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Who are the Toronto Raptors, and what are they, really?

That’s what we get to find out now. That’s one of the small blessings for a team that has largely been vaccinated against COVID-19, returning to a city that — thanks to vaccines and other measures has largely been able to fend off the worst of the fourth wave — is waiting with open arms to take one more cautious step down the road to normal with the return of its NBA team after 18 months apart.

So much has happened. For the first time in nine years Kyle Lowry isn’t around to set the tone, to act as the bellwether for whether this team was going to run hot or cold.

For the first time in nearly that long the team that is opening training camp at the OVO Centre on Tuesday has more old faces than new. Only four returning players — Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, OG Anunoby and Chris Boucher — have played as Raptors in Toronto. For the other 16 in camp, everything is new, even if they’ve played for the Raptors before.

Yuta Watanabe seems delighted that he’s had success in finding some of the city’s best Japanese restaurants. Freddie Gillespie was getting a tour of Scotiabank Arena for the first time, eyes wide. Malachi Flynn is taller in person — a legit 6-1, maybe 6-2 — than the guard we’ve watched weave his away around in the land of the giants on TV.

Luckily the Raptors don’t have to deal with any drama some other clubs are having to manage with high-profile vaccine holdouts like Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn and Andrew Wiggins with Golden State dominating conversation out of media day around the league.

The Raptors have no such issues.

According to general manager Bobby Webster, the Raptors are one more dose away from having their entire roster fully vaccinated. Players from opposing teams haven’t received their shots will be allowed to enter Canada and play at Scotiabank Arena under the a ‘National Interest Exemption’ but will be subject to testing and have their movement limited to their team hotel and arena, while wearing masks.

But in place of drama, the Raptors offer question marks.

With Lowry gone and the disruption of being relocated to Florida for more than a year behind them, what the Raptors look like going forward is an unknown. They’re not a championship contender, but they aren’t rebuilding either. They have some promising leaders, but they’re untested.

We got a sense of how challenging the transition was and will be when Siakam gave an interview to the New York Times recently where he discussed his struggles to find his place in the Raptors firmament since the pandemic hit: “Kyle was there, being a point guard. Kyle was, to me, always the greatest Raptor of all time. I think he was always like, ‘I was the guy’ [and] I had the contract, but I never really felt like I was the guy, to be honest.”

Leave it to point guard and resident sage VanVleet to flesh that thought out a bit:

“People couldn’t understand, ‘how could you not be the man, you got the contract, you got the ball in your hands all the time, Kyle defers to you, Kyle said it was your team,’” said VanVleet.

“But being ‘the man’ sometimes is ‘I’m gonna shoot this ball 40 times and nobody better blink, I better not see a face, the coach better not throw his hands up, a player can’t get mad.’ It’s a clear-cut distinction.

“I think my interpretation of what he was saying was that listen: ‘I got paid the max and when I got paid the max, all the fans expected me to become this, this, this and this and with that came a lot of responsibility, but in my way was the greatest guy to ever to that for this franchise and it [Siakam being ‘the man’] wasn’t a clear-cut distinction.’”

“Kyle didn’t just bow out gracefully, he wouldn’t be Kyle Lowry if he did … he’s not gonna just back up and let somebody else do it.”

Now there’s no choice. Lowry’s media day was Monday in Miami, where he signed as a free agent.

The Raptors in this iteration will go as far as Siakam, VanVleet and OG Anunoby can take them, a formula complicated somewhat as Siakam – recovering from off-season shoulder surgery – won’t likely take the floor until late November or early December, with US Thanksgiving as an optimistic target.

Not that it matters all that much. This is a season about ceilings more than floors. If the returning core can’t show signs of elevating this team beyond the middle of the pack in the Eastern Conference, chances are changes will begin in earnest.

But for now, in the first year after Lowry, it’s a fresh opportunity to see what is possible and what can be achieved.

Siakam seems energized by the opportunity. He’s as eager to put the past 18 months behind him as anyone else.

“For me, coming in in a year where there was COVID and everything happening, I was trying to figure out my role and where I fit in on the team — knowing when to say something or not,” he allowed. “… I think for me it was just understanding where I stand.

“Now obviously with Kyle gone, there’s no question. We had a conversation with Masai [Raptors president Masai Ujiri], and it was me, it was OG and it was Fred. Everyone else is gonna be young or [new to the team]. ‘We’re gonna go wherever you guys take us.’ I think that’s the focus. We’re gonna do it together. I think for me, again, I don’t like the word ‘the guy.’ I don’t like using it. I want to be the guy who wins. I want to win. That’s all I care about. If it’s playing more defence, if it’s scoring more points, if it’s being more of a vocal leader or someone who leads by example, that’s what I want to do. I just want to figure out what my role is. Whatever I can do to help the team win, that’s what I’m gonna do.”

He’ll have help. VanVleet has quietly been — odd as it sounds — the team’s vocal leader for several years now. It’s just that without Lowry, there’s no safety net.

“There were some things along the way that were out of character [for Siakam],” said VanVleet, referring to a couple blow-ups from the 27-year-old that bubbled into the public sphere. “But it’s all part of the journey. The only thing we don’t do now because we have phones [in our hands] every day is we don’t give [players) time.

“When [Siakam] comes back and he plays like the player everybody knows he is and who he knows he is, and better, I think that all of that stuff will be part of the story where you say, ‘OK, this was a moment of adversity. He broke through on the other side of it’ and you won’t remember it …

“We’re all in this together. Pascal’s gonna be a huge, huge part of what we do here, if not the biggest key for us. He’s the best player on this team. I’m ready for him to get healthy and get back on the court with us.”

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Until then Siakam is working on some of the finer points of his game that have little do with his ability to slash to the rim, terrorize teams in transition or switch across five positions defensively.

In the Raptors’ first year post Lowry and first full season back in Toronto since they won their championship in 2018-19, Siakam is learning to lead on a team in need of it.

“I think it’s gonna be a [process]. I’m growing. I’m definitely getting better and trying to pick my spots,” Siakam said. “Obviously we have Fred and OG, different personalities. It’s gonna be a process. But I’m super excited about it. I remember when we went for dinner in Vegas [Summer League] in dinner and I’m sitting there and I’m like, ‘Damn, I feel like I’m the oldest here.’ It was weird, a weird feeling I never had before.

“It’s gonna be a process, but I’m excited about it.”

It’s new and it’s different. And at some point this season we’ll all find out what this team is all about and what its next era is going to be like.

Jalen Smereck, the Black hockey player who was subjected to a racist gesture during a Ukrainian Hockey League game on Sunday, has announced he is taking a personal leave of absence.

“These situations are very tough and I am a big believer in standing up for what is right,” Smereck wrote on Instagram Tuesday. “I have been putting a lot of thought into what comes next for me in my career but as of right now I have decided that I will be taking a personal leave of absence from HC Donbass and I will not play another game in the [Ukrainian Hockey League] until Andrey Denyskin is suspended and removed from the league. Thank you.”

The incident occurred in the second period of Sunday’s game between HC Donbass, who Smereck plays for, and Denyskin’s club, HC Kremenchuk. During a stoppage in play, Denyskin shouted at Smereck and then mimed unpeeling a banana and eating it. He was ejected from the game for doing so.

Denyskin later addressed the incident on Instagram, saying it was “a gesture that someone can consider as an insult in race” that he made after his emotions got the best of him. Denyskin went on to claim he respects “all people regardless of race or nationality.” Denyskin has since deleted the post.

“I definitely think he should be done for the year,” Smereck told Ken Campbell in an interview for Hockey Unfiltered. “For me, I would think his career is pretty much over…[he should be] suspended for this year [from the league] and get a suspension for the rest of his career from Team Ukraine. There’s no way to apologize for that. And even the apology he gave was really bad.”

The IIHF condemned Denyskin’s racist gesture on Monday, calling his actions “a direct assault on the ideals and values of our game” while committing to investigate the incident further.

“There is no place for such a blatantly racist and unsportsmanlike gesture in our sport and in society,” Luc Tardif, president of the IIHF, said in a statement. “We will ensure that all necessary ethics violation investigations occur to ensure that this behaviour is sanctioned appropriately.”

The UHL expressed similar sentiments, labelling Denyskin’s behaviour “unacceptable within the framework of a civilized society” and said disciplinary proceedings would be opened against him.

It remains unclear at this time what type of punishment Denyskin might receive.

Prominent players from around the hockey world weighed in after a video of the incident surfaced on social media, expressing their disdain for the act and urging governing bodies to deliver appropriate consequences for Denyskin’s actions.

“Am I surprised? No. This is still a huge issue in this game,” Anthony Duclair, who plays for the Florida Panthers, wrote on Twitter. “Can’t wait to hear this punishment, a lot on the line for the future of this game.”

Mathieu Joseph, a forward for the Tampa Bay Lightning, shared Duclair’s perspective, saying on Twitter that Denyskin shouldn’t be allowed or given “a chance to play hockey ever again. I am beyond disgusted. Hurts to watch. I cannot wait to hear the suspension.”

“Yeah, I saw it,” Morgan Rielly, who was part of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ player-driven initiative to wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts during media availabilities in July 2020, said on Monday. “It was a horrible act. It was disgusting. I mean, there’s no place for that in our sport, but especially just in our society. In terms of what should be done about it, I don’t know. But I think there has to be action. And I think it’s just a sign that there’s more work to be done.”