The defending champion Toronto Raptors are back from summer vacation. Today at Scotiabank Arena, they spoke to the media about winning it all this past June and their expectations for the upcoming season and Raptors President of Basketball Operations Masai Ujiri was quick to address the elephant in the room.
“I can not sit here and trade Demar, and then Kawhi leaves us, and be upset, because that is just the nature of the business.”
After winning the NBA championship in June, star player and finals MVP Kawhi Leonard left in free agency. The Raptors were 17 and 5 without him last season. Head coach Nick Nurse sees a lot of positives in their championship run.
“You know we got two months of playoff basketball. That is a lot of practices, films, games, situations that we got to work on and most of those guys are back this year.”
Even though the Raptors lost Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green in the off-season, the goal for the defending champions hasn’t changed. Although the Raptors are a long shot to win the title again.
Raptors open the season against the New Orleans Pelicans on October 22nd.
