Raptors 905 fell to 0-2 to begin their inaugural season on Sunday, losing to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants for a second consecutive day.
Unlike Saturday, which required an Xavier Thames buzzer-beater to put them away, the 905 went far more quietly Sunday. The Mad Ants led buzzer-to-buzzer, opening up a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter and never looking back on their way to a 112-92 win in front of a sparse home crowd.
It was, uhh, not pretty. Turnovers were the story of the day, with the 905 coughing the ball up 17 times in a moribund first half that also saw them give up 63 points. They’d finish with 24 turnovers, which simply put too much pressure on a transition defense that isn’t remotely figured out yet. That’s fine – more on everything being fine shortly – but it’s going to make it difficult to stay in games while they learn to play a more controlled offensive style.
What has been designed as an attacking, drive-and-kick offense is still learning how to open up lanes for those drives. The offense has been kept fairly elementary through two games, likely by necessity, and it’s put undue pressure on the team’s ball-handlers to create in traffic or make wild passes when forays to the rim don’t present reasonable looks. Some of that falls on the guys doing the attacking, and there were a few occasions on which the team’s guards looked off a diving big only to later drive into that same space themselves, finding it far more occupied.
The team’s outside shooting – they hit 10-of-27 on threes but were quite cold until late – exacerbates that issue. The best looks the offense created were corner threes, and while it’s great that they’re able to create those high-efficiency opportunities, missing them so frequently was helping the Mad Ants push the pace off of defensive rebounds.
The combination of the 905 averaging one turnover every two minutes, not shooting particularly well (41 percent overall), and grabbing only 22 percent of their own misses all conspired to let Fort Wayne get out and run. The pace of the game wasn’t obscene by D-League standards, but the Mad Ants were able to get a lot of early-clock looks. The 905 are built on athleticism and should theoretically have the horses to play this offensive style and still get back capably, but it’s fairly evident that the players are still learning their assignments coming back the other way. Fort Wayne hit 12-of-28 from outside, a good number of those makes coming from trailers or in semi-transition. To their credit, the 905 did a good job cleaning up their own glass, the one saving grace on the defensive end in the first half.
The second half saw the 905 settle down some on defense, surrendering 49 points and doing a better job closing out on shooters, particularly once they had their defense set. There’s so much quickness and athleticism on the roster that there’s great defensive potential and they’ve now played three quality halves at that end. Head coach Jesse Murmuys may need to simplify things at times given the relative inexperience of the group, but the team also has the personnel to play more aggressively if they can live with the occasional miscue. I think the latter will win out eventually, in large part because the offense is going to struggle without the aid of the transition game, something there wasn’t a lot of on Sunday.
At the individual level, Bruno Caboclo had a strong offensive showing using more or less the same formula Murmuys employed for him in the season opener and at summer league. That formula is basically “touch the ball, shoot the ball,” with Caboclo firing up 18 attempts, committing three turnovers, and collecting just a single assist in 34 minutes. He finished with 25 points and added six rebounds, looking more comfortable and decisive than a night ago.
Frustrating as the do-whatever approach would maybe be at the parent club level, it’s a smart way to approach Caboclo’s first taste of serious, competitive minutes. He needs to be allowed to make mistakes now to continue encouraging him to make the kind of plays that have the Raptors high on his overall ceiling. Caboclo’s shot is unblockable and he gets it off very quickly, and he did a better job attacking closeouts Sunday. His handle is still loose and he picks up his dribble on the baseline at the first sign of traffic, an issue that’s a bigger deal than it might otherwise be because of his poor passing vision. If his baseline forays can improve to the level of his drives to the middle of the floor, that won’t be as big a deal, and he’ll almost surely gain better spatial awareness and learn to not surrender his dribble as quickly with more experience.
Every recap is going to say something similar to this, because this entire season is about reps for Caboclo, not necessary results. And again, That’s fine, that’s the whole point of learning away from the NBA team, where wins and losses are far more important and every possession far more valuable. Caboclo can get shot-happy, can get trapped in the corner, can lose his man off the ball, and as long as those things happen less often as the year rolls on, then the plan is working.
Some of the same logic applies to his tag-team partner Lucas Nogueira, who had a rough night. The 23-year-old got into early foul trouble that seemed to make him passive as a help defender for the remainder of the game, and he wasn’t his usual presence around the rim. He finished with eight points on 3-of-11 shooting, missed several easy tap-ins (he had five offensive rebounds and nine overall), and the Mad Ants were ready to poke the ball free whenever he put it on the floor. His ability to do so is encouraging for the long-term but the dribble is too high and his intentions too telegraphed right now.
Scott Suggs had another strong showing, scoring 18 points and carrying the offense for the starting unit, while Melvin Johnson poured in 15 off the bench, albeit on 14 shot attempts. Those two and reserve guard Jay Harris are going to be leaned on to push the tempo and create for those who can’t create for themselves. Starting point guard Shannon Scott will be asked to do that, too, though he’s less of a scoring threat off the bounce. Scott and Suggs seem to be developing a decent chemistry, at least, and if each can knock down their threes, it will let Murmuys employ a spread-out offense with ball-handlers on either side of the floor without allowing opponents to lean too heavily to the strong side.
It was a mixed bag overall and there were more negatives to pick at than positives to report, but that’s the expectation here in game two. It’s important to keep in mind that this is an expansion team, one that had less than two weeks of training camp, and one that was missing several key players for that camp. It’s going to take some time for this team to gel, for Murmuys to figure out his best lineups, and for the schemes to become second nature for guys.
It’s also worth noting that the 905 were without Ronald Roberts (sprained ankle), Axel Toupane (visa issue), and Sim Bhullar (conditioning work), three players presumed to be in the rotation. Roberts, in particular, is a big absence, as he’s probably the team’s best rebounder and the only one capable of scoring garbage baskets right now, something this team could really use. It’s unclear what the timeline for those three to get on the floor is, but this will be a different team once they’re back.
That could be as soon as Thursday, when the 905 will look to secure the first win in franchise history at their home opener.
Photo courtesy @Raptors905.
