TORONTO: When Chris Bosh and LeBron James joined together with the Miami Heat six years ago, they left behind two franchises that disintegrated into irrelevance. Without their franchise pillars, both the Cavaliers and Toronto Raptors became also-rans. They took far different paths to get here, but both teams have returned to the top of the Eastern Conference.
As the series shifts back to Cleveland for Wednesday’s Game 5 tied 2-2, no one gave the Raptors much of a chance to be in this position — except perhaps the Raptors themselves.
“We’re in it. We’re in it to compete for a championship,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said following their Game 4 victory. “Nobody thought we were going to be here. Nobody gives us a snowball’s chance in you-know-where to beat Cleveland, but we’ve just got to keep on churning, keep on working, keep on grinding to try to continue to win.”
Former Cavs General Manager Wayne Embry is in his 12th season as a special assistant to the Raptors’ front office. He lives in Phoenix now, but assists the franchise with scouting and the draft. He celebrated one division title when the Raptors had Bosh, but they never made it out of the first round with him.
They fell to the bottom of the East without him and spent years drafting next to the Cavs. Some smart drafts and wise trades have carried them farther than they ever went with Bosh.
They used lottery picks on DeMar DeRozan, Ed Davis, Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross in consecutive seasons. They traded Davis for Rudy Gay, then when DeRozan was ready to blossom, they traded Gay in a monster deal that ultimately netted rotation piece Patrick Patterson and cleaned up their salary cap.
They traded one of the picks acquired from the Heat in the Bosh sign-and-trade to obtain James Johnson, who remains a valuable reserve. The biggest coup, however, remains acquiring Kyle Lowry in a trade two years ago after losing out on signing Canadian Steve Nash in free agency.
Lowry has blossomed into a superstar later in his career. He and DeRozan have carried the Raptors within two victories of the NBA Finals.
And they’re still not done. Raptors General Manager Masai Ujiri turned disappointing center Andrea Bargnani into the ninth overall pick in next month’s draft.
“I think our front office staff, Masai and his people have done a terrific job of building on what was there and being able to supplement the players we had,” Embry said. “We’re just delighted to be here.”
The Cavs’ path was far different, starting with the return of James. They missed on some high picks over the years, but stockpiled enough trade assets to allow General Manager David Griffin to overhaul the roster around their star.
At every turn, Casey keeps cautioning how the Raptors are ahead of schedule while maintaining they’re here to win. A number of folks within the Raptors will concede that just getting to this point felt like a championship after so many devastating playoff collapses, but now with the series tied headed back to Cleveland, the Raptors are feeling confident they might actually topple James and end his reign atop the Eastern Conference.
“We’re a step ahead in the process, of our growth process. We’re not there yet,” Casey said. “Right now, we’ve found something. But I still say that we’re a young, up-and-coming team that’s got to stay hungry, got to stay humble, and continue to compete with poise. Nobody thought we were going to be here.”
Jason Lloyd can be reached at jlloyd@thebeaconjournal.com. Read the Cavs blog at www.ohio.com/cavs. Follow him on Twitter www.twitter.com/JasonLloydABJ.