The Raptors are among the top-ranked teams in the NBA, both offensively and defensively, at the moment and they are in the top five of the 30 teams in overall net efficiency.

It’s a simple mathematical formula that combines points allowed and scored per 100 possessions. and the Raptors were fourth in the league heading into Monday’s game with the Philadelphia 76ers.

But as Toronto coach Nick Nurse was saying last week, it’s not something he and his staff are going to hang their hats on.

“I guess, I hate to say, I don’t really care,” Nurse said last week when the numbers were pointed out to him.

Certainly it’s better to be in the top five than the bottom five — and the math does matter at least a little bit — but it goes to Nurse’s overall philosophy, especially this early in the season.

“I think it’s been such a funky start for us, and it’s early,” Nurse said. “Those stats are always skewed. The schedule, I think we’ve played eight of our (first) 12 games on the road. We’ve played really tough competition. I’m not really caught up on where we’re ranked right now.”

Rankings and ratings and advanced metrics have their place and will play a factor in determining some strategies but, right now, they’re not worth paying too much attention to. That’s particularly true for Toronto, which lost two key pieces to injury when Kyle Lowry and Serge Ibaka were lost in the same game, Nov. 8 in New Orleans, after seeing Patrick McCaw have knee surgery just before.

Nurse has been forced to live and die with youngsters like Terence Davis II, Chris Boucher and Matt Thomas, plus newcomer Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, all of whom have made admirable contributions. But the Raptors are going to want to work with a full roster before they put more stock in the rankings.

“Probably 20, 25 games,” Nurse said. “I think you get through (the injuries), you see a lot more teams and, again, I thought right before the two injuries we were really rolling on (offence).”

It’s going to take a few games for Ibaka and Lowry to get back to full speed, it’s going to take even longer for the new rotation guys like Boucher, Davis, Thomas and Hollis-Jefferson to figure their fit. Their minutes will be cut, their responsibilities changed.

“We were just looking like, every possession, man, it was zinging around and we were shooting open or at the rim or whatever. And now we’ve had to piece it together again,” Nurse said. “So it might not be that representative for us until we get guys back and then get another 10 games with those guys again.”

For now, it’s more about the eye test than the arithmetic.

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“I think we look like we’re trying to guard, I think we look like we’re playing hard, we’re going to fight you,” Nurse said. “Those are things.

“I like the combination on offence,” the coach said. “I think we look fairly unselfish, most of the time, but on the same note, I think we’re going to the right places (with the ball) when we need to go to the right places. I like the chemistry on offence.”