The Toronto Raptors are not a very healthy team right now, yet they continue to win games and stay close to the top of the Eastern Conference with their 18-12 record. Toronto has been without two starters recently in Jonas Valanciunas and DeMarre Carroll, but it seems like it is close to getting at least Valanciunas back, as he has been cleared to practice, according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports.
Valanciunas fractured a bone in his left hand on Nov. 20 in a game against the Los Angeles Lakers, and he has missed the last 16 games due to the injury. Valanciunas has not been able to practice since suffering the injury, but he was finally cleared to return to the practice floor on Monday where he reportedly participated in most of the drills. Though Valanciunas is back at practice, he is still likely to miss at least a couple more games as head coach Dwane Casey wasn't sure when he would be cleared for game action.
The hope for the Raptors is that Valanciunas will be back within the next couple of weeks, and that seems like a reasonable possibility. When the 7-foot center intially hurt his hand, he was hoping for a return betwen Christmas and the New Year, and he seems to be right on track for a return within that time frame.
In 14 games this season Valanciunas had showed massive growth and polish on the offensive end, as he is averaging career highs in points (12.7) and rebounds per game (9.3.) In his place, Bismack Biyombo has taken over as the starting center and performed well, especially on defense and on the glass, but getting Valanciunas back will put the Raptors back into a regular rotation and give them another offensive threat with the first unit.
As for Carroll, he has missed the team's last nine games with a knee injury, and he also doesn't have a timetable for a return. Carroll is going through cardio workouts, according to Chris O' Leary of the Toronto Star, but it sounds like his return is farther away than Valanciunas'.
