Fred VanVleet gives brutally honest assessment of Raptors' play amid team's recent struggles

Gilbert McGregor

Fred VanVleet gives brutally honest assessment of Raptors' play amid team's recent struggles image

The Raptors have hit a rough patch early on in the 2022-23 season, suffering two straight losses in demoralizing fashion.

After trailing by as many as 31 points in a loss to New Orleans on Wednesday, Toronto's deficit reached 36 points in a wire-to-wire loss to Brooklyn on Friday night. While there are 60 games remaining in the season, frustrations with the team's recent play are mounting, and Fred VanVleet didn't hold back with assessing the team's last two outings.

"We suck right now," VanVleet said of the Raptors, citing a lack of preparedness and a poor effort on the defensive end.

"We gotta to learn how to be a team," VanVleet said. "We gotta learn to play together a little bit more — be professional, be a little more ready to go. You can find excuses in this league every night — there's a million of them — or you can show up and play the game the way it's supposed to be played."

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With respect to the defensive end, VanVleet was displeased at the fact that Toronto gave up 41 points to Brooklyn in the first quarter on Friday. It could be a sign of a troubling trend as the team also allowed 40 points in the opening frame against the Pelicans on Wednesday.

VanVleet made sure to emphasize that lack of preparedness on the defensive end of the floor is unacceptable, especially against a team like the Nets, saying "our offense is not at that level to be in a shootout with (Brooklyn)."

While the Nets got out to a hot start, the Raptors won each of the remaining three quarters and staged a late rally before ultimately losing by nine points. 

As frustrated as VanVleet is with the team, he was able to find some positives in the performance.

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"We fought and there's no quit in this team," VanVleet continued. "We've got a game tomorrow to shake it off and start another trend of moving upwards."

While Toronto is now 11-11 on the season, it is a meager 3-9 away from home.

The good news for the Raptors? Their next three games are at Scotiabank Arena, where they have been a much different team this season.

Next up is a talented young Magic squad, marking the first of three meetings between Toronto and Orlando over the span of nine days. We'll see if the team takes heed of VanVleet's wisdom to right the ship before things get worse.

Gilbert McGregor

Gilbert McGregor Photo

Gilbert McGregor first joined The Sporting News in 2018 as a content producer for Global editions of NBA.com. Before covering the game, McGregor played basketball collegiately at Wake Forest, graduating with a Communication degree in 2016. McGregor began covering the NBA during the 2017-18 season and has been on hand for a number of league events.