Louis Zatzman

Toronto

Freelance writer | Managing editor @RaptorsRepublic | former bylines in 538, https://t.co/pN7K33YSs3, the athletic, Vice, CBC, Toronto Star, more | [email protected]

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Articles

What did the Toronto Raptors’ 2024-25 season mean?

1 week ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

When you try to describe something, to truly understand it, what do you start with? Not its qualities, surely. Not what a thing is, but what it means. And there might be no thing with a bigger gap between constitution and meaning than the 2024-25 season of the Toronto Raptors. This season, defined by injured players and lost games, largely went to plan.
Exit interviews: 2024-25 season-ending open thread

1 week ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

10:00 am EST: Morning! I’m at OVO, surrounded by happy, smiling faces. End of the season. Long season. Long season. Happy to be here. We’re getting a buncha players today to chat, so stay tuned, I’ll have some info here throughout the day. Some injury updates: Scottie Barnes’ contusion on his hand will not affect his offseason. Brandon Ingram should be back in May to start on-court work. Garrett Temple has an MCL sprain on his left knee. Gradey Dick has a bone bruise, which just needs time.
Barnes bursts out of scoring slump in Toronto’s final home game

2 weeks ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

If you ever went to summer camp, you know the last day is full of tearful goodbyes. Hugs, warm and full-bodied, even with people you hardly even met. Promises to write, to always remember your brief, fiery friendship. And maybe you will. (Remember, not write.) There’s no rhythm to what childhood memories affix themselves in our brains, only to resurface decades later when watching the Toronto Raptors play.
What does Immanuel Quickley need to change for the Raptors to be great?

2 weeks ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

Close your eyes. Truly. Imagine something with me. Picture the warm sun — wait, open your eyes, you can’t read this with your eyes closed. Okay, imagine something with me. Picture the warm sun gently toasting the top of your head, the tops of your bare arms. A breeze, the air thick, tickling the back of your neck. Maybe the burbling of a stream in the background. Things are good. Picture goodness. And when things are good, the Raptors are back winning games. Picture them winning 45, 50, 55 games.
Quick Reaction: Pistons 117, Raptors 105

2 weeks ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

C+J. Battle22 MIN, 9 PTS, 2 REB, 0 AST, 0 STL, 3-5 FG, 3-5 3FG, 0-0 FT, 0 BLK, 2 TO, -30 +/-Tried to work off the bounce on his first possession and turned it over. If he’s going to be a rotation player on a winning team, those are the moments he’ll need to do damage. He draws closeouts. He’ll need to turn those into advantages with the dribble. After that, he mostly settled for shooting rather than dribbling, and that worked pretty pretty pretty well.
Toronto Raptors keep winning in absurd, ignored end of season

3 weeks ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

The Roman Senate continued sitting for years after it stopped mattering. Eventually, the Republic became an empire under Augustus. He paid lip service to the Senate, mostly. But later emperors stopped doing even that. Then later emperors stopped living in Rome. Then later emperors never even bothered visiting. (Diocletian hated his one trip to the city.) The capital moved elsewhere. Power moved elsewhere. Rome didn’t matter in the least, even in the Roman Empire.
The Raptors need to be good next season. Good thing they’re ready.

1 month ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

When Immanuel Quickley, Scottie Barnes, and Jakob Poeltl left the court on March 20 (it was really March 21, early in the morning) against the Golden State Warriors, the Toronto Raptors were down just two points. The Warriors are championship hopefuls, 41-30 and sixth in the West (and rising), while the Raptors are doing their best to lose games.
Russell Westbrook has finally silenced the critics by playing totally unlike Russell Westbrook

1 month ago | sbnation.com | Louis Zatzman

Photo by Dustin Bradford/Getty Images When Voltaire published the novel Candide in 1759, he likely didn’t expect it to meet so much resistance — and for so much time. It was banned almost immediately in Paris. Within a few years, the Roman Catholic Church banned it. But the real shocker was the banning of Candide in the Soviet Union, then later the United States in 1929.
Scottie Barnes and Raptors squeeze past hapless, hopeless Jazz

1 month ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

The Toronto Raptors weren’t going full-bore, but they weren’t trying to lose, either. It was a modest effort, let’s call it. Immanuel Quickley was attacking the rim with ease in transition, waltzing past Utah Jazz defenders who were more onlookers than a real deterrent. RJ Barrett was ripping the ball from hapless dribblers and diming AJ Lawson — former hero — for an uncontested cockback dunk. Scottie Barnes strolled to the rim for easier dunks than he’s had on the NBA floor since, really, ever.
AJ Lawson gives tanking Raptors something to be proud of

1 month ago | raptorsrepublic.com | Louis Zatzman

He enters the game only a few minutes into the first quarter and immediately picks up two fouls. That doesn’t deter him at all. In a game defined most of all by lethargy and resembling most of all old cigarette butts, AJ Lawson injects energy. Pace. He scuttles under the rim and grabs an offensive rebound, throws the ball back into the hoop. He hits a triple moments later before subbing out. In Darko Rajakovic’s offence, there are points everywhere for those with legs to find them.