In the spring of 2015, the Toronto Raptors were swept aside in the first round by a not-particularly good Washington Wizards team. Even as first-round sweeps go, it was ugly. The Raptors were slight favourites as a 48-win fourth seed over the 46-win Wizards. The hope was Toronto would build on its surprise showing in 2013-14, when they emerged from nowhere to grab the third seed in the Eastern Conference and push the built-to-win Brooklyn Nets to seven games in the first round. This was the next step, was the feeling. And then the series started, and the Raptors got their butts handed to them, with their best players – DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry – seemingly unable to do anything about it. Paul Pierce, at 37 years old, declared the Raptors didn’t have “it” and shot 57.6 per cent for the series. Not only did Toronto not have an answer for John Wall and Bradley Beal – the East’s ascendant young back court at the time – they didn’t have an answer for late-career Marcin Gortat, as ...