Raps Have Highest Free Throw Differential

[Gorlitzer]

There are certain dark corners of Raptors Nation where paranoia rules and conspiracy theories reign. Is the league out to get the Raptors? Absolutely not. But after watching every game this season and seeing the opposing team consistently get calls and go to the line, while the Raps get jobbed, has taken its toll.

The numbers back this up. The Raptors and the Warriors have the highest free-throw differential in the league. It's not even close to the rest of the league really. The most extreme example is Denver who shoot almost 14 more free-throws a game than us.

http://espn.go.com/nba/statistics/te...ptedDifference

Why is this? I guess youth and lack of aggressiveness would be knee-jerk reasons. But the Raptors aren't that young, and they aren't a jump shooting team. Maybe ya'll have a better explanation?

P.S. I think the Raptors were partying in NYC on Monday night... hence the drubbing yesterday.

[Bendit]

Players on the team who cant handle the ball/put the ball on the floor/dribble inside/quick enough or are afraid to be hit.

[slaw]

Little to do with the refs. This team hacks and fouls like no other Raps team I have ever seen. Part of the reason their OPPFG% is so low is that everytime an opponent gets inside, the Raps foul him. 33 last night. Add to the general defensive strategy a team that commits scads of stupid offensive fouls (I'm looking at you Barbosa, Kleiza and Bigs who can't set screens) and you get the enormous disparity. Toronto is actually middle of the pack in FTM but they are way, way back in terms of how many are made against...

[Nilanka]

Players on the team who cant handle the ball/put the ball on the floor/dribble inside/quick enough or are afraid to be hit.

Agreed. I think it has a lot to do with our jump-shooting tendencies. We don't have a single low-post threat on this team that consistently puts pressure on opposing defences.

Combine this was Casey's new aggressive approach on the defensive end, and the numbers make sense.

[Matt52]

Little to do with the refs. This team hacks and fouls like no other Raps team I have ever seen. Part of the reason their OPPFG% is so low is that everytime an opponent gets inside, the Raps foul him. 33 last night. Add to the general defensive strategy a team that commits scads of stupid offensive fouls (I'm looking at you Barbosa, Kleiza and Bigs who can't set screens) and you get the enormous disparity. Toronto is actually middle of the pack in FTM but they are way, way back in terms of how many are made against...

I don't understand how they have not adjusted to this yet. The league tightened the whistle on that this season but, I mean, come on already.

[enlightenment]

Dwane's Pound the rock mentality definitely helps other teams pick up fouls, never give up an easy dunk always foul instead. Punish them in the paint! Sure our opponents will be getting many foul shots, but it does not explain our lack of fouls called. Just from the eye test I've seen countless cases of clear fouls never being called for the raptors. I don't believe we are a 'jump shooting' team at all, and in fact our wings, Bayless, and most of our bigs need to score in the paint. Who knows why we have such an extreme foul differential, it is something the league should investigate.

Us and Goldenstate have double the differential of the third worst differential. Thats how extreme it is.

[Gorlitzer]

To enlightenment's point... maybe someone knows where we can find a "shots attempted in the paint" stat. I really don't feel that the Raps are a jump shooting team either.

[white men can't jump]

Little to do with the refs. This team hacks and fouls like no other Raps team I have ever seen. Part of the reason their OPPFG% is so low is that everytime an opponent gets inside, the Raps foul him. 33 last night. Add to the general defensive strategy a team that commits scads of stupid offensive fouls (I'm looking at you Barbosa, Kleiza and Bigs who can't set screens) and you get the enormous disparity. Toronto is actually middle of the pack in FTM but they are way, way back in terms of how many are made against...

Regarding the bigs who can't set screens. I'd like to add that our guards....or rather, mostly Bayless, and sometimes our other wings, are terrible at leading their man into a screen or waiting for the screener to get to the right spot. Anyway, the rest of what you said is all true, and I think in time they will learn to play better defense and not commit some of those fouls, as well as learn to hide some of them. And the whistle always improves the more elite players you have. Bargnani, I think, was even getting a slightly more favorable whistle as the games went on early in the season and he was keeping up his good play. I don't think he should be the best player on our team, but we have no one to take that role right now. The more you have the better a whistle you get. Even Kobe got a worse whistle when Shaq left, especially against great teams like the Spurs, Suns, Mavs, etc...All is fixed if we start winning and improve our roster.

[white men can't jump]

I'd like to add that there is still always some inexplicable bias in the NBA. Between random favoritism for players/teams, and diva qualities that make these refs feel the need to make "big" but stupid, useless calls that hugely impact the flow of a game, it's quite a show. Still, for the most part, much of it relates pretty closely to winning.

[Prime]

It has very little to do with our offense.

The problem is that the Raps' defense is sending other teams to the line at a league leading rate.

[Raptorsss]

It has everything...to do with the Raptors not getting calls late in tight games. Sure, this team may hack like no other, but you don't get a -300 FTA without the games being jobbed by the referees. Have people forgotten about Donaghey already?

Let's look at some of the facts, who are the teams that have the 3 highest FTA differentials in the league? Denver, OKC, LAL. The first two teams have young exciting players that the networks want to showcase to their cable audience, and the Lakers are the most valuable franchise in the league. Chicago, Miami and NYk are also 9-11 in FTA differential, all 3 being big important media markets for the NBA.

How many Raptor games are on ESPN or TNT this year? The answer is 0, coincedence? maybe or maybe not. Or how about that mysterious losing streak at the end 09-10 season, where the Bulls got the 8th seed ahead of the Raptors. Not surprising that a first round match-up featuring Chicago, over Toronto would be preferable.


Edit: why is GS second worst in FTA's? Simple, they need to lose enough games to keep their top 7 protected lottery pick.

[Nilanka]

C'mon now. The Raptors laid a big fat egg during that playoff-deciding game vs. Chicago. Blaming the refs is letting the Raptors off the hook.

And honestly, what reason would the league have to squash the Raptors by intentionally creating a FT differential? How does the NBA benefit from picking on Toronto in such a way? Why grant a team to this city at all then?

I'm not saying the officiating is perfect. "Star calls" are there for all to see. But in general, when players are more aggressive, they tend to get the calls. And teams with aggressive players, tend to win more games. It's as simple as that.

Once the Raptors stop relying on non-shooters to keep inexplicably shooting long jumpers, we might see a swing in the FT differential.

I mean, for the love of God, our best post-player is Kleiza....KLEIZA! And our most aggressive player (DeRozan) is a guy who can't dribble. What did we honestly expect the FT numbers to look like?

[Puffer]

Regarding the bigs who can't set screens. I'd like to add that our guards....or rather, mostly Bayless, and sometimes our other wings, are terrible at leading their man into a screen or waiting for the screener to get to the right spot.

Yeah, I ws noticing this the other night. Guards were not squeezing past the bigs setting screens but taking wide corners that allowed their coverage to go over top of the screens instead of running into them or having to go under. It was being done consistently. I can't remember who was doing it, but I have a vague recollection that there wasn't just one guilty party.