It has been twenty years since the Toronto Raptors were born. Twenty very up and down seasons. Twenty seasons the team hopes it can leave in the past to create a brighter future.

After last season it seemed the Raptors were ready to move forward.

We’ve heard it all before regarding the 2014-15 season. The team was supposed to blow it all up and tank, but a Rudy Gay trade to Sacramento changed everything. Instead of the hopes of drafting Canadian Andrew Wiggins the Raptors went onto become a playoff team.

The Raptors came out with ‘We The North’. A slogan that caught on fast. Downtown Toronto was filled with fans. Even during the cold, windy and rainy nights the fans stood outside and supported. The inside of the Air Canada Centre was loud as well.

It was like basketball was reborn in Toronto. Some of the current Raptor fans are too young to remember Vince Carter and his missed game seven shot.

The Raptors have seen brighter days after the heartbreaking Carter miss but none of those days felt the same as the 2014 playoffs. It was like a new era of Raptors basketball. Even General Manager Masai Ujiri got into the excitement with his “F*** Brooklyn” speech. Something even more essential, media outlets down south took notice of the excitement in the fans and the talent on the roster.

The Raptors were a team on what I’ve been calling a ‘joy-ride’.

Then game seven against the Brooklyn Nets happened. It was a game were everyone left everything out there; from the players, the coach’s, and even the fans.

Like Carter’s final second miss in 2001, the Raptors fell short of a game seven win on a final play in 2014. Eliminated from the playoffs and heartbroken but not completely crushed.

Ujiri took to the microphone. He stood in front of the cameras. It was like a man who truly cared about the franchise was the General Manager. In summary Ujiri explained that it was a great playoff run by the Raptors, however, it was time to build a roster that would compete for the long-term.

Kyle Lowry, one of the many reasons the team took a turn for the better last season was set to become a free agent after the impressive season. Lowry was an all-star snub, he had a career season, and multiple teams were interested in him during the summer (including Houston and Miami). Lowry decided to stay in Toronto, something the city was not used too.

For the most part NBA players who become stars in Toronto tend to leave to go play in the States. Lowry was different, he stayed. It was time to turn the chapter on the first 19-seasons.

Starting the twentieth season 24-8 kept the excitement from the previous season going.

Then came the New Year. Since January 1st the team has fallen to 18-22.

The Raptors came into this season with expectations of making the second round. Early on they looked like they could surpass that. Then they started to come back to earth. Now, the earth seems to be shaking underneath them and they’ll be lucky to get past the first round.

It started to look to familiar.

Remember the 2006-07 season? When the Raptors won their first Atlantic Division title and finished third in the Eastern Conference – losing to the then New Jersey Nets 4-2 in the first round. Then the following season the team took a small stumble falling to 41-41, making the playoffs but again falling in the first round.

Year three was when everything crumbled. The then Head Coach Sam Mitchell lasted 17 games before being replaced by Jay Triano. The Raptors missed the playoffs with a 33-49 record. All-star Chris Bosh became a free agent and took his talents to South Beach, only for the Raptors to then fall into a “rebuild” or “retool”, whatever you want to call it.

Then we come to the present. Like ‘06-‘07, the Raptors finished with an Atlantic Division title and third in the Eastern Conference during the ‘13-‘14. They then fell to the Nets in the first round.

Then year two, like ‘07-‘08 the Raptors have taken a stumble this year. They might finish with a similar record as last season but the team looks really bad defensively, and on some nights, really disorganized offensively. We haven’t even reached year three and people are calling for Head Coach Dwane Casey’s head.

After next season DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors all-star from last season is set to become a free agent, like Bosh was after the ’08-’09 season. Lowry can become a free agent the following season. Possibly leading to Raptor all-stars walking away, again.

If this story continues to follow the trails of the ‘06-‘09 Raptors era then something needs to change quickly. The Raptors still have an off-season ahead before getting to year three of the modern era but this season is starting to look more and more like an early playoff exit.

If this roster doesn’t change for next season then Casey’s head could get chopped off early into next season like Mitchell’s did. DeRozan can leave like Bosh. Ujiri would follow out the doors like his successor Bryan Colangelo.

A joy-ride that seemed to being going down the right trail for the Raptors could quickly fall right into a ditch. It looked like this franchise had turned a new chapter. As if it was time to create long-term success but this story is playing out like many have before. If this roster can’t figure it out come playoff time then Ujiri needs a plan come summer, or else.