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Now that the sentimentality and senseless nitpicking of the past week can officially be tossed to the side for good, it’s time to take a hard look at the Raptors and come to grips with the harsh reality facing this iteration of the roster.

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It’s not, simply put, going to be easy and it figures to get even worse, to be perfectly blunt.

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Memphis is even worse, a team that visits Scotiabank Arena on Monday night minus Ja Morant, the team’s star-crossed point guard whose shoulder injury has shut him down for the rest of the season.

The Grizzlies were dismantled in Chicago on Saturday night, the same night the Raptors were routed in Gotham by the Knicks. For Memphis, it was its fourth loss in the past five games as the team continues to play minus three of its top four scorers.

For Toronto, the team is 4-7 since it acquired Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett from the Knicks in that five-player deal that netted New York OG Anunoby.

The forgotten player in that transaction was Precious Achiuwa, whose time as a Raptor was marred by inconsistency. In Saturday’s 126-100 win for New York, Achiuwa scored 18 points on 9-for-10 shooting, while hauling down 11 rebounds on a night when the Knicks crushed the Raptors on the glass to the tune of 61-31.

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For those who have lost track of the team’s plight following two massive moves involving two of the team’s best three players, the Raptors sit at 16-27 after losing six of their past seven games.

When a team is getting abused on the boards like the Raptors at MSG, the absence of Jakob Poeltl (ankle) becomes magnified.

When the team’s face in Scottie Barnes has a woeful night, arguably his worst, someone needs to step up and yet no one did, leading one to question if such a player even exists given the composition of the roster.

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No Spicy P, no OG to lean on, no big in the absence of Poeltl, who suddenly has turned indispensable, and no legitimate chance to win when Barnes is enduring such a horrid night.

Wins and losses have now changed to hope and lessons, which pretty well sums up how far the Raptors have fallen.

When hopeless describes a performance such as Saturday night’s setback, notwithstanding Toronto’s energetic play in the opening quarter, there isn’t much to look forward to from this group unless strides are made.

The return of Quickley and Barrett had its expected effect as each played with an extra bounce, a renewed sense of purpose that seemed to lift their Toronto teammates. But when all was said and done, neither had a particularly good game.

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So much will be asked of this Barnes-Barrett-IQ trio and when very little gets extracted, routs become inevitable given the makeup of the roster following two franchise-defining moves.

Quickley, for example, attempted as many field goals as Jontay Porter, who has no business starting at centre, but there is no other option besides inserting undersized veteran Thad Young.

One might be willing to cut Quickley some slack. At the same time, one would be derelict in their duties by not pointing out how Quickley must be more aggressive, scoring only four points in the second half when New York outscored Toronto 67-43.

Regardless of the type of defensive schemes that force Quickley to give up the ball, he is the team’s starting point guard and will remain its incumbent moving forward. For the Raptors to grow, he must grow into his role and assert himself in a much stronger fashion.

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The Raptors have made it clear their objective is to turn Barnes into a legitimate franchise player and not some face masquerading as the go-to person, which is no easy task.

Barnes has shown glimpses and his leap from his second season to this season speaks volumes. Many more inroads must be taken. He reached a fork in the road in Manhattan and ended up stubbing his toe.

Monday looms as a key bounce-back night for Barnes, who has to begin the night with force and sustain it against a very vulnerable Memphis team.

As for Barrett, he emerged as Toronto’s leading scorer in the Knicks loss, which doesn’t say much other than to highlight the Raptors’ lack of offence and options. Consider that he made nine trips to the charity stripe, but would only convert three times on a night when Barrett netted 20 points.

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Barrett’s shot remains inconsistent and he continues to favour going left when he takes defenders off the dribble by using his dominant hand, not unusual in the NBA. Players pining to take their game to the next level diversify, underscoring one of the areas where Barrett must execute as he evolves.

He has shown to be good, in stretches reaching an elite level when his perimeter game is on.

The good news involving Toronto’s recently assembled Big Three is each are young with plenty of room to grow. Perhaps this triumvirate will grow in unison.

As part of the learning curve, some hard lessons must be learned. One such moment arrived Saturday night and one figures more of those moments await, especially when the Raptors are matched up against a quality team. The Grizzlies do not fall under such a classification.

As a result, it’s incumbent on the likes of Barnes, Quickly and Barrett to step up and impose their collective will.

Toronto’s win column doesn’t figure to dramatically change given the dramatic deals of the past few weeks. Additional lessons loom, but more fight and mental toughness must be revealed or this season figures to go completely off the rails.

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