New-look Raptors open season with victory over Celtics

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New-look Raptors open season with victory over Celtics

(Xinhua) 08:44, November 01, 2013

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The Toronto Raptors defeated the Boston Celtics 93-87 on Wednesday night to begin their 19th NBA season.

With the victory, the Raptors improve to 10-9 in games to open a season and 7-6 in openers held at the Air Canada Centre downtown Toronto.

Despite the victory, Toronto head coach Dwane Casey believes that there are still major areas of improvements needed before the team can achieve success.

"A lot of work (to do) defensively," said Casey. "To get where we need to go, we got to get some ball movement."

These two improvements will not be the only challenge for Casey, as the team roster of 15 players consists of six new offseason- additions; rookie-guard Julyan Stone, guard-forward Austin Daye, guard D. J Augustin, guard Dwight Buycks and forward Tyler Hansbrough were acquired through free agency while forward Steve Novak was acquired in the Andrea Bargnani trade.

In addition to the revamped roster, the team includes three sophomore players; Terrence Ross, Quincy Acy and Jonas Valanciunas all with one year of NBA experience.

The offseason changes did not only occur at a roster level. The team replaced former general manager Bryan Colangelo with reining NBA executive of the year Masai Ujiri, resulting in the roster overhaul. Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the corporation that owns the team, also introduced a new CEO in Tim Leiweke.

Leiweke and his team were able to successfully land the 2016 NBA All-Star game and a partnership with hip-hop star, Drake as a global ambassador.

Their belief is that the team will be able to appeal to a younger demographic and help grow the sport in Canada.

Casey, Ujiri, Leiweke and Drake will look for the team to improve from their 34-48 record from last season and develop into a contender by the 2015-16 season when they host the All-Star game.

The first step to success would be a birth in the playoffs this season. Such a result would be the team's first appearance since 2008, and sixth appearance in nineteen seasons.