Preseason Developments: The Defence and The Terrence Ross?

It’s good to have the NBA and the Raptors back! Sure, it’s only preseason, but who really cares. We have basketball to watch!!

And the start of preseason means that the games that matter are getting that much closer. We’re now just 20 days away from opening night, and it’s nice to have something to talk about other than hypothetical matters.

Although many demonize preseason as a waste of time (I get it…the sloppy play along with the extra minutes for fringe NBA players can make it ugly to watch for stretches), one can still learn plenty from watching preseason.

Like the rest of the world, I missed all of Monday night’s game against Golden State since it wasn’t televised, but Sunday’s win over the Clippers was illuminating to say the least. It was our first chance to see the Raptors newly minted highest paid player in DeMarre Carroll, the rookies in Delon Wright and Norman Powell, and the many other new faces in Toronto.

It was also our first chance to see the changes instilled by Dwane Casey and his staff. Raptors fans across the country last season were put through near torturous viewing when it came to Toronto’s defensive system. Each player scrambled and rotated several times during each possession, regularly creating mismatch opportunities for opposing players.

Hence the summer moves from Ujiri to shore up the defence with players far more naturally gifted for it than Lou Williams or Greivis Vasquez, and the hiring of Assistant Coach, Andy Greer from Chicago. As one of Tom Thibodeau’s lead defensive assistants, Greer helped Chicago build a defensive system that was consistently one of the best in the league.

Last season saw the Bulls slip to having the 12^th best defence allowing 101.6 points per 100 possessions, while the Raptors finished a dreadful 104.9 points per 100 possessions, good (bad?) for 24^th in the league.

Although finishing with the 12^th best defence isn’t something to write home about, this number was significantly worse that what Chicago managed to produce in each of the prior years since Greer and Thibodeau’s arrival in 2010. Just look at their numbers and rank in each season:

2013-14: 97.7, 2^nd in the league

2012-13: 100.1, 3^rd in the league

2011-12: 95.7, 1^st in the league

2010-11: 97.7, 1^st in the league

One of the foundations to Chicago’s structure was the way in which they defended the pick-and-roll. To be more accurate, the way in which they iced the pick-and-roll, a strategy that is in near complete contrast to what the Raptors did last year.

For me, this is easily the most important development of the preseason to date and could easily have the biggest impact on the Raptors season moving forward. The Raptors are no longer forcing the ball-handler toward the middle of the court but are actively icing the pick-and-roll, a development that nearly brought tears to my eyes.

If you’d like to learn more about icing a pick-and-roll, and the statistics that support such a strategy, I would encourage you to read John Schuhmann’s piece, “The Value of Ice.” It’s incredibly informative and provides great insight into what the Raptors will be doing this season. Schuman also delightfully uses the Raptors as an example of what not to do.

Terrence Ross:

I’m tired of overreacting to Terrence Ross on a nightly basis. I tend to swing violently between hope and pessimism when it comes to Ross, much like what can be expected from Ross’ performances on any given night. He fluctuates violently between positive and negative contributions, and does just enough to provide a little hope that he can be far more than what he shows.

Sunday night was just a preseason game, and I’m reminding myself of this in order to remain calm, but Terrance Ross simply looked different. He finished the Clippers game with 6 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, 1 block (a big one on Jamal Crawford), and four steals, along with using his athleticism to his advantage when defending.

It was the steals that stood out the most though. None of them were made from errant passes or on a ball that bounced to Ross, each of them was caused directly by Ross anticipating the pass and jumping the lane. Incredible instincts that we will hopefully see more of.

And although last night’s numbers don’t indicate much, based on opening night I am updating the Terrance Ross Belief Chart. I am now close to “Letting the Guard Down”.