“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.” — Satchel Paige



The past is a jerk. It is full of demons and monsters you’d rather just forget about, mistakes and blunders that are embarrassing, and oh so many failures. Paige’s point, if I can make a presumption, is that dwelling on what happened prevents you from moving forward and actually improving yourself.



Yet, the way in which professional athletes, coaches and executives point a way forward is by assessing the past. There is another quote, this one from the statistical analysis world that has made its way over to sports, that plays a huge role in the industry: Past performance is the best indicator of future results.



The scenario the Raptors and their fan base find themselves now, a soap opera pitting the sorry-sorry-sorry-(not sorry) stylings of Masai Ujiri against the I-was-wronged message of DeMar DeRozan. In Toronto, we are so used to the situation...