The Toronto Raptors are taking their preparations for the upcoming regular season seriously — maybe a little bit too much, even.

The 2017-18 NBA campaign is just under three weeks away from kickoff, but the Raptors appear to be in shape a long time ago and are more than ready to wage battle against opposing NBA teams again.

In a story published on the Toronto Sun, it was revealed that the Raptors paid special attention to their conditioning in order for them to get through another grueling 82-game regular season and still muster enough strength to compete harder than ever in the playoffs.

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The team’s sports science guru Alex McKechnie said the Raptors took a “very disciplined approach” heading into this past off-season, with closer monitoring of players’ summer conditioning programs than ever before. The results are evident in a lean Kyle Lowry, among others.

The Raptors exited last season after getting swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs. It’s another disappointing result for a group that finished the regular season with a 51-31 record and just a year before, reached the conference finals. Nevertheless, that served as a perfect motivation for the Raptors to push themselves to be in top shape for the next season.

“(Lowry’s) in great shape, Jonas (Valanciunas), all of our guys,” said coach Dwane Casey. “I don’t know of anyone who’s not in great basketball condition. This is probably the best summer our guys have had as far as body fat, weight, conditioning, running, since I’ve been here.”

The Raptors didn’t have as rich of an offseason haul in the summer as the Cavaliers and the Boston Celtics, boasting just the likes of C.J. Miles and Justin Hamilton as their summer acquisitions, but they’re not going to let that hinder them from trying to take down the other giants in the conference. Having the best condition in the league is a good place for them to start towards that goal.