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Potential: A Bad Team's Best Hope

It's not a surprise that the Raptors aren't good. Given the roster at the beginning of the season and the moves made since then, Toronto has little chance for success this season. That is at least if your definition of success is measured in wins and losses. But since wins will be exceptionally hard to come by this year, GM CarlSpackler has a different barometer for success for this team. "With a young group of guys like this, we're looking for potential," Spackler explained. "With some players, you know right away that this guy is going to be a superstar. Those are the easy ones. But almost even more valuable than the superstars are the players that possess those intangibles that make them great teammates. We all know those teams who might not have a top 10 or even top 20 player, but somehow manage to dominate.That's what we're looking to build in Toronto." Six weeks into the season seems like a reasonable amount of time to gauge the performance (and potential) of the current group of Raptors. Let's have a look:

	Lavoy Allen	Maybe he'd be able to do more if he were given the opportunity. But in the few minutes he has gotten, he hasn't made enough of a case to be deserving of a larger role. So on the bench he will remain.
	Leandro Barbosa	One of the players in the much maligned trade that sent Deron Williams away, Barbosa is a great example of one those ideal role players. He's a bench player and nothing more. But even at 34, he provides a big spark in the few minutes he sees.
	Jae Crowder	Crowder looks to be one of the anchors of this Raptors team as he continues to have the look of a player who's good and only getting better. His numbers aren't going to blow anyone away but he is solid on both sides of the ball. And with his contract, it's easy to see why Spackler has been reluctant to move him.
	Gorgui Dieng	The somewhat surprise star of the season thus far for Toronto, Dieng is averaging a double-double, shooting almost 60%, with almost 2 blocks per game. Like Crowder, he is a force on offense and defense and will likely be an integral part of this team as they move forward.
	Kris Dunn	Dunn has maybe been a victim of too lofty expectations. Touted as one of the few NBA-ready rookies coming into the season, he has not yet delivered on that estimation. Though he has had games of brilliance like this past week against the Bulls where he scored 25 points, with 9 rebounds, 8 assists, 3 steals, and shot 50% from the field and from 3. But games like that have been the exception. For the most part, he's struggled mightily with his shooting and hasn't yet been as consistent defensively as people had projected. But there's no doubt that there's a lot of promise there.
	John Henson	The Raptors picked up Henson in a swap for Z-Bo, with the idea that Henson is a player for the future, while Z-Bo is a player for now. Henson doesn't yet put up the kind of numbers they were getting from Randolph, but he's contributing close to a double-double and should continue to build on that as he finds his groove in Toronto.
	Willy Hernangomez	While all the rookie talk was focused on Kris Dunn, very little was said about Willy. But even with his limited minutes, he is offering some promising signs that he may turn into something special. He's a very good rebounder and a good scorer. But he needs to work on taking smarter shots (for the love of god, stop taking 3s!).
	Joe Johnson	The subject of many trade rumors now that Williams and Randolph have moved on to greener pastures, Johnson has been an ideal 6th man, contributing 14ppg in 24 minutes, and has the team's highest player efficiency rating.
	Shaun Livingston	Perhaps he's just having a rough transition after leaving Philly, but Shaun has been underwhelming in his eight games in Toronto. He's shooting poorly...very. 33% in fact. And 0% (zero) from 3. And 56% from the line. Hopefully, he just needs to get comfortable in his role on the Raptors, but if not he may fall a bit deeper on the bench.
	E'Twaun Moore	While he may be better suited for a backup role, Moore is doing everything he can to prove that he deserves to start. He's got a lot to work on but he's showing some very encouraging signs of improvement. But he'll need to continue on that rise to establish his role as an unquestionable starter.
	Mirza Teletovic	Mirza's been a bit of a pleasant surprise. Nothing stands out about his numbers, but he hasn't been disastrous. And for this team, "not disastrous" is pretty good.
	Garrett Temple	meh.
	Isaiah Whitehead	Eagerly waiting in the wings for Livingston to prove that he's not worthy of the backup role, Whitehead is only getting a handful of minutes but making the most of them. The GM continues to hint that Whitehead will likely see an increasing role with this team and possibly pretty soon. Then we'll get to see how good he could possibly be.
	Derrick Williams	Williams suffers from the problem of not really fitting cleanly into one position. His preferred role is a power forward, but his size and offensive style are more suited to the small forward position. But he doesn't really have all of the qualities expected of a SF. But he is averaging over 7 points in 13 minutes, and has some pretty intriguing qualities.

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