Raptors not getting to the free throw line enough | Toronto Sun
While Toronto has actually scored about a point a game more since DeRozan got hurt 20 minutes into the Nov. 28 game against Dallas, it has been more work to generate those points, which has left players like Kyle Lowry a bit overextended. Lowry has been scoring close to 10 more points a game without DeRozan and had to take most of the big shots in Tuesday’s loss to Cleveland, with various degrees of success. The team averages 27.5 free throw attempts per game on the season, behind only Golden State, but the number is just 21.6 free throws since DeRozan’s injury, compared to 30.3 attempts before he crumpled to the floor against the Mavs at the ACC last month. Cleveland had a 21-10 edge in attempts on Tuesday and Jonas Valanciunas accounted for six of Toronto’s shots from the line.
The Fundamentals: Rockets, Raptors making do without their injured stars | SI.com
Toronto is only beginning its variant of this same ordeal, albeit in more specific form. Whereas Howard is only one of Houston’s many injuries, DeMar DeRozan is the only significant deficit from the Raptors lineup. Still, his is a considerable loss. It’s never easy to replace a volume scorer with a top-15 usage rate, particularly in the case of a well-rounded player like DeRozan. Even when it seems as if he’s not playing a prominent role in Toronto’s operations, DeRozan is central to his team’s constitution – necessary for the way he absorbs touches and minutes while in turn disguising his teammates’ limitations. Yet in the three games since DeRozan tore the adductor longus tendon in his left leg, the Raptors have begun acclimating themselves to life in this contingency. The starting lineup – which now includes Greivis Vasquez – has shifted and Dwane Casey’s rotations with it.
Misery Loves Company | Canis Hoopus
It seems kind of pointless to work too hard to hard to identify the low point of the Raptors franchise- at least basketball wise. They have made the playoffs just six times in 20 years and have advanced out of the first round only once. If I had to choose I guess I could pick their third season, 1997/98, in which they won only 16 games and Basketball Reference identified Doug Christie as their best statistical player. Go ahead- try to imagine a team in which Doug Christie is the best player. I don’t even know where to start with such a horrifying task. I once told one of my very best friends that his game reminded me of the Doug Christie role on the above mentioned Sacramento teams and he almost punched me in the face and, you know, the more I think about it the more I think I may have deserved it.
Are the Toronto Raptors Legitimate NBA Title Contenders? | Interbasket
With an average age of 25, the regular starting line-up features the two star guards alongside Amir Johnson and promising talents on the wing (Terrence Ross) and in the middle (Lithuanian center Jonas Valanciunas). Veteran forward Hayes is still good for banging some bodies in the paint on the defensive end, and he is the only member of the squad who is over 30 years old. Their bench has earned a solid reputation, with Vasquez a steady hand in the backup playmaker role and Williams looking to have recovered his scoring spark, on the back of a slow 2013-14 season during which he was coming back from major knee surgery. A mark of their strength is that their third-highest paid player, Landry Fields, does not get much court-time. The Fields signing was almost immediately seen as an expensive mistake, and it will be interesting to see what Ujiri can do with the salary cap room that will be freed when Fields’ contract finishes at the end of the season.
