TORONTO — As far as measuring sticks go, the Raptors understand no measure of their team worth a damn is going to take place until they are playing playoff basketball games.

So any talk about tonight’s game with Cleveland being some kind of barometer of where the 2015-16 Raptors might be was met with mostly head shakes and/or rebuttals.

The Cavaliers are in first place in the Eastern Conference, three games clear of the Raptors.

Yes, it’s an important game. That much Dwane Casey, Kyle Lowry and James Johnson, the three members of the team trotted over to talk to the media following practice at the BioSteel Centre would all agree to, but beyond that the Cavs game Friday night is just another one of 82.

“For us it’s just another game to get better,” Lowry said. “I think the media hypes it up to be like ‘oh this is the measuring stick.’ No, it’s just another game for us. (Wednesday) night (against Minnesota) was a measuring stick. We played a young, hungry team. Every game we play is a measuring stick for us.”

It’s pretty clear that a matchup against a team ahead of you in the standings might create a little more buzz, but within their locker room, the Raptors refuse to look at it that way.

“I don’t think it’s a measuring stick and the reason I say that is because it’s kind of annoying to hear it all the time,” Lowry said. “It’s not. It’s just another game for us to get better. Another game for us to go out and try and win. We can’t worry about measuring (up) to this or that because we still haven’t gotten out of the first round of the playoffs. We thought we were this or that but we still have to take our time and get better one game at a time.”

Giving this one game of 82 more emphasis than any other regardless of the opponent just isn’t done with these Raptors.

“The game should be a challenge for us but it’s not going to determine our season,” Casey said. “It’s one game. I’m just as concerned about the next game in Detroit (on Sunday) as I am about the one (Friday) night. You can’t look at one game and say win or lose that will determine our season. Either way it’s not going to determine how much we need to continue to improve, continue to be hungry, continue to fight and stay focussed.”

With a six-game lead on third in the conference, the Raptors sit somewhat comfortably in second. They are three behind the same Cavs team they will face tomorrow, but a first-place finish in the conference, while nice, isn’t the goal.

“I’m sure outside looking in that is what everyone is hoping for or think we are striving for,” James Johnson, the man who will be the primary defender on LeBron James tonight said. “Really we have our mind set on bigger and better things. People expect us to be top one or two and we expect that of ourselves, but now we have to look past that because it didn’t get us anywhere the last two years.”

Again, it’s all about setting themselves up to be as strong as possible come playoff time. Where they are now is only relevant in the scope of getting better with each passing game.

So while a win over Cleveland might pump up the fan base, Casey will be much more interested in seeing his team improve on their ability to defend the three-point line, something they have struggled with all season and something the Cavs in particular have exploited when they face Toronto.

The season series is tied with Toronto winning the first meeting back in November at the Air Canada Centre and Cleveland winning in Cleveland in January.

In the first meeting, a Cavs loss, Cleveland went 14-for-29 from deep while in the win in the second meeting they were 17-for-33. That’s a 50% success rate over two games from three and an area that clearly needs some work.

And it’s not just the Cavs torching them from distance either, although, they have proven to be the team that takes most advantage of this aspect of Toronto’s defence.

The Raptors, for the season, have allowed opponents to shoot 36.9% from three-point range. That’s 25th in a 30-team league and while part of it is the Raptors choosing to protect the paint first and foremost, it’s still a number they would like to get down.

“We have got to get to our positions (defensively),” Casey said. “We are out there with three-point shooters but now we have to get in to help on penetration and then you have to get back out. It’s called the accordion effect. You can’t do that against a good team like they are. You have to get to your positions and then build out. We haven’t been doing a good job of that. We have to do a better job. They had 17 threes against us last time It’s going to be a long night if we don’t get to our positions first.”

So yes, measure the Raptors ability to improve in their defence of the three-point line. Measure their ability to rebound and box out with consistency, something Casey found lacking Wednesday against Minny.

But if you’re looking at this game as an overall measure of where the Raptors are this season, the Raptors themselves are suggesting you’re unlikely to get that kind of gauge.

The time for that is still more than a month and a half away.

WHAT TO DO WITH OLD GYM?

Happy in their new practice facility is an understatement when it comes to the Toronto Raptors’ feelings about the new BioSteel Centre on the western edge of the Exhibition Grounds.

It’s a professional basketball player’s paradise and there was nary a negative word said about it on Wednesday, the first official full practice there.

But there is one looming downside to the move and the Raptors are hopeful of avoiding that.

The future of the old practice facility on the third floor of the Air Canada Centre remains to be decided. At one point it was going to become home to Raptors’ celebrity ambassador Drake’s new private club but that has since found a home in the lower sections of the building.

There is talk that the space might be used to address a shortage of concession space on the third level of the ACC, but so far that is just talk.

The Raptors would prefer it remain a gym, one they continue to use even if less so than they did before.

“I hope we start a petition to keep it because that is where I shoot before games, where DeMar (DeRozan) shoots before games,” Kyle Lowry said. “Guys get weight lifting in and guys get workouts in after games up there. It’s a place we still need. It’s a place we still use and get a high quality of use out of it.”

Head coach Dwane Casey has not been told one way or the other what will happen to the old gym.

“I don’t know what they are going to do with it but the guys do use it before the game,” he said. “I don’t see a scenario of practising there very much but we will have shootarounds at the arena.”