Blame All Around Raptors Defence

[Dr. James Naismith]

This is a great general assessment of our defence that I've read recently. The ability to play tough defence I think is there, its the effort that's lacking right now. Perhaps all we need to fix this is more broken clip boards.

Courtesy of Mike Moreau from HoopsWorld.

As a coach, you want to pick your spots when to rip into your team. For Toronto Raptors coach Jay Triano, this is his spot.

Toronto's fourth quarter defense against the Magic Sunday was as pathetic a performance for a "playoff caliber" team as you will see. Call it whatever you want – wretched, dreadful, embarrassing, soft, token, Matador, Red Sea, Swinging Gate - whatever negative descriptive term you want to use will work. Then multiply it by 10, add five expletives, three thrown chairs and a smashed white board. It was that bad.

However, he's also got to be careful about laying all of this at the players' feet. The Raptors are the NBA's worst defensive team, and if a team is this bad on D, the blame is shared by the coaches and players. This is a flawed scheme they can't win with. Toronto cannot make the big stops in close games with their current defensive style and effort level.

But, first and foremost, you have to look at the effort level. From Chris Bosh's soft, token hedges on ballscreens, to Jose Calderon and Jarrett Jack floating out to semi-contest three-points shots, to Andrea Bargnani playing two-hand touch, the Raptors do not have anything resembling a competitive nature on the defensive end.

Source - Click here

[Dave]

If Bargnani didn't play at all ... and Amir Johnson was given his minutes ... I think the Raptors would be a middle of the pack defensive team this season.

I also think that team would have a lot of potential to improve defensively in future seasons. Mainly through DeRozan's, Bosh's and Amir's defensive potential. Recast the bench with an eye on defensive orientated role players to fill out the supporting cast properly and this team could become a 6th-9th caliber defensive club in the near future (2-3 years). While also remaining an above average offensive team and becoming an above average rebounding team.

Or you know, the Raptors could play Bargnani and just keep going the way they're heading.