

Best Stat From Season 2: 372 FG Made

This might be a weird stat to point out, but what’s weirder is what it means: Raptors Uprising GC made the 2nd-least amount of total shots last year. The only team lower than them was Lakers Gaming, who went 3-13. This is a sign of lack of offensive star power. Kenny was really the only player on the team putting up consistent numbers in the backcourt and while Sick was great down low, the lack of production from non-Kenny players on the wing or at guard is notably apparent in this statistic. The good news is that the Raptors made it a priority to get more offensive firepower this offseason while not sacrificing their quality defense.

Offseason Moves:

Trades Made:

1. Cavs Legion GC
   1. Acquired: 2020 2nd Round pick
   2. Traded Away: Doza (Following Retainment)
2. Gen.g
   1. Acquired:  2020 2nd + 2020 2nd
   2. Traded Away: 2020 2nd +2020 2nd

Draft Picks:

11. Timelycook
27. Wuan
42. Reece
52. Legit 973

Timelycook is BACK. Once thought of as the best lock in the league during Season 1, Timely was suspended for Season 2, but finds his way back into the league for this season. He’ll bring a defensive identity and intensity to this team that they just didn’t have last season. He’s also a decent shooter from the corner too, His impact will be felt from Day 1. The rest of their draft filled in a lot of blanks without taking the focus away from Kenny on offense. Wuan is a little risky, but he is one of the best shooters at the PF position in the world. He’ll be a great corner player for Toronto and give someone both Kenny and Sick can work with on both ends of the floor. Reece has been playing the sharpshooter role with Kenny for a long time and finally made it to the league this season. Their built-in chemistry should improve their backcourt offense in a huge way. Last, but certainly not least, is Sick’s brother, Legit 973. He’ll be a good 6th man for them and can play multiple positions on a whim. The death of their mother a few months ago makes this story even more tragic, however, keeping the brothers together during a time like this will surely help.

Projected Lineup:

PG: Kenny Got Work
SG: Reece
SF: Timelycook
PF: Wuan
C: Sick One
6th Man: Legit 973

This is a fantastic roster if you’re trying to complement Kenny and Sick. They’ll run a pretty basic pick-and-roll scheme with those two and have Reece on the wing ready and waiting for open perimeter shots. Timely and Wuan will man the corners and wait for guys to pull off to cover the paint so they can get some open corner 3s. This roster doesn’t have high levels of versatility, but that’s not necessarily important. They have 5 starting-caliber players at each spot and Legit can fill in at various positions as needed. What makes this team so hard to predict is that we may as well be looking at a team of 5 brand new players. Reece and Wuan are rookies, with Timely returning to the league after missing Season 2. Kenny is in a brand new spot as he is going to be asked to man the point guard position 100% for the first time in his NBA 2K League career. Sick is still at Center, but the league meta seems to be leaning hard towards inside centers and, not that he isn’t just a good all-around center, a lot of his success came from being on a pop Center build that could hit 3s on the perimeter. He will likely be fine, but there is a lot of “new” on this team regardless of how you put it. The talent and name recognition is there, but that’s all we really have to go off of at this early pre-season point.

Season 3 Breakout Candidate: Kenny Got Work

Behind the scenes, Kenny is one of the most respected players in the league. You don’t get voted to the #Glitchy25 by being a scrub and Kenny is anything but. However, we haven’t seen the best Kenny yet. We’ve seen “good Kenny”, we haven’t seen “elite Kenny.” Yet. This is as good of an opportunity for Kenny to establish himself as an elite player as he has had so far in the league. Being voted the #23 player in the league by your peers is a huge honor, but his ceiling is in the teens or even in the top 10. We’ll find out this year if he can unlock it.

Season Outlook: We’re Going To Find Out Together

Until we see how this team gels, their ceiling is unknown. If it all works out, they could be one of the best teams in the league. If it doesn’t, they could be picking in the lottery again next season. That might look like a cop out and in a way it definitely is, but this team has so much “new.” New roles, new coach, new players, new game style, it’s all a little too fresh to make an accurate assumption on, but if you want a realistic outlook, it’s that this team will be good. Kenny and Sick are very good players and will carry this team for most of the season. If Timely is even 80% of the player he was in Season 1, then this team is going to be very solid defensively. Add good shooting seasons from Reece and Wuan and all of a sudden you could be looking at a top 8 playoff team. Kenny has MVP-caliber upside. If he hits that stride, then being a title contender is definitely in the cards. Another fascinating season is on the horizon in The Big North.