 They were supposed to be fine. With Pascal Siakum, OGN and Obi and Fred Van Vliet locked up through at least 2024, the Toronto Raptors didn't rebuild after losing Kawhi. They reloaded. And that's what made the 2-8 start to the 2021 campaign all the more puzzling. Granted, there are a multitude of excuses to fall back on. From the pandemic, to the championship hangover, to the fact they're playing their games in Tampa and everyone is living in a hotel. We understand. But 2-8 is 2-8 and sympathy amongst the fan base was very quickly mutating into a sentiment we feel oh too often. What have you done for me lately? After two devastating losses at the buzzer with their highest paid player coming up short, nobody would blame Raptors fans for feeling grim. But there was a light emerging at the end of that tunnel and it was in the form of Chris Boucher. If you don't know about the man before the basketball player, let me be the first to tell you how great of a story his success is before he became an all-packed 12 conference honourable mention. Before he became the G-League MVP and defensive player of the year in the same season. Before he became an NBA champion, Chris Boucher was homeless at the age of 16. In his own words, living in North Montreal, there was a lot of drugs, a lot of crime, a lot of gangs. And he wanted out without having to quote, do anything crazy. He found basketball and basketball found him. Even when things appeared to have finally turned around, adversity reared its ugly head again. Fast forward to present day and Boucher has become the nucleus of the Toronto Raptors turnaround. Before Saturday night's victory against the Hornets, Boucher ranked second in the entire league in player efficiency rating behind only Nikolay Okic. Fourth in true shooting percentage. Twelfth in three-point percentage. And oh by the way, he blocks 10.9% of the shots the other team attempts while he's on the floor. That's also second best in the NBA. For further analysis of how Boucher is doing it, I'm going to kick it to B-Ball Breakdown's coach Nick who's in the film room to illustrate this for us. Thanks Rob and welcome sports fans. Great to be here to analyze the game of Chris No Way Boucher. In the Raptors offense, he's the primary ball screen setter when he's out there. And while there's evidence of him actually rolling to the rim to get set up with nice passes for shots, it's his ability to pop out to the three-point line that stands out and where the defense is seen perfectly willing to let him catapult these shots from over his head and up into the rim. He's scorching from back there as the ball handlers have been collapsing the defense so the D had better adjust or get used to seeing these things fly through the air and right down through the net. While he does spend time hanging around the rim looking for slick passes from his teammates, there is some evidence he needs to get into the weight room and not skip leg day or arm day for that matter, but his real value is as a floor spacer in this Raptors offense. They'll spread the floor and let him camp out in the corner waiting for kickouts where he's shooting 55% so far. On the other side of the floor, he's blocking tons of shots as a rim protector where his 7 foot 4 inch wingspan comes in handy, primarily from the health position to erase close-in shots. But he's an equal opportunity shop locker, flying out to the perimeter to swat away those pesky three-point shots that look open when they started, but get the rude treatment by the time he's done with them. At 23 and a half minutes per game, it might be time for Nick Nurse to up those minutes considering he's got a team-leading net rating, just like you do, Rob. Things you love to see, good stories with happy endings. But in the case of Chris Boucher, his tale has only begun. I hope you consider watching a Raptors game in the near future, not only to witness this most improved player candidate perform, but share the success of someone who beat the odds with the deck stacked against him. And off the court.